Archie Sonic Hiatus Discussion

[Tracker_TD]

2 minutes ago, Dejimon11 said:

Did everybody just forgot that SEGA said that they're still going to be making Sonic comics but not with Archie oooor? Only asking because I've been seeing this a lot lately not just here but on social media as well.

It's more that Yardley's comments indicate if there is a revival coming in the near future, he isn't involved (which could bode badly for the rest of the team's involvement in such a thing), and that the FFs would likely get dropped. 

[JC_Mike]

3 minutes ago, Dejimon11 said:

Did everybody just forgot that SEGA said that they're still going to be making Sonic comics but not with Archie oooor? Only asking because I've been seeing this a lot lately not just here but on social media as well.

Well they did say it was not the end, but they also said that they want to take the "series in a different direction" which a lot of people are assuming that they are just going to reboot the comic and slash the freedom fighters/comic characters and just focus on the game characters.

[pocket]

2 minutes ago, JC_Mike said:

Well they did say it was not the end, but they also said that they want to take the "series in a different direction" which a lot of people are assuming that they are just going to reboot the comic and slash the freedom fighters/comic characters and just focus on the game characters.

Unless they're planning to use their entire roster of game characters extensively, and use them well, I can't imagine any scenario where this new comic is going to be very exciting.  Especially if the "new direction" is anything at all like the last decade of the writing for the games.

I would absolutely love to be wrong though.  I fell in love with just the games in the past after all.

 

[Dejimon11]

The only thing I see happening is seeing the SatAM/Aosth and pretty much everything that wasn't made by SEGA being axed or reduced to background characters/cameos. Mostly because after the fallout of the Penders lawsuit and when the comic rebooted Archie basically had to fight for the Freedom Fighters to stick around which is pretty much why they got those re-designs in the first place

[pocket]

Sure would be nice if there was something we could do as fans to fight to keep the SatAM and AoSTH elements around in some form, but I'm not going to kid myself, I know all too well that fans of the comic are small potatoes who aren't that vocal compared to the fans of the games that give Sega their dough.

[SonicComicFanboy]

3 minutes ago, Dejimon11 said:

The only thing I see happening is seeing the SatAM/Aosth and pretty much everything that wasn't made by SEGA being axed or reduced to background characters/cameos. Mostly because after the fallout of the Penders lawsuit and when the comic rebooted Archie basically had to fight for the Freedom Fighters to stick around which is pretty much why they got those re-designs in the first place

 Then that makes the comic nothing more then an overblown ad for the games with even less effort put into it then DC's Looney Tunes comics. *yes surprisingly those are still printed too*

 

  But hey if thats what SEGA wants to do that's their call.  They have every right to manage their feanchise the way they choose just like we have every right to drop their franchise like its yesterday's garbage.

 

Again plenty of other comic books and game studios to give my $$$ to, i'll miss the FF like Hell if they are given the boot but I sure as hay won't miss SEGA's increasingly poor treatment of the franchise or its older/ more obscure characters.

 

 

Again i'll hold out till an official announcment, but if worse comes to worse, no need to stick around for a company that is basically giving you the  middle finger & telling you that you don't matter because you are'nt the right kind of fan.

[Dejimon11]

Just now, SonicComicFanboy said:

 Then that makes the comic nothing more then an overblown ad for the games with even less effort put into it then DC's Looney Tunes comics. *yes surprisingly those are still printed too* 

The whole comic was essentially a commercial for the games tho. Ian said it himself in an interview like 4 years ago aoooooooo.

[SonicComicFanboy]

3 minutes ago, Dejimon11 said:

The whole comic was essentially a commercial for the games tho. Ian said it himself in an interview like 4 years ago aoooooooo.

The comic started out as an ad for the early games & cartoons but over time became so much more.  SEGA may never have cared for it, but fans did and if what replaces it is an inferior product then those who followed the previous one are under no obligation to continue to support it.

