Megathread Archie Sonic Main Discussion

[nuckles87]

I honestly found the first issue of this arc rather dissapointing, but at this point I'm really enjoying the sheer chaos of all that's going on. All of the characters personalities are on full display here, and Omega is actually...kinda awesome. Not drab and boring like he was in the gaames.

[Badnik Zero]

I'm a bit late because I'm lazy, but I've been meaning to comment on #219 and how that leads into things.

I liked this issue a lot. In fact post Iron Dominion is Ian's best stuff yet for me.

I think several seeds have been planted here and we don't even realize it. I also don't think Geoffrey is the traitor.

Nobody likes Geoffrey and many already guessed it'd be him. That's the safe way out and it's too easy.

Hershey and Geoffrey: Which brings me to this. Hershey gets name dropped more than once in this issue. It might be Ian's way of writing her out of his plans for Geoffrey. In terms of story though, something might have actually happened to her. It's possible Geoffrey is acting for the King in order to save his wife from something.

Mina and Ash: Mina's subplot got a lot of showtime this issue. She shows resentment towards the FFs for putting her and the people in danger, which means her music potentially helps the King's move. Even further, it was Ash's idea to put these ideas in song... So is he the King's man also?

Ixis Naugus and the Emerald: No freakin' clue what's going on here. Maybe the crazy wizard still has some key to the King's power or sanity from back in the Zone of Silence days. It's also likely that he knows something about the Source of All as an old Kingdom magician. He helped destroy the Sword and Crown of Acorns after all.

And so Sonic is still stuck there. He'll have to make a bargain with Feist to get out I bet.

Edited December 11, 2010 by Dabnikz

[Core]

Ixis Naugus and the Emerald: No freakin' clue what's going on here. Maybe the crazy wizard still has some key to the King's power or sanity from back in the Zone of Silence days. It's also likely that he knows something about the Source of All as an old Kingdom magician. He helped destroy the Sword and Crown of Acorns after all.

From chaoscontrol14's summary, and from what I remember of the old issues, I was under the impression that Geoffrey considers Naugus to be the true king, because I remember king Max had pledged allegiance to Naugus when they were in that zone. Something like that. I remember Max even said that Naugus was the rightful owner of the kingdom.

Edited December 11, 2010 by Core

[Badnik Zero]

Aw crap I forgot about that. That's stupid. Why does Ian do this to me.

[An Azure Hedgehog]

Hey guys, new to the site but I've been a Sonic fan for 14 years.

I need an opinion for a long term fan of the Archie comic series or maybe someone who's read through them all recently. I used to collect the series but fell off the wagon sometime in middle school (8 years ago). Recently I decided to play catch up and I've been reading every issue in the series starting from the first one, right now I'm on issue 108 and I was reading one of the little editorials at the back from the editor (don't know if that's still a feature now) and read about a shift in writers and therefore style. Basically I want to know how has the series been doing? Does it still maintain that serious feeling or has it basically devolved into something like what 4kids would be proud of (like the earlier issues). I'm fine with humor but I really liked the work of Karl Bollers and Ken Penders but now I'm reading through issues with a terrible primary artist (Ron Lim, I know the arists change though so I can suffer through that), a change in format (shorter stories now in 3's instead of 2's) and now I'm afraid a complete change in style and tone. So I need to know from someone who's got the issues around this time maybe fresh in their minds or a long term fan of the comics, should I keep on reading to the current issues? My original intent was to catch up to 2009, order that year's issues from Archie and then get a subscription and get back to my Sonic fandom roots, but now I'm kinda hesitant and wanna just stick to the games.

As it stands right now though, I kinda wanna quit after this story arch and preserve my pleasant memories of days past, but then I'd really miss the characters I grew up with.

