Megathread IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog - Megathread

[Multikaris]

13 minutes ago, Mayor D said:

Also people saying they want X and Y on board... shocking lack of Mr Elson posts in here.

That seem a little hypocritical, though. Getting him back wouldn't bring anything from Fleetway in. The characters would fit even less than the Archie ones. 

[Dee Dude]

3 minutes ago, Mister X said:

I just hope that if they bring back the Freedom Fighters, they're a separate group that Sonic sometimes hangs out with. I'm tired of Sonic living on a battleship all the time.

Not gonna lie, the Sky Patrol ship as HQ idea was dumb.

Couldn't they just have a regular hangout while using the Sky Patrol as traveling?

[Badnik Mechanic]

1 minute ago, Miru the Living Planet said:

That seem a little hypocritical, though. Getting him back wouldn't bring anything from Fleetway in. The characters would fit even less than the Archie ones. 

Lol the fuck!? 

Elson is an artist who does really good artwork. Show me where the fuck I said Fleetway cast should be in?

2 minutes ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

.How would the characters not be the characters if they lost their previous baggage and their backstories were retold in a lighter way and they were reintroduced -

I want the new sonic comic to tell me new stories about Sonic and his game buddies. Not to be about Sonic and the people he used to know in that old comic but not quite.

[Soniman]

AWW HELL YEAH.

Though im gonna miss Archie im glad there's a silver linning for the future of Sonic comics, I look foward to see whats in store!

[Flyinpenguin117]

5 minutes ago, Mayor D said:

Yeah because it would be a waste of my time to even bother replying since your opening line completely undermines your own argument.

"I want the Archie characters in. But they don't have to be like the old Archie characters"

So what's the point then? There isn't any other than you just don't want them gone.

You remind me of the people who think the games should be Sonic and Tails only. 

[PC the Hedgehog]

1 minute ago, Dee Dude said:

Not gonna lie, the ship as HQ idea was dumb.

Personally, I assumed that their ship was mostly going to be used for the Shattered World storyline, and they were going to store it away after that storyline concluded. Unfortunately, unless the new comic picks up from where Archie left off or Ian tells us, we'll never know.

[Diogenes]

10 minutes ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

You said "I don't want Archie baggage". Fair enough, but introducing those characters in this new world without the backstory of the other universe would get rid of that baggage.

I mean, you kinda can't, though. Baggage doesn't exist in just the series' canon, but in people's minds. Characters like the Freedom Fighters are inherently linked to the Archie Sonic universe.

It's like Boom Knuckles. Everyone freaks the fuck out about Boom Knuckles, in part because of their expectations of main series Knuckles. Saying "well it's not main series Knuckles, it's a separate character" hasn't stopped that. And considering how attached some people were to the Archieverse and how this new comic is coming just a year after it was cancelled...I don't see people being able to properly separate them. Hell even the suggestion that they should be included is kind of strange. Why should a new Sonic comic series include characters from an ancient TV show and a niche spinoff comic?

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Like I'm fine with focus on game characters, and I'm fine with other characters from other continuities taking a while to be introduced, but simply saying "I want the same 13 to 15 characters as usual" isn't a good way to set up a world, or a long-going series,

Is "I want the same 40-50 characters as usual" any better?

13-15 characters is more than enough to start a series with. Better stories than anything Sonic's ever produced have been done with less. It's not as if this is the early 90's when material from the games was so thin they practically had to make up a whole load of new stuff to support a series.

Quote

and not giving new interpretations of old characters a chance because they aren't mainline SEGA!Sonic is rather shortsighted, especially for fans of the cast that ended up getting them ripped away so anti-climatically.

Oh hey look it's that baggage I'm talking about...

[antyep]

2 minutes ago, Mister X said:

I just hope that if they bring back the Freedom Fighters, they're a separate group that Sonic sometimes hangs out with. I'm tired of Sonic living on a battleship all the time.

 

 

Oh I agree. It be nice they're kinda like a friendly rivalry to Sonic and his friends (Sally, Bunnie, Nicole, Antoine, and Rotor up against Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, Amy, and...uh it be nice Sticks.). Sonic has so many rivals for himself. It be nice if he has a rivalry team who are not hoverboarding birds.

[Multikaris]

2 minutes ago, Mayor D said:

Lol the fuck!? 

Elson is an artist who does really good artwork. Show me where the fuck I said Fleetway cast should be in?

I want the new sonic comic to tell me new stories about Sonic and his game buddies. Not to be about Sonic and the people he used to know in that old comic but not quite.

