Megathread Archie Sonic Main Discussion

[The Tenth Doctor]

Notice its 46. Means 45 is a one off issue. 50 will be the start of a new arc.

[goku262002]

One off? are you sure it can't be apart of another arc?

-Preview of #238 tries to steal the attention away from SU#46.

-Fails.

SUDDENLY REFERENCES! *spoiler*

http://amomentofarchiesonic.tumblr.com/post/26298137982/someone-actually-had-to-point-this-out-to-me

I love modern era Archie Sonic, they spy on us soo well.

[Your Vest Friend]

Except even that failed because that's been up a couple of days now. Besides, that SU#41 and not StH#238.

[Badnik Zero]

HELL TO THE YEAH~

I hope we get some good Chaotix backstory in this too, aside from the romp in Mercia. Slight disappointment that they have to share a feature with a Mobius region we haven't seen in a while. A good chunk of the story will probably be spent exploring the characters of Mercia, and less focus on the Chaotix. Can we get some closure on Charmy's head injury maybe! Who can post that silhouetted pic of the Mercia Freedom Fighters? There was a deer on their team?

Can the deer wear a leather jacket and be a punk rock deer named Buck.

Can we have like at least one fancy chap with a monocle in this group of British FFs?

Edited July 4, 2012 by American Ristar

[goku262002]

Except even that failed because that's been up a couple of days now.

Besides, that SU#41 and not StH#238.

A: didn't know, I don't watch this topic regiliously.

B: Read it at Retro first and they said it was #238.

Edited July 4, 2012 by goku262002

[Your Vest Friend]

Oh wait, it was.

...I just...didn't find it memorable enough to remember which of the issues had it...

[The future]

I know it has been said, but Ian Flynn's run on the Sonic books has been paying off, greatly. Getting the grain and precise details of the comic's history with a bunch of easter eggs makes makes me feel like there is something going on.

[Mangoaxe5]

I just bought the Best of Sonic the Hedgehog comics hardcover. Has anyone else picked this up yet?

[Adamis]

Me, last month. A nice book

[Your Vest Friend]

Huh, looks like Elias' team meet up with team Fighters, or at least (a brown-eyed) Sonic.

[goku262002]

Since the issue is out, guess were free enough to talk about Shard's premire in #238:

Seems the green eyes were not a mistake in #41 it looks like he can change the Gem's color depending on the situation. Guessing Red is serious while Green is laid back.

While it doesn't explain what happened to Metal Sonic 2.5 exactly it looks like everything but the Gem didn't survive the volcano. So Shard isn't exactly Metal Sonic 2.5 but a mish-mash of Metal Sonics with Metal Sonic 2.5's soul at the helm.

heheheh Mighty Derp Mouth, still can't get over that, Evan is awesome.

[MamboCat]

Yeeeeeeeah I saw that. Made me giggle.

I absolutely love the art in that particular story.

Particularly Uncle Chuck there. He still looks like Chuck, but at the same time his design has been updated to look more "Modern Sonic"y. Sorry, I know that's a clumsy way to put it but I don't know how else to describe it! Absolutely fantastic art.

I'd actually only recently discovered Evan's DA page, I had no idea she had contributed work to Archie. She is brilliant.

[bwrosas]

A Friend of a mine over at DA had this to say about a certain female cat's absence

Argument on Hershey's Indefinite Disappearance

This is an argument about Hershey’s indefinite disappearance. In case you never heard about it, here’s what happened. Ian was answering questions in the Ask Ian #6 interview of Segabits that can be found here, but the question isn’t answered until 1:17:03-1:17:40: [link] (or go here for the YouTube version: [link] either way will work) I asked if we were going to find out what happened to Hershey soon and he said that we're not going to find out what happened to her soon. Ian stated in the interview that her involvement in current events was sidetracked by circumstances beyond his control. He says he definitely wants to resolve it at some point but it's going to be shelved for the indefinite future. So what does that mean? Does that mean we might never see Hershey again, or is he just misleading us to think that she won’t appear soon? Well I have some points on why I think this is uncool but I’m going to be polite. I’ll admit some of this is opinion but I hope you can agree with me even though you don’t have to. I also took some quotes from Bumbleking Comics Forums and I took something from deviantART. I also took a YouTube video to support this argument.

