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Publisher:
Archie Comics
Writer(s):
Various
Artist(s):
Various
Volumes:
4
The Sonic Legacy Series was a larger sized graphic novel series that aimed to recollect Archie Sonic the Hedgehog from the very beginning, with each book roughly reprinting the content of 5-6 Archives books in one fell swoop, with the trade off being print quality and only being printed in black and white.
Unlike most of the other graphic novels which remained in a perpetual hiatus until 2017 where Archie lost the licence, Legacy was one of the few books that was cancelled only after a few releases, only physically releasing three volumes, and another one digitally. In spite of this, it still managed to collect the entirety of the original miniseries, along with Issues #1-74 of the main series, roughly covering the content of Archives Volumes 0 through to Volume 19 within it's pages.
Main Info:
According to the former editor at the time, Sonic Legacy was created to compete with DC and Marvel's graphic novel releases, and were aiming for older audiences via the Legacy line, a practice that Marvel had done before with their own comics, offering large collections of issues at a relatively more affordable price with the trade-off being the colour/paper quality.
As a result, Legacy became the second attempt to collect Archie Sonic's history starting from the very beginning, and despite only having four volumes in it's entirety, it managed to collect nearly the entirety of the first seventy four issues of the series, along with some Super Special stories, and the original miniseries. In addition, it also included bonus features like forewords from writers/artists, concept art and sketches, and other such extras.
Featuring original covers by Ben Bates, Legacy ran from 2011 to 2014, with typically one book releasing per year (Volume 3 and 4 being the exception to the rule), with it's final release not managing to make it to physical release, only being released digitally via Archie's comic app. Unlike the other graphic novel runs, where they were unceremoniously cancelled, Legacy's cancellation seemed to be planned, as Volume 4's release directed readers to continue the story with Sonic Archives Volume 20
Release Dates:
- Volume 1: October 2011
- Volume 2: November 2012
- Volume 3: January 2014
- Volume 4: December 2014
Issues Reprinted:
- Volume 1: Sonic the Hedgehog (Miniseries) #0-3, Archie Sonic the Hedgehog (Main Series) #1-16
- Volume 2: Archie Sonic the Hedgehog #17-36
- Volume 3: Archie Sonic the Hedgehog #36-49, #51-54, Sonic Super Special #4-6
- Volume 4: Archie Sonic the Hedgehog #55-74
Cancellation:
As stated, Legacy is one of the few exceptions to the rule when it came to Archie Sonic's graphic novel history, being cancelled well before the massive bouts of hiatuses and delays that would effect the other books spanning out from Archie Sonic and Mega Man.
Legacy was one of the other main books attempting to completely collect Archie Sonic's history, and managed to catch up to Archives at a absolutely staggering rate, with a potential Volume 5 possibly putting it very close to Archives' collections (which at the time of Volume 4's release, Archives was about to release it's 24th volume, which would place the series at #91, which going at Legacy's rate - Volume 5 would also put it roughly around there).
If it was due to poor sales, or because it's increasing possibility of overtaking Archives' rate of collecting the books, no one really knows why Legacy ended up canned, but the fact Volume 4 was turned into a digital only release would suggest Archie didn't really see any reason to even trying to give it a physical release, leaving Volume 3 as the final physical release from the series. Furthermore, Legacy Vol 4's digital release also means it was effected hardest by Archie's loss of the publishing licence, and later - the shutdown of their comic app.
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