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Sonic the Hedgehog IDW Comic Megathread

Discussion in 'General Sonic Discussion' started by Dark Sonic, Jan 22, 2018.

  1. Laughingcow

    Laughingcow

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    @Dark Sonic Forces had Avatars as NPCs made from its main gimmick (Avatar creator) which were pasted where necessary. That's a far cry different from the humans in Sonic Adventure who were made from scratch to just be background elements without any connection to gameplay whatsoever. Generations had the whole of Sonic's cast (who actually do play a role in some missions) but that is still far less then building multiple hubs and making human characters from scratch to fill said hubs.

    Simply put, a map screen is faaaar cheaper to make (both in programming and building the assets) than multiple hub worlds full of NPCs (human or otherwise).
     
  2. Dark Sonic

    Dark Sonic

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    Oh well of course, but Unleashed also had a simple hub on the ps2/wii. And the Adventure era humans weren't advanced in the slightest I think this all comes down to weird/poor decisions
     
  3. Chimpo

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    Most of those points could have been done in a single issue. IDW Sonic is dedicating an issue a month regurgitating the same premise.
    • Sonic runs to X Location
    • Y friend is in trouble, puts self in danger despite all the clear warning signs and Sonic/Z Character clearly stating the danger of the situation
    • Sonic's infection spreads, needs to to run it off, leaving Y character vulnerable
    • Y's incompetence causes Y or Y's friend to turn
    • Cliffhanger ending showing said character turned
    • In between said events, scenes where characters do page long exposition dumps that explain events to the reader that they should have already been able to make sense out of (Goo Bad. Don't touch Goo).
    • See you next month
    I always look at Steve Ditko's and Stan Lee's If This Be My Destiny as a perfect example of handling a multiple part story arc. It's 3 issues long, but within those 3 issues a lot of new elements are clearly layed out, the stakes are set and the climax is one of the most satisfying moments in Spider-Man's history.

    That was done in 3 issues. I'm not saying that less issues will make a better story. I'm merely providing an example where two storytellers didn't dick around for 5 issues released over a 5 months period. "It's a kids comic", "It's a licensed product", "SEGA's mandates" are common excuses I hear for the state of IDW Sonic, but none of that should equate to piss poor writing. David Mariootte needs to do his job and edit the comic, and Ian needs to stop hitting Ctrl + C and Ctrl + P for his scripts.
     
  4. Pengi

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    Sonic Chronicles borrowed a specific set of interconnected characters, settings and story ideas.

    "Humans in a story" isn't a concept that can be infringed.

    After the settlement, Archie stopped using his characters, settings and story ideas. But they continued to use human characters. Ken Penders doesn't have any legal claim to humans featuring in a story.
     
  5. Dark Sonic

    Dark Sonic

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    You summed up my concerns perfectly
     
  6. Laughingcow

    Laughingcow

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    And this is where you play word games. Sonic Chronicles was "inspired" by Sonic the Hedgehog media one of which was a tie-in to an incarnation known commonly as "SatAM". You're trying to say "Penders was right to sue Sega" even though his stories were little more than a tie-in to an established property and were themselves "borrowed" from other media. If you really think Penders was in the right on that then in no point in the future should you ever complain when a corporation curbstomps its "independent contractors" with contracts that removes all their rights to what they create.

    BTW it isn't "Humans in a story". It's "Humans and furry anthromorphs living together in a shared world" which is what the Overlanders concept was. Clearly that's off the table and the fact that you've chosen to not answer my question as to why that bit of world building hasn't shown up in the IDW comics shows this.

    Archie Sonic is NOT IDW Sonic. I will ask again, has IDW Sonic addressed the two worlds situation IN THE COMIC? 20 issues in with a spinoff mini-series, the world building should be done, right?
     
  7. Pengi

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    Anything further would probably better fit in the Ken Penders thread.

    My final say on this: your theory doesn't hold up to scrutiny. Why would Archie go to great lengths to purge the comic of everything Penders contributed, but also strike a secret deal with him to continue to use humans in their comic? Why would a self-aggrandizing man like Penders never even hint at this victory? Why would Ian Flynn, when asked about the humans, give a very detailed response (" I know I have my explanations, maybe I can work that into the IDW book down the line", "Modern Sonic is set with two worlds, that’s where the comic is going to be. ") instead of his usual "I can't talk about that" response to lawsuit-related questions?

    "Humans and furry anthromorphs living together in a shared world" isn't an idea that can be owned. If they were to use Penders' specific characters, settings, plots, backstories, that would be different. But he has no legal claim to the idea of Sonic the Hedgehog interacting with humans (which is something that Sega did first anyway).
     
  8. Sir_mihael

    Sir_mihael

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    More or less this.

    Especially if, say, Sonic Team DID remake Sonic Adventure 1.
    They would have to seriously re-work the idea of Station Square (which current official word says is a "human world" place), being only a short train ride away from the Mystic Ruins (aka the origin of Echidnas/Angel Island/Master Emerald).
    I know Ian's hand-waved this by saying it doesn't effect the broad strokes of the story, but it would still be a hurdle for Sonic Team to address if it did come to it.
    (and then there's the Japanese scripts for the likes of Colours/Lost World not even using the term 'Sonic's World' but that's probably a discussion for another thread..)
     
