Webcomic / Ghosts of the Future

This artwork was created around the comic's first year.

Ghosts of the Future is a Sonic the Hedgehog fan comic written and illustrated by Evan Stanley (a writer and artist on the official Sonic comics, both Archie and IDW versions), co-written since issue 10 by Tom Campbell (aka Okida, the creator of Sonic the Continuation), and colored since issue 18 by Reggie Graham (another IDW Sonic artist). It started on September 24, 2007. Presumably due to Evan Stanley being busy working on the official Sonic franchise, the comic has been in a quiet indefinite hiatus since January 7, 2021.

It's 200 years after the deaths of Sonic and his best friends and the removal of the Chaos Emeralds from the main universe. Silver the Hedgehog is just an ordinary kid living in San Francisco and working at a small Chinese restaurant in the Friendly Local Chinatown, until he starts having strange dreams. Then he meets the immortal Shadow, who is being guided by the ghost of Sonic, and learns that he must now retrieve the Chaos Emeralds from The Multiverse to prevent the destruction of the main universe. Along the way, he will have to help Sonic's ghost confront his horrible memories, help Shadow overcome his guilt, and help himself deal with his feelings for his best friend and coworker, Blaze. They also encounter a centuries-long sinister project by a powerful force...

The comics can all be found Evan Stanley's DeviantArt gallery and the Middle Ground, a Sonic fancomic site. If you'd like the comics to be read along to, you can check out the official motion comic version of the first two issues and these fan dubs (another one).

Now has a character and recap page.

Not to be confused with the The Incredible Hulk arc of the same name, Ghosts of the Past, or the Ghost of the Christmas Yet to Come. See also The Murder of Me, another popular Sonic the Hedgehog fancomic which is also a Dark Fic with a supernatural flavor and starring the three hedgehogs as the protagonists. It is also created by a red-haired Promoted Fan, albeit named Gigi Dutreix, and Stanley is in fact best friends with them.

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Tropes of the Future:

Please note that links to lore (aka Word of God) may have spoilers. You Have Been Warned!

• Aborted Arc: The Storybook arc would've gone to Sonic and the Black Knight and not ended so suddenly if it weren't for the fact it was improvised and didn't drive the main plot.
  Lea Kane: Well. You see. The thing is. There's this trope. Called Aborted Arc. We were GONNA but it didn't fit in with how the plot ended up going so on the cutting room floor it goes.
• All Myths Are True: According to lore, some concepts of several real-world mythologies are references to the Ancient Echidnas as the Hybrids (Funny Animals in this comic). (For your information, Earth's history in Ghosts of the Future is nearly same as real history.)
• Alternate Universe Fic: The comic takes place in a universe where Sonic and his friends are killed off and the Chaos Emeralds are erased from the timeline. The Multiverse also shows up.
• Alternate Self: Occasionally pops up. The Arabian Nights world has Schehrazade (Elise, actually in the Lost Prologue), Ali Baba (Tails), Sinbad (Knuckles), Morgianna (Amy), Uhu (Shadow), Fouh (Blaze), and the Sorceress of the Black Isle (Rouge). Moebius has Scourge (Sonic) and Antique (Tikal). According to lore, Blaze has her canon counterpart in the Sol Dimension, the one who is briefly seen in a quick Flashback in issue 4. The Sonic the Continuation world has well-alive counterparts of Sonic and Eggman.
• Animesque: The first few issues are rendered in manga style and the humans in those issues have animesque eyes.
• Anyone Can Die: The comic starts with Tails and Knuckles dead and keeps going from there.
• Apathetic Citizens: According to lore, citizens are in denial concerning fantastical disasters related to Chaos Energy due to their gradual development. Reminds you of a common attitude towards climate change?
• Appropriate Animal Attire: Sonic is always an Accessory Wearing, Silver wears accessories in issues 2, 14 and 15, and Shadow wears them since issue 16, but almost everyone else in any other circumstance (sans male characters in Flashbacks to 200 years ago, including Shadow) is fully clothed. Even Shadow previously wore pants but not a shirt in the vein of Walking Shirtless Scene. Sonic also wears increasing amounts of jewelry, which correlates with how many Chaos Emeralds he has found.