I agree that Elson should get in as an artist, along with Spaz and Axer. 

[Indigo Rush]

I hope they bring back the Sonic the Comic characters, too. Just to mess with y'all. lol

[Badnik Mechanic]

2 minutes ago, Flyinpenguin117 said:

You remind me of the people who think the games should be Sonic and Tails only. 

And you remind me of someone who has no counter argument.

Anyone else who doesn't like my opinion on what the new comic should be like please please leave a message I'll be back in the morning.

[Osmium]

2 minutes ago, Mayor D said:

Lol the fuck!? 

Elson is an artist who does really good artwork. Show me where the fuck I said Fleetway cast should be in?

Think he interpreted what you said as that people are saying they want Archie characters back but not saying anything about the Fleetway ones. I think. 

[Badnik Mechanic]

3 minutes ago, ShroomZed said:

Think he interpreted what you said as that people are saying they want Archie characters back but not saying anything about the Fleetway ones. I think. 

Nah. Whilst I would love fleetway to come back in someway. It too should stay out of this. Its a new thing and really should be a comic character refugee camp.

Loads of people here and social medias saying they want X and Y creative types on board. 

Yet.. there's a lot of really good talent out there both with and without a history of drawing and writing the blue one.

[Fletch]

I figured that SEGA probably had found someone for Sonic comics and it was IDW. The only publisher out there that I feel Sonic would be a good fit for, and the Sonic franchise is highly profitable still, so I can't imagine a publisher turning down the opportunity of being able to tell stories using the rich characters Sonic has.

I do have low doubts that the Archie continuity will continue, and I think that's for the best. Sonic is under a new publisher now and that means it's a chance to introduce a brand new comic continuity, start completely from issue #1 and introduce old and new Sonic fans into the new world of Sonic. This also means probably no SatAM characters such as Sally. We all know SEGA honestly was going to get rid of them when the reboot happened at #252, but it was Ian Flynn (and I guess the Archie Sonic team?) that really fought to keep them in the book. Now that Archie no longer has the license and someone new does? Perfect chance for SEGA to completely drop them and not have them in the books again. Focus more on the game characters, and maybe introduce a few original characters, but not enough that will hog all the spotlight from Sonic and the main SEGA characters themselves. 

Like, I love the SatAM characters, too, since I grew up reading about them in the comics since elementary and even watched SatAM itself (own the DVD box set) and it was nice to see them animated and speaking, but honestly speaking, they weren't the main reason why I continued reading the comics. They were a reason, yes, but maybe in the grand scheme of things a small reason. The main and biggest reasons were for Sonic himself and the actual SEGA game characters because I loved those characters much more. I really love Team Chaotix and it's always a blast to see them, and I'm always in the mood to see what Silver has going on. I do wonder if older Sega Sonic characters such as Mighty, Ray, or Honey will make an appearance in the new comic. One of the best things about the #252 reboot was that we were truly reaching out and bringing in very old characters and giving them fresh personalities (I even enjoyed the reach to other Sonic series like bringing in Breezie from Adventures of Sonic The Hedgehog, but admittely speaking I would take old Sega Sonic game characters over other cartoon characters first.)

It really just logically makes sense to start a clean slate. You don't just keep baggage from a previous comic continuity just because of some legacy it had. You can if you want to, but is it really worth it in the end? Pretty sure we can get introduced to some original characters that are just as fun and memorable as the Freedom Fighters, but instead doesn't completely steal the spotlight, or doesn't force Sonic into some group where he travels as a team instead of being a free spirited hedgehog like he's always been like in the main game continuity. SEGA will probably have ground rules set so all the mess that happened in the old Archie continuity won't happen again, but who also knows? With the statement of them talking to "fan-favorite creators", we might see Ian Flynn and many of the other Archie Sonic writers/artists work on this new book again, and if Ian Flynn is back, no doubt he'll be writing dynamic stories that have build up to epic things for the future in the story.

I really also just don't understand the pessimistic attitude thinking the new comic will be just like recent Sonic games and have lackluster stories. We don't completely know the creative team, SEGA allowed the comics under Archie to have dynamic stories that were akin to the stories many would enjoy from the Adventure era (regardless of quality) where you felt you could take the characters and situation seriously, and even now it seems like SEGA has been making a conscious effort to tell stories that are serious in nature with Lost World and Forces. Yeah, Colors and Generations were quite simplistic, but simplistic doesn't equal bad. We can have stories like Colors in the comics where the threat level is low, but have the characters written more tightly just as how we can have stories like Adventure 2 where the stakes keep growing, or Unleashed where right off the bat the stakes are high from the start. 
 

