Megathread Archie Sonic Main Discussion

[Borvoc]

Oh no.

[Heckboy]

Wait, the magazine that just got announced?

So I guess that's two things that have been canned not long after being solicited. Hmm.

[Your Vest Friend]

The magazine was announced a long time ago, then cancelled a long time ago, then revived a few months ago, and now got canned again, so it seems.

I think this is the first time I've seen a specific product cancelled twice. 

[FriendBot]

Are you fucking serious?

First, they canned the Magazine and focused on the Digests. They delayed 18 for the longest time and then canned the entire line. Then they announced the Magazine will return only to can it again?!

WHAT IS THIS SHIT?!

[Heckboy]

I'm wondering if it's definitely cancelled, or if it's just been delayed like all the other issues of the comics.

[King Scoopa Koopa]

34 minutes ago, Shadowlax said:

Yeah, maybe there shouldn't be a structure. Or at least t

or you could make a story about those characters as an on going

I would much rather read that then furry avengers: you don't care about half of them. 

Knuckle's going on would be an interesting book

Shadow and gun would be an interesting book. 

The other ones would also be interesting but they probably can't hold a book. 

Maybe a team structure... shouldn't be what the main comic is a bout. Maybe the main book also taking on a universe structure, would be better. The main book could take on a more universe structure. Mainly about sonic but occasionally other folks. And then everytime they want to tell a long form story about another character, they get a temp book. And it isn't sonic universe, its just Shadow, Or tails, or Knuckles that goes on longer than 4 months, tell the story they need to tell with the room they need. And when its done, it goes back to one book. Sonic and/or whoever, doing a thing. 

And sometimes it could be about different stuff, it could just be a sonic boom book for  awhile

Well, I didn't even mean as a team, but even as just a group of friends acting together (which, yeah, would be like a team). Hence going back to my "Sonic going around on his own and hanging out with different groups similar to how he does the FF" idea.

At this point, I'm not even looking at more books, I'm just looking at how to treat Sonic and building from that. Anything beyond what we have feels like pie in the sky dreaming and fantasy at the moment.

[Your Vest Friend]

5 minutes ago, Mister X said:

I'm wondering if it's definitely cancelled, or if it's just been delayed like all the other issues of the comics.

The release date on Previewsworld has not moved an inch for a long while though. Sonic Super Digest #18 kept its January release date even when it didn't show up on the release lists before the order form showed it as cancelled. 

[SonicComicFanboy]

2 hours ago, Shadowlax said:

That would uh, suck

 

 Yes, yes it would.  But knowing Archie I wouldn't put it past them. 

[SBR2]

2 hours ago, Shadowlax said:

That would uh, suck

 

I'm going to play devils advocate here. The Digests are disposable wastes...to monthly readers. I've been unable to read a lot of the issues for a while now and a few months ago I ran across an issue of Digest and while I couldn't get it I saw the value in having the Digests around. In one issue the collect half of several current storylines and that makes it way easier for people who have been out of the loop to catch up or people who have never read them to get a look at what these books are all about.

So yes from a regular readers perspective they're a useless waste of paper but it's an important thing to have for new readers/readers who have fallen behind..

[Your Vest Friend]

Yeah, I think it's been said a few times that Digests are a big money-maker for Archie. Magazines, I'm not so sure about. 

[Borvoc]

Wait. I thought we were all mourning the idea of quarterly comic releases.

So, digests collect stuff for new or lapsed readers (per SBR2), correct? So what are the magazines for (aside from that sweet, sweet poster edition from a while back)? Do they also just collect previous issues for the same purpose?

Ooh. I know! The digests collect issues sequentially, while the magazines collect random issues and stories from through the comic's life. Am I right? Do I get a prize?

[Your Vest Friend]

Digests tend to have more of the latest issues, but they can be random too.

The main differences are that magazines tend to have more varied features while Digests are pretty much just reprints (maybe an exclusive story on occasion), and the Digests are in a more pocket-suitable size while magazines are still the size of a regular larger magazine. Oh, and I think magazines are less of a budget line. 

[Borvoc]

Hmm. So the magazines (aside from sweet posters sometimes), get stuff like character bios, trivia, mazes, word searches, and other such filler?

I personally don't have any reason to read digests, and I'm only interested in the magazines when they have cool fold-out posters, but I guess I can see why there's a market for both of these. I'm assuming most of us in this thread are active readers, so aside from them being an indication of the health of the comic, does anyone here actually read them?

[NikoS]

3 hours ago, Borvoc said:

does anyone here actually read them?

the ones i got my hands on were enjoyable, i recall the ones with the Ian Flynn interview and the Ben Bates one, i particularly enjoy this kind of content, some of them had concept art and "fast forward" features, the last one i got is the one showcasing the post-SGW world (the one that teases Sally's ring blades), i don't recall any word searches or mazes though i just hope that the revival is not canned but rather just delayed as the rest of the comics.

[SonicComicFanboy]

I enjoyed the Digests & Magazines for what they were, but I'm not surprised to see them go.  Archie has never had luck with things like this for liscensed properties.  They tried doing a Digest for TMNT back in the 90's and it just lasted like 8-9 issues.

 

 I can see why, it's probably cheaper to reprint their own stuff in Digests & Mags  then liscensed properties, or something like that.  My guess is they will stick solely to STH, SU and the occasional Trade Paperback from now on.  And heck who knows if they will even keep doing trades once they get all of the Shattered World & Worlds Unite Story Arcs put out. 

