Saw something interesting at the bookstore today.. The gaming magazine Gamepro had a special article on Sonic promoting Sonic's upcoming "next generation platform" game, that featured sidebars with Sonic's past games, and a mention of the Sonic X series...
...And not one damn word on the Archieverse..
...As a fan of Archie Sonic, I can't help but find that a bit rude..
...And then I realize just how much Sonic fandom in general had moved on...
Whaddaya expect from them, journalistic integrity or something? I haven't read an issue of Gamepro in years because I always hated the content and layout, but I doubt it's changed much.
The Sonic comics been going for over 10 years now, and have out-lived all other video game comics, so it deserves a mention.
Why would they have mentioned Archie's Sonic-related ccmics? It's hardly relevant to the article, which is about the games (which are the core of the franchise) and only breifly mentions Sonic X (which has much closer ties to Sonic Team, Sega, and Sonic's history than the comic does).
Dissed? They should be so lucky. I'd imagine they'd tear the comic a new one if they felt the need to discuss it, and rightly so.
GamePro ignoring the Archie-verse is hardly a diss, for the exact reasons Dirk mentioned. Archie Sonic may be licensed from the franchise, but it's hardly intimately connected to Sonic Team and the video games. If you want to be upset that journalists ignore the Sonic comic, take it up with the comics mags, not the gaming ones.
Video game-based comics have always been treated rather poorly by the industry. Even when it was popular Valiant did an entire ensemble of Nintendo based titles: Captain N, Super Mario Bros., Legend of Zelda and even GameBoy, of all things. (Fun trivia: Current Marvel EiC Joe Quesadas first published work as a penciller was in Captain N: The Game Master.) And Malibu did Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter comics.
And they all bit the dust before even completing more than a years worth of issues, usually. (Licensed books are a tricky thing, anyhow. Publisher DreamWave pretty much drowned itself with Hasbros Transformers and the Capcom licenses, among other business blunders.) Ignoring Sonic because its just another game-comic isnt excusable in the least, but because its always been that way its almost acceptable. Whats unacceptable, however, is that Sonic has more than proved itself the sole survivor of early 90s game and funny animal books, and on its way (Or is it there now?) to being the longest running licensed comic book in the American industrys history.
And still, the most press its gotten in comic book circles recently was the departure of Mr. Penders which wasnt because it was Sonic, but because he was concluding over a decade-long run on a book (an extreme rarity, these days). And this blurb recently in Wizard:
Reviewing the Video Game Comics: 3-D Games go 2-D in 4-Color Books
Sonic the Hedgehog (ARCHIE)
With more than 150 issues across two ongoing titles and a slew of special issues under his belt, Sonic must be doing something right to stay in the comics game. All-ages fare through and through, Sonic is a delight for kids and fans of the franchise, though occasionally, the story and art arent quite up to par with previous issues. B-
Side note: Of course, though Sonic still doesn't get much press, the same doesn't hold true for some video-game comics of today. In much the same trend that everything 90s is new again, VG comics have had a come-back, particularly with Udon and Street Fighter - first published under Image, later by Udon themselves. SF has received its fair share of coverage, but Udon is exceptionally well-connected and accepted, thanks to their reputation not as a rival publisher, but as a fan-favorite art studio-for-hire.
I'll be honest, the reason the comic doesn't get very good or any press is because the slew of characters that casual fans don't recognise is suffocating. GamePRO probably looked at it, and decided that it wasn't Sonic like enough to warrant a mention.
Quote:
it wasn't Sonic like enough to warrant a mention.
What? at least the comic doesn't rehash the "Eggman creates/or releases an evil monster and loses control of it" plot over and over again.
and don't even mention sonic X.
But that's pretty much all Eggman does. But seriously, his character is a lot more different in the Games and Sonic X. He's fun loving, humorous, and childish. He should act that way, it fits him. Sonic X does his character really well, it makes him a much more fun villian than Dr. Julian ever was.
Sonic is an entirely different story. Sonic in the games and Sonic X is fun loving, short sighted guy. In the comics, I would mistake him for a Klingon if I weren't careful.
Oh and one last thing, Knuckles. Where to begin. A lot of the interest around Knuckles character is his mystery, which was ruined totally in the comic. In the comic, he uses big words he probably shouldn't know.
Quote:
Oh and one last thing, Knuckles. Where to begin. A lot of the interest around Knuckles character is his mystery, which was ruined totally in the comic. In the comic, he uses big words he probably shouldn't know.
I'd have to disagree...I think the comic's Knuckles has so much more to him then the video games... The game's Knuckles is always guarding the emerald...that's it...
Yeah, like he's guarded the emerald once since SA2 instead of running around doing random things.
Quote:
his character is a lot more different in the Games and Sonic X. He's fun loving, humorous, and childish. He should act that way, it fits him.
i play the games too, don't write me off as ignorant just yet.
besides, the fact remains that the comic portrays him as evil, which he should be. he wants to see sonic dead, it doesn't matter how so long as he's dead. that's the character i grew up with, not this Dr.Eggman crap that Sonic X shoves down our throats.
Quote:
A lot of the interest around Knuckles character is his mystery, which was ruined totally in the comic. In the comic, he uses big words he probably shouldn't know.
There is no mystery about him in the games and if there is, please give me a plausible example.
you also make it sound like knuckles is supposed to be stupid, keep in mind, that in the comic knuckles has been around the block quite a few more times then his sega counterpart. so he learns from his mistakes and becomes a better character for it. that's called character development, if you read any kind of comic or book for that matter there's probably a 50/50 chance that you'll see some.
Quote:
that's the character i grew up with, not this Dr.Eggman crap that Sonic X shoves down our throats.
The comic isn't written to appease you.
and i don't expect it too.
