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The Curious Case of the Archie Graphic Novel and Reprint Delays and other GN Hyjinks (Sonic/Mega Man GN and Reprint Release Guide inside)


Ryannumber1gamer

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I was wondering why I couldn't find Knuckles archives five and six. :[

Jeez, for quite some time I thought we had too many GNs, now, we have like...none...

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WHO WANTS DELAYS?!

Hedgehog Havoc! is now delayed until April 5th 2016

Which also means The Eggman Wars, and On the Run are delayed even further. 

Edited by Ryannumber1gamer
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I might add that Mega Man vol. 1 is (possibly) out of print. I haven't seen it restocked anywhere (new), nor does Archie have it available to buy through their store. I'd also add that the upcoming omnibus collection is currently dated for May 24, 2016 on Amazon. Don't take that for a final date considering all the other delays and weirdness going on with Archie, though.

EDIT: So, more may be on the way to Amazon--they're listing that volume as "temporarily out of stock," which wasn't the case earlier in the year. The same cannot be said of volume two, though. On Archie's store, vols. 1, 2, and 4 are indeed out of stock, and I don't know if they will restock or not.

I'm surprised to learn that the Deluxe editions of "Worlds Collide" were cancelled, though. When did that happen?

On another note, I'm a little bummed the Knuckles Archives were cancelled. I mean, say what you will about the series itself, any and all re-releases for it are now incomplete. There were only two volumes left, it's a shame that people who were trying to collect them can't now.

All these delays and cancellations are getting ridiculous though. It was hard enough last year with how long it took for the print version of Sonic Sagas vol. 5 to surface.

Edited by Zaysho
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I might add that Mega Man vol. 1 is (possibly) out of print. I haven't seen it restocked anywhere (new), nor does Archie have it available to buy through their store. I'd also add that the upcoming omnibus collection is currently dated for May 24, 2016 on Amazon. Don't take that for a final date considering all the other delays and weirdness going on with Archie, though.

I'm surprised to learn that the Deluxe editions of "Worlds Collide" were cancelled, though. When did that happen?

On another note, I'm a little bummed the Knuckles Archives were cancelled. I mean, say what you will about the series itself, any and all re-releases for it are now incomplete. There were only two volumes left, it's a shame that people who were trying to collect them can't now.

All these delays and cancellations are getting ridiculous though. It was hard enough last year with how long it took for the print version of Sonic Sagas vol. 5 to surface.

Thanks, I've updated the Mega Man section.

If you want some added laughs, I've also updated each section (Exceptions being the upcoming sections) with a last book released section, which provides the last book which was released as well as its release date. Ironically, biggest gap is Knuckles Archives which currently has a full 2 year gap between Archives 4 and the cancelled Archives 5. 

Going back to last year, it didn't help that Silver Saga was also being delayed alongside Enerjak Reborn, leading to everyone believing it was due to Enerjak's role in both plots.

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Archie really should get their shit together. Decrease the variants if you're having money troubles. People like me are unlikely to buy them anyways.

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I might add that Mega Man vol. 1 is (possibly) out of print. I haven't seen it restocked anywhere (new), nor does Archie have it available to buy through their store. I'd also add that the upcoming omnibus collection is currently dated for May 24, 2016 on Amazon. Don't take that for a final date considering all the other delays and weirdness going on with Archie, though.

EDIT: So, more may be on the way to Amazon--they're listing that volume as "temporarily out of stock," which wasn't the case earlier in the year. The same cannot be said of volume two, though. On Archie's store, vols. 1, 2, and 4 are indeed out of stock, and I don't know if they will restock or not.

I'm surprised to learn that the Deluxe editions of "Worlds Collide" were cancelled, though. When did that happen?

On another note, I'm a little bummed the Knuckles Archives were cancelled. I mean, say what you will about the series itself, any and all re-releases for it are now incomplete. There were only two volumes left, it's a shame that people who were trying to collect them can't now.

All these delays and cancellations are getting ridiculous though. It was hard enough last year with how long it took for the print version of Sonic Sagas vol. 5 to surface.

Time Keeps Slipping is listed as in stock, at least on Amazon UK. The other two are indeed out of print/out of stock however.

Deluxe/Super Deluxe Editions of Worlds Collide were cancelled and replaced with The Complete Epic which supposedly has the same contents of the Super Deluxe Edition for a lower price.

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Time Keeps Slipping is listed as in stock, at least on Amazon UK. The other two are indeed out of print/out of stock however.