  (from Shadow's 2008 notes) In this world's society, an animal going out with no clothes is like seeing someone in a clown suit; not illegal, but pretty weird. So, Shadow must now wear pants.
• Armies Are Evil: When Nicole infiltrated it and took over, G.U.N. turned into an evil military organization operating as the corrupt Secret Police and serving only Nicole. Not only did they raid the Space Colony ARK and kill almost everyone aboard, but they're also responsible for the existence of Silver and his Hybrid family and friends, although only for their own malicious reasons. Their production involved manipulating human women, most of whom were impoverished and from developing countries, into being the Hybrids' surrogate mothers under Questionable consent. They suppressed all evidence of their misdeeds, as well as supernatural phenomena, from public knowledge.
• Art Evolution: The later issues of the comic don't look like the early ones. The first few issues look like an average attempt at manga, before the series began evolving nice lineart, blended shading, and lighting starting at later pages of issue 4, and finally adapted a graphic novel quality at issue 10 that grew more attractive and well-done lineart, colors, and shading as time went on. Additionally, the characters shifted from overly humanoid proportions to canon Sonic proportions in the Special Stage section in issue 10. Just look at this comparasion between the early art and the drastically improved later art. It evolved so much so that Evan Stanley, the creator, was hired by Archie to work on their Sonic comic, and later hired again by IDW.
• Art Shift: The cover and Special Zone scene in issue 10 uses visible pencil lineart (due to lack of time), way brighter colors, and softer shading to reflect the bright and dreamlike tone as contrasted to the rest of issue 10.
• Atomic F-Bomb:
  • An issue 2 extra comic, which retells the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 intro, has Sonic shout "Gawd dammit Knuckles!" when Knuckles stops his Super form and steals his green Chaos Emerald from him.
  • Issue 11 gives us a loud, uncensored "Well, shit!" from Scourge.
  • Issue 14 has Shadow scream "DAMN!" when coming up for breath from the deep water pit.
• Author Appeal: Evan Stanley really likes ghosts, so this fan comic is a work of Ghost Fiction.
• Backstory Horror: The history of the Hybrids, particularly the period 200 years ago, as explained in the lore is Darker and Edgier than the comic, which is already a Dark Fic itself, to the point Evan Stanley attached a Content Warning and refused to go into further detail. The origin of the Hybrids in modern times, including Sonic and many other canon characters, involves G.U.N. exploiting human women, many of whom were poor and from developing countries, by recruiting them to bear the Hybrids under the offer of free healthcare and pensions for them and their families, so that G.U.N. could have superpowered transhumans to raise as Tyke Bombs for wicked purposes. When the breeding program was exposed to the public and subsequently shut down, G.U.N. discarded their Hybrids with little care, leaving them to be discriminated by the humans. Finally, they covered up the original history with an immensely abridged and Bowdlerised version.
  Evan Stanley: ...As you can see, this is all VERY off-tone for a story like GOTF. GOTF deals with some heavy themes, but they're on a more interpersonal level. Issues like personhood, civil rights, child abuse, and predjudice/racism [sic] just can't be an afterthought. This is more for me, understanding the behind-the-scenes logic of the world.
• Bad Future: Inverted. The Future Silver lives in is much better than the "present" Sonic lived in, where he and the Hybrids faced crushing Fantastic Racism from the humans.
  (from this Tumblr post) (Also happily, the situation is way, way better in Silver’s time. Not perfect, but lightyears better than Sonic's day)
• Belly Mouth: The Fusion Dance of Light and Dark Gaia takes the form of a humanoid obese creature with a large fanged mouth in its belly.
• Blood Knight:
  • Omega openly admits to hoping a plan will go wrong so he can fight some mooks.
    Omega: I am detecting the approach of multiple G.U.N. units. Hopefully hostile. (roof collapses, showing approaching robots) Things have gone south. (narrows eyes in glee) Excellent.
  • Sonic of all people becomes one whenever Badniks show up. At one point Tikal has to actually force him to stop attacking after he gets a little too excited in a battle; Sonic doesn’t even realize what he’s doing until she snaps him out of it.
