What's a good starting point to get into the Sonic comics

>The #252 reboot was unceremoniously cancelled due to more legal issues, so you don't even get a satisfying ending.
They finished the Shattered Worlds plot a few issues before the end and didn't get enough time to start a new storyline, so it did at least get *an* ending.

Attached: th (9).jpg (474x728, 97K)

The bigger tragedy was the Mega Drive miniseries getting cancelled by the legal issues, ONE issue away from concluding (and the issue had been completed and was ready to print, too). By that point, Mega Drive was the only Sonic comic from Archie that was worth reading. But that's Archie Sonic for you. Even when they accidentally stumble upon something good, they find a way to fuck it all up.

Maybe if Penders didn't plagiarize Byrne's works and asked Sonic Team for a proper Echidna backstory....

This guide will help you greatly. Follow the established order, and read the right boxes to decide what's better for you.

DO NOT read IDW BEFORE Archie. I don't recommend IDW at all in fact, but still, make sure to read Archie then IDW.

Attached: Archie Reading Guide FINAL.png (1320x1001, 1.24M)

Geez, sorry.

Attached: 02f915f1446ac2809fc5fcd30ba57668463edbb2.png (446x552, 298K)

Will reading IDW sonic spoil story for the archie sonic?

No, Archie Sonic and IDW Sonic are completely separate continuities.

That's not the thing. IDW Sonic is an hard reboot, where it brings absolutely nothing from Archie, meaning that no, it won't spoil anything. I'm suggesting to read Archie before IDW, so for the quality reasons and setting up standards.

Then why not read IDW first? What's wrong with it?

youtube.com/watch?v=4glzb5lVnzA

Attached: I will return; yes I will return; I'll come back for the honey.jpg (760x1008, 266K)

>Then why not read IDW first? What's wrong with it?

Nothing. It's just that Archie Sonic has cultivated a fanbase with severe, literal (not hyperbole) autism. They think the comic is good because they read it as kids and insist that it should be read from the beginning or via spergy charts like You don't need to read it, and quite frankly, you shouldn't read it. The comic is very bad. IDW is a fresh starting point with no continuity shackles save some of the Sega games that get referenced here and there. It is decompressed and slow, but even the worst of IDW reads better than the zenith of Archie.

Why opt for a dead series? If whoever likes what they're reading and really gets into Archie then reaches the end of the Pre-Genesis plot, they'll be left with blue balls.

Of course, wanting to know more about Archie comics isn't terrible, it's just a bad idea to start reading it especially since the comic was so fucked with Echidna garbage lore, the retarded 30 years later plot (very terrible writing, it feels like fanfiction where one franchise wears the skin of another; Harry Potter but it's with Sonic characters for example with horrible writing) and not to mention the writers trying to downplay each other as evidenced with the shitty writing. Holy Shit, the Archie management team were bruised ass-cheeks, so glad they got fired.

If you still wanna read it though, I'd suggest a casual read. Don't bother getting to attached to the Archie comic and please, please, PLEASE don't expect the IDW comics to be the same.

I'd start with IDW, also the Tangle & Whisper series. The T&W spin-off is starting out pretty nice, we get to know both girls and possible third member Jewel (a jewel beetle who is Tangle's childhood friend)

The Fleetway has some bad art too dude. I ove the way they handle the Chaotix though, the fan continuation online is pretty chill too.

Very much this

Just check out deviantART where I'm pretty sure is the nest of the Archie cultists.

But those people deify Ken Penders and think Ian Flynn ruined the comic.

Sonic Universe #1
Self-contained 4-part arcs that introduced any main character. Sonic, Shadow, Silver, and a few others got their own main roles in their own arcs.

Also, it follows more games, less SaTAM so it's much more familiar.

Attached: Dark.png (1618x1019, 3.15M)

Around 9 years old. Then stop when you're 12. 13 is pushing it.

rekt

>Shadow

Pssh...

Attached: 1375176472180.jpg (1500x2270, 628K)

All of Sonic's fandom is autistic. Don't delude youself.

Sonic attracts autism but one does not necessitate the other.

>deify Ken Penders
Fucking what

>Hot Topic the Hedgehog
DRRRRROOPLETS

There are no adult Sonic fans who don't have autism.

The people on DA are the people who stuck with the franchise during the "Dark Ages", which was the drought where there were no Sonic cartoons or major video games, so the Archie comic was it. As a result, they are fiercely loyal to that era of the book and Penders, since he was the one who wrote it at the time. Quality is not a factor, not when it comes to autists; only their obsession matters to them.

Perhaps. You can still read the comic though.

Who do you think kept the comic afloat during the 110 issues of the dark age?

I'M NOT GONNA LOSE A GOOD MEMBER OVER SOME GAY RABBIT AND HIS GAY FUCKING DUCK FRIEND

True. I've been around since Adventure 1 and only started reading the comics in 2014. I'm only riding this train until SA1/2 remastered comes out or SA3 exists.

I'm stuck on this train forever and the comics keep me comforted.

The pacing ruins any enjoyment to be had.

What's your point? I knew there were people who liked Pen Kenders but I thought they were minuscule, are there a lot?

