Lanolin the Sheep, a character introduced in IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog comics, was created by artist Adam Bryce Thomas as a background character in Issue #2. He would continue drawing Lanolin in subsequent issues he illustrated for, often with a new look. Comic writer Ian Flynn would eventually confirm her name on Twitter. She even appeared in an early draft of Issue #30's A cover (drawn by Thomas), but was edited out in the final version. Starting with Issue #57, Lanolin began to have a supporting role in story arcs: according to Ian, this is due to how her appearances had evolved to the point of gaining a role in the story, and her increase in prominence led to a more developed personality. By her own admission in Issue #58, she is "bossy and inexperienced", being rather new to her role as a leader. Despite this, some fans have criticized the character for having a tendency to act as if she is just as experienced as her peers (i.e. critiquing Silver in Issue #63 despite having no experience with psychokinesis, and her interactions with Tangle in Issue #62 giving the impression that she had a genuine problem with her, despite the scene's comedic nature). This has resulted in comparisons to Sally Acorn, a character from the 1993 "Sonic the Hedgehog" cartoon who was a main character throughout the Archie Sonic comics, due to their status as no-nonsense leaders able to keep even Sonic in line. These similarities also led some fans (particularly those who don't like Flynn's writing) to accuse that Lanolin was an attempt to replace her despite having gone on record stating that he wanted to incorporate Sally and the Freedom Fighters into the IDW comics.