 

Its a 2 way street, SEGA has no obligation to keep using the FF, & we have no obligation to keep buying their products.

[Multikaris]

16 minutes ago, SonicComicFanboy said:

 Then that makes the comic nothing more then an overblown ad for the games with even less effort put into it then DC's Looney Tunes comics. *yes surprisingly those are still printed too*

 

  But hey if thats what SEGA wants to do that's their call.  They have every right to manage their feanchise the way they choose just like we have every right to drop their franchise like its yesterday's garbage.

 

Again plenty of other comic books and game studios to give my $$$ to, i'll miss the FF like Hell if they are given the boot but I sure as hay won't miss SEGA's increasingly poor treatment of the franchise or its older/ more obscure characters.

 

 

Again i'll hold out till an official announcment, but if worse comes to worse, no need to stick around for a company that is basically giving you the  middle finger & telling you that you don't matter because you are'nt the right kind of fan.

I agree with you about the Looney Tunes comic. It's beyond me why they don't pull from the Tiny Toons, Animaniacs, and Histeria rosters, or characters from the 1930s and 1960s, or characters from the Gold Key comic. Nor make interesting new ones. DC is owned by Warner, giving them less of an excuse. At least their Grand Dad comic got a gritty retool (but the series was always for adults, as was Looney tunes so the point still stands). 

 

And well, Forces seems to be catering, even if only a wee bit. 

[SonicComicFanboy]

Unless forces lets me create a Rabbit character that looks exactly like Bunnie, bionic arm, legs & all i'm not interested.

 

But yea to me a Sonic comic without the FF is like a Superman comic without Lois Lane & Lex Luthor.  Sure you can find a way to "make it work" but it would still feel like something important was missing from the equation.  

 

I got into Sonic because I cared about the chatacters in the cartoons & comics, the games were just icing on the cake for me.  If its time to say good bye its time to say good bye.  But again i'm not the one with the potential divorce papers, SEGA is, and I won't know whats what until they make an official announcement.  Just have to wait and see who they decide to give that last rose too. 

[Flyinpenguin117]

1 minute ago, SonicComicFanboy said:

Unless forces lets me create a Rabbit character that looks exactly like Bunnie, bionic arm, legs & all i'm not interested.

PC has got you covered. Maybe. Depends on how extensive modding gets.

[SonicComicFanboy]

11 minutes ago, Flyinpenguin117 said:

PC has got you covered. Maybe. Depends on how extensive modding gets.

True.  Also I know there's old Sonic 1 hacks that replace sonic with Bunnie or Sally but i've never found a download for 1 that wasn't shady or virusy so yea... 

 

  Again, like others hoping for the best, preparing for the worst.  What happens happens, nothing I can do about it at this point. 

[Dwapook]

Here's the Bumblekast people keep referencing where Ian talks about the Freedom Fighter's inclusion in the Archie reboot..

 

[Polkadi~☆]

22 minutes ago, SonicComicFanboy said:

True.  Also I know there's old Sonic 1 hacks that replace sonic with Bunnie or Sally but i've never found a download for 1 that wasn't shady or virusy so yea... 

Try Sonic Retro, you can find trustworthy download links there.

Or, if you have the SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis Collection thing on Steam, others have reuploaded the hack for use on the Workshop.

Just a quick note, one of Bunnie's abilities makes the game laughably easy.

[Flyinpenguin117]

So in addition to cancelling the comics, the gameplay preview for Total War: Warhammer's upcoming Norsca faction was cancelled due to technical issues. So that's twice in one day I was screwed over by SEGA. Plus Chester Bennington died. And OJ's on parole. So I guess yesterday was just a really shitty day in general.