Fucking everyone. Yea Forums is like the only place where you can discuss the comic wtihout people bitching about how Ian killed/ruined (though more often killed) their special snowflake favorite character. The people here got inot the comic prior to or during the Ride, so they're less inclined to have any prior attachments. Though you get a lot of SONIC/EGGMAN ONLY morons too.

Ian killed off more than one characters? I know that weird turtle guy died (for the best I think).

Jesus Christ, how would Sonic and Eggman only stories even last long?

Everyone reads TSSZNews and SonicStadium right? It's clearly Sega's incompetence really. Just pay Pender's his money and done.

It wasn't a case of Flynn actually killing off characters (though yes, he did kill off Tommy Turtle). It was that Flynn was in charge of the writing when the "Pendering" happened and 75% of the OC cast had to be wiped clean from the book. Flynn was also in charge when the nu252 soft reboot happened, wiping out all OCs save those who originated from the SatAM cartoon. And Flynn was still in charge when Archie lost the license, IDW rebooted the comic, and every last lingering OC from the SatAM/Archie era was stricken from the record.

So yes, those fans (crippled with autism) blame Flynn for all of that since he was the one writing the comics when it happened. They ignore the fact that it was Penders' own lawsuits that initiated the end of the Archie Sonic comics (hence "the Pendering"), but hey, that's autism for ya.

He was killing them long before the Pendering. Like Eggman's daughter. Or that horse with a sword. And 95% of the enchiladas.

>And 95% of the enchiladas.

Did Flynn kill of a bunch of Echidnas? That hasty storyline where the Tasmanian Devil guy through them all into another dimension between issues happened because of the Pendering. I don't remember Flynn slaughtering a bunch of Echidnas before that, aside from Finitevus getting messed up.

Here is the most ideal Sonic comic:
>only game characters ever get to be long term main comic characters. ocs are either side characters or only featured in arcs where they play a major role in the plot.
>classic characters can show up
>series embraces shonen tropes
>background characters are mostly humans with all background sonicians being cute or cool
>comic has lots of world building and character development
>majority of the comic is a bunch of loosely connected, short story arcs
>writers can use any kind of setting for an arc that fits sonic and doesn't contradict any existing world building
>writers can use a variety of tones for their story arcs as long as they respect existing continuity and world building
>little use of referencial humor
>locations are more involved and play a bigger role in each story

There, a comic that can satisfy a majority of the fanbase.

>>only game characters ever get to be long term main comic characters. ocs are either side characters or only featured in arcs where they play a major role in the plot.

IDW's already lost your game by your first criteria, then. Their OCs Tangle and Whisper are getting their own spin-off miniseries and are being promoted to new primary supporting character status in the main book.

Probably my biggest gripe with it.

The intro goes at a decent pace, then it skyrockets with Neo Metal, and then it crashes to a near standstill with the Zombot-thingamajigga.

This page is all we get to represent the fabled enchiladacide where the comic's most prominent characters are eterminted except for literally one refuge, Knuckles' parents and the dark legion, which all followed later.

Attached: Egg_Grape_Chamber01.png (831x995, 1.84M)

At least they're being contained- for the moment.

Whether IDW has them overshadow the Main Crew when they get back to the main book's another matter.

Fighting a evil robot hedgehog with a giant sky army makes slow robo zombies seem really boring.
Also, will Ian Flynn ever explain WTF happened to Infinite? This takes place after Forces, and the Phantom Ruby and him are supposedly...dead?

Attached: download.jpg (165x305, 8K)

IDW also fails:
>comic has lots of world building and character development
>majority of the comic is a bunch of loosely connected, short story arcs
>writers can use any kind of setting for an arc that fits sonic and doesn't contradict any existing world building
>writers can use a variety of tones for their story arcs as long as they respect existing continuity and world building
>little use of referencial humor
>locations are more involved and play a bigger role in each story

SEGA probably has plans for Infinite and doesn't want Flynn defining the character, so he is blocked from appearing in the comic.

I've heard rumours that SEGA's got plans for him.

Of course, they're just that- rumours. And SEGA's not got the beest track record with remembering Sonic Villains exist.

>Zavok appears in Team Sonic Racing
>Infinite isn't there.
He's dead with Mephiles, the chao gardens, and the Sonic Rider games.

Are they fun and interesting?

Read Sonic Boom. Seriously. The games were shit, but the comic and cartoon were full of self-referral and actually funny. The comic died quick so it's not too long of a read, either.

>self-referral

cringe

It's what the supremely unfunny always reseort to in an attempt to mask their clinical deprivation of comedy.

And they never once had a candle sniffing fuckfence. Posers.

I just find the whole self-referencing thing to be extremely played-out. Across all media. Post-modernism doesn't feel very 'modern' anymore. It's old and tired.

Self-referencial specifically? I'm sick to death with all references.

Sonic the Hedgehog is nearly 30 years old at this point, and has quite the history. If it wasn't willing to take the piss out of itself, the franchise would feel just too sour or trying far too hard. Just have some fun with the talking blue hedgehog who looks like a blob of nothing and can hit 700 mph in under two seconds.

And Sticks was a fun character.

Attached: 027.jpg (463x216, 45K)