Sonic Universe #59-62 With all the trouble going on with Sonic’s World, you wouldn’t realize that it was also about to be invaded by aliens! It’s the Black Arms and they’re somehow back! Team Dark and Spider Troupe are sent to the asteroid ship carrying the alien army. The mission? Blow it all up! Whether the mission succeeds or fails depends on Shadow. Because if he falls under the influence of the Black Arms again… Sonic’s World is doomed!
Question: What do you think of Shadow’s backstory? Do you like it the way it is or would you make changes to it?
>>142255623 >Question: What do you think of Shadow’s backstory? Do you like it the way it is or would you make changes to it? I like it. As a kid I always thought Shadow was supposed to be some dark clone of Sonic but he actually has own thing going on.
>>142255623 >Question: What do you think of Shadow’s backstory? Do you like it the way it is or would you make changes to it? In Sonic Adventure 2? I liked it.
>>142255645 Black creature on black creature violence! >>142255631 >thought Shadow was supposed to be some dark clone of Sonic Well... there is the Maekawa master plan...
>>142255623 It's time for one of the best arcs in the reboot. Let's fucking GO!
>Question: What do you think of Shadow’s backstory? Do you like it the way it is or would you make changes to it? It was fine until Sega made it needlessly confusing by completely changing Shadow's character and trying to erase humans entirely. Now absolutely nothing about him makes any goddamn sense, and he's become a lame cunt because Izuka doesn't actually know anything about Vegeta despite trying to make Shadow into a bootleg version of him.
>>142255722 Now's a good time to talk about Spider Troupe. >Captain Andrews - Archie Andrews >Clayton - Chuck Clayton >Lodge - Veronica Lodge >Cooper - Betty Cooper >Mantle - Reggie Mantle Yes, it's Archie and the gang.
>>142255722 I like how Shadow wavers ever so slightly realizing hes about to genocide the race that spawned him. Evil as they may be it can seem kinda crazy to just wipe them out like that.
>>142255623 Best arc in the series but still shit compared to the og sa2 story and Sonic x Shadow arc. I'm so mad they made Shadow job so hard and not get any important moments in Genesis Wave, only this is his only badass spotlight villain win and yet eclispe comes back and shits in Shadow. Thus ruining Shadow's impact as a character.
>>142255700 >Pastebin's being dumb but I still have the list on my computer. It's just dreadfully out of date. Ok I hope you update it soon, im trying to find a particular comic and the website doesn't have it
>>142255749 Yep. Spider Troupe being literally the Riverdale gang is the best low key joke in the entire comic. Genuinely shocked it took over 20 years for an alternate version of the Archie characters to be in this book, but there they are.
>>142255775 Hey now, Shadow's game was decent. Not brilliant, but it gets way too much hate.
Speaking of that third panel though, yeah, it's totally them. Now I have to imagine they're the same Spider Troupe from SA2. Because it greatly amuses me.
>>142255855 It's decent to go through if you just do the neutral ending and just head for the goal. The actual hero and dark missions are kind of bad. But I like the games's tone the intro and the vocal and instrumental music. What can I say I like edgy stuff
I wonder how the Black Arms would handle the Combine?
>>142255858 >Officer Andrews is still haunted by the death of his good friend Quartermaster Jones and takes it out on Shadow >He can never again eat a burger without remembering that tiny paper crown
>>142255873 >Omega >A force for good This dude was going to join Shadow taking over the Eggman Empire and taking over the world for robots with no complaints when Shadow stated it when he thought he was an Android in the Neutral Ending of his game.
>>142255855 The game's pretty damn good when you don't have a youtube reviewer yelling in your ear about how bad it is. And if it's not good, then it's at least fun.
>>142255943 >Westwood is hated by everyone in GUN. >Everyone. >He's one of the few things that Shadow & Andrews can agree upon. >Stone, GUN Traitor called him, a dick. >Hope kicked him in the shins >Rouge actually wants to Throttle him
>>142255993 >I can't take him serious because I want to pinch his cheeks. You and pretty much everyone else, Conductor. Eclipse became popular as fuck immediately because he's got the same Tumblr sexyman energy Shadow has.
