Megathread Archie Sonic Main Discussion

[PC the Hedgehog]

18 hours ago, BlueSky said:

Well, come on, it wasn't that bad... he made it work even like that. He should've known this is something not too uncommon, I just can't remember the other people who've had same kind of incidents...

Why I suddenly feel so alone about the fact I actually liked the stuff in on that arc?

I loved the Iron Dominion Arc and still don't understand why it was so panned by the fandom. It may even be one of my favorite arcs in the entire series.

[Sean]

Archie comics allow DRM-free downloads on Comixology, for anyone who has been buying issues there.

[Dr. Detective]

I remember back when I had decided to get all the back issues of the comics from 150 up to the then current release. My grandpa bought them all for me. And they arrived in these three LARGE stacks of endless Sonic the Hedgehog comics. And I spent the entire day reading them all.

I'd give anything to have an experience like that again.

For someone to just DUMP a shit load of new Sonic content I've never experienced before right before my lap for me to inhale. 

[SonicComicFanboy]

 Its also worth noting you can buy IDW's comics directly off their website, though I don't know if they ship outside of the U.S/Canada.

[ElectricAngel]

23 hours ago, Ernest-Panda said:

Let's take a moment to talk about digital comics:

I assume that Archie have some kind of grace period that allows them to continued selling their back issues on their shop and to keep the Sonic titles on their own reader app for a time.

But what happens after that? I know the answer is obvious for the former, but what about the latter? When the comics disappear from the app, what does that mean for the issues I and many others have purchased there? Will they be transfered to Comixology? Maybe IDW could even be given the rights to distribute the Archie Sonic library on their app, and have them be transferred there?

Whatever the answer is, I just don't want to lose my digital issues that I paid to have.

Archie's app is basically a filtered version of the Madefire app that only shows Archie comics for sale. So I'm sure they'll still be on your Madefire account (which you can log in using your account details from Archie if you signed up via the Archie app).

In my (and other's) experience, with any digital goods, things have never disappeared. Be it Amazon Video, iTunes, Steam, everything you have purchased can still be accessed even if it's taken down from the store. I mean, it'd be a dick move to take away access to something someone might have paid tens, if not hundreds of dollars on.

[BlueSky]

Maybe it was a good idea to buy some stuff straight from the Play Store after all...

[PC the Hedgehog]

I'd say if you're looking to stock up on the Archie series, get 'em now. Between all the lawsuits and the new publisher and what-have-you, who knows when they could simply disappear forever?*

*legally, anyway

[Your Vest Friend]

So for the sake of posterity, I made a list of the issues/graphic novels that were solicited but ended up never coming out. 

Pre-Reboot

-Sonic Archives Volume 25 - Would have covered StH#92 - 95. This would have covered the second Monkey Khan appearance, advancement of the Overlander plot, the fight for the Sword of Acorns, the Sonic Shuffle adaptation, Chaos Knuckles talking to Charmy, Saffron and Nack and the attempt to drain his power (and ultimately the origin of Dr Finitevus), Sonic going back to school and the start of the chosen one plot for Tails. Cancelled due to legal matters. 

-Sonic Archives Volume 26 - Would have covered StH#96-99. This would have covered Sonic still at school, more of the Sword of Acorns tussle, Tail vs Chaos Knuckles, ninja Sonic, Heavy and Bomb's reprogramming, the Sonic Adventure 2 tie-in, the clone Tails being brought in, Chaos Knuckles discovering one of his powers and the bit where Sally thinks Sonic and Mina have become a couple. This never got a final cover in the Archives style, it only had an old cover as a placeholder. Cancelled due to legal matters. 

-Sonic Legacy Volume 4 - Would have covered StH#55-74. It saw a digital release but the physical release was cancelled. The end of the digital book urged the reader to continue the story in Sonic Archives Volume 20. Probably cancelled due to low sales. 

-Sonic Saga Volume 8 - This was set to cover part of the Bold New Moebius arc (the Hedgehog Havoc part), specifically StH#190-193. Probably cancelled due to legal matters. 

-Sonic Saga Volume 9 - This was set to cover the end of the Eggman siege and the start of the Iron Dominion, specifically StH#199-202, under the title of Eggman Wars. Probably cancelled due to legal matters. 

-Sonic Saga Volume 10 - This was set to continue the coverage of the Iron Dominion arc, specifically StH#203-206, under the title of On The Run. This never received a cover image. Probably cancelled due to legal matters. 

