Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-28986801-20170123071057/@comment-1669199-20170330234136

''' Warning: Really long and rambly post dead ahead. Please proceed only if you have the patience to read everything, otherwise take a detour to the "TL;DR" in bold writing (too long; didn't read) down at the bottom in the last paragraph. '''

Whether the comics are on the road to being cancelled or not, I just hope to get my hands on the trade paperback reprints of the older issues before then, just in case those will end up kicking the bucket too. I've stopped reading the comics months ago, one because of finances but mostly out of principle. With how the comics are being managed now, I don't see why anyone who gives one iota worth of care towards good storytelling would ever continue to buy the comics in light of the reboot happening unless they are simply unaware of what is happening behind the scenes. The trivia page for the series on TV Trope's website, under the trope/header "Executive Meddling", explains many of the problems with the current status of the comic, which I will list here for everyone's convenience (note: Not every example listed under the "Executive Meddling" trope relates to what I'm talking about, so I will leave out entries that aren't relevant to the reboot and the creative limitations placed on the comic's staff after the reboot as I find them):

'''The series has a lot of issues of Archie suffering [from executive meddling] under Sega. To date, here is a known list of all the official mandates Sega has imposed on the comics, along with other baggage they've brought into the comics;

1) Due to the lawsuit with Ken Penders, his characters, locations or events cannot be used, mentioned or named beyond vague references. Elements from the game Sonic Chronicles are off-limits because of this legal mess, since the game took many elements from Ken Penders stories and was part of what provoked his lawsuit against Archie and Sega in the first place.

2) Certain characters, including certain ones from the games, are off limits for use, such as Eggman Nega (who is not only barred from unobstructed appearances, but can't even be fully named on-panel) Mephiles the Dark and Black Doom (although the latter is still allowed to cameo in flashbacks and the Black Arms race is free for use). It also took years for characters like Cream the Rabbit[http://sonic.wikia.com/wiki/Vanilla_the_Rabbit_(Archie) and her mother to be allowed to appear in the comic, same with Emerl and Omega. Certain characters like Blaze the Cat and Marine the Raccoon had so many restrictions with what could or couldn't be done with them that the most they could do was just make cameo appearances.

3) Game characters can not have parents or relatives. This also caused the Continuity Reboot to change things up, such as the fact that Uncle Chuck isn't blood related to Sonic anymore, and that the title is honorary.

4) Sonic cannot get overly emotional (which is often paraphrased or misinterpreted as "Sonic can't cry.").

5) The name "Mobius" cannot be spoken or mentioned as the name of the planet, and it is not allowed to be called "Earth" either—Sega says it is now just "Sonic's World".

6) None of the game characters can have a steady relationship, and Amy cannot like anyone but Sonic. Sonic and Amy cannot date at all as they would lose their dynamic.

7) None of the game characters can have character development unless approved. SEGA Characters cannot be changed in any way unless approved.

8) No SEGA character can die.'

9) Sonic always has to win. Even if Eggman does get the upper hand for a short period, Sonic has to immediately overcome him in a subsequent comic.

10) None of the cast are allowed to change their wardrobe or wear any different wardrobe at all, no matter what the story context would demand.

11) Originally, the SEGA cast couldn't be implied to have aged to the point where they are now or age further. The Classic forms of characters couldn't be implied to be younger forms of the characters either. This mandate has been officially lifted as of the comics reboot, as the Sonic: Mega Drive comic uses the Classic designs as the characters younger counterparts (and not long before that, a post-reboot issue featured a flashback to the proto-Silver Sonic that used Sonic's classic design).

12) As of the reboot, every non-Sega, SatAM, AoStH, and Ian Flynn character has been removed until further notice. While he hints that he can use Sonic Underground, using those like Manic and Sonia without their in-series background of being Sonic's siblings, mostly because he knows the fandom would get up in arms.

Quite the list, I know. Notice the examples I've italicized (numbers 6 through 10)? Those are the things from this list that I take issue with the most. Don't misunderstand, the other stuff I've listed is also bad in their own right and that they share a similar theme I find worthy of contention (that being placing needless limitations on the creative liberties of the comic's staff), but from a writing standpoint the examples I've italicized are absolutely unacceptable to me, totally impossible to tolerate. I'm going to explain in detail why I feel that is the case.