>>142256042 It's always bothered me that this is the cover of part 2 and not part 3 especially since part 3 cover has Eclipse on it and this his introductory issue.
>>142256060 Black Death really is a discount Black Doom. >>142256055 Shadow's the edgy bad boy and Eclipse is the cute boy trying to be the edgy bad boy and failing.
>>142256036 >the only reason you don't like it is because of youtubers! Nah, I played it before Youtube existed. The story is bad, the controls are garbage, the implementation of the gameplay sucks, and the jumping around stages makes the story progression completely schizophrenic. And all your work is nullified by the last story.
>>142255993 You have to admit that this is a god tier design, honestly I like the Black Arms, should get more use. Funny how he isn't as edgy as his intro makes him
>>142256113 Omega must love flipping houses. >>142256101 Whatever do you mean? Surely you remember all the game adaptations that have always been canon to these comics!
>>142256113 I fucking LOVE Eclipise design, makes me wish he was in the actual Shadow game to balance out how radically different the Black Arms look in contrast to everything else
>>142256172 Bad touch! >>142256142 >If you find him so cute, than WHY DONT YOU JUST KISS HIM?!?! I want to pet his head and stroke his chin. Need to watch out for the spikes.
>>142256101 >>142256131 Yeah, easily the most interesting thing about the reboot's setting is that it's a version of the game continuity, but the Archie characters exist in it. That means all the major events are each of the games, but the Freedom Fighters were there. They even show flashbacks to this later, and I desperately want a whole series of that.
>>142256206 I mean that Chaos Emeralds also being from space now at least clear that up a bit since perhaps they interacted with them before and also the fact they managed to settle on earth a bit to plant temples gives other implications that'll never be explored or explained
>>142256205 "So Black Death made his countermeasure to you, the 'ultimate lifeform.' He made ME." If he refers to himself as the "ultimate deathform" as some point, I'll only be half-surprised.
>>142256267 Ancients probably either were completely hidden or just bullied the Black Arms away from their spot or just died out long before the BA arrived
>>142256240 huh...in the top left and top right panels he's basically using the Chaos Powers from his game, they're even displayed on the same sides of his games HUD
>>142256261 One thing that has always disapointed me is how black doom literally nevers makes any comments about sonic and him having shadows powers despite having zero of his blood.
>>142256325 >Rouge roasting her bestie behind his back Love it.
>Archie may be an ass but he's still committed to the mission. No half assing for this ass! I would imagine that editorial was looking over some shoulders on this story. Alternate version or no, can't let the golden boy company mascot look too bad, y'know?
>>142256374 I don't get why they still make Chaos Spear green when "The Chaos Force" is no longer cannon. Just make it yellow or whatever colors the shit was in Battle
>>142256392 >>142256406 Might as well talk about it. What honestly is Izuka's fucking problem? Like, I'm sorry, I get that you like the idea of Team Dark being merely co-workers who team up out of convenience, but it is long past the point where that's even remotely plausible. Pretty much every piece of media that came out after Heroes has depicted them as friends. These fucks are always hanging out with each other. To assert otherwise is just delusion at this point.
How do you guys feel about the Black Arms? I quite like them honestly but that may be nostalgia for the game and my love of monsters n aliens even if I know it is genuinely not a great game
>>142256414 >The EST & Dingoes forced to team up against the Black Arms >Spectre murdering Aliens in cold blood >Eclipse getting the Brotherhood Special >And all the while Finitevus getting some Black Arms tech for his needs....
>>142256453 >These fucks are always hanging out with each other. Have we ever seen them hanging out casually and not when they need to neutralize some threat?
>>142256585 >How would you feel is murderous aliens were ripping apart your robot to get to you? "Please God, I don't want to die like that one scene in the Animatrix"
>>142256582 I love everything about this page. Rouge and Omega ready to throw hands with the boss to defend their boy, Tower having made his peace with Shadow but making the tough call. It's fucking great.
