Who said they have to be from Archie? They got the rights to the characters from SATam and AoSTH; at least the American branch that is.
The main AoSTH exclusive characters are just badniks, based on cluck, grounder and coconuts from Sonic 2. There were hardly any new characters that weren't badniks, or derived from badniks from AoSTH so it isn't really much of a surprise that it did get two games based on it. As for the SATam characters, they just made a very small cameo in sonic spinball and SOJ probably wasn't going to let it go any further than that.
Unless I am misreading what you mean, AoStH had a lot of exclusive characters, at least one an episode.
Now that I think about it, Sonic Forces may have been inspired by SATam; but that's entirely on SoA. I just read something along the lines that even if Sega as a whole owns those characters, they're not going to use them unless they outright modify them for eastern audiences; especially when it comes to their current opinions on American Sonic Media.
Of course it did, I meant the main characters, that were in more than just one episode like coconuts.
And before that rumor, the top rumor was that Sega wanted to stop the comic, and Archie was trying to keep it going, a rumor that was being supported by the little bits of information we actually did have. But apparently everyone forgot that when one guy said that his uncle friend who worked at Nintendo Archie told him Goldwater once mentioned wanting to drop the book years ago. I think the moral of the story is we should take all of these rumors with a grain of salt.
Sure, though apparently the more recent rumor does come from someone who has some credibility. Obviously it should still be taken with a grain of salt, but it seems to be the one more likely to actually be legit.
Searching on Google still brings up the previous -shrug- "Archie and Sega are talking" from months ago. Has there been no new development at all? It just seems unrealistic that there's not been a peep or even a damn leak about the situation by now. I don't know whether to curse Archie's incompetance for letting the comic just slip out of existance, even temporarily, or to praise them for their stoic resistance to showing that they let it drop at all.
I spoke with Matt Herms when I saw him at Akon. All he was allowed to say, due to a NDA, was that Sega and Archie were talking. It's not looking very good.
I grew up with Archie Sonic. It's because of it I'm even a Sonic fan at all. Despite that, I have no trouble saying Sega would be stupid to allow them to keep the license. More lawsuits are on the horizion and Sega doesn't need that kind legal headache. No one responsible for making the comic excellent during Flynn's run is an Archie employee, they're all contractors. Let someone else purchase the license, hire on the team, start a new story fresh (without the need of future reboots due to awful contracts and petty former writers) and carry on.
I just want to see the rebooted canon taken from the beginning of the story, and each game it encompasses.
Dunno on the comics. As for the TV series: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riverdale_(2017_TV_series)#Ratings Total viewers have been dropping all season, down from a start of 2.38 million to 1.5. It's already been renewed for a second season at around the air date of the 7th episode though, so I guess it's in no immediate danger.
The comics are holding their own by being relevant enough, though it seems their graphic novels and digest are still their main bread. Though I would never expect a top best seller from them since DC and Marvel usually take those spots (with the Walking Dead being the only non-big two comic that usually makes it to that list). As for the show I wouldn't pay too much attention to the ratings. First, CW shows in general don't do too well in ratings. Second, even though it dropped in ratings it still outperformed some shows like the Flash and Supergirl. Third, it's actually a good show that did well critically and it formed a nice social media presence. Which is something the CW is looking for now that they're moving more to streaming on their website and their deal with Netflix. The show did so well that not only is it getting a second season but also got more episodes (the first season was 13 episodes while the second one is getting 22.) And no joke, it's a pretty good show. Even though it takes the characters to places that the comic doesn't go to, it does a good job to being truth to the comics and the characters. Just with some 21st Century flair. The marketing was a little shit though and made it seem more edgy than it actually is. Adding to that, I think people are sticking too much to the theory that Archie is screwing Sonic/Sega without too much proof. Has Archie as a company done some stupid things or screwed up other people? Yes. But Sega is on the same boat so it could be the other way around where Sega is pushing Archie into something that's unfavorable to them. I guess we'll find out more once "the talks" are over.
I'm pretty sad that this book is dead. Yeah, it was often pretty terrible, but I grew up with it and it was a big part of my childhood. I remember looking forward to a new issue of Sonic every month. Endgame and the 48 page specials like Mecha Madness and so on were like a big deal to me. Eventually I lost interest and dropped my sub around issue 100 or so. I can barely remember anything that happened in it past the Sonic Adventure adaptation, and it seems I'm not alone in that. I recently read through the Ian Flynn stuff from around issue #220 through the end and it's actually pretty good. It sucks that this book got canned in the middle of a story arc and so close to issue #300, too. I really dig Tracy Yardley's artwork and I like it how they redesigned the non-game characters to look more in line with Sega's designs. Ever watch SatAM and notice how it looks like Sonic is a completely different art style than the rest of the characters and almost looks like he wandered into the wrong cartoon? Like you have characters like Princess Sally that have human-like proportions and look like pretty standard anthropomorphic animals, then you have Sonic who is blue, has noodle-arms and his weird mono-eye. The more recent books bring them more in line with that style. It's neat. Hopefully another publisher like IDW gets the license to Sonic and they hire Ian Flynn and Tracy Yardley to do Sonic again.
