YES

I'll be honest, when I posted that link I was expecting a bit more freaking out than has happened thus far.

>>217189

Nobody actually looks at this thread anymore

>>217190

Yeah the constant, quite frankly awful derails we tended to get the past few months chased people off. I only check it every few days now.

Also I think there's the fact there's just not a lot of interest in the Mega Man comic right now to consider.

>>217183
>Sonic Crossover finally ends, letting Rock have his book back
>Announcement telling me that the characters I like will have less pages per issue to make room for characters I always thought were as much fun as a puppy's funeral on a rainy day

Welp. It'll bring up sales, I guess.

>>217195

From the sounds of it from how much they're hyping up this summer X series story I wouldn't be surprised if Classic Mega Man gets moved to the backups after a few issues of this.

We'll never get Mega Man 3.

>>217196
The way it sounds to me, the X backup stories are giving some setup to the original X, at which point they'll gauge interest and then either spin X into its own book or let it sleep for a bit.

I don't think they intend to replace the Mega Man stories, especially because if they ever want to return to those it will lead to a lot of confusion. Doing the X introduction as backup stories does three things:
1) Stretches out the backstory while they spin up production for the regular book
2) Gets those fans who are only interested in the Mega Man games (and not X) a free look at what's to come in the X book, perhaps making them interested in it rather than dismissing it outright
3) Gets those whose were introduced to Mega Man through the comic something to make them interested in X

It's akin to how Archie would spin up interest in the mini series (Tails, Sally, Knuckles) back when the comic was first really going by putting some lead-in backup stories in the regular book.

>>217197

Even if they don't intend to replace the book that'd be what happened X series would canabalize the classic books sales too much, like what happened during the SNES-PSX era.

Not to mention I doubt they'd be hyping up this big summer story the two first X backups were leading into and still have them be backups.

Classic Archie Mega Man's days are numbered at this point one way or the other.

>>217198
>"Classic Archie Mega Man's days are numbered at this point one way or the other."

Uh, no. The only way that'd happen because of X is if they completely replace the main book with X, or if an X series is released and ends up far more popular than normal MM. Take a look at main Sonic and Universe. They didn't eat up each other's readership to the point of either being cancelled.

Hell, from what we've heard, Sonic X (ohoho) was still selling pretty decently by Issue 40 despite the cartoon being over, and was ended so Archie could ride its popularity into Universe before it ended.

So yeah, basically, there's no reason to think that X stories showing up means classic is definitely doomed.

>>217198
Mmm... no, I don't think so.

Fuck yes X comic. I wonder if we will get a green biker dude issue?

>>217201
He'll die in his second panel.

>>217203
Hopefully only after a sick wheelie on his hovercycle.

>>217199
>Hell, from what we've heard, Sonic X (ohoho) was still selling pretty decently by Issue 40 despite the cartoon being over, and was ended so Archie could ride its popularity into Universe before it ended.

Yeah about that, there's no chance Sonic Universe is going to be dumped to make a comic adaption of Sonic Boom right? That would suck. Universe is so fucking good for the main comic.

>The back-ups serve to set the stage for a story we've got slated for Spring/Summer 2014

So...X/Classic crossover?

>>217192
>There's not a lot of interest
Did you check /co/ proper? They had a day-long thread entirely talking about X. Not the comic itself. Not pacing or art complaints. Not shit about how long the series needs to be or this or that. Just pure, mostly happy discussion about excitement, speculation, and just the X series in general.

If this tells you anything, it's that people are way more optimistic and pumped than they were about Classic.

>>217199
>if an X series is released and ends up far more popular than normal MM
If we're being completely honest with ourselves here...this is probably exactly what would happen if they went straight into adding an X spin off book instead of slowly building to one. X is way, WAY more popular than Classic. There are people who have been buying the Classic book in hopes of the sales being good enough to launch an X book. Seriously.

>Take a look at main Sonic and Universe. They didn't eat up each other's readership to the point of either being cancelled.
That would be because they're co-dependent.
Universe is basically a segregated back-up story comic series. It's entirely composed of stories that exist in tandem with the main book and would normally be back-ups. It's a way to double ship Sonic without calling it double shipping while keeping the pace up.

Classic and X can exist in complete segregation, and it's entirely possible for Classic to flounder and die while X goes strong. Meanwhile, it's nearly impossible for Universe to die because it's, quite literally, just a second issue of Sonic each month.

X showing up doesn't mean Classic is going to die, but Archie has to be careful how they do this to keep sales on both books up.

