The Dr. Zachary Story ▸ Sonic the Comic's OTHER Echidna
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 18 ส.ค. 2021
- This is the fifth in a series of Sonic character profiles. Let me know in the comments who you want me to talk about next!
"The Dr. Zachary Story ▸ Fleetway's OTHER Echidna"
In this video we'll be taking a look at Dr. Zachary, a character who appeared in the UK's Fleetway Sonic the Comic. I'll be taking a look at Dr. Zachary's appearances in the comics, his impact on the Archie comic and games and his portrayal in the fan-created Sonic the Comic online.
Thanks to Zak Simmonds-Hurn for permission to use the Dr. Zachary artwork in the thumbnail. Check out the Dr. Zachary art here:
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Check out Zak's other work here:
- / monstrouscomics
- / monstrouscomics
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Find me on Twitter: / thejohnnyvector - เกม
"Short but sweet" is pretty accurate.
Helps that Fleetway published comics MUCH faster than Archie did.
Dr Zachery is someone the games desperately needs. A dangerous antagonist who isn’t connected or in league with Dr Eggman and finally giving Knuckles a foe of his own.
Him along with Commander Brutus in the games would finally give Game Sonic a kick up the rear he so desperately needed should Sega start acknowledging the Fleetway, DiC and non-Ken Penders created Archie characters. The tired writing style of Colors to Forces with Sonic rarely taking anything too seriously is something the games needs to do something about.
I agree. Looking back, it's a shame Knuckles didn't have his own, bespoke nemesis in Knuckles' Chaotix. Dr. Zachary would've fit perfectly. Commander Brutus is definitely another of Fleetway's best characters. None of the game's recent antagonists have the same threat or menace as Brutus.
@@JohnnyVector Brutus is consistently proven to be a nightmare for Sonic to beat without resorting to his Super form.
There REALLY should be a story about Knuckles confronting the consequences of his ancestors' actions (which could manifest themselves as either an event, or an enemy), and rising above as the new generation of echidnas.
But after the Penders and Chronicles fiasco I don't think Sega wants to explore the echidna lore ever again. Can't say I blame them.
@@matti.8465 They could do that. They legally own Shade and the rest of the characters from that game just like the rest of the non-pre-Reboot Archie intellectual trademarks.
@@matti.8465 Chaos?
I'm both kinda dissapointed, and kinda happy with the STC continuation's decision to still keep Zachary's past a secret.
Zachary feels like an intriguing character, and a missed oportunity, all at once.
I know how you feel. That sums it up perfectly.
Hey could you maybe do a video on scourge? Always wanted to know more about him but theres next to no content about him on youtube. Thanks
Great suggestion, thanks. I touched upon Scourge a little bit in my Ashura video but I can see the potential for a full-blown video.
He’s an evil version of Sonic from an alternate dimension where Sonic and his friends are the bad guys and Eggman is the hero.
@@JohnnyVector he’s really popular
He definitely reminds me a bit of Finitevus from Archie, and even a bit of Dimitri too after his robotic changes. Although now I'm a little more interested considering Dimitri eventually stopped being as much of a "bad guy" while Finitevus still tries to find ways to save the world by ending the world in some way. I miss the Archie comics, they were so fun. I need to collect some more. I'm only up to 273 in StH and the last SU one I got was Silver Age. I know there isn't exactly much after, but I still would enjoy having those few after to read!
Zachary predates both those characters by a significant margin, but let’s not forget Ix from Chronicles either.
A shame we’ll never have an official team-up featuring all three of those villainous echidnas or even an art piece depicting them akin to the Batman: Three Jokers graphic novel.
Probably based on him
From what I read the worlds collide ones are [retty good too.
For a short one, you could do Breezie Hedgehog, how she was originally portrayed in the AoSTh to her appearance in Archie.