First off let me tell you how this Hershey thing started. Back in November 2010, Geoffrey mentioned to Sonic that Hershey was on a mission in STH #219 and some thought she was murdered by him because of how Geoffrey betrayed Sonic in STH #220. Ian also said he had plans for Hershey and we were concerned about how Geoffrey announced that Hershey died in STH #223-#224. Here’s the post here he claimed he had plans for Hershey in case you don’t believe me: [link] Because of how he said he had plans for her, this got us to believe that Hershey was still alive, and then in the Sonic-Grams in STH #226 when someone asked about Hershey’s whereabouts, they said that all will be revealed. Then in STH #233, Geoffrey claimed that the Felidae told him that she had died undercover and showed him her military suit, he then searched for her body, but he couldn’t find any traces of her. In SU #37 there was a female black cat legionnaire that Drago Wolf was harassing that looked like Hershey before he was teleported away. And then there came the STH #237 cover and description. There was a “mysterious figure” mentioned in the description and this “mysterious figure” was in the same place where Hershey and that female legionnaire were last seen. Ian then claimed that the “mysterious figure” was taken out but the elements were still there and it got some people to believe that the figure would be introduced immediately. We read in STH #236 that Orbot said they had to go to the base in Shazamazon to refuel there. Ian Flynn then told us the disappointing news about Hershey in the Segabits interview, and then he claimed in May 2012 that Leeta and Lyco the female wolf twins are pretty much the "mysterious figure". Hershey could have made a comeback in STH #238 instead of STH #237, but we still got no sign of her in that issue as well, and it felt like there was no “mysterious figure”.

Alrighty, now let me tell you about the STH #233, SU #37 and STH #237-#238 setup and what I feel about it. First off like you know, Geoffrey claimed that the last mission she was on was being undercover in Soumerica working for the Mysterious Cat County and it was where Hershey died, and this was all said in STH #233, then in SU #37 the female cat legionnaire in The Great Rainforest Shazamazon Base that seemed to be undercover that looked like Hershey. This made us think that was why the military suit was found by the Felidae which could have proved that she actually took the suit off to get into the legionnaire suit at the site Geoffrey was at. Then Eggman and his gang head on over to the place where the legionnaire that looked like Hershey was seen as told in STH #236. Then we thought that Hershey would be seen in STH #237 because of all these things that we thought were hints of Hershey’s possible comeback. After all that excitement of Hershey possibly coming back, I’m very sure that Hershey fans like me were upset to hear about the news about Hershey in the Segabits interview. We then saw no mysterious figure in STH #237 and Ian later claimed that Leeta and Lyco are pretty much the "mysterious figure", only that there are two of them and that there was no mystery of them now. Not a trace of Hershey was even found in STH #238 and that issue took place around the two areas where Hershey and that female black cat legionnaire were found. First off, if he knew that Hershey’s involvement in current events was sidetracked by circumstances beyond his control before, then why didn’t he warn us in the STH #233 Spoiler/Discussion thread? I asked a question about Hershey for the interview but wouldn’t you think that wouldn’t have been a better idea first for him to tell everyone not to expect Hershey so soon earlier than in the end of April 2012? I mean, Ian warned Sally’s fans not to be relieved so soon in the STH #226 Sonic Grams after she was seen alive in the issue even though she was shot in STH #225 and that was just one issue after that happened. I mean, they warned Sally’s fans not to be relieved because of how she was roboticized in STH #230, so why couldn’t Ian do the same with Hershey? Second off, why would he make the legionnaire look similar Hershey by making it a black cat female if he couldn’t use her? He should have made the legionnaire something else rather than what he did there so that way he wouldn’t have gotten her fans hope up too high for her reappearance. But what if Jamal Peppers, Jim Amash and Steve Downer, the guys who drew, inked and colored drew the pictures in SU #37 made the legionnaire to look like Hershey because they assumed Hershey would come back soon? If that was the case then Ian Flynn should have checked the panel and then should have told them to fix it and make it look completely different from what it became. In fact, did Ian even think about checking the panel or did he just leave it there? Or did he not notice that panel or better yet, ask the artists of the issue about who that legionnaire was to represent? Finally, why would he make it seem like Hershey would come back in STH #237 by adding a “mysterious figure” what was actually two instead of one, and why have the story take place around where Hershey was last seen so soon after STH #237 if he knew he couldn’t use her? Did he do it to tease Hershey’s fans or what? Couldn’t he made the story of STH #237-#238 take place somewhere else, or better yet have the #237 description say that there would be two mysterious figures instead of one? Or could he just change part of the description to “two friends come to help out our heroes” because of how both come in STH #237 in two pieces? Now one of my friends named ~bvw1979 felt that the “mysterious figure” WAS Hershey but had to be changed because of how everyone knew that it was going to be Hershey and said it had to be changed to two figures named Leeta and Lyco and because of the circumstances beyond his control. Don’t he think that’s a bit harsh to just have Hershey’s fans hopes go up that high and just suddenly sabotage them? I mean, most of us guessed that the silhouette was a robotiziced Sally Acorn on the STH #231 cover and they didn’t change who it was, so why change the “mysterious figure” if he didn’t change the silhouette? The user *OyOy (or SimonSays of Bumbleking Comics Forums) considered this setup vague and it was all just an assumption of the fans that Hershey would appear soon, but I say it feels like we were majorly teased and that we were ripped off. I mean, if you’re a comic book writer and if you want to make a proper set up, then please do it right. Not trying to be harsh with criticism, just saying. Some of you might not agree with this, but what if a similar situation like this happened by having it look like Nic the Weasel or Mighty & Ray appear soon but instead they don’t and they’re involvement in the story would be shelved indefinitely. Wouldn’t you be upset? I know I would be.