Deluxe/Super Deluxe Editions of Worlds Collide were cancelled and replaced with The Complete Epic which supposedly has the same contents of the Super Deluxe Edition for a lower price.

I'm going off of Amazon USA and Archie's own store, as well as the checklists in the comics themselves, so the stock might vary by region. I wonder if these trades will be phased out in favor of the Master Collections? I might not mind, but only if those new omnibuses aren't of inferior quality (smaller trim size makes me worry a bit).

Oh, and I dunno if it's worth noting, but I noticed that Archie is now restocking Sonic Universe vol. 2. I was surprised to see this because that book was out of stock both on Amazon (USA) and Archie's store for at least a year, and coincidentally following the lawsuit. It seems it's back in circulation, but SU vol.3 is currently out of stock on Archie's store, and seems out of stock like Mega Man vol. 2 on Amazon.

And I thought the Complete Epic collection was only a compilation of the regular trades while the Deluxe Editions had the extras. If the Complete Epic has the same content, and isn't so stupidly expensive, that seems like a fair enough trade off. I'm guessing the Complete Epic is a softcover, right?

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I'm going off of Amazon USA and Archie's own store, as well as the checklists in the comics themselves, so the stock might vary by region. I wonder if these trades will be phased out in favor of the Master Collections? I might not mind, but only if those new omnibuses aren't of inferior quality (smaller trim size makes me worry a bit).

Oh, and I dunno if it's worth noting, but I noticed that Archie is now restocking Sonic Universe vol. 2. I was surprised to see this because that book was out of stock both on Amazon (USA) and Archie's store for at least a year, and coincidentally following the lawsuit. It seems it's back in circulation, but SU vol.3 is currently out of stock on Archie's store, and seems out of stock like Mega Man vol. 2 on Amazon.

And I thought the Complete Epic collection was only a compilation of the regular trades while the Deluxe Editions had the extras. If the Complete Epic has the same content, and isn't so stupidly expensive, that seems like a fair enough trade off. I'm guessing the Complete Epic is a softcover, right?

Yeah, Complete Epic will be a softcover, according to Amazon anyway.

While I wouldn't mind if the Master Editions end up as maybe Select Size (I'm more worried because they said it'd be manga size, which to my knowledge, isn't much bigger than the Archives, and considering that the first three volumes combined would equal out to at least 360 pages, that doesn't sound exactly great. Especially if it ends up that the paper is the same low quality shit that Archie switched to last year.

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I wouldn't buy the Master Editions for myself if that's the case...but my sister has read my copies of some graphic novels, and she seemed to enjoy them, so if nothing else, it's something to consider getting her, even if I stick to my own copies.

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So, I only collect comics in collected edition forms, and I've practically got every Sonic reprint I want, I'm just missing a few Sonic Selects and Sonic Universe books, but I've had this near complete collection for a while now, so I've been following this whole delay thing for months. And no matter what approach I take in asking archie comics about it, they won't say a word, not even a "we can't talk about it at this time." Shoot, they don't even announce the delays, I find out through Amazon.

I've been trying for a long time to get some clarity on this, and barely anything comes up. A lot of people like OP said, mention the Kickstarter, or Ken Penders, or they say they're just shifting their focus to digests. 

Most recently someone claimed that Archie is just not paying royalties for things on their archie comics app and pissing off freelancers, and therefore we may never see any reprints of the pre-reboot material again.  I really hope that's not the case. 

 

EDIT: Well I looked into the Ken Peners topic and have a much more clear idea of what's going on.

I sure hope the reprints, and the comic in general doesn't get cancelled. 

Edited by pocket
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  • 2 weeks later...

This wacky ride just doesn't stop.

Worlds Collide The Complete Epic is confirmed delayed again to January 6th 2016 in comic stores, and January 26th 2016 in Book Stores.

 

Edited by Ryannumber1Santa
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Why exactly do we have so many graphic novels reprinting so many of the same issues?

That's kind of Archie's Modus Operandi. 

They stopped carrying comic books in Grocery stores years ago, except for Archie Comic digests, which are just random reprints of things that have already been reprinted. Someone on Ian Flynn's form mentioned getting a "super digest" that really just contained the last three archie comic digests in one book.

Compared to Archie Comics proper, Sonic has actually had it easy with repeat reprints.

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Hmm, reprints and loads of reprints.

Reminds me of the Fleetway comic and how it started to reprint its older stories alongside new ones before simply stopping the production of new ones one day and focusing entirely on doing reprints before cancelling the comic entirely.

