STH100--SPECULATION (posts originally appeared on Ken's Messageboard) ***** my opinion on tha upcoming Sonic #100... Posted by Naraku February 20, 2000 at 00:59:33: first: either 48 pages or 52 pages. yes, i have seen 52-page comics before, i have two or three of them. it should be ONE story instead of a few. I look at my Sailor Moon comics and am quite satisfied by the end. i'm not still trying to figure out what happened when i close the comic. 2)the cover. i've seen a lot of covers, and there's one that always sticks out in my mind. the cover is pure white, and instead of printing anything on it, the pictures are pressed in, like some book covers. yes, this means that there won't be an advertisement on the back. that's where the bar code, price,CCA logo, etc would be. c. the comic company prolly wouldn't want to do this, because they're greedy bastards (just like all other humans): NO ADS IN THE COMIC. i HATE how i'm in the middle of a story and all of a sudden there's an ad for something that is (in my opinion, and remember that you're getting my money)completely useless! ads use a good part of the "24-page" comic, and the space could be used for more details in the story. i'm one of those people that likes lots and lots and lots of details. um... i have to be bowling in nine hours, so i think i'm gonna go chat for aanother half hour and stumble to bed ~Naraku "Sleep now in the fire" ---- Concerning Sonic #100... (Note to Mr. Penders: PLEASE READ) Posted by WB In all honesty I agree with Nakaru on some things too. This REALLY need to be a double sized issue. To tell you the truth a 52 page issue would kick so much tail. Thats only just a little bit bigger than the super specials ^_^ But for this issue - you guys should go all out, no hold barred willy nilly. I mean - after all, this is a 100th issue ^_^ As far as color goes - #25 was silver #50 was gold #75 was blue (sapphire) I say for #100 - make it green. Why green? Green is the color of the Chaos Emeralds. Thus you'd have an emerald cover. ^_^. Use either a glossy green or a hard cover. But definetely either green or pure white. I also think that possibly - the cover should be a wraparound. Meaning one that covers the front and back. If youre worried about ads I'll discuss what I think on them below. But I think you guys should get Spaz to do a collage picture on all the main and side characters (heroes and villians) in the Archie Sonic universe and either offer it on the cover or offer it as an insert poster. Something like that for a 100th issue would make a LOT of peoples day. : first: either 48 pages or 52 pages. yes, i have seen 52-page comics :before, i have two or three of them. it should be ONE story instead :of a few. I look at my Sailor Moon comics and am quite satisfied :by the end. i'm not still trying to figure out what happened when i close the comic. CLOSE OUT PLOTS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CLOSE OUT PLOTS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CLOSE OUT PLOTS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND ABOVE ALL CLOSE OUT PLOTS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lets have Queen Acorn revived or dead by now. Lets find out what the future of the throne will be -Elias or Sally? Lets find out what REALLY happened to the old Robotnik? (Sure he was disintegrated, but he just sorta vanished at that...Somethng seemed odd about it to me). Close off Nate Morgan (PLEASE DEAR GOD CLOSE OFF NATE MORGAN). Resolve Rotor and Charmy Bee. These guys need to be back by 100. And its not just because its a special issue but they were there since the beginning. They should be there for the milestone Close off the Overlanders. Close off threads that have been dangling since forever. Introduce new GOOD plot threads and move on. TRY if you can to close off Enerjak and Ixis Naugus too. Acknowledge old ones, but please dont let them linger. And lastly - let something TRULY SHOCKING AND CONTROVERSIAL HAPPEN. I mean BIIIIG - even if its a death or destruction or anything. But this needs to be a serious issue Personally - I've always wanted to know if its possible for Doctor Robotnik to go super - ala Super Sonic. That could deal with some darn good plotlines... #100 may have a happy ending, it may not. But something serious needs to shake the Sonic continuity like an earthquake. Its just been too complacent lately. : 2)the cover. i've seen a lot of covers, and there's one that always :sticks out in my mind. the cover is pure white, and instead of printing :anything on it, the pictures are pressed in, like some book covers. yes, this means that there won't be an advertisement on the back. :that's where the bar code, price,CCA logo, etc would be. You mean like a raised cover with an image that isnt colored but the color of the white instead? that could look cool. : c. the comic company prolly wouldn't want to do this, because they're :greedy bastards (just like all other humans): NO ADS IN THE COMIC. :i HATE how i'm in the middle of a story and all of a sudden :there's an ad for something that