Now I want to talk about Ian’s circumstances beyond his control with Hershey the Cat. Because of how Ian said it, this got some fans to believe that this is all because of Ken Penders’ lawsuit. Now I know that we’re not really supposed to talk about this on Bumbleking Comics Forums, but the way Ian said “circumstances beyond his control” kind of makes it sound that way to those fans. However in November 2010, Ian claimed that the lawsuit had no effect on how he wrote the comic in this post: [link] If it’s not the lawsuit then what does Ian mean by “circumstances beyond his control”? One user on the forums named DubleDuce said this in a thread:

She very well could be that black coated legionnaire, but Ian has plenty of other stories going on right now to deal with. I am positive that he has a concrete plan for her, but he is waiting until later to execute. Like the Mighty and Ray fans, you got to be patient. He can only put out so many stories in a year, so what seems like two years in real life is only like eight stories in comic book time.

That just might be the case, but we can be too sure. I found the post here: [link] But if it IS because of the lawsuit, then how long did this issue of the lawsuit go on? Was it somewhere in 2011 or 2012? Did the lawsuit develop into something bigger than it was back in 2010? If so, then why didn’t he warn us about it? Did he not realize that Ken got onto him or what? Also, if it REALLY is the lawsuit and that Ian couldn’t use Hershey in any form, then how was he able to get away with showing her in Geoffrey’s flashback in STH #233? In fact, how did Ian get away with mentioning her in STH #187, #219, #223, #224 and #233 (the most recent)? That doesn’t make sense to me, but does it make sense to you? Then again, we don’t know what’s really going on.

Another thing that bothers me is that Ian Flynn would use Hershey in his comic Other M (I’m sure that’s true) but he wouldn’t use her in the actual comic ever since STH #160? He also brought back characters like Larry Lynx, Geoffrey St. John, Julie Su, the Nerbs and even Scratch and Grounder from AOSTH, but he can’t bring back Hershey? That’s pretty sad because he had the chance to bring back Hershey at anytime ever since when he first became the head writer of the comic.

