Megathread Archie Sonic Main Discussion

[Toby]

I made a twitter account and asked about the location myself.

[Shaddy Zaphod]

Damn, Adam's art looks a lot better when he's paired with colorists and inkers that actually try.

[Monkey Destruction Switch]

22 minutes ago, Shaddy the guy said:

Damn, Adam's art looks a lot better when he's paired with colorists and inkers that actually try.

I know what you mean. Glancing at the preview pages, I was like, "Whoa, who is this guy? This is really good!", not even really realizing it was someone who's been around for a while! I like Adam's work in general, but this appears to be a notch above his normal work - really strikingly good - and I bet that's why.

[Zaysho]

I really liked Thomas's work on the second half of "Eggman's Dozen" and thought Amash did an amazing job inking his pencils, so I'm glad to see them team up for this story.

No disrespect to Terry Austin, but his output has gotten progessively worse as time has gone on. There are times and even certain artists I actually enjoy his work, but the last string of issues of the on-going that were released after the delay have been especially sloppy and stiff looking. At this point, I think the Action imprint needs to cycle through their inkers and maybe give Austin a break and let Gary Martin or Rick Bryant come in, or just have Austin move over to Dark Circle and let the other two take over.

[Forte-Metallix]

2 hours ago, Dejimon11 said:

 

 

 

Wait, so Amy speaks Pocky now, like how Sally spoke Flicky in the Genesis reality? Interesting.

[Shaddy Zaphod]

31 minutes ago, Zaysho said:

I really liked Thomas's work on the second half of "Eggman's Dozen" and thought Amash did an amazing job inking his pencils, so I'm glad to see them team up for this story.

No disrespect to Terry Austin, but his output has gotten progessively worse as time has gone on. There are times and even certain artists I actually enjoy his work, but the last string of issues of the on-going that were released after the delay have been especially sloppy and stiff looking. At this point, I think the Action imprint needs to cycle through their inkers and maybe give Austin a break and let Gary Martin or Rick Bryant come in, or just have Austin move over to Dark Circle and let the other two take over.

I really don't understand why. I made this post a while back detailing that he's lost a lot of his prowess and basically pinpointed the moment things went south, but I still can't find a clear reason for it.

Ironically, the image I used to represent the worse art now looks gorgeous in comparison to the current few issues.

[shdowhunt60]

Can I just mention that I really like Archie Amy? I mean, it's nice to finally see a good interpretation of the character. We haven't had that in over a decade.

[PC the Hedgehog]

The only artists I can think of whose art can withstand the horror of Austin's subpar inking are Jennifer Hernandez, Lamar Wells, and Diana Skelly. Dunno why; must be something about the style of their lineart.

Unfortunately, other artists aren't so lucky. Tracy Yardley, Adam Thomas, and especially Even Stanley's artwork don't look NEARLY as good as they should under Austin's pen (or whatever crappy tools he uses for his so-called "inking").

Pretty much every inker on Archie's payroll is better than him. The only reason I can imagine he's been practically the sole inker on the book for close to 100 issues is because he churns out his work quickly--not that it's hard when you only ink half of your lines.

Gah, sorry, I don't mean to rant about the guy again, but he's been a sore spot on the book for so long, and nothing has ever been done about it.

[Toby]

If what I've heard is correct (and I'm not 100% sure if it is, so please don't quote me on this), the reason he's been on the book so long is because of the name recognition. Something to do with Pellerito and Kaminski being huge fans of his work on X-Men.

[Shaddy Zaphod]

Again though, I'm not convinced he's 100% bad. His work on everything, everything pre-SGW is sharper and less sketchy.

[PC the Hedgehog]

4 hours ago, Toby said:

If what I've heard is correct (and I'm not 100% sure if it is, so please don't quote me on this), the reason he's been on the book so long is because of the name recognition. Something to do with Pellerito and Kaminski being huge fans of his work on X-Men.

I heard that before, too. Hopefully Vin isn't too blinded by fanboyism to recognize that Austin's style, while perhaps suitable for grittier books like X-Men, doesn't suit Sonic in the slightest.

[Mauro Fonseca]

Megadrive.

