Solicitation for Sonic #104 Outs Dawn Best as New Artist

Archie writer Ken Penders has formally announced one of two new artists for the official Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series, after solicitations for Issue #104 were released earlier than expected. It looks like Dawn Best, aka Chordsy in the fan community, has won the Archie team over as her art features in upcoming story 'Freedom Fighters of the Galaxy'.

Solicitation and comment from Penders below.

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SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #104
Written by Mike Gallagher, art by Dawn Best, Ken Penders, Dave Manak and Harvo.

“Freedom Fighters of the Galaxy, Part Two.”
The tribute to the Guardians of the Galaxy continues. Sonic’s troubles in the alternate future version of Mobius go from bad to worse, as the harbinger of doom arrives – and his name is Silver Snively. That can only mean on thing: his master, the incarnation of doom itself, can’t be far behind – none other than Robolactus. Can Sonic and the future Freedom Fighters stop this menace before he has a chance to erase them from the history books.

“The Return of the Downunda Freedom Fighters, Part Two.”
A continuation of the confrontation begun last issue, as the Downunda Freedom Fighters square off against Bunyip in a classic-style Sonic tale.

32 pages, $1.99, ships on Nov. 16.

Ken Penders made the official announcement on his message board:

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I had been keeping the identity of my new assistant a carefully guarded secret for some time, mostly because I wanted this person to be able to concentrate on the work while outside distractions were kept to a minimum, especially since this person is still in school.

So let’s give her a round of applause. (You deserve it, Dawn.) I also look forward to comments on her work for the letters pages.

While others submitted samples of very high quality, it was Dawn’s work that Bob and I kept coming back to, and I predict within a short time she’ll be leading the vanguard of the next generation of artists on the series.

At the moment, I’m preparing the Knuckles script for SONIC #107, which she will do as well as any other Knuckles stories from that point onward. While she is learning from my layouts, it is my intention at some point to eventually cut back to strictly inking as far as art chores for Sonic and Knuckles go and allow her to solo on the pencils.

About the only thing I didn’t foresee was the timing of the solicitations for upcoming issues, so it took me by surprise when I learned the game was given away on a website that promotes the comics industry, and thus announced on the SONIC HQ website. After that, it was only a matter of time before the buzz hit the mailing lists.

Since I’m on a couple of these mailing lists, and since word is spreading, I may as well break the news here. My new assistant is none other than Dawn Best, AKA Chordsy.

Since I’ve recruited her, she has turned in pencilled work based on my layouts for the KNUCKLES stories you’ll be seeing in SONIC #101, #102 and #106, as well as the SONIC story in issue #104.

There it is. Dawn Best is one of two new artists; the other will debut with Sonic #108.