Megathread IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog - Megathread

[Eurisko]

 

17 hours ago, Mauro Fonseca said:

Remember Imposter Syndrome is being published interchangeably with the mainline book. You ARE getting 3 future issues lined up, it's just two of them are Imposter Syndrome.

This makes sense but I know I've seen issue pre-orders stretch further along in the past. Even during 'Tangle and Whisper' and 'Bad Guys'

[Mauro Fonseca]

2 hours ago, Eurisko said:

 

This makes sense but I know I've seen issue pre-orders stretch further along in the past. Even during 'Tangle and Whisper' and 'Bad Guys'

Because those minisseries weren't being made interchangeably with the main book. Sort of how back in Archie, Sonic X just became Sonic Universe in terms of production, and those who had active Sonic X subscriptions just started getting Sonic Universe from one month to the next naturally.

IDW Sonic 46 comes out, then the book "renames itself" Imposter Syndrome 1, then it "renames itself" IDW Sonic 47, etc, rather than Imposter Syndrome being a separate book. So previews sites and preorder sites and so on are still listing the next few issues as usual, it's just the issues aren't continuous numbering for a while.

This is my understanding at least, I can be wrong, I'm not the editor so I don't get a look at production.

[MetalSkulkBane]

23 hours ago, CertifiedNobody said:

To be fair, most manga are black and white. That does at least partially reduce the workload for creators.

Kiiinda, but it doesn't change time frame.

After all manga artists do most things. Lettering, inking, story writing. I assume that coloring can't take that long in comparison to all of that.

 

So if IDW had a team of writer, artists, colorist, inker and letterer, all who would be able to do their part within one week, then while finishing a single issue could take a month, series could still upload weekly.

[Leebo4]

1 minute ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

Kiiinda, but it doesn't change time frame.

After all manga artists do most things. Lettering, inking, story writing. I assume that coloring can't take that long in comparison to all of that.

 

So if IDW had a team of writer, artists, colorist, inker and letterer, all who would be able to do their part within one week, then while finishing a single issue could take a month, series could still upload weekly.

Wouldn’t that be crunch time?

[MetalSkulkBane]

11 minutes ago, Leebo4 said:

Wouldn’t that be crunch time?

1) Fine, I'll take 2 weekly if that helps. Or you know, even 1 per month like we SHOULD be getting.

2) This debate started with me pointing that manga artists are insane and their passion for often leads to self harm and health problems.

[Leebo4]

24 minutes ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

1) Fine, I'll take 2 weekly if that helps. Or you know, even 1 per month like we SHOULD be getting.

2) This debate started with me pointing that manga artists are insane and their passion for often leads to self harm and health problems.

Sorry about that, I think I misunderstood what kind of point you were making.

[CertifiedNobody]

 

Spoiler

New preview pages out.

[CertifiedNobody]

The Sonic Cycle reference was unexpected.

[PublicEnemy1]

2 hours ago, CertifiedNobody said:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

New preview pages out.

This kinda reminds me of one of those text dumps that Archie Sonic (especially pre-reboot) had

[Slashy]

40 minutes ago, PublicEnemy1 said:

This kinda reminds me of one of those text dumps that Archie Sonic (especially pre-reboot) had

I feel like everything here would be better just told through the events of the story or at least dumped on us at the climax.

[Wraith]

They've been beating around the bush re: What Starline's whole deal was so I appreciate them just laying it out

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

44 minutes ago, Slashy said:

I feel like everything here would be better just told through the events of the story or at least dumped on us at the climax.

That might actually be a lot more cumbersome for the pacing than the brief recap being used as Starline’s monologue. 

[Slashy]

45 minutes ago, CrownSlayer’s Shadow said:

That might actually be a lot more cumbersome for the pacing than the brief recap being used as Starline’s monologue. 

I mean I would rather he doesn't outright tell us his plan with Surge and Kit before the story starts.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

15 minutes ago, Slashy said:

I mean I would rather he doesn't outright tell us his plan with Surge and Kit before the story starts.

It’s not like it’s going to go exactly as he tells us.

That’s the thing with storytelling—when the characters have or state a plan, conflict is generated by having things go wrong in its process and steps.

The story comes from how it goes wrong, which is the actual part we’re here to see.

[Slashy]

5 minutes ago, CrownSlayer’s Shadow said:

It’s not like it’s going to go exactly as he tells us.

That’s the thing with storytelling—when the characters have or state a plan, conflict is generated by having things go wrong in its process and steps.

The story comes from how it goes wrong, which is the actual part we’re here to see.

Of course Starline is going to lose, but don't need the setup of the story directly told to me through dialogue.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

29 minutes ago, Slashy said:

Of course Starline is going to lose, but don't need the setup of the story directly told to me through dialogue.

Can you think of a shorter way of doing it then? Like, I’m trying not to sound patronizing explaining it, because narrative decisions like these are often made for the sake of pacing—that’s why it’s a set-up, not exactly the story itself.
 