-Sonic Universe Volume 9 - A reprint of Babylon Rising (SU#33-36). This GN was previewed in Sonic Super Digest #15 (January 2016), so it can be assumed it was around that time the pre-reboot reprints were stopped.  Probably cancelled due to legal matters.

-Sonic Universe Volume 10 - A reprint of Scrambled (SU#37-40). Probably cancelled due to legal matters. 

-Sonic Universe Volume 11 - A reprint of Secret Freedom (SU#41-44). Probably cancelled due to legal matters. 

-Sonic Universe Volume 12 - A reprint of Chaotix Quest (SU#46-49). and the last pre-reboot SU arc. Probably cancelled due to legal matters. 

-Knuckles Archives Volume 5 - A reprint of KtE#22-27, covering the Dark Alliance arc, the exposition of the Brotherhood and part of the First Date arc and part of the SegaSonic the Hedgehog adaptation. Probably cancelled due to low sales. 

-Knuckles Archives Volume 6 - A reprint of KtE#28-32, covering the rest of the First Date and SSH arcs, the Sally and Knuckles backstory, the King of the Hill arc and the solo Espio arc. Probably cancelled due to low sales. 

-Best of Sonic the Hedgehog Volume 3 - A reprint collection focusing on the rivals of the comic. It's believed that the stories that could be used were cannibalised with reprints from the previous two volumes to make Best of Sonic the Hedgehog: Ultimate Collection. It's know that renders from the cover made it into that book as well. Probably cancelled due to legal matters. 

Post-reboot

-Sonic Super Special Magazine #14 - Has the dubious honour of being cancelled TWICE! Originally set to coincide with the Worlds Unite arc, reprint the Unleashed adaptation (from StH#193) and had issues from the Champions, Control and Chase arcs. Also promoted the Babylon Rising GN when it had an earlier release date. Second time was set to coincide with Mega Drive: Next Level but otherwise not much is known about its contents. First time was cancelled for unknown reasons (but was released for a very short time digitally), second time was cancelled due to the deal ending. 

-Sonic Super Special Magazine #15 - Much of what this issue contained would see the light of day in Sonic Super Digest Volume 15, cover included. Cancelled for unknown reasons. 

-Sonic Super Digest Volume 18 - Not much is known about the contents, but its cancellation meant that Hidden Costs and Face of the Enemy were never fully reprinted (so likely contained at least those issues). Cancelled due to the deal ending.

-Sonic Super Digest Volume 19 - Nothing is know about the contents of this book. Cancelled due to the deal ending. 

-Sonic the Hedgehog Volume 5 - Set to reprint the Champions Arc (StH#68-71). Cancelled due to the deal ending.

-Sonic the Hedgehog Volume 6 - Would have reprinted various stories from the Shattered World Crisis arc, mainly covering the Freedom Fighters' efforts to collect the Gaia Keys and re-power the Emeralds (StH#272 and #276-279). Cancelled due to the deal ending. 

-Sonic Universe Sagas Volume 1 - Set to reprint the Pirate Plunder Panic arc (SU#55-58). Cancelled due to the deal ending.

-Sonic Universe Sagas Volume 2 - Set to reprint the Shadow Fall arc (SU#59-62). Cancelled due to the deal ending. 

-Sonic and Mega Man: Worlds Unite Volume 3 - Would have reprinted parts 9-12 of the Worlds Unite crossover, under the title Allied Forces (StH#275, Sonic Boom #10, Mega Man 51-52 and some stories from Sonic the Hedgehog: Words Unite Battles). Cancelled due to the deal ending. 

-Sonic the Hedgehog #291 - Part 4 of the Genesis of a Hero arc, covering S3&K. Cancelled due to the deal ending. 

-Sonic the Hedgehog #292 - The Freedom Fighters would have split up and gone their own ways. Cancelled due to the deal ending. 

-Sonic the Hedgehog #293 - Sonic and Honey would have been on the set of the Sonic-Man show before Eggman intervened. Cancelled due to the deal ending. 

-Sonic the Hedgehog #294 - Sonic, Mighty and Ray would have reminisced on the past but disagreeing on how it happened, likely the reboots' adaptation of SegaSonic the Hedgehog. Also featured the cooking contest between Antoine and Bunnie. Cancelled due to the deal ending. 

-Sonic Universe #95 - The first part of the Freedom Fighter arc, Sonic and Antoine would have gone back to Antoine's home region and running into a new enemy in his family's castle. Cancelled due to the deal ending. 