Edited December 11, 2010 by An Azure Hedgehog

[Echidna Adventurer CC14]

The current issues are some of the best in a while. Ian is easily one of the best writers the comic has had so far and he's reached a perfect balance between lighthearted and dark. It's not super campy like the older issues, but it's also not soap opera-ish like the later issues. It can pull off some lighthearted humor like all of Beans lines while still inserting a bit of darkness like Sonic feeling guilty for breaking Eggman's sanity. It's also had some fun stories, like the Moebius invasion arc as well as the Tails Adventure adaptation and the current Treasure Team Tango arc in the Sonic Universe spin-off book. I think you should definitely check it out.

Edited December 11, 2010 by chaoscontrol14

[nuckles87]

lol, oh Ron Lim, that guy could not draw Sonic to save his life....

I assure you the comic gets back to serious stories by #123. Honestly you're in what I like to call the dark era of the comic book, which lasted till around #160 when Ian took over. I stopped reading TWICE during these issues. Ron Lim's horrible art played a major part in that, but the new "three story an issue" format and some of the absolutely horrid writing on display around this point in the comic's life span kept me away. That being said your still in for some pretty decent stories. I rather liked the immediate after math of #125, and you're in for a treat with Return to Angel Island.

All I've gotta say is that there is an artist called Dubs that you may have to get used to. His style us great, but VERY cartoony, and didn't really match the story of his debut issue (#135).

[An Azure Hedgehog]

lol, oh Ron Lim, that guy could not draw Sonic to save his life....

I assure you the comic gets back to serious stories by #123. Honestly you're in what I like to call the dark era of the comic book, which lasted till around #160 when Ian took over. I stopped reading TWICE during these issues. Ron Lim's horrible art played a major part in that, but the new "three story an issue" format and some of the absolutely horrid writing on display around this point in the comic's life span kept me away. That being said your still in for some pretty decent stories. I rather liked the immediate after math of #125, and you're in for a treat with Return to Angel Island.

All I've gotta say is that there is an artist called Dubs that you may have to get used to. His style us great, but VERY cartoony, and didn't really match the story of his debut issue (#135).

Sounds like I should give it a shot then and see how Ian Flynn is doing as a writer to determine if I'll subscribe again. I've been away for almost a decade but now I've got to the point where I stopped collecting so its going to all be new to me. I just really liked the format of ongoing story arcs rather than the one shot AoSTH styled stories that seem to be dominating.

Thanks for the replies guys, guess I need to get back onto reading. Actually one more question, how are the Freedom Fighters in later issues? Are they as prominent as they should be because I'm afraid they end up like Bulma, Yamcha, Tien and those guys in DBZ, as in completely over shadowed and merely an afterthought in most of the series (compared to being important in DB)

[Aquaslash]

Well there are no crazily evolving Saiyans to keep up with, so all of the core freedom fighters are still relevant bar Rotor. He suffers an injury which all but sidelines him for good.

I would compare the tone of the comics right now to that of Unleashed or Colors. It is overall lighthearted, but does tend to get serious every now and then.

[An Azure Hedgehog]

Colors I can probably deal with but Unleashed was almost unplayable for because of that #$@%& sidekick thing Chip or whatever his name was. I can deal with a tone similar to that of Sonic Aventure 2 which was half lighthearted and half serious with Shadow's back story and all that. One of my favorite periods was the time after Sonic 50 when the Mobians were trying to rebuild their society and dealing with the fall out of those events, really enjoyed that tone and it made Robotnik's return all the more impactful when he basically destroyed everything all over again. I'm not looking for anything Dark Knightish (really gritty and dark) but I also want to avoid overly kiddy things like Chip. Does the story get back to the way it was with a continuous plot across the issues or are they still basically stand alone short stories with little continuity. I've been reading a couple and I can say at least the Knuckles stories are consistently good but I know Ken Penders is out of the picture after a while.

[Aquaslash]

It's a little bit of both. Ian's run up to now has basically been 4 big arcs (Darkest Storm, Destruction of Knothole, Bold New Moebius, Iron Dominion, and then a string of 2 parters leading up to #225 (which will be in June) Continuity's pretty tight as well. We're actually still dealing with the fallout of the Iron Dominion arc.

Then there's Sonic Universe. So far, it's nothing but 4 parters which tie into the main book at various points.

