Fair enough, that makes sense. If it was released at a different time to most annuals it may explain why it's called a "Yearbook" and not an annual, in an attempt to cause less confusion. Grandreams published a load of lisenced annuals during the 80s and 90s, and aside from Sonic it looks like they were all called "Annuals" and not "Yearbooks" (though "Special" was still used for reissues).
Ah that makes sense! Looks like I got the yearbook version then probably as a Christmas gift (the one I definitely had was hardback). From what I remember I was in hospital in the Winter of the early nineties at some point (1993?) and my parents wanted to get me a present so opted for the yearbook because they knew I loved Sonic. Fond memories of having it - it was my prized possession for much of my childhood. This thread is such a blast from the past.
I'm fairly certain that my hardback "yearbook" version of this is tucked away safely in my parent's attic. From what I recall about it, it's completely identical apart from the cover. I'll have to get up there and dig around some for it. It never dawned on me that it would be a somewhat obscure item for most people.
I know a few people who've worked on annuals for things like the Beano and they've all told me the vast majority of strips are drawn the best part of a year in advance. So it wouldn't surprise me if indeed the strips were drawn pre-Sonic 2 release, especially with Tails shoe-horned into the last story in GHZ. Other possibility is that the artists and writers were only given Sonic 1 as a reference. I asked Mark Millar about his StC work a while ago and he told me Sega basically sent him a Megadrive with Sonic 1 (plus Streets of Rage 2) and that's all he had to go by. The story set in Spring Yard always intrigued me, it seems to heavily rely on stock art that was around at the time.
This is really cool! I had one of these back when I was 6 or 7, but I honestly thought it was just one of those things I had made up in my head as it was different to the usual Sonic the Comic. I have always had that image of Sonic eating Maltesers at the start of "Double Sonic" in my head but just could never figure out if I imagined it or not! This style of Sonic was always my favourite in STC, used to love the way Sonic's leg spin looked. Been great to read through again, definitely made my Monday morning a bit more enjoyable! Thanks for this!
