Still a pointed step up, though. Enough of one that I actually bothered to subscribe to a comic for once in my life. Hell, I might even consider subscribing to Sonic Universe as well, one of these days. ...Maybe.
Does that include inflation and total sales overtime? One of the things that I like about Flynn is that he is extremely knowledgeable in Sonic-related information. As you all may have noticed, there's been a number of callbacks in the Flynn era to the old school days: 1) The return of old school badniks in the FCBD. 2) Thrash, in the Sonic Universe Knuckles arc, is based on the transition between selecting Sonic and Knuckles in "Sonic and Knuckles". 3) The next Sonic Universe arc is based on Tails Adventure. I know there's more, but I can't recall them off the top of my head. Basically, the point I'm making is, Flynn knows what he is doing. He knows what the fans want and what the Sonic franchise is all about. Heck, I would be subscribed to both the Sonic comic and Universe, had I not wanted to support my local comic book store.
While those are neat references, that's all they really are, references, and don't make up the depth and execution of the story. Half the characters are still kinda bland and don't add much to the story (though personally I find 'half' better than the 'most' that was before) and many complain Ian suffers giving emotional depth due to too much focus on battles and comedic banter. Some of the references are also kinda dug into the ground and have an outright cheesy feel (it sometimes even has that sort of Family Guy feel 'remember the time we did such and such in issue whatever?' Yeah it was a cool story sure but referencing it won't make the current story cooler all of a sudden). Another complaint is that Ian is compromising the story to make these references, some believe converting Sally more into her SatAm form contrasts with her development into the comics as a responsible monarch. There's also the more SEGA-ish designs that are hit or miss (I understand them wanting more uniform designs but for some characters it comes at the cost of some of their distinct attributes, Sally and Bunnie look more like Tails and Cream with wigs now). I'm not saying he's a bad writer, I personally think he does a better job than the previous writers which never really interested me with their work, but he has hiccups in his execution and around exactly half the fanbase seems to want his take on things.
He also has very little foundation to his writing. I read the Sonic Universe arc featuring Knuckles, which seemed like nothing but set up through most of it, followed by a sudden final battle with the villain. You'd think he was going somewhere with all of the stuff he brings up, but instead, it's totally contrary to whatever is going on. Maybe all the stuff he introduced will get followed up on in another issue or arc, but you'd think he would have done that in the first place with the current arc, instead of leading the readers on. He also seems to be very fond of exposition in the form of flashbacks.
Trust me, I'm not denying that at all. But if you want to get really into it, Ian Flynn writes for a much broader audience (I.E. 13-year-old kids), rather than say, Ken Penders who really only wrote for himself and the small minority of people who liked all of the world-building he did for the echidnas.
I did. Got a Sonic comic and a Magic the Gathering comic. The Sonic one had pretty good art. Didn't understand much of the story since I don't normally read the comics, but I still enjoyed it.
FCBD 2011 so far is just a re-telling of SSS #15. EDIT: Yeah, it is. Just with some after #224 thrown in to make it coherent to Sonic #224.
To be fair they pretty much did SSS #15 with better art and in less pages. There is nothing different about it at all.
They retconned the art into something better, with no 5+ pages of pitch-black panels or snowstorm whiteouts. And retconned the dialogue into something mildly better in less words and space. :P
Read the original then the Retelling. I consider the retelling to be better now what the hell where they thinking with those whiteout pages? Hey, is that Ultra Sonic in the retelling version? nice for them to remember U-Sonic.