Now I have something to say about Ken Penders. If Ken can allow Ian to use characters like Julie-Su and Geoffrey St. John, then why can’t he let Ian use Hershey if Ken’s the guy who’s keeping Hershey from appearing? Now my friend ~bvw1979 also said that it is because Hershey is actually based on Ken’s cat and was a character he drew and wrote about beforehand. Now one of my former members of my group named *SilverGemLove made a YouTube video a year ago back on her account named Supersilver1932 that talked about the lawsuit which can be found here: [link] After you watch this video, you just might agree with this girl because she makes a point. What would Ken Penders do with his characters? Also, does Ken not care about the fans of the comic anymore and just cares for money? If so, then that’s in Sonic’s words “way past uncool” and Ken should just deal with the fact that his characters don’t really belong to him and belong to Archie Comics. Also, Ian Flynn should either just ignore Ken, ask him nicely to use his character, try to convince him to let him use Hershey because of how she has fans or get a good lawyer to go against him if Mr. Penders is the one causing this.

Also, check out what “Time To Discuss Other Things In the Comic” about the thing Ian said in the interview about Hershey which was said by my friend ~bvw1979:

Apparently Ian Flynn had plans to incorporate her into said story arc. But as he put it in the interview that he did a week ago, that due to circumstances beyond his control, his plans for her have to be shelved for the near future/indefinitely. Now if there is one thing that a split fan base could probably agree on, it would be and I mean this with no disrespect, that if Ian Flynn new he couldn't use Hershey the cat in any shape or form due to the circumstances a.k.a. the Ken Penders/Archie comics court case, then why in the name of this franchise/comic book would you even come out and say you have concrete plans for this character. Why would you do that? I mean to be honest, if anyone here and they may disagree with me and agree with me, but if anyone here was in the position that Ian Flynn's in, and they somehow heard about or knew about this court case/circumstances, don't you think they/I/any other fan if they were in Ian Flynn's position would have asked if it was all right to probably use said character in my/our epic story arc. Don't you think it would've made more sense to ask first before coming out and saying you have concrete plans for said character. I think it would've made sense. That way you wouldn't have gotten some/most fans hopes up for this character's reappearance.

You just might agree with what he said there if that is actually the case, and the full version of “Time To Discuss Other Things In the Comic” can be found here if you’re interested: [link]

Another thing that *OyOy feels that if Ian doesn’t get the chance to use Hershey, then Ian may choose to have her dead. I don’t know if Ian has this choice but if he does then I hope he doesn’t go through with this. I mean if he kills off Hershey it would be one of the worst ways to kill off a character because I’m very sure Hershey fans like would be outraged (I know I would be outraged) to see Hershey dead after all this waiting and hoping to see her again, and it would be like Ian and his rest of the crew saying “Oh sorry, Hershey is dead after all and you’ll never see her in action again, and we’re sure all you fans were waiting for her to make a reappearance. Oh well, we still have a thrilling comic for you!” I’m still not trying to be harsh with criticism; I’m just stating what it would be like. Another thing I want to show you are some posts stating things about Hershey in 2011 that were either hints or just a tease. Read these posts and see for yourself, and read them carefully: [link] [link] [link] So if Hershey IS dead, then these posts are either misleading or just straight lies and I’m sure fans would find that as a huge tipoff if Hershey does get killed off. Another thing I want to point out is that the YouTube user SonicAmyMcDo said that Ian Flynn doesn’t really believe in off screen deaths and that she thinks the bodies should appear first. What does she mean by that? Maybe she’s trying to convey that if Hershey IS dead then we would see her body immediately in either STH #223, #224 or #233. I don’t know where she go that information and if it’s true or not but if it IS true and if Hershey IS dead then this just might mean that Ian has made a straight lie to us for some reason. Ian has never lied before but because of this possible fact I found then Ian might make his first straight lie. We also haven’t seen Hershey in action for a long time now (not counting that flashback in STH #233) so her fans would be upset if you brought back Hershey just to kill her off like how Ian did so with Sir Connery. Another thing that disturbs me is that Ian seems to have a tendency to kill off characters and I think he should stop it before it gets out of control. Also, Hershey never appeared in any of the Sonic the Hedgehog games or TV shows and only appeared in the Archie Sonic comic, so if she is dead then her story will be completely over and her fans will be majorly upset and so will I. Two more things that I want to point out here is that this is a children’s comic book and that killing off characters shouldn’t be done too much. The last thing is that Hershey is quite popular and that she has a fanbase. Now some of you might not believe that, but if you compare this group’s amount of members to other character fan clubs on deviantART like #Julie-Su-Fan-Club and #Lupe-FC, you’ll see they don’t have too much fans either because that just might prove that not all fanbases of those characters have every single fan here on deviantART. These characters have plenty of fan art, and characters like Nate Morgan and Tommy Turtle barely have any fan art on deviantART because no one seems to care much about them. So this shows you have to be careful not to kill of just any character, but ones that no one seems to care about unlike the ones I just mentioned. Otherwise you’ll get a lot of threats from the character’s fans. Yeah sorry I went off topic but I wanted you to get the idea on the killing off characters issue.