Anyways, looking forward to more news on this. 

[Ryannumber1gamer]

2 minutes ago, Mayor D said:

 

I want the new sonic comic to tell me new stories about Sonic and his game buddies. Not to be about Sonic and the people he used to know in that old comic but not quite.

Except you're constantly making the assumption that they have to be there at the very beginning, stealing focus from the game cast, and we never see a Sonic focused arc...despite the fact I've said multiple times that the obvious compromise for both sides would be that the book starts with a focus on game cast and game stories and then can later start introducing some characters from other continuities. No one's asking for the Freedom Fighters to be there 24/7 and in every single story, but exactly why is it unreasonable that some point down the line, they're introduced and occasionally guest star in some stories, the same way Bean/Bark/Nack/Mighty/Ray did so in Post-Reboot Archie? 

1 minute ago, Diogenes said:

I mean, you kinda can't, though. Baggage doesn't exist in just the series' canon, but in people's minds. Characters like the Freedom Fighters are inherently linked to the Archie Sonic universe.

It's like Boom Knuckles. Everyone freaks the fuck out about Boom Knuckles, in part because of their expectations of main series Knuckles. Saying "well it's not main series Knuckles, it's a separate character" hasn't stopped that. And considering how attached some people were to the Archieverse and how this new comic is coming just a year after it was cancelled...I don't see people being able to properly separate them. Hell even the suggestion that they should be included is kind of strange. Why should a new Sonic comic series include characters from an ancient TV show and a niche spinoff comic?

Is "I want the same 40-50 characters as usual" any better?

13-15 characters is more than enough to start a series with. Better stories than anything Sonic's ever produced have been done with less. It's not as if this is the early 90's when material from the games was so thin they practically had to make up a whole load of new stuff to support a series.

Oh hey look it's that baggage I'm talking about...

Big difference. Boom!Knuckles has had practically every element stripped away from him that made the original character in the first place, and keep in mind, I like Boom!Knuckles, but calling him an accurate version of Knuckles isn't going to cut it. If the Freedom Fighters were to be introduced, they'd have the same personalities/personality traits but all of the baggage like backstories, Archie canon etc would be retold, altered and such to make it easier for the new comic's fans. Again, this is speaking hypothetically in a compromise where they have far less focus and only occasionally guest star with characters.

And you're right, 13-15 characters is enough to start a story off, but it's nowhere near enough to create a long narrative world like Archie did, so I don't know why we have to be completely against bringing in other characters that isn't strictly from the games. No one's saying they have to steal focus from the game cast, or be in every single story like the FF were in Archie, but the very idea that we can't have any other characters outside of the games to populate the world and occasionally show up just doesn't make sense to me.

And that's once again cherry picking out of context. Having the characters appear again, even briefly/in occasional stories would be enough to lessen the blow to Archie fans who practically got a long running history ripped away from them twice, this time including a cast of characters a lot of them grew up with. Once again, I don't see why it has to be this whole "my way or the highway mentality" when there's so many easy compromises to suit both sides that want only SEGA stuff, and those who want a bit more.

[JaidynReiman]

1 hour ago, Ratcicle King said:

Well that was quick, but I guess after six months of just fucking us over, it's welcomed.

I think its obvious they didn't just want to announce Archie's Sonic was ending out of the blue. They wanted to wait until they got a replacement in order.

1 hour ago, Flyinpenguin117 said:

... now we just need confirmation that there isn't a reboot and the original creative team is back.

I know its sad that Archie's Sonic ending and fans were invested in those characters, but let's be real here. Its a reboot, those stories are never going to be resolved. At best, Ian Flynn comes out and says what was going to happen.

53 minutes ago, PC the Hedgehog said:

Oh yeah, this sounds VERY promising! Seems like IDW knows what the fans want. I'd say we have a decent chance of seeing the Archie crew migrate over to this new book.

Bringing back the Archie crew could potentially happen. At least some people from the original. I certainly don't expect Ian Flynn (since I left this draft, though, Ian has apparently mentioned he'd be interesting in continuing, so maybe it is possible), but some of the artists could be brought on.

 

In regards to the comic and characters, though, there's plenty of good characters to develop and use just from the games alone. Given how long Archie Comics has used the Freedom Fighters, I can see a slim chance of them being brought back, but not part of the core dynamic of the comic. As others have stated, maybe they could be this other force completely unrelated to Sonic and only show up on occasion. There'd need to be a good reason for why they exist, though.

