It took just one drawing to turn my child into a raving Sonic The Hedgehog fan. We were at Jetpack Comics when he saw the cover of Sonic X #37, and somehow the character just hooked him: the spiky hair, the bright blue body and the eyes that screamed, “I am a wiseass”. So I bought him an issue. And then another, and another.

At first I balked. As a responsible pop-savvy dad who’s been putting his kid through hipster home school, I hated to see him get sucked into what looked like a marketing tool – a franchise tie-in, and worse, a videogame tie-in. Wouldn’t this rot his brain? And anyway, haven’t the Sonic games kinda sucked the last few years?

Thing is, the more we read Sonic together, the more I realised that it’s a good book. Sometimes, it’s really good. And it’s been that way for a while. The main title has run since 1993, spawning piles of sister comics and specials. It’s the longest-running comic that’s based on a game, but the story stands on its own, independent of the hit-or-miss franchise that inspired it. And it offers great lessons on how to spin an entire world around a single hit character.

Sonic is produced by Archie Comics, the kid-friendly publisher that takes its name from its best-known series. The main Sonic book, Sonic The Hedgehog, crossed its 200th issue this summer, but it started with a four-issue mini-series, written by Michael Gallagher and pencilled by Scott Shaw and Dave Manak. The core cast and the Sonic versus Eggman rivalry were in place from page one, but back then, the tone was light and jokey.

A panel from issue 3

About twenty-five issues in, “it started to change into an adventure book with a lot of comedy, instead of a comedy book with some adventure,” as current editor Mike Pellerito explains. “You can only go so far with a joke book … so we had to add in a little more continuity.” Assistant editor Paul Kaminski adds, “The people in charge decided that they could tackle slightly heavier topics for a kid’s book.” That includes talking about divorce, or killing off Tommy Turtle.

The target age starts at seven, but adults also read it and almost half the audience is female; the book is full of strong women, both good and evil. My son’s favourite character is Sonic. After all, he’s fast and cocky and almost never loses. As a grown-up, I’m the opposite: Sonic bores me, but I dig the secondary characters. The Iron Queen, the book’s latest big bad, reveals her origin as a kid who was persecuted for her religion and seeks revenge. She’s also going to appear in Sonic Universe, where arrogant anti-hero Shadow the Hedgehog scored the first story; in issues #1-4, “the ultimate lifeform” wrestles with his arrogance - and his fallibility. If Sonic the Hedgehog is a straightforward epic, the Sonic the Universe book is like the advanced class in Sonic lore. And when you can remember the names of Sonic and Sally’s kids in the “30 Years Later” storyline, you know you’re in deep.

While they leave most of the creative work to Archie, Sega reviews and approves every issue, paying special attention to characters like Blaze who will appear in upcoming games. The games and television shows influence the books, either spawning titles like Sonic X or introducing new character designs. (Compare the skinny old Vector to the beefed-up, bling-sporting version who’s in the book now.) And the comics also support the game releases, though lately, they’ve been handled in standalone bonus stories; for example, Sonic the Hedgehog #193 included a story that plugged Sonic Unleashed.

Discussing the relationship with Sega, Pellerito says, “As long as we stay true to what they want the character to be – Sonic is a great hero, he’s super-cool, he’s what kids wish they could be – they give us a lot of freedom. Because we were [publishing] the book for years without there being any games on the shelf.” (And what about a game based on the comics? “Sega’s run really hot and really cold on whether they want to do it or not.”)

The world of the comics is so crowded that Archie is planning to release a Who’s Who next September – with a page count hovering around 200. The Sonic team took a gamble by making the story so complicated, and by counting on the readers to keep up. But the book probably wouldn’t have held up if they hadn’t. And even if you don’t understand the point of the chaos emeralds, or the sight of Silver the Hedgehog popping out like a hedgehog ex machina is kinda baffling, you still get the gist: Sonic’s the hero, Eggman’s the bad guy, and everything else revolves around them. They will always be the entry point to a world that gets bigger by the month.

Chris Dahlen writes about games, music, pop, and tech. You can find him online at @savetherobot, or drop him a line at chris [at] savetherobot.com.