Edited December 11, 2010 by Aquaslash

[An Azure Hedgehog]

It's a little bit of both. Ian's run up to now has basically been 4 big arcs (Darkest Storm, Destruction of Knothole, Bold New Moebius, Iron Dominion, and then a string of 2 parters leading up to #225 (which will be in June) Continuity's pretty tight as well. We're actually still dealing with the fallout of the Iron Dominion arc.

Then there's Sonic Universe. So far, it's nothing but 4 parters which tie into the main book at various points.

Ah that's actually pretty reassuring guess I can read on without feeling like I'll end up ruining something I loved. I'm excited to get back to reading again. Thanks for the insight.

[Illuminous_Orb]

Azure, I was actually in the exact same predicament. I stopped reading the book around issue 76 or so, mostly because my grocery store stopped carrying them and didn't know of any other place they would sell them. Moving around twice didn't help either.

I then came upon some issue within the 160s, which included Ian's debut around 4 years ago and I couldn't help but be ecstatic to know that it was still around after all these years. I found them pretty enjoyable, too. Yeah, it's kinda a little more lighthearted than the stuff I read all those years ago, but it's still something I enjoy reading because the team involved really know what they are doing and have a much better sense of what Sonic should be and I'm all the more grateful for that. Especially when you try to play catch up and see some of the more pretty unforgettably bad issues that came before it. I'd definitely recommend them, but it's something that you gotta adjust to a little compared to the old issues to really make them that more enjoyable.

[The Tenth Doctor]

I spy Archie's new pairing! "looks at Avatar".

They are kinda awkward together aren't they.....

[turbojet]

I spy Archie's new pairing! "looks at Avatar".

They are kinda awkward together aren't they.....

[Yong]

Well since she has to go back to her dimension eventually, it won't last.

Long distance relationship! =D

[Badnik Zero]

Did you guys forget the time Shadow first met Blaze it was because he was dimension jumping?

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Did you guys forget the time Shadow first met Blaze it was because he was dimension jumping?

So he's one of the few characters who can cross through dimensions with no trouble at all, and without crossing the cosmic interstate. The perks just keep getting better for him, huh?

[Aquaslash]

So he's one of the few characters who can cross through dimensions with no trouble at all, and without crossing the cosmic interstate. The perks just keep getting better for him, huh?

Down boy! Down! XD To be fair, he was using Metal Sonic's engine, which in this particular model was built for transwarping. He had no idea where he'd end up.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Down boy! Down! XD To be fair, he was using Metal Sonic's engine, which in this particular model was built for transwarping. He had no idea where he'd end up.

But he managed to warp back to his home dimension without Metal's engine, using a Chaos Emerald instead. He could easily cross into Blaze's dimension - or any dimension he can access - without much trouble so long as he has a single Emerald.

[AdventChild]

Such a sad day to be a Silvaze fan huh ? Just joking. Though if they do go along with Shadaze then it is a slap in the face for Shadouge fans as well since even in the games it hinted at it. So then who does that leave Rouge with? Nack? Then again that was Sonic 06 which retconned as well.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Eh, I just think the couplings are fun to play around with. I'm not exactly into coupling of any kind, but should their be some kind of relationship, official in games or the comics, I'll just roll with it unless there is some serious derailment.

But if Shadow and Blaze DID have kids, those would be some overpowered muthafucka. Able to use both the Chaos Emeralds AND the Sol Emeralds? Oh, how the laws of the universe could be made their bitch!

[Badnik Zero]

Far as kids go, I still think the future is headed towards 30YL. I know it's only a possible future, but Silver ends up there when looking for his traitor. I also know what Ian says but he's wrong. I guess we'll find out once this current nonsense arc is over!

[Kuzu]

I see Shipping as a way to mess with people's heads and that pic of Shadow and Blaze just makes me laugh with awesomeness.

To Sega Forums.

[Aquaslash]

I've always said Ian Flynn is a master troll when it comes to shipping. Also, I'll concede to CSS about Shadow. I got nothing on that one.