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 Posted: Wed May 25, 2005 8:29 pm
Is it just me or are the recent comic's stories not as furfilling as old ones were? It just seems there trying to get something done and get a profit and not focus on great story like Sonic Satam was. Its kinda of depressing to see such a great comic lose its greatness, But what do you think?
Is Sonic slowing down in the comic biz?
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Posted: Thu May 26, 2005 3:36 am
I'd square the blame directly on editorial decisions made while Justin, the previous editor, was in charge.
The new one, is trying as hard as he can to sort out the mess, poor guy, but for the time being, the reason the quality has sunk is that Ken Penders and Romy Charcon are the only two writing stories (though I hear that Mr. Bollers, responsible for the Home and Return to Angel Island sagas, will be getting a few issues about the 153 mark).
Ken's problem is, first of all, he has no idea what makes a good story, look at Echidna's 25 years wasted. A long story which does absoloutely nothing at all, just shows Knuckles enjoying a boring and crap life with a rebellious daughter and boring housewife.
Note, this comic IS sold under the "Archie Action Comics" brand.
Also, beyond his monotomous crap, he has a habbit of using vocabulary which the target audience wont get, long drawn out conversations which would make Michael Bendis cringe, and of course one more thing... HIS DAMN ECHIDNA FETISH!
Seriously, if I have to read another story which involves Echidna's in some way, wether it Locke capturing Shadow for lord only knows what, or Giant Floating Baby Athair head commanding Tails to fight *sigh* Mongul... then I'll throw a hissy fit (this is just spirited ranting at the mo)
Give Mike some time to settle into the editor office and whip some shape into the steaming pile of crap which his staff consists of (well, Butler, Gray and Bollers are all pretty good, though Bollers is fairly inconsistant. I've not forgotten about NiGHTS), hopefully the book will see more new talent, like Gray and Smith (whom, I believe is the new writer/artist responsible for the play strip, last month), and will find it's legs.
Either way, stick it out. The comic is just going through a bad phase.
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Posted: Thu May 26, 2005 6:59 am
*points upwards*
What he said. And that goes double on the echidna obsession and the inability to tell a story at the speed of anything other than molasses.
All Penders wants to do is tell any old crappy story he likes with no regards to continuity: partly because his own precious little comic - The Lost Ones - wasn't even half as stellar as he thought it was, and partly because he reckons that all of us fans have no imagination and should just be grateful for whatever bones a creative giant like him throws at us.
And has said so in public on his message board, too.
Mike Pellerito doesn't have the last word on these things. Even editors have bosses, and he's still a newbie editor - I should doubt that he has full control.
Plus, stories're slotted into place years in advance - months at the earliest.
This isn't Pellerito's doing - this is a parting gift to the fans from Justin Gabrie.
If only they could've ditched Penders with him - we really could've just taken out the trash.
And Samwise, I don't think you meant Gray that second time you mentioned his name. Did you mean Smith (*has only read until 148*)?
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Posted: Thu May 26, 2005 7:06 am
Yeah, my bad. I typed the same name twice ^^; *Edit*
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Posted: Thu May 26, 2005 7:07 am
My local Forbidden Planet has started stocking StH again it seems. Since my supply of Transformers has dried up, should I bother starting to collect StH again, or would I just be asking for mass confusion?
That's my problem with the Archie Sonic comic; it's not newbie friendly. The story is too involved for you to just idly pick it up out of curiosity and have any idea what's going without getting back issues or hunting for story summaries on the Internet.
I thought, when I first found StH (January 2001) that I'd found the answer to the hole that StC's turn to 100% reprints had left me with; but I was wrong. With StC I just picked up #89 and couldn't stop collecting it thereafter. I didn't need to know the ins and outs of the entire comic's history, it was easy to follow without that.
I'd hoped I could do the same with StH, but I couldn't. I just didn't get what was going in any of the issues I got (#91 to #112 I think) except for #98, and that didn't really help because #98 was the SA2 adaptation.
Anyway, that's the problem I have with Archie's StH; it's not welcoming enough to new readers.
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Posted: Thu May 26, 2005 7:12 am
To some extent, Eon, I think that you were lucky in picking up StC when you did.
If you'd come in when Kitching was busy having his own private ego-fest and saying that it was his comic, his story and if he was going to make the entire thing revolve around the Drakons - a plot point of his own that he hadn't used in five years and that anyone who didn't get could just go jump - then I don't think you'd have found Fleetway too welcoming, either.
Plus, just how much story can you tell in seven to seventeen pages per issue? Archie've been using the better part of a thirty-two page comic to tell a story for over a decade, and that story revolves around characters from a cartoon series that hasn't been seen terrestrially in over a decade in some countries (ours, for instance).
By nature, the narrative will evolve out of the sum of its parts. That's why Marvel've reset a lot of their capes and spandex brigade continuities and're paralleling them in the Ultimate lines.
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Posted: Thu May 26, 2005 7:46 am
Ironically, the Ultimate line is impossible to get into without buying the trade paperbacks (reassuringly released with a year of the comic's story arch finishing), and even then, you have to buy all titles, and all spin-offs to get a clear view of what's going on (DAMN YOU BENDIS!!!!).
At least StH is confined to one book and a few mini-series... oh and Knuckles. But the Knuckles stuff only appears when Ken does.