 

I hate to be negative, but I agree archie is at a point where they only want to focus on Riverdale & the All-New Archie books.  They will probably keep Sonic around as a safty net but only print Floppies of STH & SU in the future and give up the Mega-Man liscense all-together once their rights expire.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Late reply, I know. Just wanted to make these statements. (Also, a bit groggy on some medication, and it took me a while to write this, so excuse any part that sounds too off...^_^;)

17 hours ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

Okay, first thing: I get that SU must be 4 part long for various reasons but 1 They could be more 3+1 or 2+2 like Chaotix Quest. 2 More importantly it doesn't impact my judgment. "Shattered would be better if it was shorter" has nothing to do with reality that force it to be 4-parter. It's like Trump being a president. I don't like it, but for some reason that's how it has to be.

Second, what Shattered is about? Naugus and his troll heritage, Knuckles and Amy interactions, Knuckles retrieving Master Emerald. Expanding any of those elements is not filler, it's making story full. What are Team Dark? They are getting their appearance quota checked and add some violence to the story. They are not the essential part of the narrative (I think Flynn even mentioned that he added them later).

Here's simple idea how things would go: They go the caves only in two, meet Nixus, talk about history. Give excuse to split, Nixus goes with Amy, Knuckles alone. Amy realized who's she dealing with, fight. Knuckles finds Amy, she has shards. It wasn't Amy, it was Naugus, freezes Knux, takes ME for himself.  Real Amy shows up (let's say she fallen from hight and Naugus though her dead), saves Knuckles. He's bummed out, talk from the flashback, they together go and stop Naugus.

Of course it would requires some changes, but I made it up in 5 minutes, give me a break. Same story, only tighter.

I mean...that was kinda my critique on the whole thing and what you would have to do to make it work if you were to remove them given the impact of their presence being plotted in there.

And that basically changes the impact of the story as well if you shorten it to three. Would this tighter story even have the energy of the original that captures the audiences attention? You treat Team Dark's addition and violence like a mere statistic to make than as characters that were part of the story they were in. And even with that said, even expanding on elements you think can still be filler if you've already given out the details or are explaing what isn't, either one of which can affect the pacing and the stakes--this is why I see Team Dark as more necessary than you make them out as, because they show that Naugus is still a danger that affects a bigger picture in the overall comic if not stopped. And while you could show that with Knuckles and Amy, adding Team Dark and their dynamic with Naugus ups the stakes more.

(And I feel like that sounded hella complicated reading that to myself given the medication)

17 hours ago, Shadowlax said:

The main comic didn't " suffer from rushed pacing " the reason that the story was rushed is because a bunch of people didn't give a shit about that story anymore. There were a bunch of unnecessary elements. Hell I and a few people will argue the entire plot of the werehog should have been solved in like.. half a year. People weren't enjoying the story , a lot of complaints were coming in after a year, and combined with the other foibles of forced crossoevers they finished the story. 

The story didn't suffer from " rushed pacing" the story suffered from " It was bad and no one wants to read this story anymore"

Dude, there are plenty of pros and cons with the story and not this one-sided picture of "no one likes what I don't like" you're trying to paint here. This is another case of you disregarding that point, because you do not speak for the massive and divided group that is the Sonic Fandom in its entirety.

[Mauro Fonseca]

20 hours ago, Borvoc said:

Shazam: I'm *Shazam!!!*

Shazam: Oh, crap. I'm a little boy again and I'm falling from the sky. I guess I should use my secret transformation word as my name.

 

Pardon the quick off-topic, but just to mention, the new canon solves this by having him have to say the word with meaning and good intentions to transform. If he just says it as another word, it doesn't do anything.

20 hours ago, Borvoc said:

Shazam: I'm *Shazam!!!*

Shazam: Oh, crap. I'm a little boy again and I'm falling from the sky. I guess I should use my secret transformation word as my name.

 

Pardon the quick off-topic, but just to mention, the new canon solves this by having him have to say the word with meaning and good intentions to transform. If he just says it as another word, it doesn't do anything.

[SBR2]

8 hours ago, Conquering Storm's Servant said:

 

Dude, there are plenty of pros and cons with the story and not this one-sided picture of "no one likes what I don't like" you're trying to paint here. This is another case of you disregarding that point, because you do not speak for the massive and divided group that is the Sonic Fandom in its entirety.

Agreed. Personally I enjoyed the shattered World Saga (Even though I am missing 8 of the last issues of it). Yeah it had flaws here and there but I really think people are completely overblowing those flaws.

[Tracker_TD]

Well, that's all fine and dandy. Riverdale's obviously done well, and-

This might've already been known, and idk if I'd push it as "omg Sonic comics are cancelled" evidence (he could just work on both comics, he did with Sonic and Mega Man, plus all the other books he worked on) but uh

Yeah, that's a thing.

[goku262002]

Not gonna think too much on it, Ian has worked on other books while still working on Sonic and he is just a co-writer. Didn't know he knew anything about the actual Archie universe though, thinking he was more stapled onto the project then a passion project he wanted to pursue.

[Your Vest Friend]

This isn't his first time on the Archie books; he's done an issue of Young Salem, and Sabrina's stuff is weirdly very close to Jughead currently. 

[Tracker_TD]

 

I feel this is perhaps relevant, huh.

[SonicComicFanboy]

25 minutes ago, Tracker_TD said:

 

I feel this is perhaps relevant, huh.

 I am super jealous that Jughead got to go to a super-early sneak preview of the upcoming Sonic The Hedgehog movie with Burger Girl Sabrina.

[Big Panda]

Flynn wrote the Young Salem 4-parter, part of "Reggie's Revenge" (Archie & Friends #153), and a story in that old "Archie Babies" graphic novel.

[Your Vest Friend]

I was going to say Little Archie but I knew that wasn't right, can't believe there's more than one "Hey look, the Archie cast are cute and baby-like!" series.