Sonic HQ

As if this day wasnt newsy enough – in the break of bad news on Fleetway and good news on Sonic gaming. Now we get “MAYBE/ALERT” news on Sonic Archie.

I waited two days to post this news and I’m glad I did because of certain situations…According to a post by Ken Penders that began on the situation concerning his personal book “The Lost Ones” Ken commented on the comics industry in general and said to some extent that the state of Sonic Comics may be heading into dire straits. In other words, a repeat of the Knuckles situation may repeat itself again. BUT THIS DOES NOT mean that the book may be cancelled, but that Archie fans SHOULD be on alert. Due to lagging sales that are due mostly to the rareness of the comic (Wal Mart – a hefty chunk of Archie’s sale group stopped selling all comics due to the words of a complaining mother) the publishers are shaking their heads. It may just be a short term problem, but the same thing happened for the Knuckles Comic, and look where that got us. 😛

Needless to say – amidst the rumors. Things need to be cleared up. This was Ken’s exact post (taking out LO comments):

In the meantime, I’m continuing to work on Sonic and Knuckles stories for Archie. However, many of the problems affecting my efforts getting THE LOST ONES to the comic stores are the same ones affecting comic sales throughout, including SONIC and SONIC SUPER SPECIAL.

Already, I’m receiving numerous letters from many readers reporting what a difficult time they’re having getting hold of the latest issues. Even if their is still a strong fan base of support for SONIC (which there is), if readers can’t get hold of copies to buy, it still amounts to the same thing towards the bottom line as if they lost interest altogether: less copies being sold. The publishers at Archie won’t care WHY the book isn’t selling. All they’ll see is that the book isn’t selling as well as it used to, and that’ll be justification alone for them to cancel it. (The ironic part here is that even now the SONIC books still outsell the Archie line. Go figure.)

I’ve hesitated mentioning any of this, because I don’t want to be known as the boy who cried wolf here. I also don’t want my message misunderstood. I am NOT saying Sonic is about to be cancelled, only that the POSSIBILITY exists if things don’t pick up. If the problem is an industry-wide one as I suspect it truly is, there may not be much anyone of us can do anyway, but if you’re up for fighting the good fight, you can start by letting your retailers know you want your Sonic comics.

On another front, I’ve been given the go-ahead to begin writing a TOY STORY script for Disney Adventures. I’ll have more details once I turn it in and find out if I’ll alos be drawing it. (You have to be approved by Pixar Studios first.)

As for the website, I plan to upload an unpublished Sonic story that’s been sitting around in my files since early 1994. I hope to have it up sometime before next weekend, as well as some other surprises. (No, I haven’t forgotten the Sneak peek to Knuckles: 20 years Later! 🙂 Stay tuned.

Needless to say – his post WAS taken out of context by some people. And after some letters and questions on his board AND by Archie officials about the “cancellation” of Sonic. This was his response:

I wish people would pay attention. I did NOT say the book was going to be cancelled. I said there’s a real danger if current market conditions continue to result in a collapsing of the industry.There’s a big difference. I hesitated to even speak about the problem because I knew some people would misinterpret what I was saying, and begin bombarding Archie Comics with letters asking why the book was going to be cancelled.

As a result, I received e-mail from one of the Archie publishers asking why I’m spreading around rumors, so in turn I had to explain to him what was happening. Because of this, I’m probably not going to say a thing about the status of the comic anymore. I don’t want to be held responsible for declining sales if my news discourages readers from picking up the books. On the flip side, I don’t expect to receive any credit for a bump in sales either.

Whatever happens, happens, and that’s all there is to it.

Needless to say – I can understand what he is saying. The book IS NOT being cancelled but that DOES NOT MEAN that readers should not be on alert. What Ken is saying is that the comics industry in general is in the largest slump it has EVER been in. Thats widely known. Whether or not Sonic The Hedgehog is the best selling Archie comic title(above even thier own books) does not matter. If they have to liscense the book out, they still have to pay. And to publishers – its all about them greens. The problem though is still at Archie’s end. Because even if we can get everyone on the ‘net with issues that want them (which would definitely help), they still have to advertise. And advertising isn’t one of Archie’s strong points unless it’s one of their own characters though. So while Ken isnt saying the book is being cancelled, he is saying stay on alert. AND ABOVE DO NOT take what he said out of context. Hopefully that should clear rumors up.

Now – to close this out. People say that they have trouble finding the books anywhere. So where CAN you go to find the comic? Its really not that hard: