Simon Arty

Tsk, SEGA and their mandates... SIGH, depressing year for the comics having characters banned from the comics to a reboot which is obviously just to avoid the Penders material like a plague. Seriously.. Anyway you reminded me, Ian mentioned that story arcs will now be shorter. Are you all happy with this decision? Just wondering..

What?! Are you serious? What will Mighty and Ray be doing now? That's something new I heard, comics are losing it's originality seriously, with it being made closer to the games.

Welcome to Sonic Scanf IcedCoffee! I recommend Sonic #160 though, #200 and Sonic Genesis are good starts too, you'll just love Ian's writing despite not having a good understanding of the characters or places. But let me give you a summary of the entire series... Issues 1 to 20 are very comedic and there is absolutely no plot at all, I have a soft spot for it, but there are really a lot of bad puns here and there. A lot of characters introduced in this era would appear much later having more larger roles. Harvey Hoo and Hip and Hop are some examples. Issues 21 to 50 is when the comic starts to have a plot and slowly becomes more serious. This era is considered a favourite by many of the long time fans of the series as this is the period where it resembles the SATam cartoon the closest. Worth the read and major stuff happens during this time that will be referenced many times later. Issues 51 to 100 is is also a good period, although many people don't seem to care about this era there are a lot of good ideas used for this era and it's personally my favourite. Sonic and Tails travelling the world and doing awesome stuff. Knuckles' series starts at this time as well and they have very good stories, occasionally crossing over with Sonic's story where they team up alongside their respective supporting cast. With issue 100, the quality of the story starts to drop at this point and I'll explain below.. Issues 101 to 159 is what everybody views as the most horrible and worst part of the entire series. They all hold almost no value whatsoever to the plot and really had a lot of stupid ideas. (I like to point out some people view this dark era starting with 88 or so, but I don't feel it is) Issues 101 to 107 are decent though, but artist Ron Lim had killed the comic by this point, the only good things are the stories themselves. Issue 108's back story is the epilogue to the whole Overlander storyline that begun with issue 92. HOWEVER, I must point out that although this era was really crappy there are some good story arcs during this time that are either worth the read or important to the continuing plot.. [*]The love triangle between Sonic, Sally and Mina continues with issues 109(backstory), 120, 121(backstory) and finally 122 and 123, but will continue with 153 and 154 which ties it up completely. It's up to you if want to follow this, still referenced a few times later in the comic. [*]Issues 124 and 125 is worth the read and rather important. I highly recommend it, it's really epic. The whole of Mobius teams up to defeat the Xorda who are aliens bent on destroying planet, but it doesn't turn out well for Sonic.. [*]Issues 126 to 129 is the Tossed in Space arc which focuses on Sonic travelling back to Mobius after the whole Xorda incident, interesting stories presented here. [*]Issues 130 to 134 is the Home arc with Sonic finally returning to Mobius with a lot of drama happening here. Quite good also, but issue 134 features Sonic and Sally's breakup that will continue into the plot until this day. [*]Issues 138 to 141 is the Return to Angel Island arc which is one that's important to Knuckles story, and another which I would highly recommend with it being a very good arc. Jon Gray pencils the entire arc with his very stylish skill, you will either like it of hate it. [*]You can also try Issues 145 to 149, but it's meh, good plot but stupid dialogue. Unless you really want to see Shadow and Metal Sonic in action, the whole thing goes nowhere as writer Ken Penders left before he did what he wanted with it. [*]You can try 152 also as it introduces the Nanites which would be very important for the story later concerning Sonic's new home. If not you can probably skip it, once again interesting plot but stupid dialogue. [*]Issues 157 to 159 is also meh, but it would be important for a particular someone who is backstabbing Eggman who will rise later in Ian's stories. [*]You might also want to check out Mobius X Years later storyline, a possible future for Sonic himself, this is completely optional. Starting with the back stories of issue 131 to issue 144. Yup, all those issues I never mentioned just avoid, not worth it or important. [*]Issues 160 onwards is where Ian Flynn takes over the writing and the comic feels newly afresh with his writing skills. His stories are all worth reading and you'll enjoy it I'm sure. A lot of lose ends from the horrible period of the comic is tied up at the beginning of this era. It might bore you but the stories are personally still enjoyable. Sonic Universe issues would start during this time, focusing on other characters besides Sonic, awesome as well. And the reboot with issue 252 you should know about already. Just take it from someone who has read like all the issues. You will need to use Mobius Encyclopaedia to help guide you on the continuity of the issues so you don't get lost, since there's Miniseries, Knuckles issues, Super Specials and so forth that take place within the continuity. I hope you'll have an awesome time reading and enjoying the stories and your stay here. :)