I never really liked the idea of Knuckles being the last echidna as it doesn't really make sense considering the fact he is roughly the same age as Sonic but also the fact that echidnas in real life are still alive and well so that's why I liked how the Archie comics portrayed the echidnas as being alive and well but I also like how they were pretty much portrayed is the most advanced race on Mobius with echidna City pretty much being the Sonic equivalent to wakanda
I remember the online story having a funny moment when Dr Zachary had Super Sonic under his control. He monologues so much that he was surprised when Sonic was able to move. Sonic stated that Zachary talked so much that he bored Super Sonic to sleep.
The whole floating island and ancient robot guardians, even their design, is entirely lifted from the Studio Ghibli movie, Laputa: Castle in the Sky.
Good point, thanks Larry. I drew a comparison between Sonic and Laputa in my Sonic 3 & Knuckles Iceberg video, but never thought to draw a comparison between Fleetway's guardian robots and Laputa too.
@@JohnnyVector It's the segmented arms and legs that really give it away.
@@Larry That's mad. When I watched Laputa years ago and saw the robots with those arms that was my first thought but I put it down to coincidence in design. Laputa also has a character called Motro who bears an uncanny resemblance to Doctor Robotnik. Hmm.
I love that movie
Like I really love that movie, so thats pretty rad
Awesome video. If you do another, I'd love to see one about Errol Blackthorn.
Huh
Thank you. A deeper look at Errol and the Nameless Zone in general would be interesting. I'd love to take a look at how Fleetway portrayed Tails and discuss the Nameless Zone from that perspective.
@@JohnnyVector that would be awesome. I’m really enjoying your videos about the fleetway comics. Being from the US, I know very little about the expanded “Sonic the Comic” universe. I do find it funny how Fleetway made a ton of characters who look like Tails 🦊 while Archie made a ton of characters who look like Knuckles 🥊
@@JohnnyVector could you make one about sally later???
Fleetway’s Sonic the Comic is one heck of a chapter in the decades long history of Sonic, but at least it didn’t end up going through any nasty drama just as Archie Sonic did. As for other characters to cover, there are so many. But, if there was one character I request for you to cover, I’d love to suggest Metallix.
Someday someone will make a compressive video about the “overwhelming drama that’s painted on every page in every issue of the Archie Comic and it’s all very nasty”. I can never tell what people are talking about, outside of Sally and Sonic’s break up in one issue.
Why was there some drama what happened?
@@moltengears7483 Long story.
Yeah I want to know who Metallix is
@@gracekim25 fun fact: his og design was mecha sonic and his name was also mecha sonic on his og character smbz’s hasn’t ended yet so we still know that more is coming
Even though I haven't read the Fleetway Comics myself, I've come to love Zachary myself, because he's the predecessor of Dr. Finitevus and Dr. Starline, who I both absolutely love
The Fleetway illustrations are so charming. They certainly tell a story in a way the Archie comics couldn't.
Thanks for the video. I grew up in the States reading about Knuckles and Dr. Finitevus, and always wanted to read Fleetway, so it's always great to hear from a pro on the subject.
Oh, and if you'd like to cover an Archie villain, I'd suggest Mammoth Mogul!
Thank you! Mammoth Mogul is the Archie villain that intrigues me the most. I agree, most of Fleetway's illustrations are great. Richard Elson in particular was amazing. There were a handful of artists that I wasn't too keen on though.
Wait... so they did the story with destroying Master Emerald and falling of Angel Island way before and independently from Sonic Adventure or I misheard smth?
The story came out in late 1995, so yeah it was many years before Sonic Adventure did it.
Didn't fell in sonic 3 or sonic and knuckles? I do remember the Island was floating back to place
Or maybe I'm misremembering 😅
@@khalefazara1916 the island did fell, but the naster emerald was intact and safe
@@whoeverest_the_whateverest Ah right ! Thanks for the clarification :3
You know, at first I wasn't that convinced about the british Sonic comics until I watched this video, and honestly I like how they keep echidnas as nearly-extinct like in the games unlike the Archie comics where Ken Penders has his thousand echidna OCs. I personally think the art-style of Sonic the Comic is really weird looking but the composition, lighting and shading of the panels is really great! And I feel like the fan comics have better more modernized art, I might consider on reading these sometime.
