In the past, I've made no secret of my love for Fleetway Edition's Sonic the Comic, the official Sonic comic that ran for nine years in the UK from 1993 to 2002.

As you may already know, earlier this year, I put together a fairly lengthy article celebrating the legacy of the beloved UK comic, even getting to chat to two of the key creative figures, writer/artist Nigel Kitching and the illustrator Richard Elson. In that piece, I dove into how the editor Richard Burton was tasked with assembling a new comic based on the Sega mascot, discussed some of the more memorable story arcs, and covered its eventual downfall after the decision was made to cut back on original strips in favour of reprints. But one thing I regretted at the time was being unable to reach out to Lew Stringer, another one of my favourite writers who contributed to its pages.

Although semi-retired, Stringer is admittedly still a very busy man, still taking on the odd bit of freelancing work and private commissions in between appearing at different comic events around the country, so nailing down a time to get him to look over my questions proved slightly difficult. A man of his word, though, Stringer did ultimately follow through on his promise to reply to my questions, which I felt would make a nice little follow-up to my more comprehensive article on the comic. In particular, I wanted to know more about how Stringer initially came to work on the comic, how he felt his style compared to fellow writer Nigel Kitching, and his general approach to writing for kids.

A Brief Introduction To Lew Stringer

Way before his time contributing to the Sonic comics, Stringer got his start in the comics world in the late '70s, working on various fanzines, where he contributed stories about a character he invented called Brickman (a parody of DC Comics' Batman), who went around fighting crime in Guffon City. While not necessarily widely circulated, these comics seemingly earned the attention of many of Stringer's contemporaries, including the future Watchmen creator Alan Moore, who introduced the aspiring comic writer to one of Marvel UK's editors, Bernie Jaye, who gave Stringer a job as a freelancer in 1983.

Working for Marvel, Stringer's initial gig was to provide gag comics for the letters pages on The Daredevils, which eventually led to other opportunities, on comics like Spider-Man (where he created ridiculous characters like Captain Wally and Snailman) and The Transformers (where he contributed the regular strip "Robo-capers"). From there, various other freelance gigs would follow, including contributions to Fleetway's Oink! (an anarchic and at times controversial comic for children from the '80s and '90s), and, more importantly, for us, Fleetway's Sonic the Comic.

On Sonic the Comic, Stringer's first contribution was the story 'Metamorphia' in issue 30, where he introduced the shape-shifting baddie of the same name. This would then be followed by other notable turns, including the three-part story Project Brutus (which appeared in issues 63-65), where Sonic faced off against an almost-indestructible super trooper, specifically created to be Robotnik's new second-in-command. Throughout his run on Sonic, he wouldn't just contribute to the main strip, but also to the various spin-offs from the main story, including Sonic's World and Amy's Adventures, giving life to characters like Amy's best friend Tekno the Canary, and the squirrel-turned-vigilante badnik Shortfuse the Cybernik.

And A Q&A With The Man Himself

Time Extension: Do you remember how you were initially brought in to work on the comic? How familiar were you with Sonic prior to working on the comic? Did you ever play any of the games?

Stringer: I’d submitted some sample pages as an artist, but the editor, Richard Burton, felt that my style wasn’t what they were looking for. Knowing that I was a writer as well as an artist, Richard asked me to submit scripts, and it took off from there. I wasn’t very familiar with Sonic then, but Sega sent me a console and Sonic 2 for reference, along with a style guide for the characters and settings.

I’ve never been a gamer, but playing Sonic 2 helped. I think Sega sent all of us the follow-up games too. Can’t remember if I ever completed them. I haven’t played games since, though. It’s not my thing.

Time Extension: How do you feel your writing style complemented the work of other STC writers like Nigel Kitching?

Stringer: The reason Richard Burton brought me in was that they wanted some strips to have a more comedic touch, to balance the more serious tone of Nigel’s work. Although really, we were both experienced in writing comedy.

Time Extension: One of the earliest arcs you were involved with was the emergence of Brutus, a new enemy for Sonic with a mind similar to Robotnik’s. Do you happen to recall how the idea for that character came about?

Stringer: I wanted to create a strong villain with his own motives, and my idea from the start was that he’d eventually turn on Robotnik. Hopefully it added some extra excitement to the stories. Also, unlike Robotnik, who had to stay around because he was a Sega character, Brutus could have a story arc where he’d reach a final end. It’s always satisfying for readers to see the villain meet his downfall with no chance of returning.

Time Extension: I’m curious: what was your general approach to writing for kids on things like Sonic the Comic? (Having recently reread many of your stories, it seems like you never really dumbed things down and always respected the audience’s intelligence, despite their age. There are a lot of Sonic one-shot stories you’ve written, for example, that seem to possess a political streak, poking fun at things like crowd psychology and corruption; I’m thinking of stories like Vote For Me, Riot Resolution, and The Big Con.)

Stringer: I’ve always written stories that I imagined I would have enjoyed at that age. The comics I grew up on in the Sixties had a bit more of an edge; things like Wham!, early issues of Smash!, TV21, early Marvel Comics, Mad Magazine… and they never talked down to the readers really (not like some later comics anyway), so I brought some of that approach to STC. Nigel also never wrote down to the readers. I think kids respond well to that. Kids don’t live in a vacuum; they’re aware of world events and have some basic knowledge of politics because they see it on TV or the ’net, or in newspapers, etc.

Time Extension: Did Fleetway ever get into trouble with Marvel for any of the superhero parodies (the Incredible Bulk, the Zed Monkeys, Insect Man, etc) featured in the comics, or did you ever have to change anything to get them approved? I know you have a history with comic parodies in the past, as well as Marvel comics in the UK, but I'm curious if they had a problem with anything you were publishing.

Stringer: No. Satire and parody were always fair game, especially as one-off stories.

Time Extension: Do you have a favourite arc you were involved with over the comic’s run? Or any favourite characters to write for?

Stringer: The whole Commander Brutus storyline was my favourite arc, and I enjoyed Shortfuse (who I also created), and the Amy and Tekno stories. It was nice to have Amy break away from Sonic and become a stronger character, teaming up with her new best pal Tekno.

Time Extension: What were your feelings when the comic finally came to an end? Are you surprised there are still people who care about the comic all these years later and remember it so fondly?

Stringer: It’s always saddening when a comic ends, especially the slow death that Egmont inflicted on their titles by adding reprints. I’d seen them do the same on Buster when I worked for that comic. A short-term method to save money (we don’t get paid for reprints), but ultimately a surefire way to lose more readers.

Still, as always, you have to pick yourself up and create work on other comics. Sonic was only a part of my comics career, but I am very pleased that STC is so well remembered and respected decades later. We all enjoyed our time on Sonic, and I think if you like what you’re doing, that energy comes across to the readers.