Megathread Archie Sonic Main Discussion

[Zaysho]

The issue is out today, according to Archie themselves. Huh.

 

Called my local comic shop; apparently #256 isn't there yet, but SU#59 dropped this week, so I'll be heading there later. I'm guessing #256 will be next week (it was slated for this week though). I don't even see it on Comixology yet.

 

 

Granted what I'd think he might try to do in order to avoid bankruptcy for this little pet project is try to make the nostalgic SatAM/Archie fans interested in this little work and garner enough support from them to try to see if he can leech off of their talents from the ones that might want to help out - even if they did show a modicum of interest in the project. Name dropping Sonic and relations to the series(and all of that) to see if he can get people to work on it for free as a fan collaboration where he takes most, if not all of the credit.

 

Thankfully, nobody in their right mind would want to touch this fresh pile of crap.

 

Even fans that do approach him to try to actually make LSC not crap, and instead make it into something unique and interesting, are pretty much shooed away, apparently. Which is a shame, because this artist's particular rendering of Lara-Su is adorable. Much more appealing than this pug-faced, dodged and burned monstrosity.

 

In any case, I think "Sonic" will or has already opened doors for Penders because Sonic is a high-profile franchise and the Archie comic is something of a publishing miracle unlike anything before it. It is kind of hypocritical of him to take advantage of that tenuous Sonic connection with his work but still insist that his creations can get along fine without Sonic (Acorn? Mobius?). Sonic is the reason anybody even cared about these characters. I sure as hell would never have picked up a book about St. John, even as a kid (but I honestly never liked St. John, so maybe that's not a good example).

 

Since he has all these merchandising and licensing plans, and was apparently in talks with producers during the lawsuit, I really don't think he has any intention of having this self-published (and is apparently convinced that it'll sell well and be picked up for all this other stuff) or taking a huge financial risk on his own.

[Jet Prower]

256 may still come out this week, we still have two more days this week before we have to wait again to see if it comes out next week. I guess we just still wait at those mailboxes tomorrow and Saturday to see if one of them comes.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

Ken Penders (On Twitter) - "I've been leaning towards a live-action production, utilizing make-up, prosthetics and CGI to pull it all together."

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLKhxjfG03A

Well, he's not German (last I heard) so he can't pull the Uwe Boll "Bombing Movie Tax-Loop-Hole" Trick.

 

Still, best be on guard, he might actually have thought this one through to work to his advantage.....

 

Meh or it could just be a charge of chance like Egg Viper's final strike.

[Mogtaki]

Ken Penders (On Twitter) - "I've been leaning towards a live-action production, utilizing make-up, prosthetics and CGI to pull it all together."

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLKhxjfG03A

 

 

Well I didn't make this, but god damn.

[Kuzu]

Oh god, make it go away.

[Sparky]

Oh god, make it go away.

I feel so glad that your post is on the NEXT page... *shudders*

[Your Vest Friend]

 

Well I didn't make this, but god damn.

 

I think that was Fini-mum on Tumblr who made it. I'd have to check properly to make certain though.

[Illuminous_Orb]

That's an edit from the live action Grinch movie, i'd say. Still bonkers to look at though.

[Jet Prower]

No matter where it came from, it is still horrible. That's what I was thinking things may look like if he tried to make anything furry related with simply make up instead of animation and such. They just dont translate well to live action usually, even if fursuits are pretty good if done right.

[Illuminous_Orb]

I think it would be better if people would stop discussing Penders and giving him attention he probably doesn't even deserve. Let him have his delusions of grandeur and ignore it. Heck i've been trying to, yet people won't stop posting it in this thread. I think it would be better for everyone's sanity to not even bring it up unless it has direct ties to Archie's books, licenses, etc. Everything else should probably go in another thread. All it does is stifle discussion and turn it into a negative circlejerk, and heavens know there is enough of that if you look farther back in this colossal thread.

 

Sorry for being a bit negative but I'm really tired about hearing "Penders this," or "Penders that."

[Blackbell]

I think it would be better if people would stop discussing Penders and giving him attention he probably doesn't even deserve. Let him have his delusions of grandeur and ignore it. Heck i've been trying to, yet people won't stop posting it in this thread. I think it would be better for everyone's sanity to not even bring it up unless it has direct ties to Archie's books, licenses, etc. Everything else should probably go in another thread. All it does is stifle discussion and turn it into a negative circlejerk, and heavens know there is enough of that if you look farther back in this colossal thread.

