Sonic The Comic - Online!

[Dejimon11]

Part of Johnby's death was because he believe he was boring he did explain in an interview with FTCR the real reason why he killed him off but I forgot what it was

[Tani Coyote]

SEGA has mandated that characters be killed off for Archie... as memory serves they were generally more hands off with the Fleetway strip, but who knows, given that around the same time they had mandated Robotnik adopt the Eggman jacket. SEGA might have reasoned he wasn't relevant enough to the games and wanted him gone.

That's not too odd - Princess Sally was going to die in the Archie strip in issue 50, but SEGA saved her because they thought she might be profitable in a game they were working on. So if they figured Johnny didn't fit with their vision of the games...

[Mauro Fonseca]

SEGA never mandated character deaths in Archie.

SEGA never mandated anything beyond cosmetics in StC.

The choice to have Robotnik wear the jacket was either Kitching's or Elson's, don't recall- not SEGA.

Wtf, man.

[Tani Coyote]

The character Mecha was killed off by decision from the top, not from the writing team of Archie. She was actually due for some character development but the higher ups wanted her gone.

It also seems a little too coincidental that the Eggman jacket would be donned without input from SEGA if you ask me. Why change a character's design for no reason? Am I to honestly believe SEGA expected conformity in America with the Adventure designs, but in Europe just didn't care? Sure, separate divisions... that answer to a single source.

There's no shortage of mandates SEGA gives Archie. I cannot be expected to believe that SEGA didn't give Fleetway any, or wasn't about to when the series cut due to Fleetway's incompetence.

Anyway...

A lovely gift from the STCO team! All (I think) the "New to STC?" strips in wallpaper form!

[Your Vest Friend]

StC was about to die when the Adventure adaptation came out. They probably took one look at the state of affairs and thought "Yeah...best not to kick them while they're down".

[Tani Coyote]

StC was about to die when the Adventure adaptation came out. They probably took one look at the state of affairs and thought "Yeah...best not to kick them while they're down".

That seems too considerate of a corporation for me. They seemed a lot more pushy about uniformity (not entirely unjustified with how many continuities were floating around) around the Adventure era. As memory serves SEGA requested (which in corporate terms is "do this or we'll stop doing business with you") Archie change all characters to resemble their SA1 designs (Sonic gets green eyes, Robotnik is blown up and takes on an Eggman build, Amy gets aged up, etc.); I don't see why they wouldn't ask the same of Fleetway.

I think they were more lax on it, though, in that only Robotnik and Sonic really saw changes, and they weren't too radical; it makes sense they'd only need to change those two characters, since objectively they're the only two that matter to the plot.

[Your Vest Friend]

It's not just from a view of any sort of sympathy. If they're bound to die, not doing anything saves any time and resources that would otherwise be wasted in negotiating and arguing for changes.

[Tani Coyote]

Given that Kitching wrote the Adventure arc based off of... I forget which member of the StC team playing through the game and giving him a summary, I find it really weird they'd throw in the Eggman outfit and Sonic's green eyes. That seems like a weird detail to pop up just in a summary, which leads me to think SEGA probably requested they change them.

Though a dying strip would explain why the changes weren't quite as drastic. That and if I recall SEGA America tends to be more strict than SEGA Europe.

[MamboCat]

I think it's well known that SEGA pretty much left STC alone to do their own thing. Remember these were the days of AoSTH and SatAM, there was no "central canon" for Sonic like there is today.

 

I think they made the changes just because the STC team saw their lead characters had changed design. They changed Amy's spikes to match her game counterpart but she retained her STC dress-sense, but other characters like Porker and Johnny only received coloured irises.

[Mauro Fonseca]

Mecha was killed by editorial. As people tend to forget, Archie IS a comic publisher who has control and decisions over their products.

Go read the StC Mailing List. This is not a matter of discussion, Kitching puts it clearly there- they chose to put the jacket in Robotnik since it was what he was wearing in the new game, they chose to keep adapting the stories of the games, etc. SEGA didn't mandate anything because you had a writing team with enough sense to say "this is a comic about games, let's keep close to the games".

He does explain where SEGA mandated- they were very hands-on with forcing the art to be on model, hence the famous cases of Sonic always looking the same and looking at the same directions. He also explains how SEGA interacted with them for Sonic Adventure- gave them a quick synopsis and a blurry jpeg of Chaos. (and presumably some screens of the Echidna flashbacks).