I had the fortune of starting Archie during the Home saga, which was effectively a continuity reset of minor proportions (I doubt we'll be getting a Crisis, to clean up Archie's mess), the theme and setting have changed and the characters are being reintroduced as their "one year older" selves.
So, that's barely a year ago, and it's smooth sailing from that point on. Sure there are some bumpy bits, like RtAI which was mainly themed around the echidna civillisation which I resent and reject, but aside from that, the comic was trying to make itself accessable.
Sadly, Ken is like an evil Super Nigel, and has ignored the continuity reset for his own purposes, likewise Romy Chacontinuity?! cannot seem to grasp this big change.
So... it's SORT of reset... but only sort of.
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Posted: Thu May 26, 2005 9:26 am
Samwise Chubb So, that's barely a year ago, and it's smooth sailing from that point on. Sure there are some bumpy bits, like RtAI which was mainly themed around the echidna civillisation which I resent and reject, but aside from that, the comic was trying to make itself accessable. To be fair, Bollers was just telling what I saw as a good story, to tie up some loose ends that were in much need of fixing. It's not his fault if Penders is turning "echidna" into a dirty word. Quote: Sadly, Ken is like an evil Super Nigel, and has ignored the continuity reset for his own purposes, Mainly because he wants to reset it himself, into Echidnas: 25 Freakin' Issues Later (aka As the Master Emerald Turns). And has gone as far to completely ignore official editorial announcements on the matter. Quote: likewise Romy Chacontinuity?! *wince* Ow. Nice, but "Ow!". twisted
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Posted: Thu May 26, 2005 4:09 pm
Wow..its worse than I thought, Although I did have my suspesions.
Ive been a loyal fan for years so Im not gonna stop now, But if god help me if I have to sit through another "Tails isnt tails" And go be the chosen one again.
Does anyone ever think of getting into this business once there out of school?
I mean, Theres thousands of webcomics that are genius out there...Why is it there not getting sponsered?
Sorry if Im sounding like a ten year old, I just want to know why the comic I love so much is this way when so much talent and skill is at our feet?
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Posted: Thu May 26, 2005 4:27 pm
Houdinia Sorry if Im sounding like a ten year old, I just want to know why the comic I love so much is this way when so much talent and skill is at our feet? At least Archie seem to be gradually figuring that out. They've hired three fan artists so far: Best, Axer and Gray. Now we just have to wait for them to get around to doing the same thing for recruiting writers, so someone can give Mr. Echidna his marching orders.
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Posted: Mon May 30, 2005 6:46 pm
Before I read this thread I was thinking about how the best thing I like about the latest issue is that it referenced events that took place during a time when I was actually thoroughly enjoying the comic : / "Ahhh, memories"
I don't know what was up with the editors and how it effected the comic or what Pender's deal is (though I have to agree with the comments about his writing) or at what point Sonic's rag stopped being as fun, but I have to agree with you Houdinai.
I'm sticking with it though, I'm hopeing it'll pick up soon but I'm patient. I can't stop buying them anyway xp
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Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2005 3:30 am
I've decided. When my current subscription expires, I'm going to let it go. The comic just doesn't seem rewarding enough to continue.
I'll probably stick around long enough to see Songgoose, if that love triangle plot is as awful as the others, it's all over, I'll have no loyalty, or reason to continue.
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Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2005 4:46 am
with some of the latest story lines the plots are too thought out although I am looking forward to the Chosen One story ark.
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Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2005 8:22 am
Rath62 with some of the latest story lines the plots are too thought out although I am looking forward to the Chosen One story ark. "Too thought out"? What do you mean? And why The Chosen One in particular? *points to thread of guidelines, stickied to top of forum* Nobody else here knows specifically what you're thinking. You'll have to tell us. 3nodding
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Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2005 6:38 pm
The problem with Penders is he gets too hung up on details and politics, rather than focousing on what really matters - Namely, the story itself. He's also extremely inconsistent (especially when it comes to character portrayal) and often gets bored with a story and leaves it hanging untill one of the other writers finally decides to tie up the loose end. Not to say that Penders is -all- bad. He's done some good for the book, especially what he did for Knuckles. He took a character SEGA trapped in a restrictive plot and broke him out of that, gave him a colorful history and a large cast to interact with. SEGA hasn't even been able to do this, they have to make Knuckles go out of character to try to find some way to make him important (IE: Sonic Heroes, Battle) Bollers - I didn't used to like him. His writing has evolved over the course of his time writing for the book now, and now I'd say I'd prefer him most out of the current team of writers. Even if he does occationally mess up, he does one that I really admire - He LISTENS to the fans. Penders tends to have an attitude where he tries to tell you what you want to see, but Bollers actually listens. I've seen a few things make it into the book by his hand that some fans practically begged for. I think, for me, part of the reason Archie has lost it's overall spark is simply this--I grew up. When I was a kid I'd squeal every month over the new Sonic issue and read it over and over. I've also been jaded by several events both direct and indirectly related to the book (and Sonic in general). I'm still a fan, it's still something I love, but the spark that drove obsession is nearly gone. Nuala If only they could've ditched Penders with him - we really could've just taken out the trash. Heh, a friend and me were talking recently about the possibility of trying to start a petition to boycott Penders.
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