Sonic the Comic, 25 Years On – celebratory gathering in Manchester in June

By John Freeman on May 14, 2018

Sonic the Comic is celebrating being 25 years young this year with a one-day convention / gathering in Manchester on the 3rd June 2018, organised by the team behind much-loved title’s unofficial continuation online.

STC (as it’s usually known) was launched on 29th May 1993 and ran for nearly a decade and a very creditable 223 fortnightly issues, featuring work by artists such as Mick McMahon, Richard Elson, Nigel Kitching, Lew Stringer and Jon Haward.

Sonic the Comic art by Nigel Kitching for Issue 52

Funds for the convention were raised by a successful Kickstarter campaign, which included rewards such as a t-shirt with a design by original STC artist Richard Elson.

Guests on the day include artists Nigel Kitching, Richard Elson, cover artist Carl Flint, Nigel Kitching and Lew Stringer.

Sonic the Comic – Anniversary T-Shirt by Richard Elson

The convention takes place at Manchester’s FAB Café, the world’s first cult TV and movie theme bar. The café has the capacity for 100 attendees in the main area and is ideally situated in central Manchester about a 10-minute walk from Piccadilly train station.

“Throughout the day there will be some Q&As with our special guests and hopefully a few fun little mini-events like STC bingo or something,” says organiser Michael Corker.

“There will also be plenty of time to chat with our special guests, those of us from STC Online, and to catch-up with all the other boomers attending!

“The FAB Café itself is open until 11.00pm that evening and we have been told we’re welcome to stay until then if some of you are staying in Manchester and fancy partying the night away!”

STC Issue 274 is available online now, with Issue 275 coming soon.

• STC25 – Celebrating 25 years of Sonic the Comic – a day-long celebration of the UK’s Sonic the Comic and its online continuation: Sonic the Comic Online 11.00am – 5.00pm Saturday 3rd June 2018 FAB Café, Portland St, Manchester, UK, M1 6DN. More details about the Sonic the Comic convention here on Facebook

• Sonic the Comic fan site is online at www.stconline.co.uk

• Check the FAB Café out on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/fabcafemanc/

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.