IDW Sonic the Hedgehog Comics General Discussion

Double bump:

TSSZ News (a unofficial website for Sonic news) is starting a livestream for IDW's Sonic event at noon EST today.

...I'm not anxious, you're anxious.

ian flynn is back as head writer

Who else called it?

Another fun Ian fact: apparently he had his Sonic pitch for IDW ready immediately.

Truly, the man is non-stop.

Awesomesauce.

Anyhoo, aside from Flynn, it turns out that the current series is going to be a Hard Reboot (which is what Flynn wanted to do with the Archie Postboot anyway, so yeah,) without any connection to the Archie series other than Flynn being the lead writer, but that they're also open to pulling a Transformers and adding other Sonic books as time goes on, including possibly other continuities. Though nothing's set in stone. Speaking of which, there's also no word just yet on whether or not the Freedom Fighters are going to be in, though they did acknowledge that a LOT of fans want to see Sonic and Sally together, so maybe that'll help steer them a tad in that direction.

edited 8th Oct '17 11:50:08 AM by kkhohoho

And now, this reboot finally has its own page!

(Made by yours truly!)

Go, Ian Flynn. He really is what made the Sonic American comics great again after their long Dork Age.

Okay, so apparently, someone during the panel asked the panelists if Ken Penders would be involved with the comic in any way, shape, or form. And all they could say was that they had absolutely no idea who Penders was.

Made my fucking day.

edited 8th Oct '17 3:50:58 PM by kkhohoho

That man deserves to be forgotten to the footnotes of history. He's a major part of how the Archie Sonic comics had to have a reboot and eventually led to it's cancellation. Of course Archie has a lot of the share of the blame, but really Penders is really a big case of Small Name, Big Ego since the Sonic comics are his only real claim to fame.

Okay, so playing Devil's advocate, but over on another forum I frequent, there has been a LOT of ire if not outright hatred at Ian Flynn returning, even though he's the best writer the book's ever seen. Basically, the idea is that Flynn was just fine up until the reboot, but after that, he just started to lose his luster. Characters didn't interact with each other as frequently or develop as much, the stories became a tad formulaic, and the book just didn't take as many risks.

Basically, according to this train of logic, the book was getting stale and (supposedly) resulting in lower sales. And so to go further on this train of thought, the best way to avoid this would be to either hire a new writer altogether or instead get a co-writer writing alongside Flynn, challenging him to break out of his comfort zone and bring fresh ideas and concepts to the books. Of course, now that Flynn's confirmed to be the head writer, most of the people on the board aren't even sure if they'll pick up the book for more than a year, if that. It's kind of a bit thickheaded if you ask me, but there you have it.

I guess what I'm trying to ask is, would you say you agree with them, at least on some level? On the one hand, I do think Flynn is a really good writer. His Sonic comics aren't just good Sonic comics; they're some of the best comics I've ever seen, and that's saying a lot. But on the other hand, he has been on this train now for 11 years and counting. At the very least, maybe getting him a co-writer wouldn't be such a bad thing; inject some new life and concepts into the series, shake things up a bit. But at the same time, I don't think he needs to be taken off altogether. He's been with Sonic for 11 years now, and I have no problem with keeping him on for at least 11 more. But it'd be interesting to see what everyone here has to say about it.

edited 8th Oct '17 7:07:57 PM by kkhohoho

Added stuff to the trope page ^^

I wonder if the post-reboot Archie storylines will get a Lost Hedgehog Tales. At least those would (I hope) be easier to post XD;

edited 8th Oct '17 10:16:25 PM by lalalei2001

Pardon me, but where's the bit about IDW looking to incorporate elements from many different Sonic continuities into their comic?

I wouldn't say that we've learned not check that couldn't be already suspected. One of interesting reveals is that minor characters won't be used (though I'm not sure where it was stated) but just as not using Freedom Fighters, it makes sense.

All those characters were partially reimagined trough years of comics and most of things about them even managed to survive reboot (aside few details like Ray's stutter) but now IDW is trying to distance itself from Archie, they won't or perhaps can't reuse their ideas. Which means that Freedom Fighters would probably need new designs, same with Mighty and Ray, Bean and Bark would possibly need new personalities... And Nicole most like couldn't be a lynx anymore. There is little point to make so heavy reimagining so soon. Though I do hope that Sally and rest might after some time return, though maybe not as main characters (unless they get their own book).

As for Flynn.. I would say he was kinda worse after reboot. Maybe because he had to work so fast to rework everything (his Mega Man was still great) but there were many stories that absolutely did nothing for me like Meropis or Dulcy team or really most key involving stories.

Currently, I'm even doubting thar pre reboot will get Lost Hedgehog Tales.

For the Lost Hedgehog Tales, Ian Flynn posted an update on his website where he said that the project is put on hold due to the plaintiff from the recent lawsuit might appeal and IDW might (as in very low possibility) continue the old comics at some unknown point of time. I would post a link, but I am posting this from my phone.

I saw it. Did IDW really revived old continuities often? I only know about Transformers comics. Heck, Archie version of TMNT ended on big cliffhanger and it was never followed on.

They also did it with GI Joe. Hell, they're still doing it. That continuation they did of the 80's comic is still going. So at the very least, there's a chance.

They also gave Simon Furman's Transformers saga an extra 20 issues to give it a proper conclusion as The Transformers: Regeneration One (Furman's original Transformers series ran for 80 issues back at Marvel, Regeneration One makes it 100 issues). This might have already been pointed out by , but it bears clarification.

As for the Freedom Fighters, yeah, I'm not holding out hope that they'll be around this time. And while I sympathize for anyone who misses them, Sonic already has a big cast of characters on the games side, so it'd be pretty weird to not place emphasis on the cast who has actually appeared in the games themselves.

Having said that, I could see it happening that the Freedom Fighters, as a unit, be a thing, but as a behind-the-scenes group that Sonic and Co. (and by extension, we) wouldn't know that they were still around, like how S.P.H.I.N.X. from The Venture Bros. was established.

It's also possible that Sonic and his bunch of game-canon friends could be the Freedom Fighters unit themselves, but maybe I'm getting ahead of myself...

I know this is off-topic but other than Sonic, what other franchises do you want to see IDW tackle?

I'd like to see do comics on Final Fantasy, Pokémon, Thunder Cats, and He-Man.

Lady Lovely Locks would be cool.

For starters, Megaman. Just put Flynn on it and you're golden.

Other than that, Mario would be nice. I think Flynn said he once handed Archie and Nintendo a Mario pitch some years back. They rejected it for whatever reason, but if anyone could do Mario justice, it would be Flynn. You could even make a franchise out of it. Wario books, Luigi's Mansion books, Yoshi books, the list goes on. Make it happen IDW!

edited 10th Oct '17 8:26:35 PM by kkhohoho

I'm afraid that they might be forced to reboot it and I have no idea idea how Flynn would handle that. Other then that, I'm all for.

I would also want Ben Ten and Danny Phantom.

Speaking of Ian Flynn...

Dude's visiting DC for something that warrants another #KnowingSmile.

Might it be a Sonic/(insert DC Comics character name here) crossover? Or perhaps something else entirely?

One thing's for sure, he Liked the replying tweet I sent him!

I have a great Creator Worship of the guy.

edited 13th Oct '17 11:26:48 AM by firewriter

As do I.

he was one of us before he began writing after all

,

He really understood the heart of Sonic more than Penders ever did, due to the latter admitting he never played the game.

edited 13th Oct '17 1:15:44 PM by firewriter