The death of the strip had nothing to do with anything considering it was all on Egmont's side. Plus, remember SEGA only started getting stricter with Archie in 2006.

[Tani Coyote]

Well huh, I guess you're right. I think we concluded it was Egmont's own idiocy that doomed the strip already, though. I just find it odd that SEGA would never have mandated any deaths if they mandate people being spared.

Shame SEGA Europe imploded; seems they're far less controlling than their American and Japanese counterparts.

[Your Vest Friend]

SEGA Europe as a whole is fine though, it's SoA that imploded, effectively. 

[Adamis]

http://stconline.co.uk/263/controlzone.html

 

New issue guys ! With three stories, wallpapers and stuff !

[Tani Coyote]

First thought: oww, that tongue yank HAD to hurt.

Great work to all involved! I'm especially loving Emmy Roll's artwork.

The plot is definitely looking to be interesting, with quasi-roboticisation making SPEAR a lot more menacing as an organisation. The only question is if this is actually Gold's idea or he's being influenced somehow, given that it was said he's acting weird lately. It is definitely nice to see that some of the minor villains have found their way into the employ of another antagonist, as well. A lot of them may be "losers" (as the New to StC feature so politely put it) when working alone, but when coordinated by someone more competent...

With all these Metallixes, I can't help but wonder if we're going to see Robotnik have a Metallix Army face off against SPEAR'S Cybernik army at some point...

Overall things are looking to be fun to follow!

I also take note that Sonic Revolution's affiliation with STCO is now official!

[Ducktor Naldush]

BUMP

http://www.stconline.co.uk/stgeorge2014/controlzone.html

A new special came out. Nothing big actually...just a short 4 page story where Sonic teams up with...Saint George?

 

Eh, the comic has seen stranger days.

[Big Panda]

It's nice for StC to acknowledge a holiday that has little to no presence in it's own damn country of origin anymore.

[Tani Coyote]

I cracked up when Sonic stole his sword. Guy's all "No." and Sonic's just "Tough!" To me, that screams Sonic's sort of attitude. Authority never was his strong point, eh?

I once again will say I like how StC has changed its format to have fewer arcs per issue, special or otherwise; it allows for many more regular updates, and I think that's crucial to retaining readership.

Keep up the great work guys.

[Your Vest Friend]

It's nice for StC to acknowledge a holiday that has little to no presence in it's own damn country of origin anymore.

 

Personally I don't care about the saint holidays whatsoever, so I was legitimately confused at seeing this update at first.

[Tani Coyote]

Personally I don't care about the saint holidays whatsoever, so I was legitimately confused at seeing this update at first.

It goes without saying that would be my reaction as well.

I like how they found a way to keep it still very Sonic-y despite the holiday theme, however. Even if you don't know the slightest bit about the holiday (unlikely given the readership), the issue is still enjoyable in and of itself. Sonic is still the main hero even, saving the day and just being written out of history.

[MamboCat]

To be honest I was a bit "huh?" about this special too, since I really don't give a rat's ass about St George's Day, also I'm not in the UK so I don't even see any evidence of it! To me it seems only the right wing lot care about it. :/

 

But the art in the story is lovely. :3 I believe it's by RabidNoodles and Pete. That last panel of Sonic there really feels Up and Down and All Around!

[Adamis]

Never knew about St Georges's day neither, I don't think we celebrate it in Belgium.

 

It's nice to see it finally finished after all this time though (it was supposed to be released on St Georges's day 2013)

[Badnik Mechanic]

Since not everybody looks in the merch area.
 

SSMB memeber Lucky managed to get ahold of something quite special the other day.

 

 

Thats the press kit/release which was sent out just prior to STC's release, including the photo and comic preview.

 

[MamboCat]

That is most excellent stuff. Interesting at least.

 

I've got scans of two letters sent to me from the STC Editor, if anyone is interested?

[Badnik Mechanic]

Owww yes please.

[Tani Coyote]

Never knew about St Georges's day neither, I don't think we celebrate it in Belgium.

 

It's nice to see it finally finished after all this time though (it was supposed to be released on St Georges's day 2013)

Yeah, it's a holiday dedicated to the patron saint of England, if I am not mistaken.

 

It is interesting to hear how much development Hell the issue went through, though. Shame I'm not rich, or I'd be paying the STCO team so as to allow more work on the comic.