Writing: Flat. The art doesn't help here, but basically while the interactions were cute, the overall feel of the book is less "Ian writes a genuine classic Sonic adventure!" and more "Ian looks at Tyson Hesse's "Nipples the Enchilada comics"- says he can do that too!". Everyone's just busy joking and doing their best internet references from a decade ago, there's no feel of "this is worth reading" writing-wise. It's as if Ian can only go on extremes for some reason, which confuses me as he had a better tone going on in Genesis.

Art: Great, but. Hesse and Herms are a great combo, the action's great, great designs on the levels and badniks. But it's so exaggerated (and it feels weird for me to say this) that it kinda detracted from the book to me? Like, Knuckles only gets one panel where he's not doing his best I WILL BECOME AN INTERNET MEME face. Not so much at the first half, but the second half combined with the writing just definitely felt like "WE CAN BE FUNNYMEN TOO (we'll stop short of having knuckles thank ken penders)". Didn't help that I recently re-read Boxer Hockey (Tyson Hesse's webcomic currently on a kinda hiatus), so stuff like Tails' expressions which many found cute only made me go "why's he acting just like young Rittz"?

Publishing: Scummy as all hell. This book is definitely not a standalone. So, either they were planning from the start to make it a multi-part story, and thus the whole talk of "this is a one-off! Only if there's many sales will there be sequels :^) " was bullshit, or the story was edited at the last minute, which doesn't make much sense. Just makes me wonder- what if there hadn't been enough sales to justify Next Level. Would we legit just have a comic consisting of "lololol we're going through levels and joking, Knuckles u so dumb, TO BE CONTINUED"? Eesh.

 

Overall: Bought it for the art. It's cute, especially the first half. Amy is 10/10. I hope Next Level feels like they took it a bit more seriously and doesn't instead have something like Metal Sonic quoting Duane and Brand0.

[Ducktor Naldush]

I don't want to sound like a nitpicky guy, so let's start with the GOOD elements (bought the digital version, might buy the physical version later)

1) The art is almost perfect; the classic characters, while still cute, are so expressive, especially Sonic and Amy. Love how the colours were used. I'm not an art expert, but for what it's worth, I'm fully satisfied in this regard.

2) The characters are well written, even if some interactions felt forced, especially thanks to the use of memes and Internet slang.

3) THEY ARE NOT WRITTEN AS FUCKING SUPERHEROES. They all meet by chance, and once they know that Eggman is up to no good,  and only then, they decide to try and stop him. That's what I'd like to see as the basis for a Sonic comic. No kingdom that uses Sonic as a super soldier, no flying fortress, no preventive strikes. Thank you. 

Now....the bad parts.

1) Dumb Knuckles; I know, the comic writes this as Knuckles being naive and gullible, I can buy that. But the part were we see how Eggman tricked him (and especially how he reacts to the truth) feels too much like that Sonic parody Hesse wrote years ago. (Heck, Knuckles even goes "EGGMAN" in almost the same way.) But I can hand-wave this as a call back to his past as a fan-artist, I suppose.

2) I'm afraid about the second part of this comic, the Next Level. The comic doesn't end, it just stops, telling you about the next exciting adventure to be had. How did it work? Did they wrote down a 20 page adventure just to split it in two issues when they saw the positive reaction? I dunno, it reeks too much of something Marvel or DC would do...putting a #1 in the Next Level comic is A HUGE, BIG, FAT LIE. 

3) Like many off-panels after Gray left, this one is not funny. It just isn't. I mean, sure, it's better than fat Sonic and Nicole, but once again we have a meme used for cheap comedy & Knuckles.

 

But, all in all, I liked this comic more than I expected, and I think it was worth the price. 

 

[DaddlerTheDalek]

Just read the first Mega Drive Issue. I Love it! And Hesse's art is just gold!

[MetalSkulkBane]

I'm a bit new on this forum, but I don't remember people gashing so much about comic since,,, ever. Maaaaaybe Championship arc.

So out of curiosity, here's a question: I bet that almost everyone would want this to be a monthly book. BUT would you want it, if it was going to replace the main series?

[FriendBot]

Yeah, haven't seen this much praise since Champions which kind of sucks when you think about it.

But I don't want it to replace the main comic, while the main comic is suffering from fatigue with SWC, it's pretty enjoyable to read through.

Can I just have both?

[QuantumEdge]

It's been a long time since I enjoyed a Sonic comic quite as much I did with Mega Drive.  To put it short, like the comic itself, it was a real gem of a treat.  Hesse proved he's an artistic god, Flynn's obviously having fun playing around and the result is total joy in print format.

[SBR2]

7 hours ago, The KKM said:

Megadrive.

Writing: Flat. The art doesn't help here, but basically while the interactions were cute, the overall feel of the book is less "Ian writes a genuine classic Sonic adventure!" and more "Ian looks at Tyson Hesse's "Nipples the Enchilada comics"- says he can do that too!". Everyone's just busy joking and doing their best internet references from a decade ago, there's no feel of "this is worth reading" writing-wise. It's as if Ian can only go on extremes for some reason, which confuses me as he had a better tone going on in Genesis.

Art: Great, but. Hesse and Herms are a great combo, the action's great, great designs on the levels and badniks. But it's so exaggerated (and it feels weird for me to say this) that it kinda detracted from the book to me? Like, Knuckles only gets one panel where he's not doing his best I WILL BECOME AN INTERNET MEME face. Not so much at the first half, but the second half combined with the writing just definitely felt like "WE CAN BE FUNNYMEN TOO (we'll stop short of having knuckles thank ken penders)". Didn't help that I recently re-read Boxer Hockey (Tyson Hesse's webcomic currently on a kinda hiatus), so stuff like Tails' expressions which many found cute only made me go "why's he acting just like young Rittz"?

Publishing: Scummy as all hell. This book is definitely not a standalone. So, either they were planning from the start to make it a multi-part story, and thus the whole talk of "this is a one-off! Only if there's many sales will there be sequels :^) " was bullshit, or the story was edited at the last minute, which doesn't make much sense. Just makes me wonder- what if there hadn't been enough sales to justify Next Level. Would we legit just have a comic consisting of "lololol we're going through levels and joking, Knuckles u so dumb, TO BE CONTINUED"? Eesh.

 

Overall: Bought it for the art. It's cute, especially the first half. Amy is 10/10. I hope Next Level feels like they took it a bit more seriously and doesn't instead have something like Metal Sonic quoting Duane and Brand0.

Wow it's going to take awhile to come down from the shock that you didn't like it on the writing front. Seriously it's such a huge shock.

[Heckboy]

Are people not allowed to have different opinions of things?

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Just now, Mister X said:

Are people not allowed to have different opinions of things?

He never said they weren't. Just that he's surprised someone didn't like it writing wise.

[Your Vest Friend]

7 minutes ago, Conquering Storm's Servant said:

He never said they weren't. Just that he's surprised someone didn't like it writing wise.

No, he was being sarcastic about KKM. 

[Dejimon11]

More info on the upcoming story arcs

s

Quote

SONIC: MEGA DRIVE – THE NEXT LEVEL #1
Script: Ian Flynn
Art: Tyson Hesse, Matt Herms and Jack Morelli
Sonic: Mega Drive – The Next Level #1 CVR A Reg: Tyson Hesse

Welcome to “The Next Level”: The sequel to the hit Sonic: Mega Drive is here! Picking up right where things left off Sonic, Tails, Amy Rose and Knuckles are on the hunt for the Ancient Gears and on the move to stop Dr. Eggman’s latest scheme! But not everything runs like clockwork when Sonic breaks away to do his own thing. And Dr. Eggman has a certain high-speed robot up his sleeve. You can’t miss out on this exciting new installment in the Sonic Mega Drive series! Featuring cover art by mega-talent Tyson Hesse!
On Sale Date: 11/2
48-page, full color comic
$4.99 U.S.

 

Quote

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #288
Script: Ian Flynn
Art: Tracy Yardley, Terry Austin, Gabriel Cassata & John Workman
Sonic the Hedgehog #288 CVR A Reg: Patrick Spaziante
Sonic the Hedgehog #288 CVR B Variant: Genevieve FT

SONIC is BACK in “Genesis of a Hero” Part One: It’s Sonic’s 25th Anniversary and we’re celebrating in style—retro-style that is! See Sonic in his first climactic show-down with Dr. Eggman, straight from the gameplay of the first Sonic the Hedgehog game! But what happens after the battle? And what new force arises once the dust has settled? It’s the story you know with a new twist! Featuring cover art by the legendary Patrick Spaziante and a “Best Buds” variant by the lovely Genevieve FT!
On Sale Date: 11/9
32-page, full color comic
$3.99 U.S.

 

Quote

SONIC UNIVERSE #91
Script: Ian Flynn
Art: Adam Bryce Thomas, Jim Amash, Matt Herms & Jack Morelli
Sonic Universe #91 CVR A Reg: Tracy Yardley and Ben Hunzeker
Sonic Universe #91 CVR B Variant: Jason Piperberg

Vector, Espio and Charmy are on the job in “The Case of the Pirate Princess” Part One: The Chaotix are back! Our favorite detectives are hired to find a missing princess from the bottom of the ocean! There will be pirates! There will be ninja! (At least one, anyway.) There will be a car that drives underwater! Don’t miss the beginning of a new, wacky adventure! Featuring cover art by Sonic comics veteran Tracy Yardley and a “Super Sleuths” variant by super-talent Jason Piperberg!
On Sale Date: 10/26
32-page, full color comic
$3.99 U.S.

 

Quote

SONIC SUPER DIGEST #18
Script: Ian Flynn
Art: Various
Cover: Jamal Peppers, Gary Martin & Matt Herms

Gear up for thrills, fun and supersonic speed—it’s Sonic Super Digest! Embark on some of Sonic’s best adventures from the Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic Universe and Sonic Boom™ comic series! Watch as Sonic and his team, the Freedom Fighters protect the world from dastardly villains, wicked wizards and all baddies in-between! Dash into adventures that only Archie Comics and Sonic Super Digest can bring! Featuring awesome cover art by Jamal Peppers and story & art from the biggest names in Sonic comics history!
On Sale Date: 11/9
128-page, full color comic
$4.99 U.S.

 

Quote

SONIC/MEGA MAN: WORLDS UNITE 2 – BROKEN BONDS (TR)
Script: Ian Flynn, Ryan Jampole
Art: Patrick Spaziante, Edwin Haung, Gary Martin, Gabriel Cassata, John Workman, Ryan Jampole, Rick Bryant, Jamal Peppers, Terry Austin, Elaina Unger, Rachel Deering and more!
Cover: Patrick Spaziante

The sequel to the record-shattering Sonic the Hedgehog and Mega Man crossover is here! You saw what happened when “Worlds Collide!” Now brace yourself for when WORLDS UNITE! Sigma–the brilliant villain from the future—has fused the worlds of Sonic the Hedgehog and Mega Man together! Now he feeds on the super-planet’s energy to become unstoppable! It’s up to Sonic and Mega Man to raise an army to fight the time-hopping villain. Joining them are the Freedom Fighters, the Robot Masters, X and his Maverick Hunters, Sticks and her friends, and–Dr. Eggman and Dr. Wily?! But it won’t be easy, as Sigma uses his powers to reach across space and time to recruit an army of his own! It’s a battle of epic proportions to save the Unified World! Featuring the introduction of the STREET FIGHTER cast, including Ryu, Chun-Li, Guile and Ken! This volume collects WORLDS UNITE parts 5-8, including SONIC UNIVERSE #77, SONIC BOOM #9, SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #274, MEGA MAN #51 and selections from the MEGA MAN: WORLDS UNITE BATTLES and SONIC THE HEDGEHOG: WORLDS UNITE BATTLES one-shots and includes bonus materials such as creator spotlights, production art, and an expansive cover gallery. Featuring cover art by Sonic comics legend, Patrick Spaziante.
978-1-62738-868-9
$14.99/$16.99CAN
6 5/8 x 10 3/16”
TR
136 pp, Full Color
Direct Market On-Sale Date: 11/2

 

 

 

[QuantumEdge]

That Best Buds variant looks a little... off.  Aside from that, I'm a happy camper with what's up.  Surprised to see Yardley make a return, since I thought he was busy, but I'm perfectly happy with it all the same.  Feels almost fitting he gets the job for that story.  As for the Chaotix, I just want them to have Vector parody Bogart's "Dreams are made of" line at some point and all will be well in my world.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

14 minutes ago, Dejimon11 said:

 

 

My guesses for the stories right now is Eggman's Dozen, or Shattered. It mentions wizards, so it's likely we'll at least get a Naugus story. 

[Toby]

I'm so freaking happy to see that Tracy is coming back!