Summer of Sonic: Nigel Kitching Interview

The lack of a Q&A session at Summer of Sonic was only a minor disappointment. The session had to be skipped as other events either went on longer than planned but after the fantastic music set performed by Richard Jacques, Lee Brotherton, TJ Davis many people didn’t seem to mind. The guests were around at the event but the three I’ve mentioned were swamped with fans meaning I couldn’t get a word in edge ways. But while there was a bit of disappointment there I did manage to get a very small interview with the guest I wanted to talk to the most; Nigel Kitching! It was short because of the queue of STC fans behind me, all with murder in their eyes as I took valuable comic-book signing time away from them…

Thanks for taking the time to talk to me today. I was a huge fan of Sonic The Comic as a child and collected it as often as I could. Firstly, how did you get started with the comic?
I got a phonecall from Richard Burton just offering me the chance to submit a script idea for the comic and it started from there. Before that, when you do a comic you do a dummy comic first which you submit to the publishers, or to Sega in this case, to get the go ahead. I actually drew the cover for the dummy issue.

Was that issue zero? I tried looking everywhere for that…
I haven’t got one but it was produced. It’s only like the first issue with a different cover and other bits missing really. So nothing new in there.

How much freedom did you have with the storylines? Did you have any restrictions put on you by Sega?
We had our work vetted by Sega. So things like; I had Knuckles in a bar once and that caused a bit of an upset. It got published but they weren’t to happy about the alcohol thing. They were very careful with Sonic and his character but for Decap Attack they couldn’t care less, I just did whatever I wanted which is why I had murders in there.

Who’s idea was it for the storyline showing the creation of Sonic from a brown hedgeho

g into the blue one we all know and love?
Thats really confused because there was some tiny comic made in America who had that story and it also appeared in a book called Space Sonic. So early on I felt quite obliged to stick with some of that stuff. So it was their idea and it was adapted by me to fit in with the comic book

It’s interesting how that story has stuck with a lot of fans. The most recent issue of Games Master even make reference to it…
Did you have any input into turning Dr Robotnik from his original game design to the “Adventures of Sonic The Hedgehog” cartoon form?
Yeah, I was asked to do that. I came up with the metamorphosis story where he burst from an egg in the new form.

I was a big fan of the Robotnik from the game rather than the cartoon…
That was from the cartoon was it? I never really realized! We just got a new style guide to work to, but yes, we were asked to do that (by Sega)

What was your favorite story ark? I liked the Brotherhood of Metallix…
My favorite story… I really liked “Running Wild” (TSSZ Note: Sonic fights with the demon Super Sonic) and the final thing I did, the Chaotix stuff I enjoyed. The Metallix thing was fun too, which basically was my version of the Daleks. Thats what I was thinking of at the time. Emperor Metallix and Emperor of the Daleks, it was a similar thing.

Well it was very nice to meet you. Your stories made an 8-9 year old Paul very happy.
Thanks!

This post was originally written by the author for TSSZ News.