• Bloody Horror: Played in full force at the Downer Beginning in issue 1 when we see Sonic covered in ugly bloody wounds and slowly dying and Tails' and Knuckles' corpses in blood puddles, in issue 3 when we see Tails' bloody corpse in more detail, in issue 8 when Vennie is mauled by Metal Sonic and has blood leak out of her body and mouth, in issue 9 when we see the same Metal Sonic with bloodstains over him, and in issue 17 when Metallix impales Silver's hands, which results in Silver spilling a gallon of blood over himself, the floor, and Blaze.
  Evan Stanley: (regarding the issue 17 incident) Oh, man… This was tough to draw. I’m not as bloodthirsty as I used to be.
• Breather Episode: After an intense string of Wham Episodes, issue 16 is a quiet, introspective story about the heroes remembering the people they've lost and reflecting on all that's happened.
• Call-Back: Many references are made to Sonic's previous adventures in the game series, especially Sonic and the Secret Rings. Intentional, as Evan Stanley said it's her favorite game.
• The Cameo:
  • Several characters from The Middle Ground, the webcomic site that hosts Ghosts, appear as background characters.
  • The girl above Scourge in the cover of issue 11 is supposed to be a Hybrid version of Meg Finn from The Wish List, one of Stanley's favorite books.
• Censor Shadow: The Sorceress of the Black Isle's naked Darkwing form has a shadow covering up the groin, though her breasts are uncovered and uncensored, albeit the nipples are rudimentary to the point they look like simple bumps).
• Creator Cameo: Evan's echid-fox persona briefly appears at the Gold Ring Chinese restaurant in issue 8.
• Creator Provincialism: Ghosts of the Future usually takes place both in or near the Bay Area in California, where Evan Stanley grew up and lives in. Specifically, the several early issues take place in San Francisco, and Silver's family's home and mansion are confirmed to be located near Brookdale, Santa Cruz Country (Stanley specifically grew up in Santa Cruz) and Half Moon Bay respectively.
• Continuity Cavalcade: The headquarters of the New Chaotix is littered with numerous items, gadgets, and robots from past Sonic games.
• Crossover: Issue 17 and 18 are a cross-over between Ghosts of the Future and Sonic the Continuation, a Sonic the Comic fancomic by Okida, Ghosts's co-writer.
• Curse Cut Short: Another Character Interrupts example. In issue 15, Scourge calls Antique a "crazy bit--" and is interrupted by Silver. Silver's speech bubble covers up most of the "bit—".
• Dark Fic: The fancomic is noticeably more depressing and sometimes grislier than the Sonic the Hedgehog canon, beginning with Sonic and his friends being bloodily massacred by a mind-controlled Shadow and following that up with the trauma and guilt Sonic's ghost and Shadow suffer. The fancomic features content inappropriate for children to accompany the darkness, such as mild profanity,occasionally stronger profanity, and sexual innuendo. There's even rudimentary partial nudity.
  Evan Stanley: Back then I didn’t [know I probably can't do that better]. That’s what got me started on fancomics; I looooved the bigger, darker fancomics on Sonic Verse Team, DeviantArt, and the original Summer of Sonic website. Combine that with lingering hype for Sonic '06's plot and and [sic] themes from some of my fave stories in general, and what GOTF would come to be formed.
• Death of a Child: Tails is bloodily killed at the very beginning. We then get a look at his gruesome corpse when Sonic tearfully thinks about how he failed to save an eight-year-old child.
• De-power: Due to the discrimination of Chaos-mutated (read: superpowered) Hybrids, Silver and Vennie had their powers suppressed as babies and would not have them re-enabled until their teenage years. Blaze's power was suppressed via removal of her forehead gem after she accidentally killed her mother as a young child.
• Detail-Hogging Cover: The covers of the later issues are incredibly shaded to look realistic (here's an example◊), while the comic has graphic-novel-standard coloring and shading.
• Distant Prologue: The story opens with Sonic losing against Eggman and becoming a spirit, then skips ahead 200 years to the present day.
• Downer Beginning: The comic starts off with Sonic and his bestest friends being bloodily massacred by a mind-controlled Shadow.
• Dreaming of Times Gone By: The intro, and a recurring dream for Silver in chapter 1.
• The End of the World as We Know It: What will happen if the Chaos Emeralds aren't returned to the mortal realm. Specifically, the whole universe will basically break and stop working.