Anyways: I'm still trying to figure out what exactly it is SEGA is hoping to accomplish here. They've made it clear they want to continue the comics in some form. If the plan was to move to a new publisher and pick up where they left off, why leave the whole creative team in the dark about it? Do they honestly expect that rebranding the comics while cutting out everything that made them appealing is going to keep a worthwhile portion of their audience? Are there really that many people thinking "You know, I'd sure love to read the comics, but these gosh darn Freedom Fighters just ruin my interest!"? Mandates were already pretty tight, and the comics hadn't been doing anything offensive since the reboot. I'm not a lawyer, but did the lawsuit (which IIRC was still over pre-reboot material) have so much of a bearing that they decided to scuttle the line? According to Yardley, it had nothing to do with sales, so SEGA's cutting their bottom line with this.

Gaaaah. So much of this just makes no sense. I guess all that's left to do is wait for more official word...

[ElectricAngel]

So, I'm a little late to this but I'm not entirely sure how to react to the comics ending. I mean, I did enjoy reading them a lot but during the final few issues of the Unleashed adaptation I was getting a little tired of it. But that's probably because the adaptation was so long, actually. The 6 month hiatus after Genesis of a Hero Part 3 didn't help much either. I guess I'm a little numb to it. I mean, I will miss them and it's a shame they're gone, but I guess after 6 months I had subconsciously accepted them as done. 

As far as my history with the series goes, it was the first American comic I actively read and collected. I had first started reading a little before the soft reboot, and even though I was a little confused with the story and characters, the artwork and dialogue had me hooked. After the reboot I did start to enjoy it even more and I loved how everything from the cartoons and games was just merging seamlessly into the universe. Ian Flynn did do a really great job with it, and I have to congratulate him for keeping such a strong streak. It wasn't until yesterday that I looked back and saw that he had basically written for half of the comic's run, if not more.

Now in terms of what will happen with the comics, I think it'd be a shame if they just started off with a hard reboot, especially given there are issues such as Overdrive that are finished. But I can see why they'd go that route for new readers. In terms of who should get the licensing rights, I see many people mention IDW. But IDW recently had to cancel one of their Disney series and merged the Mickey and Donald comics into one quarterly publication, apparently due to printing costs. And this also led other Disney titles to become quarterly. And yes, I know Disney and SEGA are different but it honestly doesn't seem to me that IDW has that much money for another license. Boom would seem to fair better maybe, but even they had some trouble with previous licensing (looking at you, unapproved Ducktales and Darkwing Duck crossover). Granted, their Adventure Time comics seem to be going well, even though I think those were rebooted recently? Speaking of reboots, one concern for me is how often I see reboots in comics these days. I'm not sure that any other publisher will be able to reach the milestones Archie did with Sonic and fear we might be getting a new reboot every few years.

Despite that though, I am actually very interested in what plans SEGA has to continue with the Sonic brand in comics. Hoping for an announcement in the next few days but that's probably way too soon. 

Anyway, Archie had a good run. The art and story of the comics in the past few years has been great. Major congrats to the team and here's hoping at least some of the talent will carry over in whatever new Sonic comic comes around next. 

[Zulon Eredas]

If they hadn't have shoehorned in Worlds Unite then Genesis of a Hero would've been finished and we would have had more issues.

[Flyinpenguin117]

1 minute ago, Zulon Eredas said:

If they hadn't have shoehorned in Worlds Unite then Genesis of a Hero would've been finished and we would have had more issues.

I mentioned that in the main thread, plus last year's shipping delay is at least another story arc that could've been covered.

[RictalRose0]

13 hours ago, Flyinpenguin117 said:

While we're planning the funerals for the Freedom Fighters, let's not forget about Big, Tikal, Omega, I'm pretty sure they aren't in Forces so we can probably count Blaze, Rouge, and Cream, and if Forces crashes and burns, they'll be joined by Silver and the Chaotix.

 

Yes. Unless SEGA suddlenly cares again to me this is like goodbye to half the game cast. Maybe more. And goodbye to any of then ever doing something on their own or having more that two lines per game. Now it's back to Sonic's cheesy flat lines written by the most uninspired writers SEGA could ever end up with. Pontaff.

