Archie Comics App is a discontinued electronic software available that was available to download on Smart Devices and many personal computers, which allowed one to buy and read digital versions of Archie Comics publications' various titles.
The app previously had nearly every Archie Sonic series and issue available to purchase and download, providing digital editions of the printed comics, as well as digital exclusive titles, consisting of selected reprints.
After Archie Comics lost the Sonic the Hedgehog license in early 2017,[1] the library of digital issues remained available on the app until December of that year, before being removed. While the issues were no longer available officially on the app (with a few unique exceptions), customers could still access the issues that they've already bought within their own personal library.
On 21 April 2021, it was announced that the Archie Comics app would be shut down on 28 April 2021. To compensate, Archie offered customers a free one-month trial of ComiXology Unlimited, where much of the Archie library was transferred. However, after ComiXology's site closure on December 4, 2023, Archie Comics' material was finally made available exclusively on the Amazon Kindle app.[2][3]
Issue/Title availability[]
Before the license was lost, the app was known to contain every issue of both Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic Universe, as well as the majority of the graphic novel releases, and the Sonic Super Special Magazine and Sonic Super Digest issues. Back issues of no-longer published works were, for the most part, still incomplete. The Knuckles the Echidna series seemed to add more issues once they had been released via the Knuckles the Echidna Archives. The same was true for the older three-issue mini-series', with the Princess Sally, Tails and Sonic Quest issues only being added once they'd been released through the Sonic Select books. There had been some publications which were briefly released on the app but later removed, such as Sonic Super Special Magazine #14, the physical release of which never released.
While none of the core Archie Sonic titles were available, issues of other Archie Comics' titles where Sonic appeared could still be purchased, such as the Archie Mega Man comic book series.
Currently available on the app[]
Issues of other Archie Comics' titles that Sonic had appeared in as part of crossover storylines that were still available on the app:
- Mega Man: #24-#27, #50-#52
- Sabrina the Teenage Witch: #28
- The Mega Man issues listed above are those that make up parts of the Worlds Collide and Worlds Unite crossovers and are the only parts of those storylines were still available through the app; Issues from Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic Universe, and Sonic Boom, as well as supplementary issues (such as the Free Comic Book Day and Worlds Unite Battles) and the graphic novel compilations, were not.
- All thirty-two issues of the second Sabrina the Teenage Witch series were still available. The second chapter of the "Some Enchantra Evening" crossover storyline, which was previously accessible through Sonic Select Book 10, was unavailable on the app in any form.
Previously available on the app[]
The following were available to buy on the app before they were removed:
- Sonic the Hedgehog: all 290 issues
- Sonic Universe: all 94 issues
- Knuckles the Echidna: issues #1-#21
- Miniseries:
- Princess Sally: all three issues
- Tails: all three issues
- Sonic's Friendly Nemesis: Knuckles: all three issues
- Sonic Quest: all three issues
- Sonic Super Special: issue #6 only
- Free Comic Book Day: the issues from 2007-2008, 2010-2012, and 2015
- Sonic Super Special Magazine: issues #1-#13
- Sonic Super Digest: all seventeen issues
- Worlds Unite Battles: both issues.
- Sonic the Hedgehog Archives: all twenty-five volumes (including Volume 0)
- Knuckles the Echidna Archives: all four volumes
- Sonic Select: all ten books
- Sonic Universe Graphic Novels: all eight volumes
- Sonic Saga Series: all seven volumes
- Sonic the Hedgehog Graphic Novels: all four volumes
- Sonic Legacy Series: all four books (the fourth was app-exclusive)
- Sonic: Genesis
- Sonic/Mega Man: Worlds Collide Graphic Novels: all three volumes
- Sonic/Mega Man: Worlds Collide: The Complete Epic
- Sonic/Mega Man: Worlds Unite Graphic Novels: both released volumes
- Sonic the Hedgehog: The Complete Sonic Comic Encyclopedia
Removed before the license was pulled[]
These titles were previously available on the app for a time before being removed, in cases before and unrelated to Archie's eventual loss of the Sonic license:
- Sonic Super Special Magazine #14 (was never released physically, but was very briefly released on the app)
- Free Comic Book Day issues from 2009 and 2013
Sonic Comics[]
The app icon for Sonic Comics.
Sonic Comics was an app originally released as a companion to the main Archie App. This app was dedicated solely to the Archie Sonic comics (as well as the Mega Man issues that were parts of the crossovers). The main Archie App did still feature Sonic issues during this time however.
The app had long since fallen out of use, leaving consumers only able to download Sonic titles from Archie's main app. If one downloaded the app when it was available, then it is still accessible to redownload through the purchased apps list. Starting up the app will simply result in an error message however.
A Mega Man Comics App was also released,[4] which was dedicated to the Archie Mega Man titles and, likewise, included the Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic Universe issues from Worlds Collide. This app also fell into disuse, though considerably sooner than its counterpart.
References[]
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog on Twitter. Twitter (19 July 2017). Retrieved on 5 March 2019.
- ↑ https://archiecomics.com/appnews/
- ↑ https://www.engadget.com/amazon-is-officially-killing-the-comixology-app-forcing-users-over-to-kindle-213911500.html
- ↑ Download Archie Mega Man App, Get Issue #1 Free. Rockman Corner (18 August 2012). Retrieved on 5 March 2019.