Total Reboot: Archie Comics

[WarTraveller]

Reboots get a bad rep, in my opinion. There can be a lot that can be done with them, and they can revive old franchises like Batman. But I'd be wrong if I said there weren't any chancer execs who see reboots as easy money, using the goodwill and nostalgia of the audience for a quick and positively filthy buck. Robocop, Planet of the Apes, Nightmare on Elm Street...maybe Ghostbusters (not passing any real judgement until I actually see it), a number old franchises just die because of these lazy cashgrabs. But there ARE good reboots out there, like Splatterhouse, Ratchet and Clank and that 2012 Dredd film, so I do think they're still viable if actual care is put into them. And frankly, there's one part of Sonic's quote-unquote "empire" that desperately needs one.

And I'm not talking about that soft reboot either, the one that resulted from Ken Penders being...well, Ken Penders; that solved pretty much nothing and has only gotten worse with people like Ian "Blaze Can't Carry a Story but Amy Totally Can" Flynn at the wheel. And if this SECOND lawsuit over royalties goes the same way (that is, resetting the universe to remove such characters), then the only logical thing SEGA could do is to admit they stuffed it, totally reboot the comics, fire Flynn and give the new writer a touch more creative freedom (though they won't, because they're SEGA). No Sally, no Mammoth Mogul, no whatever that stupid warlock character is supposed to be, no God-Mode Eggman and no Freedom Fighters (well, not at the beginning), going back to the main cast and introducing new characters and stories from there.

I've made my own idea of what an Archie Comic reboot would look like, at least for the main cast. I was actually planning to use them for something else, but I want to show off the designs now since it'll be a while before I put them into any real action;

I even have bios for them...but I want to keep this vaguely short so I'll provide them when asked. Of course you know I tend to dislike Sonic things that focus PURELY on Sonic (because he's not an interesting character), so other characters would be introduced down the line (like an expy of Shade, albeit as a villain). I made bios for them as well, if I remember correctly.

So what I'm asking is; How would you reboot the Archie comics? What new villains and characters would you introduce?

[Mike Arcade]

While interesting I'd say your idea for a reboot is too bare bones, I don't mind having a shake up the starting roster with Blaze but just throwing everyone away like Sally, Naugus, and starting from scratch is a bit too drastic. I mean it's your story but remember when it comes to Sonic you have to remember all that's good which lead to this site being made and most importantly making Sonic an interesting character, which he is. I remember you and Stranger had this conversation before about SoJ Sonic being undeveloped, I mean you can say he is but not all of them, that's just painting from a very broad brush. After all the Sonics that have come from SoA and Mobius are very interesting characters, you have a cocky but vulnerable hero in SatAM and a jerk conflicted with guilt and trying to be a hero in STC, STC Sonic I'd say is the Sonic with the most potential out of all of them. I can't stress enough when it comes to a Sonic story is to never forget that our main character and hero IS Sonic, you've allowed Sega to control you, to define you and what the character should be and has been when he is so much more in other continuities, various different continuities.

So I ask you Traveller, who can Sonic be?

[WarTraveller]

On 10/4/2016 at 6:15 AM, Mike Arcade said:

While interesting I'd say your idea for a reboot is too bare bones, I don't mind having a shake up the starting roster with Blaze but just throwing everyone away like Sally, Naugus, and starting from scratch is a bit too drastic.

So I ask you Traveller, who can Sonic be?

Barebones, yes. Well, at least that's how I presented it. I do think a reboot that drastic is needed because the soft-reboot didn't really do anything but show how easily SEGA can creatively strangle something. I'm not saying go back to the basics (SEGA's done that too many times), but more remove all the stuff that just didn't work and start back at Sonic, Sally and co saving the day. Establish the world, establish the characters, establish the differences and THEN give all the creatively challenging stuff another shot with a new writer and a new direction. I actually wrote down bios for (And designed) a lot of characters for the reboot. I can post the ones I wrote for these four, if you'd like. Besides, Naugus is rubbish. I mean come on, you MUST have seen that "Nixus=Nagus" thing from a mile away, yeah?

Sonic can be a lot of things. He can be a romanticist, he can be celibate, he can be happy or sad or funny or irritating. Heck, he could even be female (if that idea really had any traction on this site). Sonic NEEDS a lot of things to be interesting. My own interpretation is simply from building on what the other Sonics really lack; emotion. Outside of SATAM and STC, Sonic doesn't really emote, he just sort of stands there and smiles. Why not have that be a sort of defence mechanism and inside he's a completely broken wreck who's scared of dying and dearly misses those he's lost? Like someone who bottles in his sadness all week, excuses himself for a bit and just lets it all out in private. Someone who knows they can't kill the villain because he'll go back into mundanity if he does...but he also knows he would have to if he wanted true peace.

Of course Sonic CAN be simple. But simple is just too dull. Too unengaging. And, ironically, too unmemorable.