Ian Flynn had actually wanted to do a Sonic Universe arc featuring Amy and her back story, it was even mentioned in one of the letter pages of the Sonic issues during Iron Dominion if I remember correctly, cannot remember which issue, a fan had asked about Amy's parents. Unfortunately, the idea has apparently been dropped as Rob is no longer allowed in the comics and Mercia has been changed to Avalon because of the recent Penders lawsuit and SEGA's mandate on SEGA characters not having family members, the subject not even supposed to be touched on. Which is a real shame to be honest, I was looking forward to it and I don't believe it's possible for such a story any longer. I can assume Amy's parents were deroboticized but maybe lost their memories cause of a side effect and wandered Mobius? (That was what was going to happen with Nate Morgan had he came back) With the new timeline, I think Amy parents are dead, and Amy having lost her memories of the previous world is obviously a plot device just to make her forget about Rob and her parents.

Penders started taking action with the whole Bioware 'copying' his characters not the royalties, that was later. In order to combat Bioware he copyrighted all his characters he made for Archie to use it against them, but Archie sued him for doing that and we all know what went on from there. I've talked about this a few pages back with my massive post so please look back for those who are unsure or didn't know. Not that I want to hate him really, but the way he did it was so urgh and all his comments toward Ian and the current comic. I still don't understand how he says Juile Su and Shade are the same. Penders himself admitted he never played ANY of the Sonic games that shows he never bothered to check Chronicles itself properly, otherwise he wouldn't have went ahead with his assumption and started the mess. The Marauders were homage to your characters not rip offs for pete's sake Penders. He wasn't exactly a bad writer but I'm not too fond of his style, he made good plots but with terrible dialogue. That's why I prefer Karl's writing much better. Yeah, his characters look awesome but never really do anything, he could have done it better and that's where Ian made them much better. I've repeated myself so many times already so you all should know. Oh yeah, if you all didn't know, there was a recent interview with Ian Flynn and he officially confirmed that Knuckles' established back story in the comics is no longer canon. That shot a hole in my heart upon hearing that but I knew that was going to be the case given the reboot :(

No, who said that? Ian had been repeatedly saying that his original plans up to issue 300 have been thrown out the window (So sad to hear that personally) and had to start all his plans again because one by one both characters and places were slowly stripped from him and cannot be used. The only elements kept was that the Freedom Fighters were supposed to be introduced back and having redesigns but Ian never thought the Pendering would affect the book. To think Ian use to brag about how SEGA gave him so much creative freedom only for them to stab him in the back like that, can tell he's under lots of stress from this.

If I remember correctly, Ixis was actually used in SATam's bible notes just that Naugus wasn't called that in the actual show so it wasn't Penders' idea. I'm not very sure, someone should look it up. Well, I'm P*ssed to the max, I'm not really liking the reboot at all. Thank you so bloody much Mr Penders for ruining the greatest comic book series ever. It's all your friggin' fault. But like I said before I will still read the book, just can't help but keep remembering this mess happened and screwed up the comics forcing Archie to have a soft reboot to make up for the loss of characters and places that Penders created. I'll try to my best to forget about it and move on.

Huh? Nobody said the dark age of the comic which was before Ian's run but from where the old timeline left off with the Naugus arc being left without a climax. Those were only a few issues, the high school ones you mentioned. Sure the previous timeline had some stupid ideas, mainly issues 101 to 159 are regarded by fans to be the worst part of the series (though there were some good issues like the Xorda arc, Tossed in space, Return to Angel Island). But are you meaning you don't miss it and don't like it? I love how the series has more interaction between characters and expanded on a lot of things the games had never addressed and despite a rather large and complicated cast of characters, I loved it with a many characters to look at. Aren't everyone on Mobius fighting Eggman who is global foe? Why not? Isn't he supposed to be? What do you mean bro?