Sorry for being a bit negative but I'm really tired about hearing "Penders this," or "Penders that."

All the attention penders is getting is all negative. Plus it's just fun to see a grown man with the imagination and drawing skills of a monkey believing he will actually get this idea off the ground. Plus everyone is actually just buying time until 256 comes out.

[Jet Prower]

The main thing now is to make sure, even though we are all giving him negative attention and press that because he is getting negative press, people dont check it out, if it ever does come out to see is if it really is as bad as he says. Aka, we talk so much bad about it, that people go buy it and support him just to see if it really is so bad.

[mistercokehold8]

Ken is probably gonna hold off on his graphic novel....movie....whatever until the point where we have all forgotten what he has caused

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

Plus it's just fun to see a grown man with the imagination and drawing skills of a monkey believing he will actually get this idea off the ground.

How insulting. I'm quite certain our evolutionary ancestry would curb-stomp Penders in an art competition, and I'm certain they'd rather not have their range of abilities insulted as such.

[Zaysho]

Ken is probably gonna hold off on his graphic novel....movie....whatever until the point where we have all forgotten what he has caused

 

No, he's going for it. He's been going for it. He doesn't care because he was "right" and he was just the little guy fighting the big, evil corporations. What the fandom as a whole thinks and what the general public thinks is completely irrelevant. All the fans of Archie!Sonic that saw the book gutted right in front of them because of his actions are irrelevant and he probably sees this as a way to get people to buy his lousy product ("Miss those characters I created but couldn't even write well? You'll get to see them all, only in the Lara-Su Chronicles!"). He's shooing away people who actually want to contribute and help him succeed by making LSC something unique and, perhaps, even good, because he only wants it his way (i.e. a blatant take off of Sonic while somehow pretending his work can stand alone without Sonic).

 

All any of us can do at this point is just let him do whatever he wants, because no one's opinion but his own matters it seems.

 

EDIT: "Shadow Fall" Pt. 1 thoughts forthcoming. Just had to get that out my system.

Edited January 3, 2014 by Zaysho

[Your Vest Friend]

Also it's been verified that whatever has been cut isn't coming back, even if it becomes available again for whatever reason. But we knew this a good while ago.

[Dejimon11]

Unless SEGA forces them ofcourse( which will never happen) oh well goodbye penders cast ill miss some of ya

[Zaysho]

Also it's been verified that whatever has been cut isn't coming back, even if it becomes available again for whatever reason. But we knew this a good while ago.

 

Do we know what this extends to beyond the obvious (Julie-Su, Lara-Su, most of the Echidnas, etc.)? I'm still hoping Scourge and the Destructix (along with a few others) make some kind of return, but it's too bad, even with the apparent option (according to Penders) to still use them, but I understand Flynn's logic that it just wouldn't be the same. In any case, bummer.

 

Anyway, "Shadow Fall" pt. 1 thoughts:

 

It's off to an alright start. Much as I like Shadow and was looking forward to this arc, it didn't quite win me over on issue 1 like the Blaze story before it. I'm willing to see how the next three issues pan out. All the same, it's nice to see Shadow after a long while. I think his personality is being handled pretty well, and I like that there's a balance between the brutal (he plunged a sword in the back of an alien!) and calm (instead of decking the idiot soldier who's been insulting him, Shadow calls him what he is and moves on).

 

We're starting to see more explicit references to the games, specifically in that the events of Shadow the Hedgehog indeed happened already, such as Shadow talking about killing Black Doom and destroying the Black Comet or Rouge referencing when she and the others got hit with Doom's nerve gas. I have a lot of mixed feelings on this, but since in SEGA!Sonic, it's established that Shadow becomes a member of GUN following the events of that game, it may be inconsistent to have him join up and then follow through with the events of the game (though it could be written around in other ways, probably), so this is the next best thing (maybe).

 

It is interesting to see the Black Arms still being utilized at all; since Shadow obviously shares a connection with them, and feels almost remorseful about wiping out what is essentially his own kind, it'll be interesting to see him wrestle with both that and the promise he made to protect Earth and its people. We all know he's going to come out of this story a hero in the end (unless the "Fall" part of the title means something else...), but the journey is half the fun, I think.