-Sonic Universe #96 - The second part of the Freedom Fighter arc - Bunnie would have been teleported to Blaze's world for some reason. Would have likely explained Bunnie's post-reboot origin. Cancelled due to the deal ending. 

-Sonic Universe #97 - The third part of the Freedom Fighter arc - Sally, Amy and Cream would have been looking for parts to fix Nicole but would have run into an old enemy. Cancelled due to the deal ending. 

-Sonic Mega Drive: Overdrive #1 - Would have concluded the story running through the Mega Drive one-shots. Cancelled due to the deal ending. 

-Sonic: Mega Drive GN - Trade Paperback collection of all three one-shots for Sonic Mega Drive. Cancelled due to the deal ending. 

 

...Huh. For all the fuss raised over the pre-reboot graphic novel situation and how the legal stuff affected so many of them, I think the deal ending technically killed more off. That's impressive. 

I do have some extra thoughts to give later though...

[NikoS]

so it's a good thing that i have backup of all my issues (and a backup of my backup),

i knew that it would come in handy someday!

*proceedes to call out everyone who said "but two copies of each is too much"

[Big Panda]

@VEDJ-F

Additional note/minor correction: I think Babylon Rising part 1's Digest reprint was just a random "we need an extra story to fill space" reprint and not an intended promotion of the graphic novel (as it made no mention of it at the end, just a "To be continued in SU#34, available to download" message).

If it's intended promotions of the graphic novel you're after, I direct your attention to the original SSSM#14: it reprinted (or would have...? Damn this is confusing) part 2 of the arc to promote the graphic novel release. Why part 2 you ask? Because a portion of part 1 was already reprinted in issue 10 to promote Best of Sonic Volume 2, more specifically the softcover release...which also ended up being cancelled.

Also there are two more publications missing from that list:

-Art of Sonic the Hedgehog Comics: Probably cancelled for legal reasons.

-Sonic the Hedgehog Volume 7: I don't blame you for letting this one slip by, as it was the only new listing to show up on Amazon after the hiatus had begun, and its time there was of course short-lived. It would have been titled "Keys to Victory" and would have likely consisted of that second chunk of story between WU and PitS (#270-273 specifically). Cancelled because, you guessed it, deal ended.

[Your Vest Friend]

So, my extra thoughts. 

So people would have expected SEGA to carry on the license for at least another year due to all that was happening in the comic. Mega Drive and Genesis of a Hero were there to promote the 25th anniversary of Sonic, so why not let it continue?

Well, I think those two comics got screwed by the complete downturn the 25th anniversary took after 2016 was done with. 

At first, the 25th anniversary celebrations were pretty cool, what with the party announcing Mania, Mania's promotion to the fans, the 25th anniversary Sonic Channel comics, the Sonic cafe...

But since the end of last year, they basically stopped celebrating it. Sonic Boom hasn't been involved with the 25th anniversary stuff despite appearing on the 25th anniversary Sonic wallpaper, there's been little to nothing of the 25th anniversary stuff in 2017, the comics were really the biggest things promoting it in 2017.

I think a couple of things really sunk the whole thing big time;

1. Sonic Mania's delay. It may have given more time for polish but it moved it out of the 25th anniversary window, meaning that it had no big celebratory game. The only ones in there were Mario and Sonic Rio which was very early into it, and Sonic Boom: Fire and Ice which was delayed to that time frame. Neither have any 25th anniversary logos on them. 
2. The shift in focus internally. Earlier in the year, there was an interview with Iizuka about Sonic Forces. In that, he stated that Forces was paving the way for the 30th anniversary, basically proving that they'd moved onto looking ahead instead of doing anything else with the 25th.

So if they had no interest in keeping up the anniversary celebrations that drastically devalues the comics as promotional pieces as they were no longer promoting it.   

[Borvoc]

@VEDJ-F That all makes sense. It seems to me that gaming companies understandably care a lot less about anniversaries than their fans do, as evidenced by Metroid's whatevereth anniversary recently, which fans somewhat presumptiously expected Nintendo to celebrate. Companies care about anniversaries if and only if they stand to make money off them which would entail them just so happening to have a big game ready that they can hold for the anniversary and stir up fan hype in the meantime with various celebrations and sales. Sega apparently wasn't ready to release anything and therefore didn't draw out their anniversary celebration any further than they did, as you said, potentially lessening any anniversary hype that the comics could either provide or draw on.

To be honest, I don't think that the video game production cycle and its uncertainties lend to anniversary planning very well, and it hits me as strange that fans of any given franchise would expect a tent-pole game every five years on the year. With how long it takes to make games, I feel like that would require at least every second main-series game in most series to be a big anniversary celebration, which seems silly.

