Megathread Archie Sonic Main Discussion

[SBR2]

Ok Generic I can see with some of those but "Shit" seems a little much. I didn't see any cover that was displeasing to the eye TBH.

[Ryusuke]

Haven't really looked into the comics since issue #50 when I was a kid. I read the Mega Drive series, and it's practically my favorite Sonic thing today. XD What do you guys recommend starting at for someone who is just getting back in the comics? And, should I skip some things in the main series?

[FriendBot]

3 minutes ago, Ryusuke said:

Haven't really looked into the comics since issue #50 when I was a kid. I read the Mega Drive series, and it's practically my favorite Sonic thing today. XD What do you guys recommend starting at for someone who is just getting back in the comics? And, should I skip some things in the main series?

Well the comics went through a reboot after the first Mega Man/Sonic crossover, Worlds Collide. I guess you could start with that and then read the comic afterwards, 252 for the main comic and 55 with Universe.

[MetalSkulkBane]

1 hour ago, Ryusuke said:

Haven't really looked into the comics since issue #50 when I was a kid. I read the Mega Drive series, and it's practically my favorite Sonic thing today. XD What do you guys recommend starting at for someone who is just getting back in the comics? And, should I skip some things in the main series?

Depends.

You wanna see everything, start from start. Not everything will be fun, but give you full view on everything

Wanna see good stuff, start from StH 160. Ian Flynn takes over and tries to ""clean up" comic, so it will be a bit confusing (they will mention weird concepts and characters only to remove them and never talk about again etc.) but it brought back stories closer to games, and made comic waaay better than anything before.

If you wan to avoid all the confusion just read Worlds Collide (Sonic/Megaman 12 issue crossover) and then jump to StH 252 (and Sonic Universe 55), where Reboot took place. Only downsides 1 start is pretty slow. 2 There are pretty big spoiler to last 20 issues of old continuity.

If You wanna check few stand alone stories to make sure it's for you, I recommend Sonic Universe: 1, 21-14, 55-58 or main book 268-271. They fun and low on continuity

Also, if you're Megaman fan, then same writer wrote his comic book series, lasted 55 issues. Pretty good, arguably better than Sonic comic.

If you want I can send you Reading Order.

[Ryusuke]

That's pretty much all I need to know. Thanks, you two. I'll just start from Worlds Collide and go from there. And I'll check out Mega Man as well.

[Your Vest Friend]

It won't take long to read up on all of it, because there's not that many comics as of yet. You'll be up to speed in no time.

[FriendBot]

Yeah, it's easy to catch up when a new issue comes out once a month.

[Zulon Eredas]

Skip Worlds Unite, it's literally just three months of fan service.  

[Kintor]

2 hours ago, Ryusuke said:

That's pretty much all I need to know. Thanks, you two. I'll just start from Worlds Collide and go from there. And I'll check out Mega Man as well.

It's good to see that someone else has recently been taking an interest in the comics. For what it's worth I decided to start at the beginning, I've being going all the way from #0 of the original miniseries and have been working my way forward ever since.

I'm not going to lie, there's plenty of the old stuff that can be safely avoided. Especially some of Penders’ 'high concept' storylines and generally anything to do with 'Zonic' the Zone Cop. Still, if you're interested in going back later there are a few storylines in particular I highly recommend.

Take a look at Sonic the Hedgehog #39 and the Mecha Madness special (found in Sonic Select #2), it's one of the most iconic stories in all the Sonic comics. Issues #1 to #3 of Knuckles the Echidna are also interesting, as they provide the introduction and backstory to the Dark Legion. Plus, Sonic Super Special Magazine #2 contains the complete Sonic Adventure adaption, all issues of the main comic (#79 to #84) and the original special.

[goku262002]

Worlds collide is good but skip world's unite by all means, it was just a three month waste for us that ate up Boom's run of its comic series and damaged Megaman's last entries as well. I will always recommend to start at #252 and Universe #55 for newcomers, regardless of what Archie considers "new jumping off points" its just best to start where the reboot began.

[King Scoopa Koopa]

I recommend against starting earlier than Worlds Collide if you're the type who gets attached to things like characters and whatnot.

[MetalSkulkBane]

9 hours ago, Ryusuke said:

That's pretty much all I need to know. Thanks, you two. I'll just start from Worlds Collide and go from there. And I'll check out Mega Man as well.

Ok last few tips

1 Words Collide is optional, some people loved it, some hate it. The question is: does idea reading 12 issues of veeeery simple story but with nice graphic and pure "fan service" (memes, classic locations, every important Sonic/Megaman character) sounds appealing to you.

2 There will be second crossover, Words Unite. If you choose to read it, then you should take a break and catch up with Megaman (stop at Sonic 272, read Megaman 1-49).

3 There are two book running at the same time: Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic Universe (spin off about Sonic friends). The simplest read would read StH first, SU later but if you want avoid all spoilers, I would suggest this way: Worlds Collide, StH 252-267, SU 55-75, StH 268-272, (Megaman 1-49), Word Unite, (Megaman 53-55), StH 276-279, SU 79-86), StH 280-287, SU 87-94.

There also extra materials, Sonic Boom comic, etc, but they can wait. I confused things already.

[Your Vest Friend]

Oh, I don't think I saw this sneak peak posted at all.

 

[SBR2]

Man I get that Worlds Unite was hated but shouldn't you guys let them just read it and decide for themselves whether it's good or not?