Otherwise, sticking to what's in the games and just developing them more would be perfectly serviceable, and it'd lose all the baggage from the original Archie Comics that turned people off who weren't already fans of the comics to begin with.

[Your Vest Friend]

I can at least get the people wanting the creative staff (or certain individual among them) to be brought on board, given that they were treated quite rubbish in the end. I can certainly see Tyson being brought on given his experience in dabbling with other companies (Diesel is published by Boom) and the weight he has now that he's done the Sonic Mania pre-order animation. Ian Flynn would probably be next on the list, but after that it's kinda dubious. 

[A super No.1 washedupgamer]

I hope they sort of go with how the direction of sonic megadrive was but expanded on of course. With modern designs.

Plus I really love that artstyle.

[Wittymations]

I'm predicting this will be really close to the current setting of the games, which, for me, is disheartening because I feel the games' story telling is awful, uninteresting, and uninspiring. I'll probably read like, five books and see if I like it. Most likely drop it in the end.

[Osmium]

Anyway, yeah I'm hoping myself that the Freedom Fighters don't return. Maybe it's because I didn't grow up with the Archie Freedom Fighters like some but I won't really feel anything if they don't ever return. The changes that the comic was making were on the right path but I'm honestly a bit excited to see what's happening now they're saying they're going for a continuity closer to the games, that's something I've been wanting for a while, just the game continuity having itself getting fleshed out without a bunch of stuff that's been hanging on for 24 years now. 

[Shiny Gems]

Very nice. I am excited to see what the new Sonic IDW comics have in store for us, and hopefully, it will be closer to the games than the Archie comics were. By the way, I know this was said before, but...

*puts up flame shield*

Do I smell a My Little Pony crossover coming? (Please don't hurt me).

But yeah, certainly excited for this. I wonder what new characters we will see in the new Sonic comics?

[Diogenes]

Just now, Ryannumber1gamer said:

Big difference. Boom!Knuckles has had practically every element stripped away from him that made the original character in the first place, and keep in mind, I like Boom!Knuckles, but calling him an accurate version of Knuckles isn't going to cut it. If the Freedom Fighters were to be introduced, they'd have the same personalities/personality traits but all of the baggage like backstories, Archie canon etc would be retold, altered and such to make it easier for the new comic's fans. Again, this is speaking hypothetically in a compromise where they have far less focus and only occasionally guest star with characters.

This is literally the problem. This is literally what I'm talking about.

Just now, Ryannumber1gamer said:

And you're right, 13-15 characters is enough to start a story off, but it's nowhere near enough to create a long narrative world like Archie did,

So they make more as they need them. Like, y'know, literally every long-term creative work ever. That means they can create characters that serve the comic's needs, rather than having to work through reestablishing a hundred other characters and hoping they can find a way to make them work for the comic they're trying to make.

Just now, Ryannumber1gamer said:

And that's once again cherry picking out of context. Having the characters appear again, even briefly/in occasional stories would be enough to lessen the blow to Archie fans who practically got a long running history ripped away from them twice, this time including a cast of characters a lot of them grew up with.

It should not be this comic's job to cater to Archie fans who are upset about their series getting cancelled. This comic's job should be to tell its own stories. If they decide there are some non-game characters that fit into the story they want to tell, it's their choice to include them. But what you're asking for here is exactly why I think it would be a bad idea to do so.

[PC the Hedgehog]

It wouldn't surprise me if the new comic ended up being more like Sonic Mega Drive. Heck, it was one of the most talked-about Sonic comics in the 24 years I read the book, and both Archie fans and detractors alike seemed to love it. Surely IDW has made note of that.

[Zulon Eredas]

Just now, PC the Hedgehog said:

It wouldn't surprise me if the new comic ended up being more like Sonic Mega Drive. Heck, it was one of the most talked-about Sonic comics in the 24 years I read the book, and both Archie fans and detractors alike seemed to love it. Surely IDW has made note of that.

I wouldn't mind a Mega Drive inspired comic

[SonicComicFanboy]

Again.  IDW is not the kind of publisher who would give the middle finger to those who read the Archie comic for a quarter of a century.   There is a good chance the Freedom Fighters will show up, though yes probably in a much smaller capacity then in the Archie book.

 

 

I mean IDW incorperated G1 & Beast Wars characters alike amoung others into their Transformers book.  Have almost everyone in their TMNT books. And have done books for almost every incarnation of The Ghostbusters.

Heck they even kept the origional numbering for Walt Disney Comics & Stories!

 

So yea, they are pretty cool with pleasing long time fans of franchises.