[Dr. Detective]

20 hours ago, VEDJ-F said:

-Sonic the Hedgehog #293 - Sonic and Honey would have been on the set of the Sonic-Man show before Eggman intervened. Cancelled due to the deal ending. 

Out of all of that, this is the only one I'm truly disappointed I didn't get to see. It sounds like it'd have been a fun little romp. 

[King Scoopa Koopa]

18 hours ago, Borvoc said:

@VEDJ-F That all makes sense. It seems to me that gaming companies understandably care a lot less about anniversaries than their fans do, as evidenced by Metroid's whatevereth anniversary recently, which fans somewhat presumptiously expected Nintendo to celebrate. Companies care about anniversaries if and only if they stand to make money off them which would entail them just so happening to have a big game ready that they can hold for the anniversary and stir up fan hype in the meantime with various celebrations and sales. Sega apparently wasn't ready to release anything and therefore didn't draw out their anniversary celebration any further than they did, as you said, potentially lessening any anniversary hype that the comics could either provide or draw on.

To be honest, I don't think that the video game production cycle and its uncertainties lend to anniversary planning very well, and it hits me as strange that fans of any given franchise would expect a tent-pole game every five years on the year. With how long it takes to make games, I feel like that would require at least every second main-series game in most series to be a big anniversary celebration, which seems silly.

Agreed, I've thought that for a while. I think more often in other media, anniversaries tend to get spaced out more after 25.

[SonicComicFanboy]

Kotaku wrote a pretty nice/heartfelt piece about the comics.

http://kotaku.com/saying-farewell-to-three-decades-of-weird-sonic-the-hed-1797191658

[Flyinpenguin117]

10 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Out of all of that, this is the only one I'm truly disappointed I didn't get to see. It sounds like it'd have been a fun little romp. 

Same. Honestly, for as much as I love the Freedom Fighters (and by that I mostly mean Nicole and Sally), Honey's probably the hardest loss for me. Despite being a scrapped character who was only dredged (I love that word) up for a rerelease, she was one of the standout post-reboot characters to me. Cute, fun, more flawed and complex than her base concept as a character let on, and introduced in the best post-reboot arc. But after a small handful of single-page cameos in a few issues, she's gone forever again. The Freedom Fighters at least had a good 20-odd years. Honey vanished basically as soon as we got to know her.

[Tylinos]

So, Ian basically just confirmed that Sally x Nicole was intentionally written into the comic:

 

[Your Vest Friend]

Cool beans. I got a little reaction pic for it, but it has some strong words in it.

Spoiler

 

[RedFox99]

Can't say I support SallyXNicole (personal beliefs. Yes I'm that kind of person). I do wonder what they might bring from the post-SGW issues. 

[SonicComicFanboy]

1 minute ago, RedFox99 said:

Can't say I'm for that (personal beliefs). I do wonder what they might bring from the post-SGW issues. 

  Well if it makes you feel any better Nicole is an AI so she technically doesn't have a set biological sex like an organic lifeform would.  

 

But yea, if the FF do survive this my guess is SEGA probably won't allow romance outside of already married couples.  Sad as I too found Sally x Nicole rather cute.  

[RedFox99]

7 hours ago, SonicComicFanboy said:

  Well if it makes you feel any better Nicole is an AI so she technically doesn't have a set biological sex like an organic lifeform would.  

 

But yea, if the FF do survive this my guess is SEGA probably won't allow romance outside of already married couples.  Sad as I too found Sally x Nicole rather cute.  

I hope they bring back AntoineXBunnie. You think they would have kids?

[SonicComicFanboy]

2 minutes ago, RedFox99 said:

I hope they bring back AntoineXBunnie.

 Agreed.  Cyborg Rabbit x French Cyote is BEST coupling!

2 minutes ago, RedFox99 said:

I hope they bring back AntoineXBunnie.

 Agreed.  Cyborg Rabbit x French Cyote is BEST coupling!

[Big Panda]

I guess now that Ian is effectively not working for them anymore it's safe to admit it

[RedFox99]

Anyways, do you think there's a chance any of the writers will be brought back?

[antyep]

6 hours ago, SonicComicFanboy said:

But yea, if the FF do survive this my guess is SEGA probably won't allow romance outside of already married couples.  Sad as I too found Sally x Nicole rather cute.  

Funny. I thought Sega wouldn't care as long as it doesn't happen to their characters.