Archie Sonic Hiatus Discussion

[Lighthead]

You can still purchase the comics through archiecomics.com. When are they legally required take them down?

[Badnik Mechanic]

18 minutes ago, goku262002 said:

@VEDJ-F - now that it's confirmed, mind shedding some light about how you and Hogfather heard about this 6 months ago? kind of curious.

I can't name our main source as they requested not to be named.

I might go into more detail on Saturday for some of the other clues we found that supported the claim, but it might mean going through skype convos which I dont want to do.

But it basically boiled down to the following.

* A very trusted person claims the comic has been cancelled.

* Second person claims the exact same thing on another site with a near identical claim and story (some differences but basically the same). We're sure the two people were different.

* What happens now when stuff like that is tipped to us is that we go looking for stuff to back up the claim. Which is what I'm guessing you want.

Off the top of my head I think one thing we found was one of the artists suddenly opened a Patreon/announced a big project and was offering a lot of work for someone who was previously working on a number of books.

Then there were the odd comments on Twitter that we noticed. Whilst any other day they could have meant anything. Given what we were told it did not sound good at all.

 

[Your Vest Friend]

I was keeping an Archie Watch behind the scenes since late December, and there was stuff there not even noted on the forum. 

[BlueSky]

3 minutes ago, Flyinpenguin117 said:

Hardly exclusive to comics and art. My dad works for an IT company that's been going through major staff downsizing the past few years, and he's told me horror stories of 300 person conference calls that start with,  "If you're on this call, today is your last day."

Gee that sounds crazy. Something like that really doesn't occur in here like that, expect maybe early 90's economical disaster and that "Elop busted Nokia and stuff before him" thing.

Your place is whacko.

[Borvoc]

@VEDJ-F Not to push, but is there anything you can share? The way you say that makes me curious. I assume you're not just talking about subs being taken down.

@BlueSky That's kind of how things are in America. The government can't force a company to not fire someone any more than they can force someone to keep shopping at a particular store. If you're good at your job and the economy is good, there's not much to worry about. And you can always take your skills and get a job somewhere else, maybe even somewhere better. In the end no one wants to have to fire people, so I think most companies try to avoid it as much as possible anyway. There are discrimination laws and stuff, but I'll leave my unpopular opinions on them alone in this unrelated public forum.

[goku262002]

Can it be talked about now that the cat's out of the bag? or is their still stuff that isn't quite ready for public knowledge yet?

So it was from a trusted source(s) but like Hogfather said before, not allot of actual physical evidence to back it up or alluding to anything happening. but the very fact that if something was already concrete 6 months ago, why the charade? why not just bite the bullet back in janurary? was their any actual hope that their were talks going and not some PR buzzword?

I'm just trying to understand the the insane amount of radio silence we got.

[SSF1991]

13 hours ago, Arranos said:

So yeah, Evan Stanley knew about the comics being cancelled in January.

http://spiritsonic.tumblr.com/post/163204711509/thoughts-on-the-official-archie-sonic-comic-series

So not only is the "we're in talks" PR a load of crap, but now it turns out that there's an inconsistency with who on the Archie Sonic team knew about the situation before yesterday's news.

The more we hear about this, the worse it gets.

[Borvoc]

Wait. Do we really know they weren't in talks? It seems very possible that Archie wanted to do everything they could to change Sega's mind and keep the train going.

[Wraith]

.

[doctorbenMD]

26 minutes ago, BlueSky said:

Gee that sounds crazy. Something like that really doesn't occur in here like that, expect maybe early 90's economical disaster and that "Elop busted Nokia and stuff before him" thing.

Your place is whacko.

Don't get sick here--you'd be fucked. Trust me, I'm an actual doctor.

 

22 minutes ago, SSF1991 said:

So not only is the "we're in talks" PR a load of crap, but now it turns out that there's an inconsistency with who on the Archie Sonic team knew about the situation before yesterday's news.

The more we hear about this, the worse it gets.