[Meta77]

31 minutes ago, SBR2 said:

Man I get that Worlds Unite was hated but shouldn't you guys let them just read it and decide for themselves whether it's good or not?

Well a lot of the sonic fantasy likes to assume their view of the series as the best for all. I agree. Let the person start it to see if they like it. Just tell them it's decent but to give it a shot

[Your Vest Friend]

But Ryusuke specifically asked if there was anything they should skip in the main series, they were just answering that part of the question (as well as answering the main question). 

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

It's his choice whether to read it or not, but if he wants a serious recommendation: SKIP THE ABSOLUTE FUCK OUT OF WORLDS UNITE!!!

Granted, it's not so unbelievably terrible as I was bolding it out as, it problems are that it just interrupts the main stories of Sonic and Megaman at the worst possible moments, overbloats the cast by bringing in other Sega and Capcon franchises for sheer fanservice (which would actually be awesome at any other point and if it had more issues to work woth), and it's ending makes the whole crossover pointless -- it's basically the comicbook equivalent of Sonic 06, only being better by actually being coherent and the characters not as stupid despite its problems (so basically Sonic 06 if it wasn't too ridiculous)

By itself, it's "meh," nice for fanservice and well structured, but ultimately forgettable. But if you're reading from the Worlds Collide or issue 252, Worlds Unite is going to muck up your experience latter down the line for the above reasons as you get back to the main stories which end up with rushed as hell pacing as a result.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

1 minute ago, Conquering Storm's Servant said:

It's his choice whether to read it or not, but if he wants a serious recommendation: SKIP THE ABSOLUTE FUCK OUT OF WORLDS UNITE!!!

Granted, it's not so unbelievably terrible as I was bolding it out as, it just interrupts the main stories of Sonic and Megaman at the worst possible moments, overbloats the cast by bringing in other Sega and Capcon franchises for sheer fanservice (which would actually be awesome at any other point and if it had more issues to work woth), and it's ending makes the whole crossover pointless -- it's basically the comicbook equivalent of Sonic 06, only being better by actually being coherent and the characters not as stupid despite its problems.

By itself, it's "meh," nice for fanservice but ultimately forgettable. But if you're reading from the Worlds Collide or issue 252, Worlds Unite is going to muck up your experience latter down the line as you get back to the main stories which end up with rushed as hell pacing as a result

Not to mention that the art isn't anywhere near as good as usual until the last four issues of the story, how a lot of the regulars got fucked out of the book for the crossover because the editor wanted a shit ton of guests in for no reason, the off panels are pretty much completely terrible and it marked the point where all of them in general got really cheesy and rather bad, and after the first part, the story pretty much just completely meanders and goes nowhere, just being a bunch of predictable plot points. Oh, we need a fight between Sonic and Mega Man because uh, first crossover. Actually let's have two for no reason whatsoever. We need Sonic and friends fighting against an robot army of fanservice because uh, first crossover. Even Ian got pretty damn lazy on the last part, with Sonic #275 pretty much becoming just a bunch of art work that's great, but has no substance apart from a few small word balloons or text boxes.

[Shadowlax]

2 hours ago, Conquering Storm's Servant said:

It's his choice whether to read it or not, but if he wants a serious recommendation: SKIP THE ABSOLUTE FUCK OUT OF WORLDS UNITE!!!

Granted, it's not so unbelievably terrible as I was bolding it out as,

It kind of is, it does nothing really with any the material it uses and like you said interrupts the main stories if you are interested in those things. Its very much a badly planned out fanfiction by the editor. I can get much more intricate than that, but my point is, the bolded was the exact cadence you needed to give that. 

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

I say it isn't as unbelievably terrible because while it's certainly not the best thing out there, on it's own it can--or perhaps could--actually be an okay thing to read.

I hate the thing like crazy for the main reasons I listed, but taking a moment to divorce my dislike for its unnecessary interruption, bloated cast, and looking at it constructively, I am willing to give it some merit for what it was going for had that none of that been the case and it had more to work with. (But aside from being constructive, fuck World's Unite)

[Shadowlax]

I had a longer expiation. If you wanna see it, we can discuss but, while I don't think its the worst thing this comic has produced. Its bad ,its really and not worth reading. And feels passionless... in a bad way. And it doesn't help that the comic show runners, admit that. 

 I think its deserving all all the shit cadence you and anyone else can muster

It don't its a functionally good or interesting tale, I don't think the character interactions result in anything interesting. You got a bunch of famous people stand around and do nothing and some famous people didn't show or left even though you promised them.  Its is not good

 

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Yeah...no one here is saying that it is good by a long shot.

Just that despite how bad it is, anyone can see what it was going for and that it could have had more promise had it not been done at the worst moment and with more room to work with. There is a thing called being "constructive" about things that don't do well...

[King Scoopa Koopa]

I think Collide is a good place to start, since it sets things up and is apparently still canon, while

Worlds Unite all but writes itself out.

[Big Panda]

The first three pages of 290 are on the Archie App, and it reveals a neat detail I wasn't expecting at all:

[Fletch]

When Archie sends you that issue #290 because you're the biggest Sonic CD fanboy. 
When you look at that beautiful variant cover but it has that garbage Archie Riverdale advertisement on the top. 
2016 is the absolute worse. 

 

Spoilers soon. After I probably scan some pages and hopefully can write a decent summary.