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

[PC the Hedgehog]

Meh. You know what? I'm done with the graphic novels. I don't want to spend the rest of my life waiting for things that are either going to continually disappoint or never see the light of day (or aren't delivered to me because Archie's mailing department is woefully incompetent).

I mean, why bother waiting for physical releases when, right this moment, I can get every single issue of the Sonic comic's 22 year run bar the last ten issues of Knuckles digitally in a convenient, easy-to-organize format?

It's a huge step for a diehard physical release fan like me, but I think I'm about ready to take the plunge. I'm gonna sell all my graphic novels and the remainder of my individual issues and collect the whole series digitally.

[Sean]

Same. Besides, going digital is surprisingly convenient since you can download the issues and keep them forever.

[Big Panda]

Some stuff going on at Amazon again:

-Couple of books have been delayed once again. Waves of Change has gone back to August 23rd, and the first Sonic Boom volume to September 27th.

-The Art of Sonic book has disappeared from listings altogether.

And now for the worrying part:

-Mega Man: Dawn of X, which was previously the only standard Mega Man book on the site (besides the first Master Edition) has dissappeared from listings. The aforementioned Master Edition is still up though.

-Babylon Rising now only has a Kindle listing, and Scrambled, which was re-added only a few weeks back, has disappeared again.

So as of now, the next graphic novel set for release is Mega Man Master Edition in May, followed by Worlds Unite 1 in July.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Updated, and while I was at it, I fixed up all of the previous issues with the older list.

This is getting fucking idiotic Archie. It doesn't help they keep announcing even more GNs to the point where so little is being released that a fucking release guide was required. This is a disaster.

[Big Panda]

Well to he fair they've more or less stopped announcing more books now. They're literally focusing on the ones we already know about.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Just now, Detective Panda said:

Well to he fair they've more or less stopped announcing more books now. They're literally focusing on the ones we already know about.

If by focused, you mean delisting books, and making the most baffling choices, and then not even giving any kind of official word regarding the delays, cancellations, and more.

[Big Panda]

If they can't reprint the final four pre-reboot Sonic Universe arcs, it'd be nice if the graphic novels could just skip to Pirate Plunder Panic rather than ending altogether.

[Your Vest Friend]

That's going backwards. You mean Pirate Plunder Panic, right?

[Your Vest Friend]

So I got Sonic Comics Spectacular today.

...okay I'm not here to just say I bought a book, no I think there's something interesting about that checklist.

So we've already been through some of the changes in the checklist at the back, right? No Saga/Knuckles Archives/Encyclopedia etc, just books which are currently "active". But there was something bugging me about the series on there, so I decided to cross-reference it. Granted, Sonic the Hedgehog Vol 2 (the only GN I had on hand that came from before all this happened) had mostly different series listed, but they did share one; Sonic Universe.

And sure enough, in StH Vol 2, The list goes from SU vol 1-9, incorporating the announced but not released GN of Babylon Rising. Sonic Comics Spectacular only has 1-8, all books that have been released prior. In fact, all the lists in SCS only have already released books and none that are supposed to be upcoming (in this case, Sonic Archives and Sonic the Hedgehog). It seems if the issue is a fixable one (and not Archie just stopping production for reasons), they're not banking on it being fixed soon. 

[Big Panda]

Amazon news again:

Sonic Boom 2 is back. January 3rd release.

Babylon Rising is gone.

[Your Vest Friend]

January next year?

Also I didn't realise Amazon read this thread. XP

 

Edit: It's still on Amazon US just to note.

Edit edit: Wait, it's on the UK site as well, it's not missing. What is notable is that the release date still says 21st January, which has long, long passed by now (and it still says there's no stock and that they don't know when it'll be in).

Edit edit edit: Chaotix Quest is down for August 22nd 2017. That's a long time. 

[Big Panda]

I don't trust Amazon UK that much. Friendly reminder that this is the site that has listed such books as Knuckles Archives Vol. 5 as available from independant sellers for a small fee of £999.98.

[Monkey Destruction Switch]

41 minutes ago, Detective Panda said:

I don't trust Amazon UK that much. Friendly reminder that this is the site that has listed such books as Knuckles Archives Vol. 5 as available from independant sellers for a small fee of £999.98.

How do we know they don't actually have it, though?? I think it's worth buying just to find out if it's real, don't you?

[Your Vest Friend]

 

Hmm? 

[Big Panda]

*strokes chin whiskers in intrigue*

On another note:

There's been the theory going around quite a bit that Archie are now avoiding reprinting any old canon stories that contain old canon characters. If this is true, what stories are safe to he reprinted in future Digests/miscellaneous collections? To answer that, I've compiled a list of them all:

-"Stargazing" (StH#151) (debut of Nicole's mobian form which is both written and drawn by Tania Del Rio. Since Nicole's mobian form is still being used to this day and Del Rio still does stuff for Archie, I don't see any reason why this one wouldn't be safe).

-"Sonic Rush" (StH#160-#161)

-"Sonic Riders" (StH#163-#164)

-"I Am" (StH#171) (Fiona is mentioned a few times during the story, but most of them can easily he substituted for pronouns (she, her))

-"High Stakes on the High Seas" (StH#180)

-"Sonic Unleashed" (StH#193)

-"Knight Time" (StH#197)

-"Living Weapons" (SU#1) (omit the final page where Hope appears)

-"Time & Again" (SU#2)

-"Tails Adventure" (SU#17-#20) (omit any mentions of the DEL)

-"Treasure Team Tango" (SU#21-#24)

-"Sonic Colours" (StH#219)

-"Genesis" (StH#226-#229)

-"Sonic Generations" (StH#230)

-"Babylon Rising: Part 1" (SU#33) (edit out Rotor's mention of Elias, as per SSD#15 and SCS)

-"Babylon Rising: Part 2" (SU#34) (change Sonic's line of "First those Ixis-jerks Naugus and St. John stink up the city..." to something like "First Naugus and his cronies stink up the city...")

-"Time For a Comeback" (SSSM#3)

-"Race for the Stars" (SU#45)

-"Olympic Trials" (StH#242)

[Monkey Destruction Switch]

I hope they can reprint those stories, Panda. As much as I like the new continuity, I still definitely want the old one to be able to get at least some reprints!

[Hiki]

[removed]

[Big Panda]

Again, the Sagas are dead.

It's also looking a lot like Archives and Universe are dead too.

[Zaysho]

On 3/14/2016 at 6:40 PM, Ernest-Panda said:

Again, the Sagas are dead.

It's also looking a lot like Archives and Universe are dead too.

Granted, things are pretty heavily stacked against the Sagas coming back (going to hold out some slim hope they MAY turn up in solicits, but given all that's been going on, I can almost see Archie cutting their losses with them), but what makes you say the Archives and Universe trades are dead?

[Big Panda]

7 hours ago, Zaysho said:

Granted, things are pretty heavily stacked against the Sagas coming back (going to hold out some slim hope they MAY turn up in solicits, but given all that's been going on, I can almost see Archie cutting their losses with them), but what makes you say the Archives and Universe trades are dead?

The Amazon listings for all upcoming volumes have vanished.

Then again both series are still a part of the graphic novel checklist as of the SCS, so there's still some slim hope there too.

[Hiki]

[removed]

[Big Panda]

So 279 came out today and it has a brand new graphic novel order form. The only titles be promoted on it are Sonic Comics Spectacular, Sonic the Hedgehog (post-reboot), Sonic Universe, Sonic Selects and Genesis.

[Hiki]

[removed]

[Big Panda]

There's a reason they dropped original Kickstarter you know.

[Hiki]

[removed]