So strange to see Muttski a mobian now, don't really like this idea. I was really hoping it would have either been Dulcy or Nate Morgan, feel cheated, they said it was a returning character, how is Muttski a returning character when he has been in New Mobotropolis all this while and never left? Oh well, solicits sometimes are so misleading.. So Ian finally confirmed they can't use Mobius, really wish they tell us the reason instead letting us bloat about it why. Finally, Sonic finally called Uncle Chuck, "Uncle Chuck". The whole SEGA mandate that SEGA characters cannot call their relatives "dad", "mom", etc is so annoying and stupid. Hehe, an "Uncle to many", love that roll call hash tag. Love Lamar's art, it's like Steven Butler but better. The guy needs to do more interior art. Although I'm fine with redesigns I can't help but feel this reboot has screwed up the comics all thanks to a particular former writer. No climax for the King Naugus arc, 2 years of interesting storylines thrown out, major characters purged and millions of plot holes to fill in since majority of the comic's foundation was by Penders(He had just canceled out his legacy in the book if you think about it). Sigh, very very very P*ssed. The series elements I loved so much gone. Forgive me guys but I really wanted to get this off my chest for awhile so just ignore this rant. I'll still keep reading the book despite many of my favorite characters gone, it will take me a lot to drop the book and I'm positive Ian will come up with many good and fun ideas while I try to put away the old Mobius that's gone now.

Oh yeah I have to admit some of the designs were dull and generic, I'm glad some of them weren't put in the comic. Though I felt the comic did not have consistancy and character development much, I'm that type of person who prefers things to develop slowly and have a build up to something major. Example, Uncle Chuck regaining his free will was too fast in the comic. I like how the series depicted a sort of battle for him till he got back his free will. NICOLE felt very uninteresting and no development until she had a nanite body in Ian's stories onwards. Regardless, I think the comic had good plots here and there, and the storyline itself had full of potential for many stories, Karl Bollers I felt, did some pretty good stories. Wonder what the comic would have been like if Ben Hurst wrote them instead..

I see, Sonic dumb is what I thought at first but he sort of has a fun personaility for me. But yeah, Sonic has matured out of that age. I did like how the show had character development particularlly Tails and NICOLE as we saw Tails starting to be more involved towards the end of the series and NICOLE starts to speak Sonic's slang, interesting for a plain computer device to do. Wish we could see more and Ben Hurst's future plans for a third season sounded interesting as Tails does get more involved and NICOLE would slowly reveal herself to be actually a mobian who was turned into a computer by Robotnik. I do like a sinster and more serious Robotnik I guess but being humorous an=t times. So do you prefer how the comics writes the SATam characters instead? How about the period when the comics were still in their SATam days before Robotnik died in issue 50? Did you like that period?

What? You didn't like Sonic SATam? But the comics were based on the show and I still see it as a continuation of SATam as they're still using the characters and storylines from it but have drifted far from the original storyline since then. For me I do want to see Sonic SATam revived as I liked it, but I think it's going to need more than just a hundred signatures. I do feel doubtful if SEGA would allow SATam to come back if it will ever happen, very unlikely though.

YEE HAR! ITS THE BLACK ARMS THEY'RE FINALLY HERE!!! Oh wait, different set of aliens? Well, I'll see how this goes, it's about time they showed up. I've always wanted a Shadow the Hedgehog adaptation into the comics where the whole of Mobius is involved like the Xorda arc of 124-125, that would be an epic storyline I want to see but it seems that all the game storylines have happened in this rebooted world. Hopefully this arc is a better sequel of some sort since SEGA has said they did not want to revisit the black arms. Wee! Ian was right on having tons of surprises for us. Finally Team dark are having the spotlight again in years. Is that a broken world I see in the background? So Colors had happened before Sonic Unleashed in the comics? Interesting..

You can say that, I wouldn't want King Max to be super nice guy every time and never contribute to the plot at all. I prefer his SATam personality and he should be jerky at times if needed but not like perviously where the whole fanbase doesn't care for him. Still too early to tell what the full extent of this new King Max will be like.