>>142256611 The reboot overall really gets its mileage out of G.U.N. Not-S.H.I.E.L.D is here actually doing stuff, and it's a breath of fresh air to see someone besides the main characters being active against threats and dealing with the bigger picture. Makes it feel like a real world.
>>142256685 REGGIE! >>142256684 >I love everything about this page. Rouge and Omega ready to throw hands with the boss to defend their boy, Tower having made his peace with Shadow but making the tough call. It's fucking great. You can understand everyone and know they want what's best for everyone.
>>142255623 You'll play Westopolis 10 times and like it! >Question: What do you think of Shadow’s backstory? Do you like it the way it is or would you make changes to it? It's pretty good in Adventure 2.The whole Black Doom shit is so dumb I forget it's even canon sometimes, really wish that was the case.
>>142256761 I kind of like the idea that, even if they are a group of bloodthirsty alien conquerors bent on turning the universe into their empire of slaughter, the Black Arms is still a race that has the existential fear of dying out and everything of themselves being erased
>>142256844 Now for the finale! >>142256829 >reeeee don't kill us! we just want to invade and eat everyone else! why are you so mean to us, shadowwwww?!
>>142256860 >>142256847 It's just a 3D render of Shadow with some image they probably had made previously. It probably took a few minutes for one person to make.
>>142256860 Oh yeah, they tried that stupid shit to justify you buying the regular and variants of the same issue by changing literally just the last page
>>142256910 >first panel As an adoptee, I can't help but relate to Shadow's line there.
Also, I love how Shadow, though feeling a twinge of inner conflict, ultimately does not hesitate at all in this mission. >This IS technically genocide of my own species. ... Eh, whatever. Fuck em. Amazing.
>>142256829 True, but at the end of it all, they care not for other intelligent life, seeing them only for food and resources. I hope if alien life is out we don't do the same.
Ian's older approach with a focus on worldbuilding was so much better than what he's doing in IDW. The world in that comic feels so hollow compared to this.
>>142256914 See, that's what's known as "having good taste". Congratulations, anon.
>>142256924 Seriously, the Black Arms eat sapient beings alive. And they explicitly do so because they taste better that way. Dude can shut up and go to hell already.
>>142256946 He's just an extreme introvert, a (well written) Shadow cares, he just wont voice it out for everyone to hear on the daily. Of the times he does stuff like this is when he fought Doom and Mephelis.
>>142257000 >>142257021 Can we take a second to acknowledge that Rouge figured that weakness out immediately? Again, she's absolutely the brains of the operation. Goddamn I love her.
>>142257076 I love how Eclipse is still clearly "evil" but at the same time very easily sympathic, he's acting like an actual kid knowing he's about to lose his dad
>>142257089 RIP Black Death. He did it for the kids. >>142257086 Eclipse is a kid trying to be edgy. Imagine how much better he'll be at it when he's older.
Why does preboot Sonic's shoe have that specific sole design that all artists put on it? It's weird they changed that in specific but left everything else the same.
>>142257114 >Black Death inexplicably ends up in the Chaos Force >Armand: Welcome, you murderous bastard. Here's your wine and your free cheese. >Black Death: But--I-- >Armand: Just avoid the Brotherhood. That way is ze madness
>>142257170 So yeah... there's a single "after credits" page that can be one or the other depending on which printing of this issue you got. Here's one.
>>142257189 And here's the other one... ENTER JULIAN SNIVELY No longer Eggman's nephew. Because game characters (aside from Cream and Vanilla) can have family members.
>>142257489 >Spider Troupe being sent to help Team Dark and the Freedom Fighters retrieve the chaos emeralds from the Twilight Cage races I continue to grow ever angrier that a Chronicles adaptation never happened.
Ian Flynn applied to archie first in 2002 before eventually getting there in 2006. Also interesting that he was mostly known for his Other-M comic at the time in the fandom. I wonder what the reception of it was at the time although nowadays he clearly looks back at it not fondly.
>>142257743 How did he manage to already get a leading writer position after applying ? Did he enter at a good time when Penders was fired and Bollers wanted to move on to other stuff ? Since 170# he was writing almost all the Sonic issues.