• Evil Colonialist: G.U.N. exploited human women in developing countries by offering them free healthcare and pensions, which were extremely valuable in those areas, for them and their loved ones, if, in exchange, they decided to bear human-animal Hybrids.
• Evilutionary Biologist: G.U.N. wanted to have superpowered transhumans to use as weapons for their immoral causes and settled on the Designer Baby route, so they created artificial sperm mutated with Chaos Energy and impregnated human women who had given dubious consent, in order to produce the Hybrids.
• Face–Heel Turn: The entire G.U.N. organization has been corrupted into a tyrannical military force by Nicole after she infiltrated and took control of them.
• Fan Disservice: The Sorceress of the Black Isle's Darkwing form is intended to evoke this effect. She's naked with uncovered breasts not affected by the Censor Shadow, but the overly muscular, masculine body makes the form disturbing rather than arousing.
• Fantastic Racism: According to lore, after G.U.N. shut down their breeding program, Hybrids, being Designer Tyke Bombs, had a long and hard time integrating into human society. They were mainly treated as second-class citizens, or "little better than dangerous animals", with the only lucky ones being kids who were Happily Adopted by families who did not dehumanize them, like what happened to Tails and Amy. While different countries offered different experiences, the United States offered an experience that is reminiscent of their real history of immigration and racism. While Sally Acorn led a Hybrid rights activists group that her SatAM friends were part of, Sonic's heroism was what helped highlight and lower the fantastic discrimination towards Hybrids.
• Full-Frontal Assault: The Sorceress of the Black Isle fights Sonic in her naked Darkwing form.
• Funny Background Event:
  • Sonic's funny-looking surprised face in the second flashback in issue 15 when Rouge interrupts Shadow's plan to flee the New Chaotix.
  • Vennie's silly Black Bead Eyes emoji-like face in the background of the party scene in issue 16.
• Friendly Local Chinatown: Silver and Blaze work at a Chinese restaurant in San Francisco's Chinatown. (To be precise, Silver is participating in a hands-on homeschool project.)
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: There are some people you don't want to upset. Such as Sonic...
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!: "DO YOU FRUITCAKES HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT TIME IS IS?"
• Government Conspiracy: G.U.N.'s breeding program was kept a secret, until it was exposed to the public. Then they covered it up again by suppressing the original history of the Hybrids. In general, G.U.N. is operating as the Secret Police under Nicole.
• Gratuitous Foreign Language: In issue 7, Shadow says an Arabic-sounding phrase in phonetic language, "Y falazas, i ees serak! Y falazas i ees serak!" (at least "i ees serak" is Arabic for "is stolen"), which is based on a summoning chant used in both Sonic Storybook games. Evan Stanley stated that her present self would be more sensitive about using gratuitous foreign language she isn't familiar with.
• Gratuitous Japanese: Issue 10 is titled "Masakatsu Agatsu" ("True Victory; Self Victory").^note In fact, it's one of the aikido concepts, and Evan has taken aikido classes.
• Gratuitous Spanish:
  • "Mi casa"^note "My house" appears twice inside a frame in the Chaotix Detective Agency in issue 12.
  • Issue 16: "Luces en mi Sombre"^note "Lights in my Shadow", appropriately for how the issue is centered around the Day of the Dead.
    • This conversation within (Sonic and Shadow are fluent in Spanish due to them hiding in Latin America for a while; in Shadow's confirmed case, approximately a century):
    Shadow: ¡Vamos! Sólo uno de nosotros puedo volar, y no soy yo.^note Come on! One one of us here can fly, and it’s not me.
    Sonic: No sé...^note I dunno…
    Shadow: ¡Maldita sea, Sonic! ¡Esta fue tu idea! ^note Dammit, Sonic! This was your idea!
    Sonic: Sí, pero... ¿Sera demasiado? ^note Yes, but... Will it be too?
    Shadow: Si lo es, da igual.^note If it is, it does not matter. It's a party. Quit worrying and enjoy it.
    Silver: Guys...? It's 4 in the morning and you're arguing over flowers in Spanish. Just, like, why?!
    Sonic: What? Oh—force'a habit here.
    • In issue 16, Sonic tells Shadow to "callate"^note "shut up" when he notices Sonic and Tikal together and smirks.
  • In issue 18, Shadow speaks Spanish to Fleetway Sonic.
