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Last week, I released a feature looking into the history of Fleetway's Sonic the Comic, believing at the time that it would probably be the only occasion I'd get to write about it this month.
But it seems that since my article went live, there has been a bit of drama in the Sonic fan community, with a "Sonic the Comic Remastered" project being killed after its creators were inundated with complaints about "AI upscaling, distorted artwork, and altered text" (h/t: Sonic City).
Sonic the Comic, as you may already know if you read our previous article, was the creation of the UK publisher Fleetway Editions, and was published from 1993 until 2002. Featuring strips inspired by popular Sonic & Sega characters, it proved incredibly successful in Britain, particularly throughout the '90s, developing a sizable fan following that continues to this day.
However, since its initial run, it has never been officially reprinted in full, leaving fans to rely on secondhand copies or online scans of varying quality to enjoy its memorable arcs. This is where Sonic the Comic "Remastered" comes in.
Labelling itself "a community preservation project", it promised Sonic fans that it would "remaster" the entire print run of the magazine with "a custom page reconstruction process" to "improve readability, reduce compression artefacts, restore faded colours and produce a cleaner reading experience on modern screens and devices," as covered by VGC (in a now deleted article). But ended up being roundly criticised by commenters such as the Sonic the Comic podcast co-host Chris McFeely and Sam Webster (a person who is currently working with others on their own project to rescan Sonic the Comic's entire run at a crisp 600 DPI without AI), after the results were shared online, featuring various generative AI-related mistakes and distortions.
These include an early Streets of Rage comic strip in which Axel Stone was turned into a mutant with two pupils per eye, and instances in which characters' heads were completely replaced, showing a clear lack of care and respect for the original art.
Initially, Sega Mania's response to this seemed to be to block Webster for bringing these criticisms to light and to defend itself elsewhere on Twitter/X, saying it had always disclosed its use of AI.
However, following more backlash, it appears the founder of Sega Mania has now decided to pull the plug, issuing a statement via the magazine's newsletter (h/t: @slider8600) and pinning the blame on "a small number of people involved in a separate rescanning project" who "strongly disagreed" with their approach. Sega Mania has now pulled its "Remastered" versions offline.
"While I have great respect for the work they are doing and genuinely believe there is room for multiple preservation approaches to coexist," Tim Hugall, the Sega Mania co-founder, wrote, "It became clear that our views were fundamentally different. I reached out privately in an attempt to find common ground and even offered to use the Sega Mania platform to help promote their admirable effort to rescan every issue from original source material.
"In many ways, their approach is the ideal solution, and if I had the time and resources available, it is one I would have loved to pursue myself. Sadly, despite those efforts, the criticism continued. The remastered editions were never intended to replace high-quality rescans. They were simply intended as an alternative way of making these comics easier to read and enjoy, particularly for those who may not otherwise have access to them."
Describing Sega Mania as "a hobby project run around family life, a full-time job and the magazine itself", he said he had decided to "no longer [...] spend my limited free time dealing with negativity surrounding a project that was created and distributed entirely for free" and that the "focus will return fully to Sega Mania and the many exciting things we have planned for the future"
Just to add my two cents, as someone who grew up reading Sonic the Comic and has recently read through the comics' entire run again using existing low-res archives and secondhand copies, I honestly don't get what Hugall and Sega Mania expected to happen by publishing a project like this.
Generative AI is already controversial enough by itself, but coupling it with a beloved comic that people fondly remember seems to be just asking for trouble, especially given how lousy the results ended up being. Sure, the project was free and done on a voluntary basis, but taking on a remaster of anything is accepting a certain level of custodial responsibility. For some, this might be their first time experiencing the comic, and, as a result, you owe it to the original creators to ensure you don't leave people with a negative impression — whether the work is voluntary or not. Butchering the original art with AI shows that responsibility wasn't being taken seriously here, but on a slightly brighter note seems to have highlighted a project where this obligation is clearly understood.