Geoffrey St. John
From Sonic Retro
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| Geoffrey St. John |
|---|
| First seen: Sonic the Hedgehog #20 (1994) |
| Species: Skunk |
| Gender: Male |
| Series: Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie comics) |
| Created by: Ken Penders, Mike Kanterovich[1] |
Geoffrey St. John is a character appearing in Archie Comics' various Sonic the Hedgehog publications. A roguish Mobian skunk who's served as the leader of the Rebel Underground, the commander of the Royal Secret Service and an apprentice of Ixis Naugus, he is frequently depicted to be at odds with Sonic the Hedgehog and the Freedom Fighters.
Character conception
During the development of the Sonic the Hedgehog Presents: Princess Sally mini-series, its writers Mike Kanterovich and Ken Penders came up the idea of introducing a new potential love interest for Sally, competing against Sonic for her affections. The writers decided to make the character a skunk with an accent as a tribute to the Looney Tunes character Pepé Le Pew, albeit with a British accent as opposed to Pepé's French one in order to avoid comparisons to Antoine D'Coolette. This choice of accent further inspired the writers to make the character a secret agent akin to James Bond,[1] with actor Sean Connery's portrayal of him being a particular inspiration.[2]
Penders initially suggested to give the character a name inspired by the Christian martyr Saint George, which later evolved into Geoffrey St. John.[1]
For Sonic the Hedgehog #130, Geoffrey was redesigned with a new, more tactical outfit by penciller Jeff Axer. According to Axer, this design was unpopular with the rest of Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog staff due to how time-consuming it was to draw.[3] For Sonic the Hedgehog #220, Geoffrey was given back his classic outfit.
Also in Sonic the Hedgehog #220, Geoffrey was revealed to be a servant of Ixis Naugus. This aspect of the character came from writer Ian Flynn, who felt that it fit Geoffrey due to how inconsistently he had been written over the years.[4] Penders has been critical of this narrative development, accusing Flynn of not understanding the character.[5]
History
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Personality
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Abilities
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Legacy
As with every other character created by Penders, Geoffrey was removed from all of Archie's Sonic publications throughout 2012 and 2013, with Sonic the Hedgehog #241 marking his last appearance in a new story (He was given a nameless mention in Sonic the Hedgehog #247, however). Later he was planned to appear on the cover of Sonic Select Book Seven, but was replaced with Espio the Chameleon for the book's release.
Geoffrey has since continued to appear in Penders' original graphic novel series, The Lara-Su Chronicles, with its fifth book set to give him a prominent narrative role.[6][7] According to Penders, several aspects of the character introduced by other writers, such as his romantic relationship with Hershey the Cat, will not be carried over from his depiction in the Sonic series.[8][9]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 http://www.kenpenders.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2629&start=100#p50843 (Wayback Machine: 2016-07-13 22:12)
- ↑ @KenPenders on X (archive.today)
- ↑ https://www.deviantart.com/jayaxer/journal/Archie-Sonic-Stories-about-Archie-Sonic-Stories-645302765 (Wayback Machine: 2023-06-30 11:09)
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNG4BUm5dX4 (Ghostarchive)
- ↑ @KenPenders on X (archive.today)
- ↑ @KenPenders on X (archive.today)
- ↑ @KenPenders on X (archive.today)
- ↑ @KenPenders on X (archive.today)
- ↑ @KenPenders on X (archive.today)