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doctorbenmd

I just spoke with Lisa at subscriptions at Archie ([Redacted for Privacy]). I told her I was considering subscribing to Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic Universe, but that I cannot seem to subscribe to them on their site. She said that right now, “until they have more information,” they are not taking anymore subscriptions. I then asked if this meant the possibility of those titles getting cancelled, and she said yes. I asked what would be the final issue to then hit stores would be, and she said “I believe…290.” (I forgot to ask about Sonic Universe and the final Megadrive issue, “Overdrive,” and forgot to ask about resolving storylines and whatnot). And of course, I mentioned that a lot of fans are showing concern and would like to know what’s going on, to which she said “Archie will be providing more information as it comes.” That was it.

Trust me, letting you all know this doesn’t come easy for me, and please don’t shoot the messenger—this is just information that I was told when I called just now.

With my profession comes the delivery of bad news. Of course, that’s with the death of a person, so it’s different.

As for this, it’s just super sad and I’m certainly bummed. I grew up with this book; and it won a Guinness World Record of being the longest comic of a video game character. Just last week I was organizing my collection and finishing up reading the end of the Shattered World Crisis. While thumbing through old issues, I was reflecting on how the book had changed pre-reboot and post. It wasn’t perfect but it kept me and the fans engaged.

But Penders-bashing aside, I can’t help but feel a sour taste in my mouth. I met him 10 years ago at SDCC, he was nice, I bought a signed copy of Sonic Firsts from him, and we snapped a picture together (he looked way different back then). But was it truly worth it to him to cause so much drama and derail his life to set off a chain of dominos that would lead to the book’s cancellation for the sake of continuing a story that was (essentially) irrelevant?

We’ll all get over this books cancellation, but it seems like he will just cling to this drama forever.

I definitely feel bad for Ian, Vin, and all the artists though

My personal takeaway: Well this certainly does look bad, yes.

Here are the possible scenarios as I see them:

1. Flat out cancellation, with no more books of any kind: Obviously the worst-case scenario.

2. The subscription department has no information because full cancellation is currently possible but nothing is finalized. This could mean that Archie is negotiating things with SEGA, and that the book’s fate is tied up with Archie’s financial situation and the success (or failure) of the Riverdale show.

3. The subscription department has no information because Archie is rethinking how much to charge for the books, how many series to have, or other fine details.

Of course it should be kept in mind that according to how the contracts are written, SEGA owns all content in the books. What that means is that if Archie is unable or unwilling to continue publishing the books, it’s still possible for SEGA to work with another publisher (such as IDW) to continue the title and make reprints. I’m not trying to get anyone’s hopes up, but if the problem is on Archie’s end and SEGA is willing to keep publishing a comic there’s no legal reason why they couldn’t just move to another publisher. But it’s certainly possible that SEGA is just sick of The Drama caused by Archie’s former staff and their lawsuits.

All in all, from the timing, I suspect the book’s future is intimately tied to whether or not Riverdale puts some funds in Archie’s bank.

I know this looks bad, but if this does  look like the end for the comic, especially ten comics before the next major milestone, I'm all in favor of a company like IDW taking over, after all, they done some fine work with other franchises like My Little Pony, Transformers, Ghostbusters and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. If you have tim and money, hit up the following Patreons:

IanFlynnBKC: www.patreon.com/BumbleKast
EvanStanley: www.patreon.com/EvanStanley
Yardley: www.patreon.com/tracy_yardley
herms85: www.patreon.com/user?u=3537523