Megathread IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog - Megathread

[PC the Hedgehog]

I...honestly kind of agree that the IDW comics feel MUCH more slow-moving than Archie ever did. I can't really put my finger on why, considering it's still a monthly comic and all, but it feels like everything just takes forever.

[Promethean0416]

Maybe it's because that this is a newer world, characters, and lore built up unlike what was in the previous series?

[Rabbitearsblog]

2 minutes ago, Promethean0416 said:

Maybe it's because that this is a newer world, characters, and lore built up unlike what was in the previous series?

I think this is the case.  Because the Archie Comics have been around much longer, they are able to do faster paced stories than the IDW series is able to do at the moment.

[DabigRG]

It's funny because IDW clearly has had an on the fly, rush to the next part of the story pace in everything besides the Metal Virus. And yet, Archie felt more brisk because there was more of substance actually happening even as it kept changing things around every four issues.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

1 hour ago, Promethean0416 said:

Maybe it's because that this is a newer world, characters, and lore built up unlike what was in the previous series?

 

1 hour ago, Rabbitearsblog said:

I think this is the case.  Because the Archie Comics have been around much longer, they are able to do faster paced stories than the IDW series is able to do at the moment.

That is not really an excuse.

Archie Sonic went through a reboot, and they literally did the same exact thing: newer world, new characters, and new lore. Everything that remained had to be redone, remade, and recontextualized from the ground up in a way that was completely different from how it originally was.
 

Considering that the team that did that for Archie also work on IDW, they shouldn’t have a problem with their output over the setting, the characters, or the lore. Nevermind that some of its materials, like the Metal Virus, were initially made for Archie. So I doubt that has anything to do with it, especially when—outside of Sega’s mandates—IDW a has far less holding them back in building those areas when they’ve practically had the same amount of time as the Archie Reboot to build everything.

[Razule]

Maybe because they're more individual issues that either don't advance the current arc, or don't add much. Everything is resolved the same year it's introduced more-or-less, compared to Archie, but itt still feels like there's not much progression outside of certain issues. 

[Sega DogTagz]

Between the Main book, Universe and Boom, The Archie comics had 2 and sometimes 3 comics releasing a month.  They leveraged that often to tell different sides of the same stories, so of course it would feel like more was getting done each issue, because you never had to wait longer than 2 1/2 weeks to get the next bite of the apple. You were always given a firehose worth of content.

The IDW book cant copy that momentum because it doesn't have that kind of the release schedule. Even with its occasional mini-series, it still cant cover that kind of ground because its interlaced release order also spaces out the main series. Its not adding any additional pages to the monthly totals.

Until there is a dedicated second book or mini-series, that ships without slowing down the monthly main series, then I don't see how you can match Archie's feeling of a quickened pace. When we have a slow issue in IDW, its left to fester for a month. In Archie, it was out of mind in two weeks. That does a lot for perception.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

What’s keeping IDW from doing something like that again? I heard multiple times it was because they couldn’t afford it, but I’m iffy on whether that’s the case.

[Dejimon11]

2 hours ago, PC the Hedgehog said:

I...honestly kind of agree that the IDW comics feel MUCH more slow-moving than Archie ever did. I can't really put my finger on why, considering it's still a monthly comic and all, but it feels like everything just takes forever.

I don’t know if I’ve posted here or another thread but Ian tries to write this book like a shonen jump action manga where everything tries to be fast paced and have shorter arcs. He doesn’t want to run into the same issue he ran with Archie when he planted the seeds for the long game only for it to be abruptly cancelled twice. 
 

Unfortunately it just makes everything feel undercooked and underdeveloped. The best part about reboot Archie was the world building and we got to know how it functions. With this is “ok now where in a new location anyways next story”.  

[Sega DogTagz]

14 minutes ago, CrownSlayer’s Shadow said:

What’s keeping IDW from doing something like that again? I heard multiple times it was because they couldn’t afford it, but I’m iffy on whether that’s the case.

*shrug*

It could be any number of things. While Archie did pump out issues, there are problems that come with that too. The quality of the art/artists took cataclysmic hits from time to time. Who could forget Many Hands? There are a bunch of issues that quite frankly don't look professional.

Secondly, Archie may simply have more creatives at its disposal to meet that kind of demand. So far, IDW has skimmed talent from the top of the Archie pool, with a few additions, but it does seem to have a smaller rotating cast of artists. Great for quality control. Not so much for pumping out 2 books a month.

