![Flynn: “From here on out, I’ve got free reign” A new interview published by Comic Book Resources today at least appears to indicate that Sega’s upcoming Sonic Boom initiatives will, […]](http://www.tssznews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/archie_comics_generic_header.jpg "Inside the Archie Sonic Character Redesign")
Flynn: “From here on out, I’ve got free reign”
A new interview published by Comic Book Resources today at least appears to indicate that Sega’s upcoming Sonic Boom initiatives will, for the moment, have a minimal effect on the second reset in the Archie Sonic comics.
Avid followers of the now settled Archie v. Penders case of course know the suit ultimately predicated this latest revision to comic continuity. But in the article that is mainly focused on the character and story redesigns beginning with issue 257, writer Ian Flynn and editor Paul Kaminski use a broader brush to frame the redesign. In particular, Kaminski says he received a book of idea from Flynn around the time of New York Comic Con 2012:
I think it was New York Comic Con 2012 when I first got this gigantic packet from Ian that outlined everything that we were thinking about doing with the new universe and how it’d be done. It felt so refreshing! With a continuity-heavy book, you can get bogged down really easily. This allowed us to pick out things a la carte and put them into the framework of the modern franchise. You don’t want a licensed title that looks nothing like the property as it currently stands. That doesn’t make any sense.
Given Kaminski’s words, one would think the entire team would now have to prepare for the onset of Boom. When we reached out to Kaminski for comment on Thursday, he gave us a “no comment for now” response to those questions. But in later remarks from Flynn in the interview, he indicated he has complete control of the storyline going forward (our emphasis in bold):
The story immediately after “Countdown to Chaos” is called “Damage Control,” and it’s throwing the characters directly into the fire. We’ve spent six months reintroducing them. If you’re new to the series, you know who they are now. If you’re a veteran of the series, you know what they are in this incarnation. So now let’s throw them in and see how they deal with the challenges of the world in front of them. The story after that is called “The Chase,” which gets into how they work as a functioning team and what their group dynamic is. There’s a very personal angle to this because Uncle Chuck has been put in peril, and he’s very near and dear to all of them. From here on out, I’ve got free reign. We’ve got a new world to play with, the reinvented cast…it’s like a brand new box of toys. There is no limit. We can do whatever we want with it. And I’ll tell you, I have pages and pages of notes on where we can go with this stuff. I’m very excited about where we can take it all.
You can read the interview in full at the link cited above. In the meantime, the article also showed off some specific character designs as they will be seen in #257 going forward, and those are in the gallery below.
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Wait a minute. How long has it been that Archie Comics was done in 3-D CGI? I thought it was still hand-drawn 2-D stuff.
It is still 2D hand drawn they just rendered each new character design and did a cover in that style recently. If I’m not mistaken the guy who did the 3D rendering was featured on Fan Fridays a long while back.
It’s not the comic that’s done in 3D; only some of the covers are rendered 3D images. Most are still hand-drawn. The comic itself is still pencilled, colored, inked, etc.
Oh, good. I like the hand-drawn stuff. I was worried they’d do a comic out of 3-D CGI, which never looks right.
Aw, no Rotor render.
Can’t wait for the new stories. this new continuity has really grown on me.
Whew! The comic sections in the other articles have turned in a train wreck of sorts. He said this. She said that. Gees! And what a relief to post here. I am not a big follower of the modern Archie comics. But it is good to hear that more creative liberties are being extended to Archie. For a time, Sega of Japan’s heavy handedness has kept back a lot of internal creativity on this side of the world. It’s maybe no more, depending on the context you extrapolate your take away message. If so, I am in total agree with these prospects, especially if it means more overall freedom. It will mean more artistic elbow for potentially better narratives.
*Comic=comment.
My goodness. I may be avoiding the comment sections completely the way things are shaping up to be for a long while. What’s with it with the Sonic fanbase? Hello? This is a fictional character, not the death of a family member or loved one, not the brink of a nuclear war and not going broke and being thrown into prison for life. Perspective, people, perspective. Don’t go nuts over a game that everyone will forget a few decades from now. There are many much more important things to worry about in life than one video game. That is not to say that I don’t like Sonic, but this behavior is grossly uncalled for.
My friend I welcome you. But heed my warning there are still many of these overzealous fans that come and comment. Just don’t respond to these comments and there should be no arguments. Other than that I welcome you and can’t wait to read your comments and chat.
Man, really disappointed with Antoine’s new look, they fucking butchered him. His fans must be livid.
Good news are great news! 😀
Yeah I’m going to miss the coat.
Tristan,
Have you ever tried contacting Cindy Chau over at SEGA to get her take on this whole situation with Archie and their reboot. People are presuming that SEGA made them do this, but I’m not so sure that is the case. The more Ian and Kaminski open their mouths, the more I think this is totally on them and that SEGA could care less what Archie does (well for the most part anyway). If SEGA did do this, then why would it be a secret? Why can’t they just come clean? I would also add that I find it amusing that they don’t mention Penders at all in that interview.
I was a long time fan of the comic and I’ve dropped it completely because of what Bumbling King Ian and the other “creatives” at Archie have done. The disgusting Mecha-Sally plot (along with the blatantly misogynist side plots) coupled with the disrespectful manner in which the reboot was conducted ended it for me. I could have tolerated a clean hard reboot (which is what they should have done), but instead it seems that Archie is going out of their way to disrespect the characters as well as the fans that have given them patronage and favor with their money. It amazes me that there is no sense of wanting to have an honest dialogue with the fans over this. After all, we pay their paychecks when we buy their products. We don’t deserve the middle finger that we’re getting from Archie.
The character redesigns are revolting, especially Sally’s new ‘trendy’ look. Looking at the previews for issue 257, she looks like a butch dyke gremlin. They’ve robbed her of any sense of beauty or femininity; they’ve done this to a lesser extent with Bunnie and Nicole as well. I guess the little boys over at Archie are terrified of and abhor women. Maybe Nancy Silberkleit had due cause to allegedly call the boys what she supposedly called them.
I love how dear Ian says that he doesn’t know how it’s lasted 20 years. Gee, I don’t know either since precious Ian has been writing the comic for about 100 issues or so. But seriously, the reason these characters have endured is because they had an incredible organic depth to them as people. The story itself built upon the original SatAM concept where you have a people who are fighting to reclaim their civilization and culture as well as hoping to be reunited with their families. With the way this reboot was done their families and friends have been massacred, and even though they got their memories back they can’t acknowledge their families because the story says so. Oh yes, and now those memories are conveniently going away. Isn’t that special?
I honestly don’t know why SEGA still has a business relationship with Archie. If what I’ve read about their courtroom shenanigans in the Penders case is true, then I can’t imagine why SEGA didn’t just yank the license. Hopefully SEGA will make Sonic Boom take center stage and use this as an opportunity to part ways with Archie. If I was in Cindy Chau’s position that is exactly what I would do.
There is so much wrong here, I don’t know what to face-palm at first. …I think I’ll just do it all at the same time.
Also, not sure if Penders white-knight or just troll.
I love the new looks. look at Muttski, he’s so cute now!
Do’t know or car if Aechie or SGA demanded this rebbot happened, but I suspect it was Archie move to avoid using any Penders material in the future.
Regardless, the tasteles bland presentation fo it, the rushed storylins, finger in your face resolutions to long term plotlines and the blatant OOCness on the game characters made me drop the comic after issue 252.
Now I just focus on the games.
So here’s hoping Sonic Boom never has anything to do with Archie Comics in any shape or form, cause they’ll fubar it in a month.