I think it's more that she heard rumblings, and remember, even Hesse mentioned on retro that something bad was going on months before that Archie tweet went out.

[Badnik Mechanic]

3 minutes ago, goku262002 said:

So it was from a trusted source(s) but like Hogfather said before, not allot of actual physical evidence to back it up or alluding to anything happening. 

Little to none. Nobody wanted to be named. Nobody wanted to go on record or provide anything of solid proof directly to us.

Not sure I blame them. Aside from possible financial penalties for doing so, when when we were in months of no Archie news. People got accused of scaremongering each other whenever something new got discovered that supported the claim. 

[JC_Mike]

1 minute ago, goku262002 said:

Can it be talked about now that the cat's out of the bag? or is their still stuff that isn't quite ready for public knowledge yet?

So it was from a trusted source(s) but like Hogfather said before, not allot of actual physical evidence to back it up or alluding to anything happening. but the very fact that if something was already concrete 6 months ago, why the charade? why not just bite the bullet back in janurary? was their any actual hope that their were talks going and not some PR buzzword?

I'm just trying to understand the the insane amount of radio silence we got.

 

1 minute ago, SSF1991 said:

So not only is the "we're in talks" PR a load of crap, but now it turns out that there's an inconsistency with who on the Archie Sonic team knew about the situation before yesterday's news.

The more we hear about this, the worse it gets.

They cancelled the comic and tried to renegotiate the terms? Judging by what Tyson Heese said about not being to hasty to either party, I don't think this was a deal that either party had full control over. Archie at the time was gearing up for Riverdale and was doing, somewhat bad with their recent comics. Sega just went through reorganization and was trying to drum stuff up for Sonic Mania/Forces. Both had there lawyers all tied up in a court case, which was picking up steam at the time. This sounds like it just all imploded on both parties and they couldn't find the time or resources to come together (right now...over me, sorry) to forge a lengthy contract that would have probably wiped out the pre-reboot for good and focused on getting the post-reboot stuff to gain as much revenue as the pre-reboot trades did.

[Lighthead]

Month 1

Archie: Are you sure you want to cancel?

Sega: Yes

Month 2

Archie: Are you sure you want to cancel?

Sega: Yes

Month 3

Archie: Are you sure you want to cancel?

Sega: Yes

Month 4

Archie: Are you sure you want to cancel?

Sega: Yes

Archie (To fans): Yeah, we're in talks with Sega sorting it out

Month 5

Archie: Are you sure you want to cancel?

Sega: Yes

Archie (To fans): Still in talks! Srsly.

Month 6

Archie: Are you sure you want to cancel?

Sega: Yes

Archie: Ok fine.

[Badnik Mechanic]

5 minutes ago, SSF1991 said:

So not only is the "we're in talks" PR a load of crap, but now it turns out that there's an inconsistency with who on the Archie Sonic team knew about the situation before yesterday's news.

The more we hear about this, the worse it gets.

Its possible that they were in talks. But... what those talks where are anyone's guess.

It might have been a divorce bill for all we know.

Personally I think that the comic was "cancelled" at around December. Then some talks happened but as to of it was 'can we save this'... not sure.

But for the last few months. If the comic really has gone to a new publisher (we've had 1 hint it has). Talks for that must have started a long time ago... so... if that happens then we can call the 6 months of silence the months in which it was dead and they told nobody.

[BlueSky]

25 minutes ago, Mayor D said:

I can't name our main source as they requested not to be named.

I might go into more detail on Saturday for some of the other clues we found that supported the claim, but it might mean going through skype convos which I dont want to do.

But it basically boiled down to the following.

* A very trusted person claims the comic has been cancelled.

* Second person claims the exact same thing on another site with a near identical claim and story (some differences but basically the same). We're sure the two people were different.

* What happens now when stuff like that is tipped to us is that we go looking for stuff to back up the claim. Which is what I'm guessing you want.

Off the top of my head I think one thing we found was one of the artists suddenly opened a Patreon/announced a big project and was offering a lot of work for someone who was previously working on a number of books.