Starline is telling what he’s going to do as every boastful villain does (then again, heroes with strategists on their teams do this too), but the story is all about showing how he does it (and either fails or succeeds in doing it). Plus, it goes with Starline’s character as he logs everything he does.

[Rabbitearsblog]

41 minutes ago, Slashy said:

Of course Starline is going to lose, but don't need the setup of the story directly told to me through dialogue.

I think this heavy dialogue is within Starline's character. He seems like the type of character who monologues everything he does and he's just basically monologuing his plans like how some villains would do so.

[Slashy]

45 minutes ago, CrownSlayer’s Shadow said:

Can you think of a shorter way of doing it then? Like, I’m trying not to sound patronizing explaining it, because narrative decisions like these are often made for the sake of pacing—that’s why it’s a set-up, not exactly the story itself.
 

Starline is telling what he’s going to do as every boastful villain does (then again, heroes with strategists on their teams do this too), but the story is all about showing how he does it (and either fails or succeeds in doing it). Plus, it goes with Starline’s character as he logs everything he does.

We are going to see Surge and Kit acting like heroes right? We can just have this happen and utilize montages to get this whole setup over with in two issues. Then we can find out they're evil and have them defeated in the next two issues.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

18 minutes ago, Slashy said:

We are going to see Surge and Kit acting like heroes right? We can just have this happen and utilize montages to get this whole setup over with in two issues. Then we can find out they're evil and have them defeated in the next two issues.

That’s the cumbersome part I was warning about. You’re stretching something into two issues when it can be done in two pages.

Surge and Kit acting like heroes and being outed as evil is a vague summary, but the meat is in the specifics—after being outed as evil, what’ll Surge and kit do against the heroes? Cause an EMP? A lightning storm? Tsunami? Flood? Raise the water levels and use the water as an electric conduit to fry the heroes and the people they protect?

[Kazhnuz]

Mmh, I kinda like the explanation because it's not just an explaination of his plan : it's also an ideological speech. Starline isn't just dumping on us what he is doing, but also a bit of his motivation, that was hinted quite a bit since a while (calling Eggman a "visionnary", and stuff like that) but not enough explained (or if I was a bit cynical, not enough defined). So honestly I'm happy to see him say a big speech where he says big villain stuff like "the world is not moving because of heroes" and "I'll control the hero vs villain narrative". It solve a bit an issue I had with him, which was he was just "doing bad stuff" with an unknown plan in mind.

And it's been a while since a Flynn villain was understanding "meta stuff", last time was the "chaos factor" in Archie, and I kinda like here that it is a bit more subtle (not the Sonic Cycle, this joke wasn't subtle at all lol) with Starline understanding something that makes sense in-story : that Sonic is also liked for his bravado.

But honnestly it might be just that I'm a sucker for big speeches lol

[Red Hot Jack]

I think any insight on what Starline is doing makes sense to understand his character and motivation, what drives him. I wouldn't have liked it if it was explaining it to the heroes actually.

[CertifiedNobody]

I like the direction they're taking this story so far. Starline using celebrities to control the narrative is more interesting than a standard rival battle. I didn't expect Imposter Syndrome to live up to it's name.

[KoDaiko]

I think my reading comprehension sucks, is Starline saying Surge and Kit is gonna replace Sonic & co. by
1) Stealing their reputation/role as a hero, or
2) Off-ing them directly?

because #1 is...confusing (it's not like Sonic & co. gonna stop helping people), and idk how #2 is different from Eggman's usual plan (world domination but also getting rid of Sonic)?

[CertifiedNobody]

1 minute ago, KoDaiko said:

I think my reading comprehension sucks, is Starline saying Surge and Kit is gonna replace Sonic & co. by
1) Stealing their reputation/role as a hero, or
2) Off-ing them directly?

because #1 is...confusing (it's not like Sonic & co. gonna stop helping people), and idk how #2 is different from Eggman's usual plan (world domination but also getting rid of Sonic)?

It'd be tough, but he could easily stage attacks to make Surge and Kit look good, or make anti-Sonic propaganda. Given how many people Sonic failed to save during the Metal Virus and the Eggman War, I could see the genera public lose faith in him as a hero.

[KoDaiko]

5 minutes ago, CertifiedNobody said:

It'd be tough, but he could easily stage attacks to make Surge and Kit look good, or make anti-Sonic propaganda. Given how many people Sonic failed to save during the Metal Virus and the Eggman War, I could see the genera public lose faith in him as a hero.

I was gonna say "After saving the world a million times when no one else would, one 'mistake' is all it takes for the public to turn on him? And they'd trust a total newbie over him?", but then that's a pretty common superhero trope isn't it.

Still, can't see it stopping Sonic & co. from saving people so wonder what Starline's points gonna be.