    Shadow: Sonic, no quiero charlar con este... impostor. Si puedes escucharme, dame una señal.^note Sonic, I don't want to chat with thi ... imposter. If you can hear me, give me a sign.
    Fleetway Sonic: "Imposter?" You calling me a faker, faker? I'll show you who's the fake hedgehog around here!
• Half-Human Hybrid: The Funny Animal characters here are essentially Transhuman-type human-animal hybrids created as the result of gene mutations by Chaos Energy. In fact, they are called Hybrids in-universe. They were first created with gradual Bio-Augmentation by the "Ancient Echidnas", and then as an Artifical Hedgehog and Designer Babies with LEGO Genetics by G.U.N. to be superpowered Tyke Bombs.
• Hero of Another Story: The Fleetway Sonic and Omni-Viewer show up during one of the expeditions into the Special Zone, having their own adventure while our heroes search for a Chaos Emerald.
• Holiday Episode: Issue 16 is themed after the Day of the Dead. To top it off, it was published from October 1 to November 1 on a much faster Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule.
• Humanity Is Infectious: Not humanity, but the same basic principle; being powered up by Sonic’s spirit has the unexpected side effect of granting Metal Sonic self-awareness and morality.
• Humanlike Hand Anatomy: Taken to the next level beyond Sonic, for the fact that the Hybrids have humanlike nails, most of the time.
• Humanlike Foot Anatomy: Similar to their hands, they have humanlike feet with humanlike nails, generally.
• Hypocrite: Blaze is furious upon learning how many secrets Silver has been keeping from her, despite her being a member of the New Chaotix and keeping just as many secrets from him. Silver calls her out on this and she admits that he's right. They both agree to never keep secrets from each other again.
• Impaled Palm: In issue 17, Metallix grabs ahold of Silver's hands and impales them with his sharp thumbs. Plenty of blood flows.
• Internal Retcon: Nicole has G.U.N. suppress anything from public knowledge if it interferes with her Government Conspiracy. Examples include:
  • According to lore and issue 17, G.U.N. suppressed the original history of the Hybrids (Ancient Echidnas, Project Shadow, Fantastic Racism against the Hybrids, Sonic and co's adventures and fights against Eggman), because of "that Nicole lady pulling their strings" and only provided a highly Bowdlerized and simplified version, with all of the repugnant and horrific parts edited out, for the people to learn. Only the New Chaotix, including Silver's parents, as well as Sonic, Shadow, and Tikal, know some of the true history each. Sonic is furious about G.U.N.'s cover-up of the original history of the Hybrids and will talk your head off about Hybrid rights aggressively whenever he gets an opportunity.
  • G.U.N. also covered up the existence of supernatural forces, allowing religions to survive.
• I'll Kill You!: The Sorceress screams this in large, bold italics at Silver when the Chaos Emerald is teleported suddenly to Silver thanks to Schehrazade's writing.
• Killed Off for Real: Amy, Knuckles, and Tails are dead before the comic even starts. Eggman dies shortly after via a Neck Snap from Shadow. Rouge and Omega are eventually revealed to have died at Moebius at some point. Scourge and Antique aren't explicitly shown dying, but the ending of issue 15 pretty much assures they do. Likewise, a flashback reveals Fiona was killed in the past as well.
• Lions and Tigers and Humans... Oh, My!: Humans and human-animal Hybrids co-exist. Eggman the human is shown in the first issue and Maria and the Commander are referenced to in the comic. Issue 8 shows a few human characters as cameos, one who is a Little Bit Beastly. Issue 16 shows plenty of humans and some Hybrids together in a Flashback. They didn't get along at first, as the Backstory Horror shows.
• Location Theme Naming: The Erin children are named after real Italian locations. Venice and Sicily are two examples, and did you know Silver's real name is Florence?
• The Lost Lenore: Sonic clearly misses Amy and regrets not being able to save her, even apologizing to her Arabian Nights counterpart. However, he’s begun to move on from it. Shadow is also devastated by his loss of Rouge when he finds out what happened to her. Big points go to Scourge's heaps of remorse for making a Deal with the Devil and losing everyone, including Fiona, all because he slapped her.
• Magic Genetics: According to lore, Hybrids were created by mutating genes with Chaos Energy to have extraordinary superpowered abilities that could be useful for G.U.N..