God help us, let someone that gives a damn write Forces. At the very least, let someone that cares write the next incarnation of the comics. 

[RictalRose0]

On another subject. I feel very much like some others here. I know it's only been a day but I wanna know what really went down. And I doubt either SEGA or Archie will ever open their mouths about it. What lead to this? The court cases? The non-game elements? Did SEGA just not like them? A rebranding of Sonic as a whole? I have no idea and I wanna know. Especially why the six month silence if we know that they were cancelled since possibly January and December.

[antyep]

From what I heard...well the news about this was during the same time Riverdale season one finale came. They probably didn't want to tell about the cancellation during the show's run because it might anger some fans away from their new show, and now that the season ended, they probably think now is a good time.

[RictalRose0]

Nah. I hardly doubt this has much to do with Riverdale. And I was one of the people that thought this was mostly Archie trying to focus on Riverdale and Archie instead of non-archie stuff. But with the recent news, I think this had more involvement from SEGA that I originally thought. Besides why would Archie Sonic fans watch Riverdale, they are two totally different demographics. Not to mention the reader-base of Archie Sonic comics is not exactly big and doesn't sell that much. Sonic Boom and Riverdale are much more popular, on account of being on TV and streaming.

I'm pretty sure now that it was SEGA that brought up the possible cancellation first. And Archie's poor management probably failed to convince them otherwise. The question that I have is what exactly is it that SEGA had a problem with. I will probably find out next week if they announce a new comic. Based on the direction of the new comic, I will know what the problem was. Or at least have an idea of what happened.

[antyep]

Well then it's probably all the lawsuits Archie keeps attracting, and that SEGA wants the comic line completely in line with the way they handle the games (as in boring Color/BOOM style). That means no SatAM or Aosth or any of the post Genesis characters. They can finally do what they did with those from Sonic X, OVA, and so forth...toss them out.

[RictalRose0]

In that case I really, really hope that the direction the games seem to be taking with Forces pays off, whatever it's trying to be it at least it seems to be more ambitious that the Pontaff stuff. If the new Comic is anything at all like the last seven or so years, as in "Baldy McNosehair and Sonic the Bad Comedian featuring the Furry Cheerleading Squad" written by discount Pontaff I think we will all simultaneously groan.

[Dr. Detective]

If they do have a new comic and it's got talent even remotely close to, the same as, or even better than the people we had on this comic than I'd have higher hopes for it than ever on a personal level. I lament the comic's passing but I'm not destroyed by it. Despite having gone out of my way to collect as many of them I could in these giant binders, my allegiance is to the Sonic series itself first and foremost. If they came out with a new one that was based more on the world from the games and could comfortably develop it's own continuity without awkwardly trying to fit in the Freedom Fighter angle and the elements they were barely able to keep to their book then that'd probably be my ideal Sonic comic series right there. 

I have no real hope that something that awesome is in my future but I can dream.

Also, I know this isn't what people want to hear having just found out that the book was cancelled but I don't feel it's that silly to expect the Freedom Fighters to never return again. Honestly, it feels extremely obvious to me. Those characters already felt like they were on life-support to me, existing long past the point any group of characters from a long cancelled cartoon would be expected to. I'd have loved to have seen Bocoe, Decoe, and Bokkun return in something again but aside from the Sonic X comics... what else was there for me? You guys got a lot of time to spend with them. I would feel lucky and admire how well loved they were to the point where it was possible for the writer to be determined to keep them as relevant as he could. 

But this is coming from someone who couldn't really get into them no matter how hard I tried so maybe this comes off as a little insincere. Although I assure you I tried my best. The tick at the back of my brain that just desired seeing Sonic and Tails as their own adventuring duo, doing stuff, and coming across the other cast members when the need arises just kept distracting me from it though. 

I was too married to the idea of Sonic being free rather than a freedom fighter I guess.