Example 6 doesn't allow for any of the non-original characters who don't debut in the comic to have any kind of romantic relationships, which limits the kind of relationships and dynamics they may have with each other should the staff wish to pursue relationships amongst the main cast. You might not really care, just like those who like the dynamic between Sonic and Amy aren't going to care that it's unable to be changed in any capacity, and I admit that romantic relationships amongst the SEGA characters isn't really all that important by itself in the grand scheme of things, but when taken in with everything else I've listed it only serves to highlight all the other issues the comic is currently facing. Moving on:

I don't think Example 7 requires any explanation on my part on why I consider it a huge problem, but I will go ahead and try to keep this short and sweet for those who'd like me to elaborate anyway. Just think about it: No matter what happens to any of the characters, no matter what kinds of situations they may face, not one among them is allowed to naturally develop and grow as characters with their own thoughts, personalities, dreams, etc. unless some suit in an executive office somewhere gives the go-ahead for the writers to have the characters take something from any of the experiences they face. This runs the great risk of not only keeping these characters stagnant, it limits the kinds of stories that can be done with them that could be made as a result of their growths as characters, like one of the younger cast members dealing with their own coming-of-age story as they slowly realize that growing up is as complicated a life experience as they come, or any of the heroes facing something that makes them realize that a certain way that they've been doing their saving-the-world shtick up until that point has had or is causing collateral damage which had never crossed their minds up until that point and, as a result of this revelation, may want to consider changing their methods until they can get a result that they'd be more satisfied with. I could go on, but I think you get my point. To me, if a character doesn't change over time, not even a little, when they logically should in the kind of story that they are a part of, even when they find themselves in a situation that would give them every reason to change in some way good or bad, then those characters become boring to me over time. Again, moving on.

Example 8 suffers from a similar problem to 7, only instead of making the characters prone to stagnation it eliminates the risk of death among the SEGA characters. Again, by itself you might not see this as much of a big issue, but like example 6 the problem(s) example 8 represents become exemplified when you take every other example I listed into consideration and see how example 8 fits into the greater picture of the comic's problems.

Example 9 is perhaps the single biggest thing out of this entire list that I absolutely find inexcusable when I consider how this comic series was being written before the reboot took place and how things were done before then made many of the story arcs the comics had more exciting and give readers excuses to keep coming back for more: There was the possibility of failure for the heroes. The possibility that, in spite of what the main cast may try to do to overcome their adversaries, that sometimes they will be faced with the harsh reality that the world can be unforgiving and that sometimes they can't win every battle they face, and this point becomes more pronounced when what they stand to lose from these battles is shown to be quite high. It could be anything -- from losing important plans/tech to stop a plan of the big bad, to even losing someone they care about like friends and family, or even their entire way of life. Whatever it is, it is something that the heroes swear to protect to the best of their abilities, even if the risk towards themselves is also quite high. Or maybe the loss could be something relatively light. Even if what the heroes stand to lose isn't all that devastating, just the very fact that they were overcome by their opposition can in of itself be devastating to the heroes because that defeat would just the same serve as a huge reminder that they aren't invincible, and that if they aren't careful in the future they could stand to lose something even greater than what they've already have.

... But example 9? Example 9 takes that risk away. And considering that this was a risk that has been a part of the comics' overall story and theme for decades before the reboot took place, it's like watching a vital part of the story of these comics that has been present almost since the beginning (something that helped make the story arcs more unpredictable), get whisked away and, when combined with example 8, essentially transform the story into a monotonous routine of the heroes reacting to whatever the villain of the week decides to do, kicking their teeth in, and go on with their ultimately inconsequential lives, waiting until the next villain of the week (or maybe even the same one, depending on how formulaic the story decides to be with itself) does something else to give them an excuse to flex their practically unstoppable hero muscles, and ultimately have the cycle repeat itself. Indefinitely. Do you see the problem I have with this? This example, when combined with literally everything else I've listed, essentially emasculates