Thanks! Great to hear you're gained an appreciation for Fleetway. The quality of art definitely depended on the artist but yes, I agree that they handled the echidnas better than Penders for sure.
I never realized until now that the Guardian Robot takes some inspiration from the Robot from Castle in the Sky... Old robot from a floating island in the sky. He even has the wing-arms
Great vid! The Fleetway stories are always super fascinating to me, and the way you break down info is fun to listen to lol.
For a future video, could you break down Fleetway's Adventure adaptation? I wasn't sure if Tikal's presence in the fan continuation was something that originated from there, or the original Fleetway run, but it got me thinking I'd love to see what they did in general. Regardless of Tikal's involvement, I imagine things went very differently just based on what I know of this series so far lol.
Good to see people talking about this comic after all these years 👌 this was my Sonic as a kid
The character called ‘Toxic’ always fascinated me , he was in ( I think) the early issues or the sonic annuals
Damn I thought this was going to be about wechnia but this is still great!😊
P.S I would still like to see an episode on some of the other robot sonics if that’s something you want to do
Thanks! Hopefully I'll get round to Wechnia and some robots at some point in the future.
Thanks! 🤗
Do Fleetway Amy next! I heard she is significantly different from her canon counterpart.
Yes, she is. Her weapon is a crossbow that she started using before any of the other Amys got their hammers. Her crush on Sonic is soon down played.
In the second most recent issue of sonic the comic online (issue 278) Knuckles, Tikal, Porker Lewis and a team of Knuckle Metallix are attempting to locate and re-capture Zachary (who has removed his cybernetic eye).
While Knuckles and the gang are investigating a bunker Zachary recently frequented, Knuckles discovers Zachary's removed cyber eye which he has converted into a bomb and explodes.
Knuckles, Tikal and Porker survive the explosion, but the Knuckle Metallix and the scrolls in the bunker were destroyed.
However, Porker was still holding onto some documents from the bunker, to which Knuckles sighs and responds:
"It's a start, Porker...".
Zachary is still out there and it's only a matter of time for his return...
And when he does, things will get... chaotic.
To be fair to the Archie comics, Knuckles had his own 32 issue comic series, that ran along the main sonic book, and aside from Knuckles, the Chaotix, and Ray, it had a completely original, Knuckles-centric cast of characters, the most important of which were then rolled into the main comics, when Knuckles' series ended
Thanks sharing your thoughts. I'm working my way through the Archie comics now. I'm interested to see how all of these echidnas factor in.
11:35 and of course this glitch would also be the inspiration for the idw comics character Dr Starline even though he is a very different monotreme as he is a platypus instead of an echidna
I love to see your Sonic characters' stories videos! Can you make one about the brotherhood of Metallix?
Talk about Great Battle Kukku (and his army)
A little error I noticed: The biological super computer was meant to use the brainpower of the Emerald Hill Folk, not their life energy.
Which incidentally was the original idea in the Matrix. Which made more sense, really.
Thanks!
I have been working on this project @@JohnnyVector
@@JohnnyVector
When do u live on my house
Be a nice story for Sonic 3. Everyone's expecting Amy, but if they were smart, they would introduce some obscure enemies, and refrain from bringing Eggman back until they are ready to bring mecha or metal-Sonic in.
I too really liked Dr Zachary when I read the comics back in the 90s. Did wish he officially returned before the comic run ended.
Was fortunate enough to buy for £20 at Summer of Sonic 2009 one of Nigel Dobbyn's comic pages he did from his own portfolio, which was ironically the one you show at 7:35 - 7:52 (minus the speech bubbles).
That is awesome, I'd love to have something like that.
Mogul Mammoth from the Archie comics would be neat to see you cover if you get the chance!