>>217214
Well to be fair, Universe tends to be miles better than the Sonic strip itself. If its formula of 4 issue independent stories work more than the train wreck that is StH's sprawling epics, then it'll at least change StH to be more like SU, if anything.

>>217215
Except the four issue format doesn't work as well for the main comic and its' been fucking over Megaman.

>>217183
Any word on what "Into the Shadows" will be about?

>>217216
I wasn't talking about Mega Man, I was talking about Sonic.

>>217219
Which is why I said
>Except the four issue format doesn't work as well for the main comic
"And" functions as this thing called a conjunction.

It means that, in addition to not working with the main comic, four issue arcs have fucked over Megaman as well. These are two statements that do not contradict each other. The point here is that, in the two examples mentioned, four issue arcs don't work very well.

I hope you don't have trouble understanding that bringing a second example of a formula not working into the argument does not invalidate it. Or, in simpler words, "But I wasn't talking about Mega Man" isn't a counterargument.

>>217248
didn't read that

The only time we had a four issue arc recently was Endangered species, and that was bad for reasons unrelated to the format

>>217199

>Take a look at main Sonic and Universe. They didn't eat up each other's readership to the point of either being cancelled.

Archie Sonic was around for over a decade before Universe was started and always sold fairly well (minus the tail end of the Dark Ages).

Archie Mega Man has been around for less than three years and has been struggling already.

Also what >>217214 said.

>>217214
>"If we're being completely honest with ourselves here...this is probably exactly what would happen if they went straight into adding an X spin off book instead of slowly building to one."

Good thing that's not what they're doing, then.

>>217195
Mega Man X always seemed pretty upbeat to me.

>>217257
Mega Man X, certainly, but the umpteenth sequels weren't Saturday morning cartoon shenanigans, it was a Sisyphean nightmare for the protagonist, who was a pacifist, but doomed to murder everyone he ever cares for in the name of his duty to the humans.

>>217266
It's no wonder he got emo in X7 and the Zero series.

I wonder if Archie is planning anything to go along with Sonic Boom. I could see an SU arc ("another time, another place") being devoted to the show, depending on how much it deviates from game canon.

>>217266
Yeah. I mean, if people thought that the first issue for Curse of Ra Moon was "dark", they won't be ready for what MMX will bring. Makes me wonder if Ian will try to lighten the story up (either from his own choice or by the editors').

>>217267
> the Zero series.
Speaking of, if an X book does well and doesn't cannibalize the main MM book, that would make it likely we could see some mini series for Zero/ZX or Battle Network.

>>217271
Be interesting to see how they'd explain the shift in aesthetics, since apparently X and Zero was the same as they always were, just the art style changed between series. Personally I already have my own theory, which i like to think is borne out by X8's art shift & the way the ZX series went (basically: Reploids gradually took on more humanlike shapes and proportions and X and Zero were remodelled to match the trend, maybe at around the same point Zero's body was used to make the Mother Elf.) Of course Command mission slightly screws around with this, but you could say X & Zero got remodeled after getting back from Giga City which as an all-Reploid society would probably resist more humanlike aesthetics in favour of asserting their differences).

>>217272
Aesthetically, X8 isn't very different XCM or the older games. And as far as functionality(which is more important) there is no differences at all. They wouldn't even have to change X and Zero at all if and when they get past X7. New-Gen reploids, like Axl and Lumine, can have the slenderer look.

It's been establish that gap of time between the "end of the X series" and the Elf War is much larger than most think.

>>217272
Personally, I chalked it up to the fact that X seems to self upgrade over the course of the series, getting permanent improvements here and there. The streamlining and redesigning of the armor is just his body's way of keeping at cutting edge. Zero, being built straight from X's blueprints probably has the same systems.

>>217279
>Zero, being built straight from X's blueprints
Citation needed

>>217272

Giga City wasn't an all-Reploid society; the Rebellion (or was it the Resistance? I always get those two mixed up... who thought that was a good idea, anyway? "The bad guys," let's say) basically rounded up all the humans and kicked them off the island before the Hunters got there, as I recall.

As for going from X series to Zero series, it's clearly more than an art style change, as Inti put it-- there are definite design changes as well, and heavy ones at that. But I think they did put in an "advancement of technology" line in there as an out for that, so...

I can see a definite evolution of X from his original form to X8 to Command Mission to Zero series, though as noted, X8 wasn't as heavy in that regard-- not enough to warrant anything special for CM Zero or Axl, anyway.