Now I shall tell you how I feel about this situation. I waited since November 2010 (which was the month and year STH #219 was released and where this Hershey mystery started) to know what happened to Hershey which means I waited pretty much 19 months to know what happened to her and have her appear in this huge story arc that’s going on. 19 months. I also waited for her just to appear ever since STH #134 (Hershey was seen at the wedding in STH #174, but that was just a cameo appearance. She also made a cameo in Amy’s story in STH #142). So I have been waiting a long time just to have her make an appearance. I know her fans had their hopes up for her comeback in this epic story arc and they’re all upset about how we’re not going to see her for a long time. Also, when some of the people read the archives with the Endgame Saga that will grow an interest for Hershey will be bummed out just to eventually find out that she’s not going to be seen again (if that’s the case that is). Someone I know who just started to love Hershey is named ~Gamegurlunleashed and she claimed in in the description of this deviation she made: [link] I was also hoping that because this is currently an epic story arc that Hershey would become more likeable than she is now by giving her a big story like Sally because of some rumors I heard of and give her more characterization, because of how I met people that didn’t like her very much even though I have nothing against those people. So Ian, if you’re reading this I hope you’ll understand that you let me down and let her other fans down. So you’re probably going to get harassed and threatened by her fans after all these things happening with Hershey as of now. I’m not threatening you Mr. Flynn, I’m just saying that all the harassment from her fans could last indefinitely unless you can get Hershey back in the comic book ASAP. After all, you said you had plans for Hershey and you said that all will be revealed in the Sonic-Grams in STH #226.

Yes I went overboard with Hershey again, but I’m not happy at all. Well, that’s pretty much it and this took me a few hours of thinking and typing to make just to let you know. Feel free to comment on this blog but please be courteous in the comments. If things get too ugly in the comments then I’ll have to block those troublemakers.

http://hershey-cat-c...rance-312398480

Edited July 7, 2012 by bwrosas

[tenchibr]

A Friend of a mine over at DA had this to say about a certain female cat's absence

Argument on Hershey's Indefinite Disappearance

WALL OF TEXT

http://hershey-cat-c...rance-312398480

Wow, that's a lot of passion, but to be honest with you, I don't miss Hershey. I think that they would rather highlight game characters, which in other terms, would mean Blaze would be the preferred cat over Hershey.

[SimonSays]

Oh hai point I made back in May that I forgot about. (Soy OyOy.)

I said it before, and I'll say it again: I don't think we were ever misled. Nitro keeps saying "if" Hershey gets killed off. Well, as far as we know right now, she IS dead, she HAS been killed off. The death happened, it was just vague enough that she could've been brought back eventually before ~mysterious other forces~ blocked her from being used in the comics for the foreseeable future. We were never promised Hershey being brought back, just vaguely hinted at it, which people read into based on what they wanted to see. (And y'all need to read up on the definition of red herrings, anyway. )

I definitely agree with tenchibr that there are more interesting characters for the comic to focus on. Like Mighty and Ray and the Chaotix! But also some of the Archie characters that are getting more development lately. Like Geoffrey. I am way more invested in Geoffrey's role in the current story than Hershey's. As far as I'm concerned, she's already played out her role in giving Geoff a motive to become an awesome douchebag antagonist again like he used to be. I think he's got one of the better character arcs going at the moment, of all the old characters that are being reintroduced lately.

