[MegaDash]

I love the horrible perception and inaccurate placing of Rotor's right tooth. It's so bad on Spaziente's behalf. Then again, Sally's nose bridge looks really bad too.

Maybe it's just me, but I think that's the most anal thing I've ever heard. On that note, you spelled Spaziante wrong. UTTER FAILURE!

Oh well. At least it's better than looking at Ben Bate's dreadful art (Sonic #221 as an example) for the book. (Honestly, who likes most of the current Archie team?) And for a 20th anniversary issue they really REALLY should have considered using the retro designs. Come on, it's the 20th fucking anniversary. I want to see that snarky stocky blue bastard make a comeback already.

Not that it would make any difference to me at all what design of Sonic they're using on the comic, it would be nice to see the cuter, less intense Oshima design again. Still doesn't replace decent writing or game design, but I guess it's the thought that counts, right?

Sometimes I just feel like I'm reading Archie with Sonic characters thrown in rather than a decent Sonic comic for people older than 15.

This post has been edited by MegaDash: 27 January 2011 - 08:19 PM

[Tylinos]

At least it's better than looking at Ben Bate's dreadful art (Sonic #221 as an example) for the book. (Honestly, who likes most of the current Archie team?)

What? Dreadful art?

http://bbates.com/wordpress/wp-content/gal...bates217_08.png
http://bbates.com/wordpress/wp-content/gal...dr-robotnik.png
http://bbates.com/wordpress/wp-content/gal...day/megaman.png
http://bbates.com/wordpress/wp-content/gal...ighresink_0.png

Clearly you must be thinking of a different Ben Bates.

And, uh, quite a few people like most of the current Archie team. Just because you don't doesn't mean that applies to most people who read the comic, or that it makes your opinion instantly the only "correct" opinion.

[Azukara]

Actually the series hasn't been all too bad recently in the writing department. They're getting better again. The only thing wrong with lately has been the really mediocre art Yardley has made. Oh well, the art's improving too so yeah. Butler and Bates are doing good for the series right now, and Spaz is getting better and more unique again, thankfully. Hopefully this upward trend will continue.

EDIT: Although I do understand where you'd be coming from if you said the coloring is really bad. I agree with that. Lately the colors have gotten really saturated and made of primary coloring. I wish that wouldn't be so enforced as it has been lately. Seeing the new cover, I can see that they may be working on that.

This post has been edited by Azukara: 27 January 2011 - 08:30 PM

[MegaDash]

Technically, he was asking a question. :P

As far as art, I'm not sure what style I prefer yet. The current Bates style looks fine, but I have no real preference for it. I would have to read more Archie for me to get a better perspective.

[JaxTH]

Also just a thought, since this issue happens to line up about the same month as Sonic's 20th Anniversary, and Sonic 4 Episode 2 might come up around then, could Episode 2 have something to do with the Death Egg again?

> Implying that Ian Flynn gets any advance information from Sega about what game plots will be pre-release.
> Implying that S4E2 will HAVE a plot.

This isn't just me greentexting because I'm a retard. Flynn has out-and-out stated that he has to do just like every other fanfiction writer: buy the game and play it, and make notes as to what's actually occuring in the cutscenes and stuff. The best he gets is a copy of the script or the style documents after release, so he doesn't just have to rely on his own analysis.

S4E2 won't have a plot, though, rendering the premise moot.

Archie used to get plots ahead of time. This stopped with SA2 though.

[Ashram]

Sometimes I just feel like I'm reading Archie with Sonic characters thrown in rather than a decent Sonic comic for people older than 15.

Protip: You are. With Archie's silly restrictions and the multitude of other restrictions that Sega enforces on the comics, that's really what it is: Archie with furries and a mad scientist.

[MegaDash]

Oh good, so I'm not crazy and don't have to force myself to read past Penders. Thanks.

What are these "silly restrictions" you're referring to, though? Do they have a dumb pun quota or amount of characters to appear in a single arc quota to reach or something?

[Tylinos]

Protip: You are. With Archie's silly restrictions and the multitude of other restrictions that Sega enforces on the comics, that's really what it is: Archie with furries and a mad scientist.

That makes it sound like it's the "FURRY ROMANCE EVERYWHERE" it used to be in the Penders days. It really isn't.

What are these "silly restrictions" you're referring to, though? Do they have a dumb pun quota or amount of characters to appear in a single arc quota to reach or something?

I think it's more stuff along the lines of not being able to use certain characters without Sega's say-so, like (until recently) Eggman Nega or Cream. That's only what I've heard, though.

This post has been edited by Tylinos: 27 January 2011 - 08:47 PM

[Greg the Cat]

At least it's better than looking at Ben Bate's dreadful art (Sonic #221 as an example) for the book. (Honestly, who likes most of the current Archie team?)

What? Dreadful art?

http://bbates.com/wordpress/wp-content/gal...bates217_08.png
http://bbates.com/wordpress/wp-content/gal...dr-robotnik.png
http://bbates.com/wordpress/wp-content/gal...day/megaman.png
http://bbates.com/wordpress/wp-content/gal...ighresink_0.png

Clearly you must be thinking of a different Ben Bates.