I love Mogul. I remember first seeing him when scrolling through Archie covers on Sonic Mega Collection. I'll add him to the list.
@@JohnnyVector Oh cool!
Yes, totally why i like Fleetway more than Archie, they knew when to stop and just leave some stuff unanswered, sometimes you dont need to expand the lore of a character because it could literally ruin its mystique and what makes it so special, the whole point of why Shadow and Knuckles are so cool is because there is tons of unaswered questions and mysteries that surrounds said characters, sometimes is good to expand on said stuff but you have to know where and when you need to do so, if not you risk them to over exposure and eventually the whole appeal of them ends up dissapearing.
Knuckles doesnt need 4 quazillion of relatives to be a cool character, the appeal of the echidna race is that they are a very ancient civilization that people forgot over time and it became the stuff of legends, heck even to a point where people thinks its just a myth or a made up tale.
The idea of the Nocturnis Clan was one of the best modern adaptations of a "modern echidna race motivated by pure technological advancements to a point that they became a serious threat for the entire world" it felt like this version of the echidnas in fleetway but more canonical and with a better angle, it was a shame that Bioware couldnt explore said concept well enough to make them have a lasting impact on the overall franchise as how Penders echidnas or Dr Zachary did for fans of both Archie and Fleetway.
I could wish if sometime in a near future Sega can re-introduce the Nocturnis Clan, Shade and Imperator Ix because they have a very cool potential and it could be a shame that this characters and concepts gets the boot for ever out of the franchise because some person couldnt take that they also made their own Legion of Doom and Finitiveus better than him.
Can you possibly make a video about Mephiles the Dark? He’s starting to become popular again and there’s finally merchandise made of him! Sega has planned on bringing him back multiple times in Generations and Forces but those plans were scrapped.
Thanks for the suggestion. I saw the Mephiles merch. Mephiles is definitely the best part of a bad game.
I found a way to read these comics. I'm excited to start reading them.
This is the first one I Never heard of lol
Great video. This isn’t a character suggestion but I would be interested in hearing more of your thoughts on Sonic the comic online
Thanks, I plan on doing something like that in the future.
There's this underrated character known as Lonk from the irish comic series of sonic the hedgehog only the pros know of this, I beg please do him, he only appeared once and i would make my day : D.
Great character ☺️
I never knew what happened after robotnik and zachary see that explosion in the sky. Finally, closure
Great content bro!
Could you do a video on Tekno from StC? It's kinda interesting that she's one of the few Fleetway characters that actually looks like she's a Sonic character.
Thanks for the suggestion. Tekno and Cybernik definitely feel like Fleetway's most substantial characters. I'll try and cover both at some point.
A video on Shorty/Shortfuse the Cybernik and Vermin the Cybernik?
I legit thought the thumbnail art was from Richard Elson himself, lol, that guy's style is spot-on!
This dudes so cool. Probably my favourite comic character.
Here's a couple more Fleetway videos if you fancy another:
- Commander Brutus -> th-cam.com/video/_DTETxmokVg/w-d-xo.html
- Evil Super Sonic (aka Fleetway Sonic) -> th-cam.com/video/lIXjfssZStI/w-d-xo.html
- Tails' Adventures in the Nameless Zone -> th-cam.com/video/7Km2J9br-Yk/w-d-xo.html
Hey! Can you do a video on Nack? He’s my fave character
Hey Maxton, Nack is by far the most requested character so he'll probably be next.
I know you said that the egg brain machine had a Matrix vibe, but personally it gives me Akira vibes.
Anyone ever read Domu? Brilliant.
Anyway, these Sonic character videos are amazing and they got me thinking.
Any chance you could do a Mario one? And I don't mean on a Nintendo created Mario character but any character NOT created by Nintendo (except Waluigi obv).
I don't even know if one exists, but it would be cool to look into because SEGA just trusted these companies to make Sonic Characters and I'd love to see if Nintendo ever let anyone do that with one of their properties.
Pretty good series I recently catched up with it and some suggestion for some characters are Bark the polar bear, and flicky.