  9. Laughingcow

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    Again IDW Sonic is NOT Archie Sonic. This isn't a "secret deal", it's IDW/Sega covering their ass. ARCHIE Sonic continued to use Human characters because they've already gotten their settlement with Penders. IDW is one "similar concept" away from Pender trying to sue them JUST LIKE WITH SONIC CHRONICLES. It doesn't matter what Ian Flynn says, there are no humans or two worlds in the comic almost TWO YEARS in. His response is very detailed BS. I say this with the absolutely low bar of "Sonic just has to mention two worlds at some point in the comic". The fact that they can't do that is telling enough.

    You don't understand just how much of a legal mess this is to which I advise you to look up the Legal battles between Todd McFarland and Neil Gaiman where after Gaiman's characters were purged and replaced (due to a lawsuit), Gaiman filed another lawsuit claiming the replacement characters were too similar.
     
  10. Linkabel

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    Put me down on the list of that theory not making sense. IDW/Sega are most likely being careful of doing something that can attract Penders (or anyone else) from a lawsuit. But I don't think the human/Sonic's world concept applies at all for reasons that Pengi already said.

    And the McFarlane and Gaiman thing isn't really a mess. McFarlane did mess up on that one. From the deal that they made, to the replacement characters that were too similar to Gaiman's.

    And, to put it in perspective of how bad of a job McFarlane did with those replacement characters, let's just imagine that IDW introduced two new characters to the comics:

    Dark Sonic, a dark version of Sonic that wears leather jacket, boots and Oakley sunglasses from a dimension where the good guys are "dark" and the bad guys are "heroes". The dimension is not part of a multiverse, but instead an Eggman's creation.

    And Key, an Echidna that trained Knuckles before he mysteriously disappears. It just so happens Key is also his grandfather and monitors Knuckles from inside the Master Emerald with the League of Caretakers. He has a beard, looks like Knuckles, and wears a lab coat because he was mainly a doctor.

    It might seem like I'm exaggerating, but that's what McFarlane did with Dark Ages Spawn, Tiffany and Domina. What dragged that particular battle was the discovery phase and McFarland appeals.
     
  11. Dark Sonic

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    Oh good my shitty black and green Sonic gets to be in IDW :V No but seriously, there is a character in IDW that does seem to come dangerously close to too similar IMO and that would be Starline. He's pretty similar to Finetivus or whatever his name was from Archie, the white Echidna who warped around with warp rings. I guess Starline is a bit more lacky-ish than Finetivus who often did his own thing, but still.

    Although after looking up Starline on a Sonic wiki I saw something that seems kind of true. Starline seems to be kind of similar to Grimer from Sonic the Comic. A technically competent man who worships Eggman despite receiving no respect from him whatsoever.
     
  12. Roller

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    Anyone picked up Tangle and Whisper #1? Some wild stuff happens in it.

    So there's now a Sonic character who wields a serrated combat knife, and the first time we see it is being held by a Sonic look-a-like with black eyes and white pupils. Definitely feels like it's tapping into the basic cultural undercurrent from which Sonic.exe style creepypasta was birthed, which makes it even more unsettling given that it's played straight and SEGA approved it.

    (Non-spoilery thoughts: I would die for Whisper.)
     
  13. Dark Sonic

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    So this is a very very loose connection and not to idw but to the Archie series, but I noticed some interesting parallels between the latter portion of this season's She-ra on Netflix and the whole concept of the Genesis wave. In the episodes katra activates this portal that essentially rewrites time and space. Post portal She-ra starts realizing something is wrong and slowly others do as well, kind of remembering the old "proper" reality. And like the genesis wave reality starts collapsing. Then she-ras sword is the key to fixing everything much like the Chaos Emeralds.

    Just a kinda neat coincidence I thought.
     
  14. dredd

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    You know how Dr. Starline is explicitly described as a spiritual successor to Dr. Finitevus from the Archie comics? What if they also made characters based on other major Archie characters?
     
    Last edited: Oct 3, 2019
  15. Jason

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    Finally had the chance to catch up. 21's out now.

    Flynn seems to be using an adaptation of Advance's world on top of Forces to fill the gaps. Running out of worlds to play with after nuking the previous two. Fleshing out Lost World could prove interesting, since apparently we'll never be rid of the Zeti.
     
    Last edited: Oct 4, 2019
  16. BlackHole

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    Eh, I don't mind the Zeti. They have the potential to be actually interesting: a truly third party in the Sonic and Robotnik conflict, who can hijack Robotnik's badniks if introduced into a fight. They just need better development, really.
     
  17. Jason

    Jason

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    22 and Tangle & Whisper 3 are out. I'll let Tangle sum it up:
    [​IMG] Nobody is catching a break on the hero team, it seems.
     
  18. EmerlForgotten

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    I just got around to reading Issue 22. This comic is going into some dark-ass places. I hope they resolve this Metal Virus arc in a satisfying way that isn't a complete ass-pull or a disproportionately boring ending.
     
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  19. Jason

    Jason

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    Reading the solicitations, this arc will probably wrap up in the spring. It's starting to get a bit long in the tooth. I mean we know the Chaos Emeralds will be involved, as they've been patiently waiting for their macguffinery to take place on Eggman's ship. But it's wild to see such despair in the Sonic universe, with competent writing, so I don't care that much.
     
    Last edited: Nov 25, 2019
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  20. Vangar

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    Ok, caught up with all of the issues. Current is #24, with the next one sometime this month.

    If #22 was dark, this latest one is even darker. I wont spoil anything but everyone should catch up. Props for Sonic Team to allow this story arc, feels like the best story Sonic has had in a long time. I wish Sonic Forces was more like this... the comic is supposed to be after forces, but the tone just feels more... real.

    I'm all for a new Sonic game with this tone. Just let the US team write the game story.