Tracy Yardley (born July 19, 1979, in

Southern Illinois Southern Illinois, also known as Little Egypt, is the southern third of Illinois, principally along and south of Interstate 64. Although part of a Midwestern state, this region is aligned in culture more with that of the Upland South than the Mi ...

) is an American

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

artist best known for his work with the '' Sonic the Hedgehog'' comics, originally published by Archie Comics.

Career

Sonic the Hedgehog comics

Yardley has been greatly interested in comics for most of his life, as well as the '' Sonic the Hedgehog''

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

series. He grew up reading the earliest issues of Archie Comics' officially licensed ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' comic book series. He professionally spells his name with an " !" at the end as a tribute to

Scott Shaw Scott Shaw (born 23 September 1958 in Los Angeles, California) is an American author, martial artist, and filmmaker. Career Scott Shaw is an advanced martial artist. He has written a number of books on the martial arts. Shaw has written a numb ...

, who also spelled his name the same way. Scott Shaw was one of the first artists whom worked on Archie Comics' ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' series. Yardley worked mainly as a

penciller A penciller (or penciler) is an artist who works on the creation of comic books, graphic novels, and similar visual art forms, with a focus on the initial pencil illustrations, usually in collaboration with other artists, who provide inks, colors ...

on Archie Comics' ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' series from 2005 until

Sega of America is a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, respectively. Its division ...

's termination of Archie Comics' license in

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

. Yardley also occasionally worked on the spin-off comic ''

Sonic X is a Japanese anime television series based on Sega's '' Sonic the Hedgehog'' video game series. Produced by TMS Entertainment under partnership with Sega and Sonic Team, and directed by Hajime Kamegaki, ''Sonic X'' initially ran for 52 ...

'', and served as the main artist for the side-series ''

Sonic Universe ''Sonic Universe'' was an American comic book series published by Archie Comics in association with Sega, based on the latter's ''Sonic the Hedgehog''. It is a spin-off of the comic book series of the '' same name'', and shared continuity with th ...

''. After IDW Publishing picked up the '' Sonic the Hedgehog'' license, the company confirmed Yardley as one of the pencillers for their own ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' comic book series, which started circulation in April

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

. He and

Ian Flynn Ian Flynn (born May 31, 1982), also known by his Internet pen name Ian Potto, is an American comic book writer. He was chief writer for Archie Comics's ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' since issue #160, after the departure of the previous chief writer Ken P ...

collaborated closely on the ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' series during the Archie Comics years, sometimes himself writing script for the series. He has even inked and occasionally colored a few issues. The collaboration will continue for IDW Publishing's series.

Other works

Although Sega canceled their ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' comic series, Archie Comics brought back Yardley, alongside colleagues Ian Flynn and Matt Herms, to revive their '' Cosmo the Merry Martian'' intellectual property. The first issue of ''Cosmo'' ''the Mighty Martian'' was released in January 2018. Yardley worked as the main penciler/inker of an original manga-like series known as ''

Riding Shotgun "Riding shotgun" was a phrase used to describe the bodyguard who rides alongside a stagecoach driver, typically armed with a break-action shotgun, called a coach gun, to ward off bandits or hostile Native Americans. In modern use, it refer ...

'', published by

Tokyopop Tokyopop (styled TOKYOPOP; formerly known as Mixx Entertainment) is an American distributor, licensor and publisher of anime, manga, manhwa and Western manga-style works. The German publishing division produces German translations of licensed ...

. ''Riding Shotgun'' ended after two volumes, though Yardley still had ideas for a third volume. One of Yardley's first known, original comics was a series known as ''Nate and Steve'', on which he worked with three of his friends.

References

External links

Tracy Yardley!'s DeviantArt Page
1979 births American comics artists Living people Sonic the Hedgehog Savannah College of Art and Design alumni Tokyopop People from Effingham County, Georgia {{US-comics-artist-stub