Nigel Kitching interview by Paul Street (August 11, 2008)
From Sonic Retro
This is an interview conducted by Paul Street, with Nigel Kitching. The interview concerns the European Sonic the Comic.
The Interview
Paul Street: 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?
Nigel Kitching: 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.
Paul Street: Was that issue zero? I tried looking everywhere for that…
Nigel Kitching: 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.
Paul Street: How much freedom did you have with the storylines? Did you have any restrictions put on you by Sega?
Nigel Kitching: 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.
Paul Street: Who’s idea was it for the storyline showing the creation of Sonic from a brown hedgehog into the blue one we all know and love?
Nigel Kitching: 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
Paul Street: 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?
Nigel Kitching: Yeah, I was asked to do that. I came up with the metamorphosis story where he burst from an egg in the new form.
Paul Street: I was a big fan of the Robotnik from the game rather than the cartoon…
Nigel Kitching: 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).
Paul Street: What was your favorite story ark? I liked the Brotherhood of Metallix…
Nigel Kitching: My favorite story… I really liked “Running Wild” 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.
Paul Street: Well it was very nice to meet you. Your stories made an 8-9 year old Paul very happy.
Nigel Kitching: Thanks!