Looking at Penders' script he never bothered to clean up any lingering plot points and mostly Karl and particually Ian ended cleaning up all the mess he started. Alot of things, the status of the Ancient Walkers, Mogul, Naugus, the Source of All, the Sword of Acorns, Shadow's memories, etc. At least Karl Bollers was willing to tie up all the lose ends had he continued as main writer, when you look at his script he was planning to bring back Naugus and reveal the Source of All's status, so forth. Yes Snively dying is stupid, killing off a SATam character is something I'm really against. What was he thinking? Haha, I liked Jon Gray quite awhile already. It just took me awhile to realise he's a good artist.

I actually liked issue 134, I felt everyone in the cast got screen time and it was a nice epliogue issue just that the slap moment was so out of character for Sally and was the worst part of the issue, I mean, you can break up Sonic and Sally but do it in the way that doesn't go out of character. This is one of my least favorite moments by Karl Bollers, the dude's actually my second favorite wirter in the entire series because he seriously wrote everyone (especially Sonic's slang) in character and his stories were very good. I kinda wish he continued as main writer until Ian came in, because Penders' last few stories were quite terrible in my opinion. Comparing Karl's original direction for the series here: http://archive.sonic...nicoverview.php with Penders': http://www.kenpender...c.php?f=5&t=122, I prefer Karl's direction much better. I hated Jon Gray's art at first now I realised it has a very good and interesting style, besides off panels I don't mind seeing him pencil another issue again, but I can't help but feel his pencils aren't really suited for main stories in the issues, I think backup stories would be better. Oh by the way, I gotta mention, did anyone see this Sonic image Jon drew? http://www.deviantart.com/art/A-Crisis-of-Infinite-Hedgehogs-373255990 It's firggin' detailed! Every Sonic character ever and a timeline! You gotta check it out! And yeah, issue 252 wasn't so bad after all. I actually like it and I love the all new King Max who isn't a jerk anymore, this is how he should have been written all along. I think the Tails Doll fight could have been more interesting and better, not what I expected for being so easily defeated like that. I will dearly miss the old timeline and the Penders characters if they're not coming back, there's no confirmation yet. Until then, I guess the entire Council of Acorn and Sonic's parents are dead. Though I have this feeling that Ducly will be coming back to the Freedom Fighters and Nate Morgan might be alive again. On the other hand, the reboot would be a good thing to clean up the Adventure storyline adaptations as they were honestly poorly wirtten with alot of Archie elements that were Meanieed like the Seven Server Chao, Chaos being trapped in the Black Emerald instead of the Master Emerald and the latter being only created recently instead of being hundreds of years old. Hopefully they will explain what has been altered in the timeline down the road.

I've been meaning to report that Archie issue 223 is missing a page where it first reveals Geffory's ixis powers after he escapes NICOLE's trap.

No no no! You're misunderstanding! I was just stating what I've been reading around, I'm not believing it. If you're interested here's where I found what some fans have been saying: http://www.deviantar...nders-397524777 Click the link and you'll find several tumblr links on what they're thinking Penders is up to. They made an interesting post which I never heard before regarding Penders: "He's already had past incidences when he still worked at Archie that proves he's a liar. During the Return to Angel Island arc he informed Karl Bollers that he had complete creative freedom over the Knuckles cast so long as he didn't kill off Locke. He then went back on his word telling Bollers what he could and couldn't do and what characters he had permission to use. This is why Stryker suddenly wound up with a son out of nowhere. Penders had decided Stryker was off limits. And when the fans were informed of this incident on Penders' old forum he adamantly denied ever giving Bollers that permission in the first place. DON'T. TRUST HIM. EVER." While I'm not even sure of this quote above, what do you all think?

Penders said elsewhere Archie can use them but I highly doubt they would bother after this whole mess like I mentioned perviously, some fans are even suggesting Penders might be lying though.

It's Lara-Su whose untouchable not Lara-Le, I think you mixed that up Locke. Knuckles' mom is safe. Penders actually said they can use them but have to review them by him first, least he's open to it. If they're coming back it's gonna be a long while, I kinda doubt it though.

I've heard of this and I'm mad since if anything involving Pender's characters have to reviewed by him, it's like he's the second SEGA now. I want those characters back and having Archie with the freedom of writing them without Penders again, those days are long gone sadly. Sigh, I seriously doubt either Archie or SEGA would be interested to get the characters back after this whole legal mess they went through. Great, I think the last remaining few of my favorite characters are all gone from the book offically and the comic's original plans have been screwed up. At least the SATam cast is still here but it doesn't feel right anymore with many important characters purged.