Quote:
besides, the fact remains that the comic portrays him as evil, which he should be. he wants to see sonic dead, it doesn't matter how so long as he's dead.
Except the video games never did that. Only the DiC cartoons and the comics have.
Quote:
There is no mystery about him in the games and if there is, please give me a plausible example.
He's the only living echidna on the planet and you don't see any mystery behind him? o_O
Nothing is really known about Knuckles other than he's a descendant of Tikal's tribe in the games. There's plenty of mystery surrounding Knuckles as well as most of the characters. Shadow, depending on how one interprets the Shadow The Hedgehog game, is probably the only character not surrounded by mystery as far as the video games go.
Well, I was going to rebut the criticism, but True Red said every thing that I would have.
About Eggman being evil. As Red said, he was only evil in SatAM and the comic. To Eggman in the games and Sonic X, the rivalry with Sonic is just a game to him. And even if he always looses, he gain much joy from the challenge.
I'll be honest. I can't blame the Early Comic and SatAM for being so different, considering what they had to work on. But after a decade or so, you'd imagine that'd change. Since it hasn't, that would be the biggest reason GamePRO probably passed it over, as I said earlier, it wasn't Sonic-like enough.
Personally I approve the direction the comic went in for the most part (still needs improvement based on stories in the past 3 years). It allowed for greater character development and branching for multiple story sources. I honestly thought X and game-based material was kinda linear. Now if only Archie would try to expand again like they did with the mini-series and super specials. Also my view on Eggman vs Sonic is that Sonic would be his rival only if Sonic was tryng to take over the world before him. Since Eggman wants to rule it and Sonic wants to save it, the only course of action is to enslave or kill Sonic, which is what the original Robotnik tried to do and this Egg/Robo should be doing.
Quote:
he was only evil in SatAM and the comic.
i don't see where you see that, considering the fact that he seemed plenty evil in SA and SA2 with the whole mass destruction thing.
Robotnik is NOT a good guy. what do you think he would do if he was ruler of the world? honestly?
Quote:
To Eggman in the games and Sonic X, the rivalry with Sonic is just a game to him. And even if he always looses, he gain much joy from the challenge
maybe in Sonic X, but not in the games.
Quote:
Robotnik is NOT a good guy. what do you think he would do if he was ruler of the world? honestly?
probably accidently press the "wreck my ebil empire"-button...
thanks for adding that to what was a serious post.
Quote:
i don't see where you see that, considering the fact that he seemed plenty evil in SA and SA2 with the whole mass destruction thing.
What whole mass destruction thing? Threatening to destroy places if they don't do what he says in SA2? That's just standard bad guy stuff. That's not evil like in the comics or SatAM.
Quote:
Robotnik is NOT a good guy. what do you think he would do if he was ruler of the world? honestly?
Let people do what they want as long as they basically worshipped him. I don't see him deciding to "roboticize" people or something which I do consider to be a step beyond the standard bad guy stuff. In the games and Sonic X, he's always come across to me as just your standard bad guy--not inherently evil. There is a huge difference.
Quote:
That's just standard bad guy stuff. That's not evil like in the comics or SatAM.
oh my freakin' god, THAT'S WHAT EVIL IS!!!!!
he destroyed half of the MOON! do you know how many tidal shifts would occur?
Bad guys are Called BAD guys for a reason.
Eggman isn't inherently evil, as TR said. But he is completely insane, possibly owing to his abnormally high IQ level. This leads him to have no sense of proportion, which is why he would blow up half the moon as soon as litter.
You needen't be "evil" to be a villain. He's just egotistical, insane, and capable of great destruction. Not a good combo.
The Robotnik of the comic has been different because he was not at all insane, just very mean. However, he has recently acquired some of the insanity of his game counterpart. But this makes sense, considering the fact that his mind has been roboticized, transported half a dozen times, and then reroboticized, not to mention the fact that his best efforts are thwarted regularly by a teenager.
That i can agree with.
i just don't want to see him passed off as a "nice" guy, or a Goofball because that's not what he is.
maybe in Sonic X, but not in the games.
Read your Sonic Heroes manual again. It says Eggman says he thinks of Sonic as more of a rival than a nemesis. I never said Eggman wouldn't put lives at risk to achieve his goal. Obviously he would, otherwise he wouldn't be a villian. However, it goes against his "What's an empire, but the rule of its people" thing. After all, you need people to rule, inorder to rule.
Quote:
But seriously, his character is a lot more different in the Games and Sonic X. He's fun loving, humorous, and childish.
This part of your post is what i'm arguing about.
i'm telling you that that is NOT the character. it's no opinion dispute, you are simply wrong.
Quote:
he gain much joy from the challenge
where does it say that?
The manual said what I said in my last comment, but if Sonic X is any indication, he seems to throw challenges at Sonic for the sake of seeing him over come them.
Let's see. Take his biography, where he claims to be a feminist. That's rich. His sense of humor might not be punchline funny. Take Sonic Riders. SPOILERS ahead.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
When Eggman finds the magic carpet in Sonic Riders, he throws his guns away, and starts rubbing it against his face.
you know what? i'm really sick of talking to you.
let's just end the conversation right now since we are obviously not getting anywhere with it.
Quote:
But seriously, his character is a lot more different in the Games and Sonic X. He's fun loving, humorous, and childish.
You're complaining about that? That is part of Robotnik's character (shown in AoStH & SU actually as far as the DiC cartoons go) which is part of the reason why he's not evil like he was in SatAM in comparison to every other cartoon or even the comics--which give Robotnik that side to an extent as well.
okay, whatever. i don't care anymore.
I agree completely with Dirk Amoeba. If its not relevant to th story then it doesn't go in the magazine. Especially a gaming magazine.
-Drew