[Your Vest Friend]

Nitro doesn't exist on here. I know who you're talking about since I'm also on Bumbleking, but most people don't. You might want to go more general next time.

That, and I don't think too many people here care about Hershey anyway. Must be because it's the StC crowd and they've been there, done that with Johnny Lightfoot.

[Komodin]

Um... who the heck is Hershey Cat? More importantly, is there any reason why I should care for her?

[Your Vest Friend]

Um... who the heck is Hershey Cat? More importantly, is there any reason why I should care for her?

This is Hershey St John, Geoffrey's wife;

She was the one who caused Endgame when she wore a mask that looked like Sonic which made everyone look like Snively to her, which is why she cut the rope and almost killed Sally. She then split up with then boyfriend Drago and hooked up with Geoffrey in the Secret Service. Since then, she found out Valdez's fate, married Geoffrey and..uh...that's it.

[Komodin]

This is Hershey St John, Geoffrey's wife;

She was the one who caused Endgame when she wore a mask that looked like Sonic which made everyone look like Snively to her, which is why she cut the rope and almost killed Sally. She then split up with then boyfriend Drago and hooked up with Geoffrey in the Secret Service. Since then, she found out Valdez's fate, married Geoffrey and..uh...that's it.

Wow... she doesn't really sound all that important in the grand scheme of things.

[Your Vest Friend]

She may not SOUND important, but...

Erm, she's not.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Wow... she doesn't really sound all that important in the grand scheme of things.

Well now she isn't important given that she's supposedly been killed and there's been barely any major mention of her aside from the fact that she died.

In the past, she played a somewhat more than minor role in the comics whenever they made use of her, primarily Endgame.

Edited July 8, 2012 by ChaosSupremeSonic

[SimonSays]

Nitro doesn't exist on here. I know who you're talking about since I'm also on Bumbleking, but most people don't. You might want to go more general next time.

I figured it would be okay since he goes by Nitro(activeStudios) on the dA page that the article links to. I was refering to that u/n, not the BK one (even if they are the same). But I'll be more careful from now on. XD

I admit I was intrigued to see if she'd have a decent role in the comics for once when her death was so ambiguous. I'm not sure what Hershey would be like if her surrounding plot relevance wasn't absolute tripe. This isn't a swing at Hershey fans (you like what you like, more power to ya'), but I really can't understand what there is to like about the character based on what she's done so far. I'm not really sad to see her character dropped, but it still could've been a chance to do something new and interesting with the character like was done with Geoff or Shard.

[Sega DogTagz]

Ha. This pic of Hershey shows off two different hands. On one side, she's got four "claws", and on the other she's got 5 "fingers".

still, I think H. is one of the more important, non-important characters in the series. She never stole much spotlight, but she never was supposed to anyway. She was almost always cast in a supporting role.

Edited July 8, 2012 by Sega DogTagz

[Mangoaxe5]

I don't get all the fucking love for Hershey.

She was a character that never needed to exist in the first place.

She was created to frame Sonic in EndGame. Why couldn't Robotnik create a robot that looks like Sonic? In the past Robotnik has been able to create life like robots like Auto-Fiona.

Bad writing

[AuroraRedwinters]

I wouldn't necessarily call it "bad writing" for that specific reason. What I THINK they were trying to go for is the emotional impact. If a robot did it, who cares? If your fellow Mobian was the one responsible, then that introduces a whole new layer of character development.

Which is where it fell flat. You weren't able to connect with Hershey because the writers wrote her in such a way where you didn't want to. It could have been glorious (sort of a sub plot had Sally died... or even lived to a certain extent, as she ended up doing somehow) but in the end it did feel cheap and shoehorned in.