If memory serves, MMZ takes place "100 years after the X series," which BEGAN in 21XX, but was into 22XX by the time CM rolled around. As to when the X series itself stops, I don't think anything has really been said; they could keep it going on indefinitely if they wanted. I don't think anything after ever received a specific (as specific as MM gets, anyway) year.

Why Sonic/Magaman pro artists are more accesible and friendly than the caped genre ones?

<-- 5 hours stream

>>217296
I imagine it's part fan base size and part fan base inanity. Sonic fans can blow the autism spectrum out of the water, but when not arguing amongst themselves can be real nice people. The Sonic/MM books also sell less than the caped comics (I wouldn't be surprised if a single caped book outsells the Sonic/MM books combined), so the amount of fans who want said interaction won't be overwhelming (or at least as much.)

Also, absolutely love that.

>>217297
Sonic typically sells between 45000 - 55000, quite comfortably putting it above a lot of cape comics.

>>217266
I still don't see what your problem is. You act like Mega Man MUST be happy fun time cartoon shenanigans.

>>217300
That's still less than some of the big name cape comics such as Superman and Batman.

>>217304

Yeah, but...there's not much you can do about that. It's goddamn Superman and Batman.

>>217300
Not per month. It sells around 10,000.

>>217285
>Giga City wasn't an all-Reploid society; the Rebellion (or was it the Resistance? I always get those two mixed up... who thought that was a good idea, anyway? "The bad guys," let's say) basically rounded up all the humans and kicked them off the island before the Hunters got there, as I recall.

Yup, Epsilon kicked them out at the start of his Rebellion.

>>217296
No offense to the guy who took over for the rest of Ra Moon....but I kind of want Ryan back.

>>217309
In comic shops.
According to annual sales data, Archie reports Sonic does about 40K+ per month annually. Only about 10/11K is comic shop sales, the bulk comes from news stands, grocers, regular book stores, and subscriptions.

If you actually look one of the issues with all that legalese stated, it specifically breaks down where the sales come from on average.

>>217311
The rest? He's doing the entire arc

Ryan only did the story that happened before the arc.

>>217316

Indeed.

I'd wage the reason he didn't notice a different artist last issue is there were no fight scenes since that's what people who have problems with the new guys art are complaining about.

>>217317
No, I know he did the last one. Ryan did the story where the wave went off.

So supposed updated designs for the cartoon coming next year.

>>217321
Can someone re-post the old promo/designs of this for comparison?

So Antoine got a new redesign to match the ugly variant of #255.

Gold hair and orange skin? He now looks like a character from Jersey Shore had a baby with Crash Bandicoot.

>>217327
I liked his old nose...

>>217328
Because it looked way better. That nose is restricted to hedgehogs and echidnas for a reason.

>>217329
Should have been a Nack nose.

>>217328
>>217329
Annnnnd you guys are full of shit because that's what his old nose looked like anyway. It stuck out from the end of the muzzle instead of being flat to it.

>>217340
I stand by what I said. I think they should have taken the opportunity to give him a Nack nose.

Of course, people would still be confused about what the fuck he's supposed to be, but that doesn't really matter.

>>217343
That would be really ugly IMO.

I WAN’T TO GET OFF SHORTPACKED’S WILD RIDE!

>>217343
He's basically got a Nack nose in his first redesign, except with a little fur stripe down his nose like Sally.

I agree it looks better on him than Sonic's nose.

Though I'm more disappointed that now he's losing both his eyebrows and the lighter colored fur around his eyes. Now it looks like he has Tail's eyes.

... I find it kinda funny that the cartoon is currently redesigning all the SEGA characters to look different from each other, while the Archie comic is making all the non-SEGA characters look more like recolors.

>>217346
Dave shouldn't talk shit about anyone's designs.

I can only hope a Mega Man X comic features more of the Maverick Hunters.

>>217346
Its called a Whoopee Cap or similar spelling. One of my last TF2 drops before idling was rendered useless. Really hope that opinion of Jug is just a gag and not an actual held belief.

>>217350
It might be a held belief. Look at what the rest of the comic became

>>217350
If you look it up, that's actually what his hat is.
That's the backstory behind it. He cut up his fedora.

But that's neither here nor there.

>>217354
right that is how you make one flip it inside out and then cut the brim. Grandfather let one of my uncles do it to an old one of his as well.

>>217354

Well, more like he cut up one of his dad or grandpa's old fedoras, since that how kids would usually make their whoopee caps way back when Archie was made way back in 1939. Willis ascribing the modern day association with a fedora to Jughead's whoopee cap is stretching it.

