The Future of Archie Sonic at Risk?!

[MetroXLR99 8]

I feel confident to write this thought and opinion without much problems.
Mainly, I can't help but feel concerned over the future of Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series.

This is a legitimate feeling. as lately, I have noted that the Revamped Archie Sonic series
has mainly been focused on adaptions of Sonic games (quite literally opening with 'Sonic Unleashed')

this is understandable. as after "The Incident" that led to the New 52/Flashpoint reboot in the first place.
Archie had to play things safe, and focus on official Sega properties given the loss of 90% of their original content.


My main concern is AFTER then run out of existing material to adapt to..what's going to happen next??

I know they are trying their hardest to salvage the comic series.
but, is the series really dying off? Is it only a matter of time before they'll HAVE to end the comic?


I dunno. I'm just thinking out loud, and expressing my worries over the comic's future.

Edited 29 Oct 2016 by MetroXLR99
Removed the word 'modern'.

[Skye Prower 386]

Uh... Isn't it too early to say they're too focused on adaptations, seeing how so far they'rve pretty much ONLY done Unleashed?

[Danny Felixe 330]

To be fair... they did do Sonic the Fighters too...

But I actually like how they're doing it and showing it from a perspective with the other freedom fighters and things

As for what happens after they run out of games to adapt... make new stories like they've been doing in Sonic Universe

Of course it's going to end. All things end. The question is when but I don't feel like it's on the road to dying unless SEGA themselves try and pull the plug on it

[Skye Prower 386]

But Sonic the Fighters is hardly 'modern'! ;-p

[Danny Felixe 330]

It's still a game adaption

[MetroXLR99 8]

Okay, perhaps "Modern" wasn't the best word to use upon looking back at recent issues.
BUT, It doesn't change the fact that they are focusing solely on Game Adaptions.

I'm just worries is all. They wrote the best stuff before the reboot.
and while the new characters are okay, I still miss the "old team", and have my concerns.

[Skye Prower 386]

Technically, they also wrote their worst stuff before the reboot.

I understand your concern, but honestly, it's to early to say.  And, to be honest, this does feel like 'the comic is gonna die' argument that occurred when the reboot hit.

[Frostryu 13]

Have to agree with Lord Prowler, and just wait and see. They do have a LOT of games to go through first, and hopefully plenty of time to fill out the roster and development of characters.

We won't gain anything by worrying, so just enjoy it while its here.

[MetroXLR99 8]

True. They do seem to going all out with the Razor the Shark story arc.
and I myself am on the edge to see whatever became of Gold the Tenrec after the conclusion of that one Silver the Hedgehog story.

So, no doubt they have SOME new, creative content planned.

at least they also acknowledge characters from the old DiC cartoons with the inclusion of Breezie, Scratch and Grounder.
Maybe if we are lucky, we'll finally see that "Sonic Underground Finale" that was promised.
 

[teamrandom21 26]

I feel like the comic is at risk anyway. No new original stories, setting itself a part from the game, and to quote someone from the anti-archie sonic group

 

When your head writer calls the comic just an ad, it's time to get a new writer.

[Skye Prower 386]

The Transformers TV show was just an ad for toys.

Didn't stop it being popular.

[NegaMetallix 27]

Thing is, no matter who's in charge of writing the comics, SEGA and Archie would still be using the comic to advertise and promote the game series first and foremost.

That's what these comics are meant to be: an exciting and entertaining advertisement for the Sonic games, but an advertisement nonetheless. It's the same with other comics, like IDW's Transformers series and more.

[teamrandom21 26]

Thing is, no matter who's in charge of writing the comics, SEGA and Archie would still be using the comic to advertise and promote the game series first and foremost.

That's what these comics are meant to be: an exciting and entertaining advertisement for the Sonic games, but an advertisement nonetheless. It's the same with other comics, like IDW's Transformers series and more.

It felt like it's own thing however back before Flynn came along and randomly plopped game elements into it, and it should be it's own thing. Ken wanted to make it a continuation of SATAM, and he did a good job at that.

Flynn comes from a fan fiction background not even that good and full of stuff like teletubbies meet SATAM and his comic other M. I'm not going to Keep believe a guy who keeps saying stuff like "It's just a comic about a cartoon hedgehog running around" and thanking Sonic for keeping him having a job instead of begin glad the series is still around and doing good.

Edited 30 Oct 2016 by teamrandom21

[Danny Felixe 330]

Ugggggghhhhhhh... why is Penders being brought into this...

Also... this has changed from the comics being at risk due to advertising the games to Flynn has the wrong kind of attitude. People are gonna have different opinions about how good the comics are at the moment. If you're not enjoying it then that's a shame. I'm enjoying it. I don't see a problem with it and I definitely don't feel it's that bad that the comics are at risk. I can appreciate Flynn being a little demotivated with the series after losing his plans before the reboot but I'm not going to complain about what he is turning out either. Better to enjoy what we have instead of getting caught up in the unknown I'd say. Not that I'm trying to argue with anyone's opinions on this subject. I'm just saying how I feel about it. Probably won't say too much more

(Final thing I'll say... Flynn's stories were better than Penders'. That's just how I feel whatever both their aims were)

[teamrandom21 26]

sorry about that, I can respect your opinion, I'm just getting angry at Flynn because he has all these other projects he's doing yet he doesn't want to let someone like Evan Stanley take over as head writer. I could go on about this for a while but it's not the right place to argue, and I've done enough on DA.