Thanks. Flicky will be discussed a tiny bit in my next video.
@@JohnnyVector cool can't wait to see it.
I love this video it explained a lot about doctor zachary but at first when i saw him he reminded me of either a past or alternate dimension version of DR Finitevus becuase of them both being echidnas with metallic parts on them. Hey speaking of Dr Finitevus do you think you can make a video about him im intrested in learning more about him.
I'd love to see Dr. Zachary return as a game character as the Robotnik to Knuckles' Sonic and be combined with Finitevus from Archie. Before anyone ask, Ken didn't create Finitevus as he was a creation of Karl Boller's, I also think it'd be interesting if the only other Echidna besides Knuckles was evil.
My idea for an origin is that he was the og guardian of the emeralds, but harnessed there power to fight off another Echidna, so he was banished by the Echidna society.
Hey have you did a episode on Fang?
Hey Winner, not yet, but Fang is by far the most requested character so he'll probably be next.
@@JohnnyVector ok 🙂
Oh yeah, I've definitely heard of Dr. Zachary..but at least I'm not alone in not knowing much about him(I always figured it was because I was from Canada, not the UK, and I actively looked up the Fleetway comics online only a few times). As for the Archie continuity having way too many Echidnas...well...yeah, I guess they sorta did...but there were a few that I were kind of fond of...two that come to mind are Enerjak(Dimitri, not Knuckles...I don't care for the retconning they did where Enerjak is this evil spirit), and Guardian Spectre (Yeah, he's kind of cruel, but I still like him, probably for the same reason that he's a mystery to me...same as Dr. Zachary is to you).
Well, as long as you're taking character suggestions, there's one I have in mind..he was shown in the video, but there wasn't any mention that you did a video of him already (If I can call this character a "him")
And that's the Omniviewer, I saw pictures of him WAY back when (late 90s, early 2000s), and I get a kick out of him.
I'm going to nominate Enerjak for a future video.
Though you may end up covering the rest of the Echidna legacy started by Edmund and Dimitri.
Could you do a video on the Egg Bosses from the Archie Comics because they all have different personalities and reasons for working Eggman. Sega really should include them as mini bosses in the game as they could each have different fighting styles and are more interesting that Eggman's robots.
10:45 dark brotherhood does not have the best mechanics but dang it’s a good sonic game to me .
And a game that deserves to be canon due to its connection to other games. #️⃣ Make Sonic Cronicles canon
I know he’s not obscure but I’d like you to do a video on Bokkun from Sonic X. I think he’s cool.
He is pretty cool
goin goblin green mode
johnny Lightfoot plz he needs to be remembered again
Thanks. They'll be a tiny bit about Johnny Lightfoot in my next video.
I know I’m a year late but in a quite obscure fan game called sonic the fighters blitz one of knuckles’ alts has white fur with yellow chest fur and purple shoes
Thanks, that's a really cool nod to Zachary
I believe Dr Zachary would serve as inspiration for Dr Finetives the suppressive leader of the Echidna science syndicate the dark Legion
I miss the archie comic variants.
I have every single comic issue they made on my hard drive, but while i COULD
say its a complete collection, its abrupt stop leaves it unfinished.
The robots wings look just like the wing arms from Castle In The Sky
Keep this echidna train going with Doctor Finitevus?
My sugestion for another character is Chaotix glitch Wechnia
Also appearently in the fleetway sonic comic, Knuckles crest om his chest is a necklace or chest piece. I didnt know that until now
I hope you talk about naugus
Yes u made it
I’m getting real Ristar vibes from those Gaurdians.
a lot of characters form archie comics are inspired by glitched characters lol
8:17 Rick and Morty reference
Would love to see a video on tails rogues gallery like Wendy witchcart and battle kukku
You know it's ironic that Archie added so many Echidna characters even though in Sonic Adventure confirms that Knuckles is the last of his species I don't hear that brought up too often it's kind of sad when you think about it Knuckles is all alone, his friends is only family
Yeah, it's a shame Knuckles became a bit of a comedy character. He has a tragic backstory.