• The Magic Goes Away: After the Chaos Emeralds were sent away from Earth, the number of Hybrids born with special abilities dropped to almost nothing, and if they aren't brought back, the universe will essentially grind to a screeching halt.
• Mature Animal Story: Yes, Ghosts of the Future may star your favorite Funny Animal characters from Sonic the Hedgehog, but it's a comic for older Sonic fans and a Dark Fic, with bloodshed, (usually) mild profanity, sexual innuendo, and partial nudity (albeit tame-looking) to prove it. Not to mention the Backstory Horror: It's revealed that the creation of the modern Funny Animals, or Hybrids, (yes, they were transhuman Designer Babies) was made possible through the manipulation of human women by offering them and their loved ones free healthcare and pensions if they consented to bear the Hybrids.
• Mercy Kill: Shadow's Arabian Nights counterpart, Uhu, is forced to do this to Blaze's counterpart, Fouh, by slitting her throat, much to Silver's horror. Sonic tries to reassure him by pointing out the Arabian Nights world is basically fake, but Silver isn't entirely convinced.
• The Mirror Shows Your True Self: In issue 18, when Fleetway Sonic passes by a mirror, Sonic's ghost is seen in the mirror, showing he is possessing his Fleetway counterpart.
• Modern Stasis: The world 200 years in the past and in Silver's timeline doesn't look all that different, with similar architecture and technology.
• Moment Killer: In issue 14, after Blaze confesses to Silver about her powers, Silver and Blaze share a tearjerking hug and spend time together alone, until Scourge sneaks up onto them.
  Scourge: Oh, don't let me stop you! By the by, you blew it kid. Shoulda gone for a kiss.
• Monochrome Past: Sonic and Shadow's Flashbacks are rendered in grayscale, except for the end of the flashback in issue 16 which signifies Shadow warming up to Sonic's idea of a Day of the Dead celebration. Scourge and Fiona's flashback in issue 15 is rendered in yellow monochrome.
• Mood Whiplash: In issue 15, Shadow comes across the petrified and slightly broken remains on Rouge and Omega in Moebius, which is sad. The flashback then plays which shows off a string of funny faces and Omega's funny line. Okida even lampshades this in the excerpt from the writer's chatlog.
  Okida: And here I get back to making witty observations. Behold the page of tone whiplash. Look at Rouge's frozen face, then immediately look at Vector's face at the bottom. Then feel your emotions bounce like a yoyo.
• Muggle Power: According to lore, in present day, Chaos-muted (aka superpowered) Hybrids are considered dangerous and thus discriminated against, so Silver's and Vennie's powers were suppressed.
• The Multiverse: The Special Zone permits travel between realities in the Multiverse. The characters travel to Moebius and later encounter the Fleetway version of Sonic.
• Mythology Gag: Metal Sonic's gradual change into Shard reflects a similar character arc that the original Metal Sonic from the Archie comics underwent.
  • Fleetway Sonic and the Omni-Viewer use British accents and slang, alluding to the fact that they originate from a British comic.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Despite Sonic and Shadow doing regular ceromonies, plenty of disasters related to Chaos Energy have happened "because Sonic and Shadow aren’t that good at their job…"
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: If Nicole hadn't tried to use Sonic's ghost as a power source for Metal Sonic, Metal likely wouldn't have been capable of his Heel–Face Turn, let alone willing to do it.
• Nipple and Dimed: Downplayed in issue 6, in which the Sorceress' naked Darkwing transformation shows her nipples, which look more like plain bumps due to lack of detail.
• No-Sell: Nicole's mind controlling nanites can be no-selled if a spirit is already possessing the victim, as discovered when Sonic stopped her from controlling Shadow by doing just that.
• Nothing Is Funnier: During the mansion search montage in issue 16, Tikal can be seen looking into the toilet. We never see what's in there, but she's visibly surprised.
• Official Couple:
  • Vector and Vanilla, according to lore.
  • Also, Sicily and Metal Sonic.
• Oh, My Gods!:
  • Tikal is the only one to invoke Chaos' name, which is a common usage of this trope in Sonic fanworks. Others simply invoke God's name, except for Sonic who uses minced oaths "because he's a Good Boy".