And, uh, quite a few people like most of the current Archie team. Just because you don't doesn't mean that applies to most people who read the comic, or that it makes your opinion instantly the only "correct" opinion.

Well, the three images after that comic page actually do look rather great. But you seemed to overlook me saying that I hated the art he did for the book, not for any other of his work. His work's pretty decent, and he is better than Yardley but at times his work can look pretty....



Obnoxious.

And I personally have not read an Archie since issue #202 or so. It doesn't help that Ian's trying to get Nicole looking like a teenybopper in order to hide among Mobians especially when a computer program should know better than to simply wear different clothes but readjust her polygons to obscure her features and alter herself.

I'm sorry. What reason do I have to return to the series? I'm a bit irritated with the revelation that Geoffrey St. John now has magical powers as is because now he's just like every other walk on member who just happens to have powers. Whatever happened to them just not having powers? Natural abilities, sure. But powers? Ugh.

[JaxTH]

Protip: You are. With Archie's silly restrictions and the multitude of other restrictions that Sega enforces on the comics, that's really what it is: Archie with furries and a mad scientist.

That makes it sound like it's the "FURRY ROMANCE EVERYWHERE" it used to be in the Penders days. It really isn't.

What are these "silly restrictions" you're referring to, though? Do they have a dumb pun quota or amount of characters to appear in a single arc quota to reach or something?

I think it's more stuff along the lines of not being able to use certain characters without Sega's say-so, like (until recently) Eggman Nega or Cream. That's only what I've heard, though.

And for a time, Omega. In fact, the "Omega Care Unit" came before Omega.

[Tylinos]

(Stuff about art)

That makes it sound like you're saying that while his art is good when outside of the book, it somehow becomes suddenly bad when done for the book, even though it's the same art style. That makes no sense. Though, yeah, that cover is pretty bad.

At the very least, though, the artists the book has right now is better than 90% of the art being done by Ron Lim like it was from around #90 to #159. His art was absolutely terrible, and it didn't help that most of the time it was accompanied by bad writing.

As for the two bits of writing you pointed out: Yes, those are examples of kind of bad writing. I guess the first can kind of be justified by her wanting to fit in, but it's still silly logic. The second, the best that can be said is that barely any of that's been explained yet, since it just recently happened.

Still, yes, Ian Flynn's writing isn't flawless by any means, but honestly, whose is? Having some cases of bad writing doesn't completely make someone an all-around bad writer. Something similar goes for people's art, too. I'd rather judge them on all of their work on the book overall, and for Flynn, I generally like it. Yeah, not everyone will like it. People have different tastes and opinions.

This post has been edited by Tylinos: 27 January 2011 - 09:02 PM

[Vinchenz]

Hmm, I've always wanted to get into the Sonic Archie comics, but I started reading them from the beginning and quickly got bored because there never really was a consistent plot (also the fact that the stories were written for 6 year olds...).

If I were to get into the comics now, where should I start? I would really like to read this arc with the Death Egg and know what's going on before then.

[MegaDash]

Furry romance or not, the writing just fails to interest me, and so do the characters. Maybe I'm just not sure what to expect from the comic, but so far, I'm not all that entertained. I think I remember reading maybe one or two decent jokes that made me laugh within the last 30 issues (not that I read/own 30 issues, I'm just establish a wide range to characterize the consistency of my current collection. Say that three times fast! DO IT), while the stories they came with and the new characters they introduced come off as forgettable. The Iron Queen? Old news (and pretty out of place for some reason). Robotnik was pretty cool in how he pretended to go insane in order to subvert his own holding cell's security. I'd actually like to read more into how that whole siege went and how Robotnik went crazy. That looked interesting.

That brief Tails Adventure story arc was nice, though. It was nice to see Tails kick ass and take initiative, and it ended up being an interest revisit of an obscure old Game Gear game starring Tails, with Bunnie and Antoine along for some mild comic relief. But the simultaneous arc involving Sonic, Big, Sally, and the two furry tribes warring with each other just came off rushed and poorly written. It didn't jibe well with me. I partly blame Big and the not terribly threatening robo-wolf guys. Way to turn some ferocious cut-throat looking enemies into bumbling idiots!

This post has been edited by MegaDash: 27 January 2011 - 09:16 PM

[True Dude]

If I were to get into the comics now, where should I start? I would really like to read this arc with the Death Egg and know what's going on before then.

Well, I'd suggest that if you want to follow the comic and have it be consistent, start at #160. I hate Ian Flynn's writing terribly, but maybe you'll enjoy it. Most people seem to.

For some of the best issues to see why I think the older stuff is better, see everything between #25 and #50, specials included. That's the best time period the comic had.

[JaxTH]

Hmm, I've always wanted to get into the Sonic Archie comics, but I started reading them from the beginning and quickly got bored because there never really was a consistent plot (also the fact that the stories were written for 6 year olds...).

If I were to get into the comics now, where should I start? I would really like to read this arc with the Death Egg and know what's going on before then.

Start reading them from the beginning anyway. The comedic plots don't last long. Under 20 issues if I remember correctly.