Then there were the odd comments on Twitter that we noticed. Whilst any other day they could have meant anything. Given what we were told it did not sound good at all.

 

Gee, that seems like a real professional journalist work! Kudos ty you all!

19 minutes ago, Borvoc said:

 

@BlueSky That's kind of how things are in America. The government can't force a company to not fire someone any more than they can force someone to keep shopping at a particular store. If you're good at your job and the economy is good, there's not much to worry about. And you can always take your skills and get a job somewhere else, maybe even somewhere better. In the end no one wants to have to fire people, so I think most companies try to avoid it as much as possible anyway. There are discrimination laws and stuff, but I'll leave my unpopular opinions on them alone in this unrelated public forum.

Well, I was thinking more about the fact that usually in here the employer needs to inform about firings some months(?) beforehand, that's like a preparation time, a good thing, you know?

 

10 minutes ago, doctorbenMD said:

Don't get sick here--you'd be fucked. Trust me, I'm an actual doctor.

Yeah, I've figured that much from the news about your healthcare system, like you need the health-things to get any help at all.

And don't worry, I'm not planning on getting there any time soon, though I wonder if EU has any stuff with the US about accidents and such when considered about their citizens?

[goku262002]

Just now, Josh said:

https://twitter.com/AdamBryceThomas/status/888137713710399488

One of archie's artists mentions being under NDA for "Sonic stuff"

Gone, did you screencap it?

2 minutes ago, Borvoc said:

Wait. Do we really know they weren't in talks? It seems very possible that Archie wanted to do everything they could to change Sega's mind and keep the train going.

it could've been the opposite too, with SEGA trying to change Archie's mind. this isn't too clear as of yet.

1 minute ago, Mayor D said:

Little to none. Nobody wanted to be named. Nobody wanted to go on record or provide anything of solid proof directly to us.

Not sure I blame them. Aside from possible financial penalties for doing so, when when we were in months of no Archie news. People got accused of scaremongering each other whenever something new got discovered that supported the claim. 

NDAs I can understand, I've been under a few but it got worse as it went on like a snake biting it's own tail. so why keep going on with it if, by 6 months ago things seem pretty concrete that this comic wasn't coming back? were the 6 month's worth of "talks" actually real or was this a stall tactic by SEGA/Archie to find another publisher and Archie/SEGA had to play along?

I just want to know if they were actually talking this whole time and it finally fell through or or it already fell through and subscribers were ripped off 6 months of money for something that was never going to come back.

[Wraith]

2 minutes ago, goku262002 said:

Gone, did you screencap it?

 

Yep, edited one into the post.

[Badnik Mechanic]

1 minute ago, goku262002 said:

I just want to know if they were actually talking this whole time and it finally fell through or or it already fell through and subscribers were ripped off 6 months of money for something that was never going to come back.

If we actually do get comic news next week regarding new publisher.

There is no way the 6 month thing can possibly be true. Unless they literally confirmed the deal final last week and the comic won't be out for another 6 months-year.

[Borvoc]

3 minutes ago, BlueSky said:

Well, I was thinking more about the fact that usually in here the employer needs to inform about firings some monts(?) beforehand, that's like a preparation time, a good thing, you know?

Interesting. That doesn't usually happen here. If a company had to tell an employee months before letting him go, the employee would get lazy and stop working because he knew he would get paid anyway. Other people would get hired and not work at all, knowing that the company had to keep them anyway for a while. Where I'm from, a company will try to ask you to work better first sometimes, but if they know they're going to fire you, they do it right away without waiting. You put your stuff in a box and leave, and you start looking for another job. That's different from contract work, though. You usually know when that's going to end ahead of time because it's short-term. I've only ever been fired once, though, and I've had at least seven or so jobs.

[SSF1991]

By the way, TSSZ's doing an Archie stream, which just went live. Tracy Yardley's with us to answer questions.

https://www.twitch.tv/tssznews

[Borvoc]

2 minutes ago, Josh said:

Yep, edited one into the post.