>>142257788 There was still Shadow mandates back here and something must have gone wrong in the Metal Virus arc for him to have been written so poorly. I think it was a combination of mandates and Ian wanting to write Shadow out. But he could have just ignored his existence during the arc just like Blaze
>>142257817 Reread the Neo Metal arc. He was a total retarded loser in that story too. He did nothing but shit talk his team mates, disregard the plan, and give Metal Sonic his bio data.
>>142258129 Ever since the Captain Metal arc I've wanted to get some more proper pirate-y Sonic content. If the storybook series wasn't (unjustly) 300% dead I think an aesthetic like that would be a great fit. I'm surprised this artist hasn't included Mimic in these if he's including IDW characters, between the octopus theming, tattered cloak, and preference for knives he already kinda fits the bill.
>>142258367 >Ian happened to be around so the job went to him. Getting the main writer job just like that ? There were other previous writers in the staff and none of them got offered the position ?
>>142258666 Still , you have to realize that this was Archie hiring a newbie writer and puttin him in charge of handling the entire series. Sonic being treated or not as a joke by the other writers, this was a comic popular and profitable enough to have side issues.
Too extremely laconically summarize Flynn's work in Archie - Preboot had massive lore behind it. it was rich and expansive, but also convoluted and contradicting. Foundation wasn't perfect, but watching this flawed universe transform into something more exciting, more focused, more Sonic... was really cool. It probably had too subplots going on (idea of Neo Walkers teased in 187, never see them), but what we got was fun. - Reboot was a fresh start, with better foundation, but starting from scrap. And this I think was it's biggest flaw: Flynn was super focused on re-building the size of the old world, introducing too many characters with too little screen time. Maybe it would've been worth it if comic didn't die so soon. More could be said, but it would require a small essay on each of them. My point is that with IDW, Flynn changed his strategy once more.
IDW barely tries any "world-building". Cities are generic, new characters are sporadic, and there is much less seeding plots for the future. And now that IDW is kinda canon to the games, it will even less try to make it's own identity.
The flaws of this are obvious, but there are upsides. If the comic will die for a 3rd time, everything will feel much more complete. Plus space in comics is always limited, so pages not used on world-building can be focused on characters and action. Comparing first issue of IDW to Reboot (252). IDW has only 2 named characters, so story has more energy and fun. Archie has like 7 (plus Orbot/Cubot) and seeds many plots for future, but is less gratifying in the moment.
This focus is working fairly well for IDW. Tangle and Whisper are way more fun than all the sub-FF groups combined because comic gave us time to learn to love them. Also I think art never been better,. Adam Bryan Thomas especially shines when he doesn't have to draw 4 issue in a row, instead switching every month with Evan Stanley or Yardley.
>>142259960 Such a shame the Mega Man comic didn't sell enough copies to keep going. It's honestly one of my favorite retellings of the game stories. Also love how much personality Ian gave all the robot masters.
>>142259841 This, Forces should have used locations from Unleashed. The juxtaposition of the beautiful cities and towns we see and explore in Unleashed compared to (what could have been) ruined homes and destroyed buildings, would go on to sell Eggman as a threat even more. Speaking of populace... where the fuck is G.U.N in IDW?
>>142260067 Huh... I guess that could happen. We see in Reboot that Eggman single handedly took down a battleship, so the full armada could do the work as well. BUT, I don't get why any remnants of GUN didn't help the Resistance, honestly I'm chalking it up to Sega being lazy and not wanting to make human models for the game.
>>142255623 >Question Maekawa Master Plan or bust! >>142255631 >Shadow was supposed to be some dark clone of Sonic Edgy and canon! >>142255655 Sold! >>142255657 They're all archived, and you're welcome to update things on the artists' pages
>>142260119 Don't forget this is 2010's Sonic Team that seemed to bow down to hatful critics, so I assume they heard the idea of humans around Sonic was bad in general because of 06 and wanted to scrap them all together
>>142260119 Eggman also steamrolled GUN in Sonic Adventure 2 in just a Walker. Dude blew up their prison and then held the planet hostage with the Eclipse Cannon with nothing they could do about it.
