From the final issue of
Sega Visions Magazine produced by
The Communiqué Group, the Winter 1991/92 issue. This issue featured the winner of the "
Draw a Sonic the Hedgehog Comic Strip" contest, a talented youngster named Kuanray Huang (who must be in his 30's by now!). I worked from a single photo of Kuanray, as I recall, and can only assume the likeness was reasonably accurate. With this episode, I finally stopped using a Rapidograph pen for the lettering, switching to a broader-nibbed Micron marker, and was much happier with the result, as I also was with the
improved color registration. I think the layout for this spread was one of my very best, and there was plenty of good action. Too bad it was the last installment before Sega took the whole project west to San Francisco with new corporate oversight, and Niles disappeared into Segaland for good.
FUN FACT: As I have mentioned in my oft-referenced interview with
Ken Horowitz, the Sonic game was new at the time, and I was the first artist to draw Sonic in comic book form. A short time later, Sega produced a small, Manga-style Sonic comic book, and over the years, many others have been published. This two-pager was the first Sonic The Hedgehog comic appearance, however.
BONUS FUN FACT: A few years after Niles ended, I had the pleasure of meeting one of my all-time favorite comic book artists Gene Colan and his wife at a Boston convention. We had a long, very enjoyable chat, and I showed him some of my work, including the Niles/Sonic spread. His very genuine and generous response was "Oh, you know what you're doing!" I remember that most fondly, indeed.
********SUPER-BONUS SPECIAL FEATURE!!********
In a complete departure from everything I've ever done before on this blog, I am showcasing art that was produced by someone besides me! Here is the never-before-seen "lost" Niles Nemo adventure which was plotted, scripted and produced in layout form by none other than
Boisterous Bill Kunkel! I don't know why Bill did a layout for this episode, maybe just scratching an itch, but it's the only one he ever did for a Niles adventure. I always worked from a general script. I recently found this two-page layout in my files. It is reproduced here from a photocopy of a FAX, and has some rough spots. I retouched the lettering where it was broken, but did not change it in any way, not even Bill's backwards (or perhaps lower-case) "N's." There are a couple of places where the lettering was too broken to decipher, but you can get a good feel for the story. This last and lost episode, featuring "Basketball Dexter," was mentioned in my
Sega-16.com interview with
Ken Horowitz, but at that time, I didn't even know a copy of it had survived. Here it is for the first (and probably last) time ever! Click the image, and enjoy!!
And there you have it! Everything you always wanted to know about
Niles Nemo In Segaland, and
a whole lot more!
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