  • Sonic says "Judas Preist [sic]" in issue 6.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • Nicole's Faux Affably Evil demeanor has broken exactly once: when Shadow managed to No-Sell her mind control attempt.
• Our Ghosts Are Different: Much information about ghosts in this work of Ghost Fiction are found in the lore.
  • Typical ghosts, such as the one of Sonic, are known as Chaos Spirits and are created either through a special Chaos Control ritual (Sonic, Tikal, Antique) or by dying while filled with Chaos Energy (Vennie, Scourge), which makes them extremely rare. A creation of a Chaos Spirit usually destroys the physical body to prevent Doppelgänger situations, but Tikal and Vennie still have theirs.^note While Vennie's ghost can enter and repossess her physical body, Tikal cannot, as the brain's higher functions are permanently damaged.
  • Chaos Spirits glow like usual and have the usual abilities of Flight, Invisibility, Intangibility^note Chaos Spirits are semi-tangible by default, which means things can fall from them if they're not careful, and Possession, but Sonic gains more jewelry for every Chaos Emerald he gains and can unleash bursts of energy to dissipate Scourge's spirit temporarily. Chaos Spirit can alternate between normal feet and Fog Feet (with the exception of Vennie's ghost, who remains with Fog Feet permanently) and transform into an orb of light.
  • Chaos Spirits are actually copies of the original body's brain and nervous system rendered in Chaos Energy (or in Scourge's case, Moebius' counterpart, Anarchy Energy), and infinite perfect copies can be made of them.
  • Unlike typical ghosts in fiction, Chaos Spirits are not permanent, though they usually last a few thousand years. When nearing their end, they start very, very slowly turning into Soulless Shells by losing their memory, then their sense of identity, then their physical identity, and then finally their sentience, and finally dissolve back to Chaos Energy at their end. Their period can be shortened by repeated mental stress (a Despair Event Horizon can outright "kill" them) and injury (known as "peeling" or "fraying").
  • For the other ghosts, the Sandopolis Ghosts are lesser guardian ghosts created by the ancient Echidnas and have become Soulless Shells, and Lah, Su, Uh are accidental ghosts of humans who died while filled with Chaos Energy and have Unfinished Business.
• Our Souls Are Different: According to lore, souls are what make up a person's life experience and can be made into an entity (aka ghosts). Like ghosts, they are not permanent.
  I call this segment “let’s talk about Evan’s personal spiritual beliefs thinly disguised as Sonic fan-lore"
• Our Werebeasts Are Different:
  • Sonic's werehog form makes a brief appearance.
  • Silver's mom is able to turn into a werehog at will thanks to a mysterious artifact she found years ago.
• Pietà Plagiarism: At the end of the Secret Rings arc, Uhu cradles Fouh's corpse after Mercy Killing her.
• Plot-Triggering Death: It all starts with a mind-controlled Shadow killing off Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy...
• Power Incontinence: When she was young, Blaze had zero control of her powers and they would flare up whenever she got too emotional. Her mother died in one of the fires she inadvertently started.
• Powered by a Forsaken Child: Nicole uses Sonic's first spirit as a makeshift power source for Metal Sonic, which has the unintended effect of giving Metal Sonic a conscience.
• Precision F-Strike:
  • In issue 6, Uhu calls the Sorceress a "Bitch [sic]" when she reveals that she has enslaved Fouh under her control. This is strong for a comic which generally uses mild profanity.
  • Scourge Flips the Bird to Silver in issue 10 and to his "boss" in issue 15.
  • In issue 11, Scourge shouts "Well, shit!" uncensored, upon finding Shadow fighting Metal Sonic. This is way strong for a comic which usually censors strong profanity with Symbol Swearing.
  • In issue 15, Scourge calls Antique a "crazy bit--". Also in issue 15, Vennie calls Silver a "dink", which is synonmous with "dick" in both definitions.
  • The earlier version of issue 15 has Scourge calling Vennie's plan "shitty" without any censor, which still can be found on the Middle Ground. The later version censors this with Symbol Swearing.
• Questionable Consent: Type A example. According to lore, G.U.N. recruited a myriad of human women for their breeding program by offering them a few months of free healthcare and pensions for them and their families. Most of the women were poor and from developing countries. The fact that many of them were impoverished and desperate for the valuables, the sentence "This [their feelings about the program] changed as they learned just what was being done to them.", and G.U.N.'s evil in general tells that while they did give consent, it wasn't of okay standards.