>>217357
I meant there's literally a story in the vast Archie archives where Jughead switches it out for a proper fedora to be "mature" and then just cuts it up and makes a new one.

Just a heads up Mega Man 30 was indeed pushed back a week this month as well so it's out October 16th instead of this Wednesday.

Hopefully this doesn't become a recurring thing since I doubt coming out the same week as Universe will be a good thing for it.

And his shirt says "S" for some reason.

>>217364
Ok this sounds hilarious for some reason.

>>217369
It actually was pretty funny, but I have no idea what story it was because it was ancient and I only saw it from someone posting it on /co/.

>>217370
I caught it once and I think went something like "I'll show them I"m mature." Dons the Fedora and then everyone either mistakes him for his father or makes a gag of it that he just fucks it all and goes back to the Whoop.

>>217364

That sounds pretty great!

>>217327
I'm okay with a design not looking it's most aesthetically pleasing, but it has have purpose behind it. Which makes me wonder how Ian plans to characterize new Antoine.

It's a much more aggressive looking design. It looks a bit rough and almost brutish in comparison to his old formal outfit.

I kind of worried, while I'm sure nobody wants Twan to regress back into a sniveling coward, I'm pretty sure not many want "Twan the brave/ or cocky asshole" to be his new base personality either.

>>217349

I don't think he really is, per se; just noting the inconsistency in style between the cartoon version and the more detailed, realistic version which lacks any sort of detail in the hat alone, making it look out of place.

>not posting the superior Sonic comic

>>217377
>suggesting autistic Sonic comics are anything new

>>217389
Why is there a stick up your ass?

>>217390
It feels so go~<3~od.

So Sega signed a licensing deal with Egmont.

StC reprints and digital release when?

>>217392

If they could form a deal with Archie or UDON or someone for a North American release, that would be great.

>>217367

Actually, turns out it's not on any of the October 16th shipping lists either so it's probably October 23rd this month.

See you in a year or so, bro.

I can understand how she grew up to be such a troublemaker, but does this mean the blue hair is a dyejob?

>>217440
FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

Someone story timed first issue of Afterlife find it kinda hard to see this as a year long series even if one takes into account all the extended cast unless these are all mini zombie stories with the first being a take on Pet Cemetery and next being Re-Animator etc . That and it might have done too much walking dead making everyone a bit too unlikeable aside from Arch and Patent JugZero(poor stupid pet reviving bastard). Kinda wish it was more stylized like the animatic they showed a bit back. Its got tons of references to all horror though so that's a plus. Though also since that is common knowledge in this universe then at least Dilt's zombie sense should be ringing off the hook seeing Jugzomb

NEAT

>>217481
slightly better quality version

>>217483
Have to wonder if the removal of cool details like bunnie's hat and antoine's epaulets was because they're a pain to do in CGI

>>217485
I'm going to guess no and say it was mostly to establish this as their new "basic" look. Bunnie, Sally, and Twan are more-or-less back to basics in the modern style while Rotor is a more top heavy and modern version of his pilot design with trinkets.

They might add more junk on later like they did in the old days or change their outfits for special occasions. This seems like a "this is what they normally look like, work from there" thing.

>>217485
>Have to wonder

No you don't. I like those things too, and some other elements that got cut, but I doubt the designs were heavily influenced by the possibility of a CGI cover later.

>>217485
I believe this is from a "mandate" from SEGA to bring the overall style of the book characters closer in line with the games. In the games, male anthromorphs wear almost nothing, females anthromorphs wear regular but simple clothing. It probably helps in CGI creation, but this is likely a bonus and not a requirement.

Also, it just hit me that Bunnie has her cybernetics back. While she went to Beauregard to get Legionized (without actually joining the Legion), I wonder if she'll freak out when her "other" memories get activated, knowing at one point she was returned to normal.

I wonder what the explanation will be as to why Nicole affects some (Tails, Rotor) but not others (King Acorn). Would Big have had his memories returned if he touched Nicole (which I don't think he did)?

>>217489
>"I wonder what the explanation will be as to why Nicole affects some (Tails, Rotor) but not others (King Acorn)."
Didn't they say it's because they're closer to Sonic than he is?

>"Would Big have had his memories returned if he touched Nicole (which I don't think he did)?"
I can see it now: He grabs Nicole and suddenly remembers himself fishing.

>>217489
The first issue said that only those really close to Sonic were affected due to him being the agent of all said change. Thus, only his best friends the Freedom Fighters... and Naugus. Because Sonic's the best friend Naugus has left.