Archie Sonic Comic Megathread

Oh I know you didn't actually bring it up but I just thought I'd throw that in. They usually ignore anything having to do with sonic's eye color because ultimately its not their decision but sega's but we all know that. Well if you say so but I do remember some covers looking to have some minor changes when the issue came out compared to when they previewed it 2 or 3 months before.

 

Mini arc would be interesting if it wasn't just an excuse to draw Sally in Green Hill.

 

So, what this "Genesis" arc is turning out to be more of one of those "What if" story arcs. I still can't wait to read them, mostly because I have no idea what it is supposed to be. Is it a retrocon of the early comics? Is it a Reboot? Is this just more junk to add to the already plot-hole filled series? Is this an alternate timeline/universe (like the comic needs another one).

I just hope this comic answers more questions than it creates. But then again, I don't take the comics as seriously as I used to.

 

OH MAN. That Retro style. What I'm not liking on the other hand is that the art looks bad. Could they not afford Art Mawhinney for these issues?

I just hope this hints at Sega's approach to their titles this year, albeit with more polish. Spaz's covers are depressingly average on the other hand despite my elation to see Retro Sonic back. I do hope these are drafts, though those hopes may be dashed rather quickly once I see them on the comic stands.

 

I know some stuff about Satam and watched some episodes, but I never had the chance to read the archie comics themselfs.

http://www.graphic.ly/

Here there are some numbers available in this digital service, I might buy them to read them.
But from the articles on the front page, about the game adaptations, it doesn't seems very promising.
However, the comics are well know for having good stories, I think.

It's worth checking? Specifically the issues available here (I think they are the early ones) What you guys think?

 

Personally, I'd go with the people that say "start with 160". It's when the current writer started, so it's easier. Alternatively, start with Sonic Universe, though thanks to that comic's 4-issue-arc format, it has a different feel from the main comic.

Now, for the "good stories" part... depends on your tastes. Maybe you'll enjoy Penders' stuff, at which point I suggest picking up from 25 and the Knuckles minisseries... thing is, the collection of it all is so huge and has been through so much good stuff and shitty stuff that it's hard to pinpoint an issue and say "start here". So yeah, maybe starting with Ian since he's the current writer may be the best.

As for where to get them, I advise Tails.Kicks-ass.net, which has all the Archie AND Sonic the Comic comics scanned.

EDIT: Also,

 

lol recolor the hedgehog

Who came up with Scourge, out of curiosity? As well as the rest of his stupid bizarro crew?

 

THE TALES OF THE BIZARRO CREW

Basically, in the early comics, Penders played with the idea of Sonic meeting various dimensional counterparts. One of these was the Sonic who would futurely be Scourge.

Things weren't really bad back then, to be honest. It was just fun, silver age-esque crossovers. You'd typically have stories with Evil Sonic and his friends removing all their leather clothes so that they could pass as Good Sonic and friends, then do shit.

Problems began after the Year in Space arc. After Sonic returned to Mobius, Antoine had a scar and was suddenly all SERIOUSFACEBZNS. The original plan was to have Antoine decided that he had to be serious during the year that they were fighting Eggman without Sonic, and had gotten the scar from tripping on the kitchen with a knife. However, fan rage over bland new argh Antoine was so much that (IIRC) Penders decided to do a quick retcon to it all- Antoine had been kidnapped by Evil Antoine, and the two had switched places, with our Antoine in Evil Mobius.

Meanwhile Evil Sonic also decided to return and do more shit in Mobius, basically making out with every girl (which made Sonic very awkward after) and ending up hooking with Rouge, the both of them trying to steal the Master Emerald. At this point, Ian Flynn entered the comic. Deciding that the concept of anti-Sonic had worn itself out, but was now too integral to the series to just kick out, he and Spaz (IIRC Spaz was the one to suggest it) retooled him as Scourge. They considered just making him Ashura, but they felt Ashura is basically a PD Character now.