Groovy character.
Dr N.Gin + Megaman + Knuckles = Dr. Zachary
Prove me wrong.
Do you think you'll be doing a look at the fleetways character Captain Plunder the sky pirate
So, there's a bit of a Watsonian reason why Archie Sonic had so many major Echidna characters - apparently being connected to the Master Emerald grants an extremely long lifespan. Most of the Echidna characters were actually Knuckles' father, grandfather, great grandfather, etc. who only lived that long because of the Master Emerald.
Honestly, story-wise they could have done without that, because they all end up taking on the same character roles, except for Aithar who went on to do his own thing and lead a nomadic tribe and was more of a mentor to Knuckles than ANY of the other Guardians. Honestly, if they just had Locke and Aithar and didn't bother with the rest, it wouldn't have changed much. Maybe keep Spectre for that one arc where Knuckles stumbles across Haven (and because he has a direct connection to the Tobor arc), Tobor for his arc, and Hawking for his.
Meanwhile, Dr. Finitivus is basically Dr. Zachary but with a more busy design and more mustache twirling. Their connection may not be direct, but their roles are practically identical.
I like it
Thanks!
Zachary just looks like that weird gray knuckles in chaotix
10:15 So like the Phantom Zone in Superman which I think is located traditionally in the fortress of Solitude. Guess Fleetway weren't just inspired by Marvel! Lol
This guy is better than all of Ken Penders echidnas combined. God DAMN!
Can you talk about the Fan-made character from Shadic from Nazo unleashed
where can I read the online continuation of the comic?
Hello big fan of your channel I just wanted to point out something I notice in the Fleetway universes is Knuckles little symbol on his chest a necklace because at 3:49 it kind of looks like one just asking because I'm curious keep up the great work
It is a necklace
I just realized knuckles doesn’t have ears
Unless he has tiny ones hidden under his dreadlocks
Robotnik’s old look actually feels cursed now ngl
What's the font you used on the thumbnail?
If you’re taking suggestions, Fleabyte the Bounty Hunter is another incredibly obscure but criminally underrated StC character who needs more love. I’d also be interested to hear you talk about The Flock, Max Gamble, Death-Trap, Vermin and/or Commander Brutus.
Thanks, great suggestions. StC had some really great villains.
This was been replaced to Dr starline because IDW
Pretty much. The guys behind Starline have admitted he is inspired by Wechnia. I imagine there's a little Dr. Zachary inspiration in there too.
Can you make a video about the name of Dr. Robotnik/Kintobor?
Funny you should suggest that, I'm working on a different kind of video that touches upon that topic.
Zachary also appears in the game sonic advance Zachary is the boss fight in angel island
Zachary wasn't in that game. It was a robot duplicate of Knuckles.
I think fleetway sonic series is probably the darkest sonic comics and has a wierd new cast that is only in the comics and not the games and cartoons
If you forgot the floating island is called angel island due to it being able float
i like not well known sonic characters i find them more interesting tbh
edit: plz cover manic hes basically sonics green brother in underground show and manic is one of my favorite sonic characters
I just want to know why he's a Doctor and in what field. You'd assume Archaeology or something similar, right?
dr zachary looks fanmade lol
the fact my irl name is zachary but cool video
I wish someone words do a drawing on deviantart of Dr Zachary and how he would appear in the Archie Universe or even the games
You know who I want you to cover so ya
Can you do a video about Tails Doll and Metal Knuckles?
I think Tails Doll would be perfect for October. Stay tuned for that.
@@JohnnyVector Cool!
How about a video on STC Doctor Robotnik and Commander Brutus.
Dr.Zachery may have inspired the Archie comic character Dr.Finitevus
“May have”
@@_ArmIa I'd take that "May have" back he did inspire Dr.Finitevus👍
Do a video on metal/mecha sonic