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Hmm, reprints and loads of reprints.

Reminds me of the Fleetway comic and how it started to reprint its older stories alongside new ones before simply stopping the production of new ones one day and focusing entirely on doing reprints before cancelling the comic entirely.

Tell me, do you just have it out for Archie, or are collected editions really a completely foreign concept for you? No, never mind, I already know the answer.

This isn't comparable to what Fleetway did at all and you know it. Printing new issues of an on-going comic but not actually producing new content isn't the same as collecting older stories and re-releasing them in a separate book for the mass market.

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Tell me, do you just have it out for Archie, or are collected editions really a completely foreign concept for you? No, never mind, I already know the answer.

This isn't comparable to what Fleetway did at all and you know it. Printing new issues of an on-going comic but not actually producing new content isn't the same as collecting older stories and re-releasing them in a separate book for the mass market.

Um nNNo... I don't really have it out for Archie and I do know what Graphics novels and collectors editions are, we do have comic shops here. But hey, thanks for being all judge mental there buddy. Takes me back to the old days on the Bumbleking forum where questioning Ian Flynn's less spectacular story ideas and plot holes resulted in pitchforks and torches heading my way for daring to speak out against his holiness... Yes, that's Sarcasm

I was merely making a curious comparison between a now defunct comic series which slowly drifted from the production of new content to solely reprinting its old issues while thinking of how over the past year Archie has canned the Sonic Boom comic and placed Mega man on Hiatus while announcing more collections and a new digital Archie for readers.

No one is saying it is heading Fleetway's way, but from an outsiders point of view it doesn't seem good if a company is more focused on producing what can be viewed as reprints while reducing it's original content production. 

As for the delay in the Collectors editions, I'd say its got something to do with Pender's old and new lawsuit making Archie double check to see if the new graphic novels can be viewed as violating the terms of their agreement from a legal standpoint.

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Um nNNo... I don't really have it out for Archie and I do know what Graphics novels and collectors editions are, we do have comic shops here. But hey, thanks for being all judge mental there buddy. Takes me back to the old days on the Bumbleking forum where questioning Ian Flynn's less spectacular story ideas and plot holes resulted in pitchforks and torches heading my way for daring to speak out against his holiness... Yes, that's Sarcasm

I was merely making a curious comparison between a now defunct comic series which slowly drifted from the production of new content to solely reprinting its old issues while thinking of how over the past year Archie has canned the Sonic Boom comic and placed Mega man on Hiatus while announcing more collections and a new digital Archie for readers.

No one is saying it is heading Fleetway's way, but from an outsiders point of view it doesn't seem good if a company is more focused on producing what can be viewed as reprints while reducing it's original content production. 

As for the delay in the Collectors editions, I'd say its got something to do with Pender's old and new lawsuit making Archie double check to see if the new graphic novels can be viewed as violating the terms of their agreement from a legal standpoint.

And my point is your comparison doesn't work. Fleetway printing reruns of old stories in a regular on-going book and selling them as new is not the same as Archie collecting older stories and releasing them in another format for the mass market--something they kind of have a history of doing. I don't see how anyone would jump to that conclusion or how anyone would view this as Archie putting too much focus on reprints at the expense of original content. Most publishers reprint, and some, like IDW, find all sorts of ways to milk it in ways even Archie can't handle (and they've tried--the cancellation of the Worlds Collide Deluxe editions prove that much). The collections have nothing to do with cutbacks/delays/hiatuses, especially when they're hit with them, too. Archie's still dealing with the fallout of their Kickstarter being cancelled, and it's worth noting that things like Boom's cancellations and Mega Man's hiatus came out of nowhere and were announced shortly after that.

I doubt it has anything to do with Penders because he's already said he has a problem with their new app system--physical reprints were likely taken care of during the last settlement and Archie's been pretty selective (and limiting) about what they've put in non Archive/Sagas collections and magazines lately because of that.

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I'm so used to the delays, I don't even bother keeping track of them anymore. At this point, when a new book comes out, a new book comes out.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I don't know how many more delays I can take, some people are speculating that they're just delaying until they can officially announce the cancellation of Archives and Saga Series, but I don't want to be that pessimistic yet.  

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Bad News: 

Waves of Change has been delayed... AGAIN!

It's been pushed to July 19, 2016 next year, This is getting really annoying.

Edited by Dan-Dude
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Which means it'll officially be one year and a half since the last volume.

Archie, what the fuck is up with you?

List's updated.

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