Scourge basically goes green by trying to go super, and as he is now a green bastard, decides Sonic is not the name he wants; gets defeated by Sonic later on, who says Scourge is just a bully who, considering he is Sonic, could do much more; Scourge takes this to heart, returns to his Mobius, kicks the shit out of everything and names himself King, as well as forcing everyone to take on new names and even appearences to distinguish them from their Mobius counterparts.

Basically, he was a lame characetr who then got to be a lame recolour, so now he's fighting hard to be seen as his own character. I actually like him- reading his stories is basically reading "what if Sonic decided to be a bastard now", and that's fun.

Plus I just love how deranged he looks in the cover.

 

The deranged look is satisfying, but he looks like he might as well be a more psychotic version of that green featherbrain from Riders in a Sonic outfit. He doesn't look much better than Shadow, who I already have a low opinion of, but I've always fancied the idea of Sonic being an utter jackass instead of your token goody two-shoes hero guy.

Also, Scourge's expression never changes.

 

Add to that that most likely one of those guards holding him is YET ANOTHER SONIC :P

 

This is fucking disgusting and unacceptable. Why are they trying to be a mixture of shitty anime and shitty Psyguy style? I've been reading the Archie comics lately, I'm near issue 60, and I have THIS to look forward to?

 

lol furry fuel: get fired up

I never cared that much for Sexual Bombshell Sally, to be honest. I like her more as a well-developed cartoon squirrel leader character rather than Sonic's girlfriend-then-not-girlfriend-then-maybe-girlfriend (or Sonic's Tifa, if you prefer).

 

I don't quite see what's disgusting in it :P nor Anime, to be honest. It's basically Sally drawn (or attempting to be) on a more SEGASonic style, and I personally never had musch of a problem with it. Sure, I prefer Ben Bates' take on Sally to Yardley's, but I never liked Yardley's style much, to be honest.

Though I'm not certain how much of that isn't because of the inking, since I quite liked his work on Sonic Eggs, so eh.

EDIT: But until Issue 160, what you've got to look up to is more on either this line or by Ron Lim.

 

That's more or less what I was getting at earlier. This is about every comic 160-forward, and it's because of Yardley. Everything looks so flat and disproportionate, and like he's trying too hard at a modern SegaSonic style.. but it doesn't come out too good thanks to overemphasized mouths and eyebrows. Besides, almost all of his drawings of Sally are rather hideous; looking a bit too boyish in facial expression, and the fact that her hair doesn't look like it's naturally connected (like it's a wig propped atop of a "bald" squirrel's head).

He has his good moments like most Archie artists, but thanks to rushing his art out for every Sonic comic ever for the past four or so years, I've grown rather tired of his works and noticed a good bit of their flaws.

Ben Bates is quite the superior artist.

 

The fuck? To me, Bates' and Yardley's styles look near-identical. Except in Bates' style, I cant quite distinguish his Sally from Elias, face-wise.

 

What... is up with Rotor? To be honest, I like the idea of the scene, at least the first panel. I have no idea what the context is, and the dialogue is... unintentionally hilarious. God I'm glad to have not touched this comic during that era.

Still man, freakin Rotor. Or is he consistently called Boomer now? Or did they drop one of them altogether?

Still though, I'm normally blind to art, but I can see the difference in the two styles. Yardley looks like something is wrong, like, everyone is struck with a disease of some sort, but since everyone has it, it's seen as normal, even though something is, of course, terribly wrong. It's fake and unappealing.

Bates isn't that much better in my opinion, but it feels far more at ease with itself.

Still though, who drew that style in your pic, Dark? Was that Yardley?

 

@KKM

Thanks for the advice, I will try to start from the begining and skip to the next author if I don't like it.

 

Ben Bates is basically Tracey Yardley, but far more refined.

Personally, I want Jay Axer back. His art was so detailed. He makes it feel like I am reading a Marvel Comic.

 

I'm kind of sad to see people ragging on Yardley. I actually like his work.
Especially since it's not the poorly proportioned doughboy abortions that Matt Herms used to draw.