... And example 10? Well, what possible use could the heroes have to ever change their wardrobe? It's not like they'd need to occasionally hide their identities for some reason, like trying to sneak in unseen in some place they need to be in, or anything like that. It's not like these characters need to imply that they may be wearing the same exact outfits all the time and may not even bother with doing their own laundry or anything hygienic like that. Or, heck, even just occasionally change up their appearance on a given day just because they could, like any normal person would wear a different shirt the next day or may dress up for a special occasion like a holiday, or just to screw with some neighborhood kids' fashion senses by dressing up as a just because they felt like being jerks or something. Honestly, what practical use could the heroes ever have for having different outfits of any sort?

I don't know what the average attention span of anyone who reads these forums is like, but once again I apologize for possibly boring some of you to tears by this point (assuming you've even reached this point of my post, and that you haven't skimmed over anything.), but I just couldn't think of a way to succinctly describe my problems with the comic series right now without potentially downplaying any of the issues I've mentioned. Again, unless you (and I don't necessarily mean YOU, the person reading this post) are simply unaware of these things I've spent paragraph after paragraph yammering on about, and that you actually care even a little about good, or even interesting storytelling, even for things like the Archie comics (which I admit has never had the most complex, engaging stories ever written), then how could you or anyone justify continuing to support these comics when they have these amount of limitations placed on their stories, with a number of these limitations being completely insane and unreasonable from a story-telling perspective, especially when you compare how these comics were being written before these limits were placed on them? To me, at this point it's almost like the current story and universe belongs to a completely different comic series than from what it claims to be a part of just because of how vastly different it is and will be handled from this point forward compared to everything that preceded the reboot. The Archie comic seires before this reboot had it's fair share of problems, but by God those problems were just almost trivial compared to what's going on with the series now.

... Yeah. It's because of everything I've written about in this little essay of mine that I, on principle, can no longer support the Archie comics series, and how, as a result of this, I won't really care all that much over what ultimately happens with the comic just as long as I can acquire the older issues that I actually care about before doing so becomes much more difficult for me to accomplish, because as far as I'm personally concerned the Archie Comics series is all but dead to me at this point. It's a shadow of it's former self, and I refuse to continue supporting it, especially with all the insane limitations being placed on the comic's staff. As much as I still feel sore over the original timeline kicking the bucket, I would've been willing (albeit reluctantly) to continue buying these comics if I had any reason to feel that, over time, this new continuity could've grown to become something good and exciting in it's own right, even if for me it never reached the level of intrigue that I felt for the original timeline. But when I learned of these draconian limits that were being placed on the comics now, I could no longer justify to myself to keep buying these comics in spite of how attached to them I was, because not only do I feel it is unfair to the comics themselves to have these limits being placed on them I also feel it is unfair to limit the creative staff behind the comics in this way, because regardless of how any of us may feel about individual members of the comic staff I doubt that every single one of them are happy with having their creative liberty restricted like this. I know I wouldn't be happy if I were in their shoes. It really sucks for me to say this, but if I must be honest, I think seeing the comic series getting cancelled would be the best thing that can happen to it, assuming that they can't be bought out by a company that would (or rather, can.) treat them and their staff with more respect, because I would rather see it die off soon so it can keep whatever dignity it has left than suffer a slow and painful death.

' TL;DR: Regardless of whether the comics are going to be cancelled anytime soon or not, I know I'' won't be buying them because I refuse to due to so out of principle, because I am unable to justify any desire I may have to continue buying them when I think about the issues currently surrounding how the comics (and by extension, their the creative liberty of their staff) are being handled after the reboot had occurred. Because of my current stance of the status of the comics, I am of the opinion that the Archie comics may ultimately be better off being cancelled outright in case no company can purchase them and acquire a license to make Sonic comics, and be able to make them without having an unreasonable amount of limitations being placed on them (and that's not getting into the nature of the limitations themselves...), because I'd rather see the comic series get cancelled ASAP so they can hopefully maintain some of the dignity it has left instead of seeing it die a needlessly slow and painful death. *plays a sad song on the world's smallest violin*