[Danny Felixe 330]

I have to say... as much as I like Evan Stanley's work I would question whether she has the proper experience and willingness to take on the role as big as head writer

[Chromatic Terras 20]

I have a question on if anyone knows exactly what the lawsuit was that made them do their initial story change. I really liked the story that was going on of the Freedom Fighters being split up, Knuckles having to save his people, and Metal Sonic being remade into this overpowerful being that ripped shard to pieces, and I understand they gotta just pretend it never happen but.....they kinda didn't do that with the whole grabbing Nicole and having their memories regained, and now although its following the game contents, the story just feels really childish now. Like it has the seriousness of the overall issue but the way everything's done is too light-hearted for me so I just haven't been keeping up like I used to.

But back to the original question. I agree they probably don't have to worry about content with all the games they haven't gone through yet, and they can definitely do some filler like stuff in the meantime if by some chance they do run out so I doubt they have any problems with making comics, it's just keeping fans they have to worry about.

[teamrandom21 26]

I have to say... as much as I like Evan Stanley's work I would question whether she has the proper experience and willingness to take on the role as big as head writer

look at her series "ghost of the future". I think she's ready 

[Danny Felixe 330]

That's different. Head writer is a lot more responsibility than just writing your own fancomic that you can update whenever you want

Plus, Ghosts of the Future is not just her writing it either. she has someone else who helps her a lot with the story

[teamrandom21 26]

My apologies, I didn't realize. Lets agree to disagree that the comic needs a new head writer, 

[NegaMetallix 27]

I have a question on if anyone knows exactly what the lawsuit was that made them do their initial story change. I really liked the story that was going on of the Freedom Fighters being split up, Knuckles having to save his people, and Metal Sonic being remade into this overpowerful being that ripped shard to pieces, and I understand they gotta just pretend it never happen but.....they kinda didn't do that with the whole grabbing Nicole and having their memories regained, and now although its following the game contents, the story just feels really childish now. Like it has the seriousness of the overall issue but the way everything's done is too light-hearted for me so I just haven't been keeping up like I used to.

I believe it went something like this:

Around 2010, Archie and/or Ken Penders sued one-another over the ownership of Ken's characters (and possibly other writers' characters, too). This went on for a few years, but didn't actually affect the comic proper until around 2013. It seemed like Ken was getting an advantage in the case, so SEGA and/or Archie took precautions and had any character not owned/made by SEGA or the current writer (Ian Flynn) be suddenly removed from the comic, even if they're only mentioned. And this was BEFORE the official reboot.

The most notable story arcs to get affected were STH's 'Endangered Species' and Sonic Universe's 'Chaotix Quest'. Mostly the former, which had to be completely rewritten from part 2 onwards, while the latter got away with simply replacing some characters with others. (Plus, Universe #50 was originally planned to be an ending to Sonic Underground, but it was scrapped and replaced with the 'Metal Sonic v Shard' story.) At that point, it was assumed that Ken had essentially 'won' the case (or at least, he got ownership of his characters for himself) which meant that Ken's characters couldn't be used in the comic without Archie and/or SEGA paying him a certain amount of money.

So they instead went with Option B: reboot the continuity to be more in-line with SEGA's current direction for the Sonic series. Luckily, SEGA and Capcom had agreed to allow the Sonic and Mega Man comics to have a crossover sometime earlier, so 'Worlds Collide' was used as the 'final' storyline in the old Archie Sonic continuity (as well as technically being the first in the new universe, too) and any character owned by the writers before Ian were wiped out for good as a result of those events.

Thus, the new Sonic continuity began. Buuut... early on, Ian and the then-current editor (Paul Kaminski) couldn't decide on whether Sonic and the Freedom Fighters should fully remember the old world's events (without mentioning certain character names and appearances) or have a completely fresh start (i.e. what we got, but without the 'memory-flash' subplot). They decided to make a compromise and have the characters reference the memories for a short time, but forget about them soon after.

Anyway, that's the basic gist of it. Sorry if it seems stupidly long, but there's no quick way to summarise it all.

Edited 31 Oct 2016 by Captain Metallix

[Chromatic Terras 20]

Thank you. That explained enough for me to know my past joy in the comic is fully dead and long gone, but now I know how and why exactly lol.

[teamrandom21 26]

Another thing to think about is the fact that Archie isn't doing so well financially. In the words of my friend "They're bleeding money." True they have a TV show, but that doesn't mean it will instantly save them overall. 

[Geoffrey St John 175]

True. They do seem to going all out with the Razor the Shark story arc.
and I myself am on the edge to see whatever became of Gold the Tenrec after the conclusion of that one Silver the Hedgehog story.

So, no doubt they have SOME new, creative content planned.

at least they also acknowledge characters from the old DiC cartoons with the inclusion of Breezie, Scratch and Grounder.
Maybe if we are lucky, we'll finally see that "Sonic Underground Finale" that was promised.
 

While I normally do not post in this section I feel I need to put my viewpoint into play. First of all the Sonic Underground Finale mentioned about has been scrapped. Ian Flynn himself told me that it was his intention to include that storyline in the lost hedgehog tales .

 

But now on to the subject at hand. The comic's future is not at risk however if the funding is low it is possible that Flynn could be forced to scrap Sonic universe and focus only on the main title for a while. We can never run out of stories to read and game adaptations will never run out because a good writer can adapt the same story in a different way to make it seen totally different to the last version.  Using Sonic the Fighters as an example, we saw Breezie host a tournament in a similar fasion to the game this giving us a type of adaptation to the original. However if we swap two character's files around we could have it like Metal Sonic is the oppressed one who fights through Amy , Tails and Knuckles to escape a lab only to reach a jail floor where it must face Bean, Bark and Back to get outside where it encounters Espio and Honey leaving only Sonic left. Making Sonic the final boss in Metal Sonic's place. That is an adaptation of the game but told from a different perspective making it a good story to read.

[teamrandom21 26]

Still, sometimes it's best to let a comic series end or start completely from scratch. Not all series are meant to go on forever.