• Recursive Canon: Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics) are unlicensed political satire comics in-universe from Sonic's days. Also, most of Sonic's music are Crush 40 songs. ("All Hail Shadow" was meant to be completely sarcastic and annoy Shadow.)
• The Remnant: After Sonic and his friends die, the few heroes left (Rouge, Omega, the Chaotix, and Big) form the New Chaotix, a group of freedom fighters secretly battling Nicole and G.U.N. Silver's parents, Blaze, and her dad are all members of it.
• Running Gag: Silver never seems to be allowed proper pants when attempting to retrieve a Chaos Emerald.
  • Sonic 2006 outfit
  • A skirt/kilt
  • Dinosaur-print boxer shorts
  • His Secret Freedom Fighters outfit (lampshaded in the pages's Tumblr post)
• Serious Business: Ice cream.
  Shadow: More flavors. Better toppings. Perhaps even... HOT FUDGE.
• Ship Tease: Silver with Blaze, and Sonic with Tikal (the pothole to Age Gap Romance is according to this lore post; it should be noted that Sonic's original profile lists his age at death to be 16 and this 2013 profile lists it to be 17)).
• Shout-Out:
  • In issue 4, Silver mentions "some dumb series about a kid wizard or something".
  • In issue 5, Silver mentions Jurassic Park during a trip in Dinosaur Jungle.
  • Issue 6 has this exchange:
    Sorceress: (after One-Winged Angel transformation) I- AM— DARKWING!
    Sonic: Okay! Let's get dangerous.
  • A box of Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs can be seen in issue 8.
• "Shut Up" Kiss: In the issue 15 flashback, Rouge interrupts Shadow by kissing him, so that he remembers to return to the New Chaotix in one year before he goes.
• Splash of Color: Sonic's ghost is the only colored character in the otherwise black-and-white Monochrome Past.
• Straight Gay: The following linked posts of Word of Gay state that Stanley mainly views Sonic as asexual and biromantic and Shadow as pansexual and greyromantic, Scourge is also asexual and biromantic, and Vennie is probably lesbian. They all do not express any stereotypes associated with such orientations.
• Stylistic Suck: Fleetway Sonic and the Omni-Viewer speak in a slightly stilted, exposition-heavy style similar to the one in their native comic.
• Symbol Swearing: Symbols are used to cover up most of the strong profanity.
• Talking Heads: Page 4 of issue 7 mainly consists of Silver, Vennie, and Sicily talking with plenty of speech bubbles around. Evan Stanley was hugely bored when making the page.
• Tyop on the Cover: The title on the issue 10 cover is "Masaka Agatsu", but is supposed to be "Masakatsu Agatsu".
• Villain Team-Up: Nicole and Scourge decide to team up to take down Sonic.
• Villainous Friendship: Downplayed as they aren't especially close and don't spend much time together, but Scourge and Nicole get along pretty well due to having similar interests (i.e. killing Sonic).
• Visual Innuendo: In issue 6, the Sorceress holds the long and thin neck of the jug containing Fouh, Blaze's doppelganger Djinn, between her breasts.
• Void Between the Worlds:
  • A Blank White Void exists between planes of reality, where there is nothing but Chaos Energy. It's known as "Tikal's santuary" in issue 11 and is where Tikal's ghost and Sonic's ghost reside when they're not in the planes.
  • Schehrazade the Writer resides in the Lost Prologue, located "between the pages of this tale of Arabian Nights", and writes the world from there.
• Wham Line: Silver discovers a startling secret.
  Deborah, Silver's mother: (referring to herself, her husband Richard, and Blaze's dad, Duke) We are the New Chaotix... Secret agents dedicated to preserving the legacy of Sonic the Hedgehog... (transforms into werehog) ...and bringing G.U.N. down! We know you're Nicole's puppets! So... BRING. IT. ON.
  Silver and Sonic: (exceptionally shocked faces)
• Whole-Plot Reference: The arc spanning from issue 8 to 9 is a reference to The Amazing Spider-Man issue #50 ("Spider-Man No More!"), in which Silver gives up carrying his mission as The Chosen One. The cover of issue #8 is a parody of the famous cover of that issue.

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