Hershey the Cat's Sad 20th Anniversary

This is basically a picture of Hershey the Cat/St. John celebrating her not-so happy 20th anniversary. STH #47, the issue that Hershey was first introduced in, was released over 20 years ago, on the date of March 19, 1997 to be exact (I got that info here).

As some of you may have known, Hershey was introduced in the Endgame arc (which was from STH #47-#50) as someone who was tricked into cutting the rope that Sally Acorn was climbing on, and this was done as her abusive ex-boyfriend Drago Wolf tricked her into wearing the Sonic suit. This was criticized as some said it made Hershey look stupid for getting into a Sonic suit without asking Drago why she needed to do so. Of course, she is devastated when she finds out the truth, and beats the hell out of Drago, which was a nice moment. The Endgame arc was supposed to be the end of the comic book, but it went on. Hershey was also viewed as a plot device due to this.

Eventually, Hershey joined the Royal Secret Service as Geoffrey St. John gave her the job, and over time, she became a better fighter. She even got her own story in SSS #11, which was really nice. Eventually, she and Geoffrey fell in love and got married, which was really nice to see as well. She then appeared in the story arc Home (which was from STH #130-#133), and then made a cameo appearance in STH #134 & #142. She did make a supposed cameo appearance in STH #174, but from what I heard, that was a mistake. There is no source on that, but that what someone told me once before.

Then finally after this time of Hershey not really appearing in Ian Flynn's run, she was mentioned in STH #219 by Geoffrey on how she was on a secret mission and would not return after a while. Then in STH #223, shortly after his betrayal, she told Sally and the others she was "dead for a while", and later claimed in STH #224 that she gave her life fighting the Eggman Empire.

Then in STH #233, Geoffrey claimed that Hershey had went missing on a mission in Soumerica. The Felidae gave him the info he needed, as she was living among them to spy on the local D.E.L. around there. They also claimed that she died undercover, and so Geoffrey went to investigate the area she was last seen, and he searched for days, only to never find any trace of her at all. We then saw in SU #37 that there was a small scene with the co-grandmasters Drago Wolf and Razorklaw at the Shazamazon Base of the Great Rainforest, where Drago had caught a black female cat legionnaire that looked an awful lot like Hershey the Cat/St. John. Drago and Razorklaw were then summoned to Eggman's base, and that legionnaire was relieved.

This gave us the impression that Hershey was still alive, and the solicit for STH #237 stated there was a "mysterious figure" which would appear where Hershey was last seen. This looked like good news, but then due to legal issues, Ian Flynn claimed that his plans for her were shelved indefinitely due to circumstances beyond his control. The "mysterious figure" was then revealed to be Leeta and Lyco, which made it seemed that Hershey's fans were brutally trolled. And Hershey didn't make a comeback in STH #238 either, though she was given a cameo in SU #43 in a flashback, which would be the very last visage of Hershey the Cat/St. John ever.

Over a year later, it was revealed that Hershey was supposed to appear in STH #237, and her story would have continued after that issue. Before then, STH #252 was a reboot, and so many characters, including Hershey, were removed for good. Then there became a project called Lost Hedgehog Tales, which would tell of all of the old plans before the legal issues, including Hershey's role. Some details of her role were released in October of 2015, but in September of 2016, LHT was shelved due to new legal issues, and god only knows when the wait will end for the legal issues to brush over. There was even some details of a new design for Hershey somewhere before this all happened.

So yeah, it's a pretty damn sad 20th anniversary for this character. With so much potential gone for this character to become much better then she was before, it's not happy news to say the least. And seeing how Geoffrey got all of the development when she was presumed dead, it made things worse as she would never become as loved as Geoffrey was, before he and she were removed for good. She and many other characters will never be seen again, especially how she and many of them needed more development. And seeing how a project that was dedicated to revealing all of the old plans for those old characters was shelved, it shows that Archie Comics Publications, SEGA, and/or whoever else made Flynn shelf the project for now pretty much don't give a shit about the fans and just want more money. But let's just hope the shelving of the project doesn't cause LHT to be truly cancelled.

So in the end, Hershey could have been a much better character despite all of the flaws, and thanks to the legal crap that happened, she never got the proper development she needed, and she never will...

6/7/2017 Edit: Do you remember The Complete Sonic Comic Encyclopedia? Well if you read it, then you're realize that Hershey doesn't have her own page unlike Geoffrey St. John, but she did get a sentence in the Royal Secret Service section as well as a mention in Geoffrey St. John's page, but that's pretty much it. What's funny is that her page on the Mobius Encyclopedia Wiki has more information on what she did than what TCSCE did, as it's included in the links below. All the other girls that got a story like Hershey in SSS #11 got their own page in TCSCE while Hershey didn't, and don't you think that's unfair? Even Saffron Bee got her own page (well actually she shared a page with Charmy Bee, but still, you should get the point), and some say she didn't do much like how some said Hershey didn't do much either. But at least Hershey isn't the only one who didn't get her own page in TCSCE.

Go here for more information:
hershey-cat-club.deviantart.co…
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hershey-cat-club.deviantart.co…
hershey-cat-club.deviantart.co…
hershey-cat-club.deviantart.co…
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archiesonic.wikia.com/wiki/Her…
archiesonic.wikia.com/wiki/Arc…
sites.google.com/site/sthchara…
www.corporate-sellout.com/2013…
bumbleking.com/concerning-lost…

Go here for the sketch: nitroactivestudios.deviantart.…

Hershey the Cat/St. John is owned by Archie Comics

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