Hey. Just asking, but are we sure we want to make that screencapped tweet public? If the tweeter deleted it, he or she might have realized it could cause him or her trouble. Maybe we should let sleeping dogs lie in this particular case?

[Wraith]

2 minutes ago, Borvoc said:

Hey. Just asking, but are we sure we want to make that screencapped tweet public? If the tweeter deleted it, he or she might have realized it could cause him or her trouble. Maybe we should let sleeping dogs lie in this particular case?

That's a good point yeah. I'll get rid of it. 


Disregard.

[BlueSky]

On ‎21‎.‎7‎.‎2017 at 2:06 AM, Borvoc said:

Interesting. That doesn't usually happen here. If a company had to tell an employee months before letting him go, the employee would get lazy and stop working because he knew he would get paid anyway. Other people would get hired and not work at all, knowing that the company had to keep them anyway for a while. Where I'm from, a company will try to ask you to work better first sometimes, but if they know they're going to fire you, they do it right away without waiting. You put your stuff in a box and leave, and you start looking for another job. That's different from contract work, though. You usually know when that's going to end ahead of time because it's short-term. I've only ever been fired once, though, and I've had at least seven or so jobs.

Gee I feel spoiled now, guess this is one of the perks living up here. Sad your system thinks like that, more from the employers point of view, while ours tries to look from both's; politicians from employers', labour unions from the employees' side. Interesting it is, I suppose you don't have that strong of unions?

EDIT:

I could go on a bit further about this, actually. For me it seems as the preparation time is useful for the system as well; since the enployer gets the warning beforehand they can start to look for another job in the meantime thus possibly cutting out the days they spend jobless, possibly avoiding that entirely. The thing is, after all, that unemployed workers will start, at some point if not found work in while getting back the money they give for unions or something for having this "stashed" money for their unemployed workers and other "for small time only" money that's dependant of the payment they got from the job they had last or something like that, I'm not too certain about these first "sources of income". I hope I got this about right...

The point is, after some short time they'll need to start asking the money from the state, more or less. There are of course many hoops and all. And there's the fact the jobless person needs to go every now and then to check with some person at the place where they try to deliver jobs to unemployed. You need to try and apply for gigs you can't get if there's nothing for you to get anyway, or you need to go in these courses about how to get a job that won't give anything out how to actually get a job. This is something you need to do if you want to get the unemployment benefit. There is some other ways of getting money to keep on living but these all are supposed to be only for temporary use let alone the risk of social exclusion gets pretty high the deeper you go into this. The system cannot take too many unemployed people when compared to those employed before it collapses. That's one reason I think it's good to actually get a warning about getting sacked. Our nets aren't in too good condition after all...

Considering how hard it supposedly is to get job in the comics industry nowadays even in there (even when your system is different fron ours) I suppose some kind of heads-ups would be very appreciated.

[SonicComicFanboy]

A bit off topic but Megaman is getting some (sorta) new comics from Udon starting in January called Megaman: Mastermix.  Full color 80 page books released quarterly.  So yay for that at least!

[goku262002]

24 minutes ago, Josh said:

https://twitter.com/AdamBryceThomas/status/888137713710399488

One of archie's artists mentions being under NDA for "Sonic stuff"

EDIT: Screencap

 

Spoiler

 

interesting, is he alluding to the current Archie situation or a new publisher? hmm...
 

10 minutes ago, Mayor D said:

If we actually do get comic news next week regarding new publisher.

There is no way the 6 month thing can possibly be true. Unless they literally confirmed the deal final last week and the comic won't be out for another 6 months-year.

So more then likely Archie and SEGA terminated things at the end of the year and then Archie kept on this puppet show for 6 months and didn't inform their subscribers.

I said lawsuit before as a joke in this thread but if enough evidence piles up then yeah, serious lawsuit. this feels like the kind of thing that they shouldn't get away with and should've informed their paying subscribers earlier. this is less about Sonic now and more about their stupid practices as a comic publisher.