 

 

[Razule]

12 minutes ago, Dejimon11 said:

Unfortunately it just makes everything feel undercooked and underdeveloped. The best part about reboot Archie was the world building and we got to know how it functions. With this is “ok now where in a new location anyways next story”.  

Yep, the game-accurate comic we always wanted.

[caitash]

Another cover for issue 50, this one by Jon Gray and Aleah Baker (is this the last cover to be revealed?)

 

Spoiler

 

 

[Silvereyes]

5 hours ago, caitash said:

(is this the last cover to be revealed?)

Yes, that is all 8 covers of issue #50 unveiled. Pretty great selection, feels like a flex for the series to show off how many great artists they have on this book, although I imagine this will be a small nightmare for the hardcore collectors out there.

[Zaysho]

5 hours ago, caitash said:

Another cover for issue 50, this one by Jon Gray and Aleah Baker (is this the last cover to be revealed?)

Is this the first IDW-related thing Aleah has worked on? Nice to see she's getting involved again. Seemed like she was just starting to get momentum during the Archie reboot right up until it got canceled.

[bingboomer]

come on idw. speed it up. its supposed to be all about fast since its sonic. pick up the pace. 

[Red]

I think everything post-Metal Virus has just been slow and boring so far. Even Imposter Syndrome feels slow since instead of being it's own mini series, it's trying to set things up for #50. We need annual arcs again instead of all these mini arcs. Neo Metal Sonic and Metal Virus were so good, but the comic has fallen flat since the latter ended.

[DabigRG]

5 hours ago, Zaysho said:

Is this the first IDW-related thing Aleah has worked on? Nice to see she's getting involved again. Seemed like she was just starting to get momentum during the Archie reboot right up until it got canceled.

Iirc, she actually came down with some sort of illness or borderline disability that took her out of the running for a while.

[Zoomzeta]

12 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

Iirc, she actually came down with some sort of illness or borderline disability that took her out of the running for a while.

Hope she is feeling better now.

[Celestia]

On 5/24/2022 at 5:37 PM, Dejimon11 said:

I don’t know if I’ve posted here or another thread but Ian tries to write this book like a shonen jump action manga where everything tries to be fast paced and have shorter arcs. He doesn’t want to run into the same issue he ran with Archie when he planted the seeds for the long game only for it to be abruptly cancelled twice. 
 

Unfortunately it just makes everything feel undercooked and underdeveloped. The best part about reboot Archie was the world building and we got to know how it functions. With this is “ok now where in a new location anyways next story”.  

To be honest I kind of prefer this in a way. Even without the cancellations it felt like a lot of the longer plot lines were too stretched out.

I do think we should get more plots that are basically running in the background but I'd kind of like to see them have like...a reasonable end in sight? That's my only concern though, I can't really argue that it wouldn't help.

[Rabbitearsblog]

7 hours ago, Silvereyes said:

Yes, that is all 8 covers of issue #50 unveiled. Pretty great selection, feels like a flex for the series to show off how many great artists they have on this book, although I imagine this will be a small nightmare for the hardcore collectors out there.

I can see a lot of collectors putting in a lot of money into buying these special editions of the covers.

[Silvereyes]

47 minutes ago, Rabbitearsblog said:

I can see a lot of collectors putting in a lot of money into buying these special editions of the covers.

$64 if they paid $8 for each individual issue, and I imagine they'd be lucky to get it for that much, especially the 2 RI covers. Probably looking at the better part of a $100 there. Not to mention rebuying #50 in the volume re-release and the IDW Collection re-release too.

[SkyHorizon]

10 hours ago, Rabbitearsblog said:

I can see a lot of collectors putting in a lot of money into buying these special editions of the covers.

I can't believe someone is so stupid to buy 8 copies of the same thing...

[StaticMania]

Since this is a thing people actually do, it shouldn't be that hard to believe...

[Sonictrainer]

6 hours ago, SkyHorizon said:

I can't believe someone is so stupid to buy 8 copies of the same thing...

Apparently, there's a person that goes to my comic book shop and buys every single variant cover of the IDW Sonic Comics when they come in.

I can't remember the last time I was able to get the variant cover of an issue except for maybe Issue 7

[Rabbitearsblog]

7 hours ago, Sonictrainer said:

Apparently, there's a person that goes to my comic book shop and buys every single variant cover of the IDW Sonic Comics when they come in.

I can't remember the last time I was able to get the variant cover of an issue except for maybe Issue 7

Do they usually sell the variant covers separately or do they all come into one comic book?