 

And then there's newcomer, Eclipse. OK, yeah, he just smacks of "original character do not steal" but we can say the same thing about Mephiles, who still uses Shadow's form despite being a unique character in his own right (I don't care about Mephiles much, really, but he at least has a distinct personality). Where I think Eclipse succeeds is that he's not a direct take-off of an existing character (more importantly, Shadow) and he's more firmly rooted as part of the Black Arms (though his creation was probably similar to Shadow's). Perhaps, as others have pointed out, Eclipse will be Archie's answer to Mephiles? I don't want to write him off yet, because I'd like to see what he plans to do with Shadow. Is he a reflection of Shadow had he remained loyal to Black Doom? Will he try to control/manipulate Shadow into turning his back on Earth... again (I guess issue 2's cover suggests something of this nature)? I'll remain open to the possibilities as it's too early to call.

 

I'm also wondering if Hope will still be around in this continuity; she wasn't at the GUN meeting, but I honestly wouldn't expect her to be as she isn't a soldier, but a mechanic. I can't imagine she'd need to show up to mission briefings if she isn't directly involved in the mission (such as getting Team Dark to the Special Zone).

 

It's nice to see Jamal Peppers handle art duties with Jim Amash and Matt Herms backing him. I think they work well together. One thing I noticed is that Peppers draws Shadow's and Rouge's height a tad bit inconsistently a couple times, notably making them both seem shorter than usual, but more often than not, he nails it. I think his layouts are strong and keep everything moving at a nice pace. There's really not much else for me to say, as I just enjoy the dude's work in general.

 

I noticed a couple hiccups in the lettering... page 1 "Do not accept a warm welcome!" You mean "expect," right? I'd be more than happy to accept a warm welcome rather than fight a horde of alien monsters, myself. That'd be totally unexpected. And a silly little error of using "it's" instead of "its". Not a big deal, but they stuck out to me. Wouldn't be surprised if they fix them in the trades... which we'll probably see in a couple years given Archie's pace of releasing Sonic reprints.

 

Decent issue, but I'm a little more on the fence about where this is going. "Countdown to Chaos" has been a far more interesting ride in establishing the new universe and reintroducing key players. I have some mixed feelings about shoehorning in game-specific references (though "Countdown" did this a little bit too, not to the same level this first issue of "Shadow Fall" does), and seemingly eliminating (or at least downplaying) some of Shadow's more interesting moments before the reboot, but I'm willing to see what this all leads to.

[Pearl98]

I hate to make things worse, but 256 isn't out next week... hopefully it will be out on the 15th

[Sparky]

Everytime I see that there's a new post in this topic, I always hope that someone finally got Issue 256. I don't know how far I can extend my limited patience. We're being left in... I forgot the word. But how long is this gonna last? How long are we going to have to wait for something that is supposed to be monthly but didn't arrive on the month it should have? The ONLY upside I can think of is that we might end up having 256 and 257 out on the same day. 

[Dejimon11]

Good lord man be patient sheesh. It'll come out when it comes out

[Zaysho]

Everytime I see that there's a new post in this topic, I always hope that someone finally got Issue 256. I don't know how far I can extend my limited patience. We're being left in... I forgot the word. But how long is this gonna last? How long are we going to have to wait for something that is supposed to be monthly but didn't arrive on the month it should have? The ONLY upside I can think of is that we might end up having 256 and 257 out on the same day. 

 

It's not slated for next week either, according to Diamond (currently). So, I'd expect it to drop the week after.

[Sparky]

Good lord man be patient sheesh. It'll come out when it comes out

I move fast all the time, and I do everything fast. I'm also a Sonic fan. I can't help it if I'm impatient.

[Jet Prower]

It isn't supposed to be out next week either? I would have thought this week, but since it didn't come out right this week, I would have bet money it would be out this coming week. I can be patient of course, but it does make me anxious of course.

[Splash the Otter]

Also it's been verified that whatever has been cut isn't coming back, even if it becomes available again for whatever reason. But we knew this a good while ago.

Well, I guess it's official: Archie Sonic is ruined now. Everything I liked about the comic has been thrown away and replaced with something that will never be as good as the original. I can't even enjoy the back issues anymore, because the world they're set in is gone forever...