>>142255682 He's so angry and edgy >>142255717 100% this >>142255722 I really, really dislike how flat the human faces look >>142255732 The weapons are genuinely cool in StH. The stop sign's obviously the coolest weapon though >>142255752 He's cool and handsome and I'm tired of pretending he's not! >>142255774 lmao >>142255800 I really do need to update it ;_; >>142255839 Plap plap it's Eclipse! >>142255855 It's actually pretty fun, assuming you work out how to play around the buggy parts >>142255878 l-lewd! >>142255892 Just like my doujins! >>142255993 >I can't take him serious because I want to pinch his cheeks. I want to pinch his cheeks too, but not the ones on his face! If no one else is gonna claim him, I will! >>142256055 Hawt! >>142256294 Stop making all the hot ships incestual Flynn! >>142256318 Shadow was more or less complete by the time Black Doom showed up. My guess is he didn't inherit chaos control from Black Doom but from Sonic
>>142259033 >>142259070 I’d be pretty made if my supposed “best friend” betrayed me like that, yes. There’s nothing sweet or heartwarming about Tails going back to being this spoiled faggot’s doormat.
>>142259033 >>142259070 I’d be pretty mad if my supposed “best friend” betrayed me like that, yes. There’s nothing sweet or heartwarming about Tails going back to being this spoiled faggot’s doormat.
>>142257362 Nice! >>142257405 Love seeing fan redesigns >>142257493 It was a fun self-contained story that nails Sonic's characterization, and I'd like to see him write more >>142257803 He just kept sending them stories >>142258177 These look so cool! >>142258634 A lot of peoples' careers are ultimately from being in the right place at the right time >>142259793 >Cities are generic Yeah, that part really gets to me. The games, OVA, Archie, and Fleetway all have really interesting settings to explore
>>142260207 TLDR: While Maekawa wrote the ending ambiguously, his actual intent was for Sonic to be the real and original ultimate lifeform in SA2. Shadow's a copy that has Sonic's original memories but was created later on Prison Island by Gerald. Sonic was the hedgehog that grew up with Maria on the ark, but lost his memories when his pod crashed There's more info here: https://gayemeralds.tumblr.com/post/693698969483804672/much-evidence-is-corroborated-with-x-x-x-x-well Oh, and Maekawa actually finished his story in Black Knight, with Merlina being Maria's storybook counterpart
>>142260792 >his actual intent was for Sonic to be the real and original ultimate lifeform in SA2. Shadow's a copy that has Sonic's original memories but was created later on Prison Island by Gerald. Sonic was the hedgehog that grew up with Maria on the ark, but lost his memories when his pod crashed this is a lot to take in
>>142260851 Yeah, it's one of my favorite obscure parts of Sonic lore. While it's not what they're going for now, but it's really cool to think about how it integrates with everything else. The plot point's partially based off Please Save My Earth, which is one of the most influential mangas ever written >>142260878 I think it was more about Sonic/Shadow and Maria working out a way to move on from things, but villain Maria would be kino. I personally don't see Merlina as a villain though
>>142260053 >Speaking of populace... where the fuck is G.U.N in IDW? Supposedly disbanded, because only Sonic is allowed to be relevant.
>>142260119 >BUT, I don't get why any remnants of GUN didn't help the Resistance They are. I personally don't buy it for a second. They're just operating in secret, and Eggman is blowing smoke up his own ass.
>>142258634 "Main writer" generally isn't a position in the comics industry. That's a fan acknowledgement. Karl started out as a colorist and got to write the book because DeCesare and Gallagher weren't interested anymore. Everyone except Penders was long gone by the mid 2000s. Yeah, Gallagher was around to do the occasional cartoon strip, but that's not the same as being available for 22 pages a month.
I think people really misunderstand comics. Regular, functional adults tend to not take gigs because the pay is god awful, there's no benefits, it takes a lot of time to put out good work, you technically aren't employed, and you don't really get to try unless you're already "in" with someone. There's no "lead writer," just whoever the editor likes more.