is (in my opinion, and remember :that you're getting my money) completely useless! ads use a good part :of the "24-page" comic, and the space could be used for more details :in the story. i'm one of those people that likes lots and lots and lots of details. That MAY or may not be feasable. It all depends on Archie. Its not that theyre greedy (though in some cases some are), but that they have to use ads in order to pay for the printing To be quite honest - I suggest Archie goes directly to Sega AHEAD OF TIME (LIKE NOW !!!) and say look - We want you to help us promote Sonic's 100th issue. Make it a giveaway with a game,announce it to various videogaming websites. Make a big deal out of it and let us BE CREATIVE with it. LET SONIC CRY !!!!!!!! He kissed Sally the 50th issue. Lets have more than just a teardrop in one panel or glossy eyes for this one. I mean - Archie SERIOUSLY SERIOUSLY needs to fight on this one. Its an important issue. Also - rather than the round robin thing like on Sonic 50, I think Ken and Karl need to cowrite it. They are quite literally the main writers for Archie and Knux. And I think Spaz should draw it - which is why I'm saying this now. I can tolerate Manny Galan covers for the next couple of issues if it means Spaz can draw #100. THAT would make the penultimate milestone of #100 in the Sonic series. And thats my beef. ^_^ Jonathan H. Gray Co Webmaster Of Sonic HQ - http://www.emulationzone.org/sonichq ---- I can go with that!! (n/m) True Red ---- A little note about Rotor. Posted by Astal Don't get yer hopes up, but I hear that Rotor may come back in Sonic #96. ---- All I'm saying is I agree about the Spaz man drawing #100. xXDark-CobraXx ---- Re: my opinion on tha upcoming Sonic #100... Posted by BobR : first: either 48 pages or 52 pages. yes, i have seen 52-page comics before, :i have two or three of them. it should be ONE story instead of a few. Hold comments here until later... : I look at my Sailor Moon comics and am quite satisfied by the end. :i'm not still trying to figure out what happened when i close the comic. Closure. That depends upon the writer. Many writers like to leave a few details open, so you'll come back to see how that unanswered question develops. It's called a tease, and can be quite exhilarating or annoying, depending upon how it's used. A tease we haven't seen for a while are those two spaceships coming back to Mobius and what that portends for everyone. We now know what all that R-Sat and B-Sat tease was about. :) : 2)the cover. i've seen a lot of covers, and there's one that always :sticks out in my mind. the cover is pure white, and instead of printing :anything on it, the pictures are pressed in, like some book covers. yes, this means that there won't be an advertisement on the back. :that's where the bar code, price, CCA logo, etc would be. Embossed. I kinda like the idea of the emerald color, too. I think the two together would make a great cover. I just hope that Archie marketing and financial make the necessary arrangements THIS TIME so we don't get another Issue 50 fiasco. : c. the comic company prolly wouldn't want to do this, because they're :greedy bastards (just like all other humans): NO ADS IN THE COMIC. :ads use a good part of the "24-page" comic, and the space :could be used for more details in the story. Surprise! There aren't that many "paying" ads in Sonic. First, the "24 page" comic you refer to is the length of the actual story pages, not the entire comic. Using the same criteria they use for the Specials' "48 Page Comic" heading, Sonic is really 32 pages. You'll note that both of these are multiples of 16 pages. That's because modern printing presses today print 16 pages onto a single sheet of paper called a broadside. The broadside is then folded to form a bolt, consisting of 8 leaves of the comic. Each leaf contains two pages (front and back.) The bolts are printed separately (or simultaneously on two different presses) and then bound together with the cover leaf by stapling. The comic is then sheared on three sides to release the individual leafs so the book may be opened and read. :) For the normal comic, they make two bolts. For the 48-page specials, they run 3. Personally, since issue #100 only comes along once, I'd hope they'd make it really special and run 4 bolts...64 pages. That would be a collector's special...and something not too many other comic companies have ever done. There may be some good reasons why they can't (can't bind in 4 bolts, legal limitations on what can be sold as a "comic", etc.) Bit it would be a "really neat thing." Oh, on your "52-page" comics, they just count the 4 pages created by the cover leaf...cover, inside front, inside back, and back. Add that to your 48 pages from 3 bolts, and voila! 52-page comics! Now as for ads, there really aren't that many paying ads in Sonic. Here's how those 32 pages breakdown for the latest Issue #81 of Sonic using my page count of the individual pages: Page 1: Credits Page (1 page) Page 2: Cold Intro to the Main Story (1 page) Page 3: AD: Where's the Cap'n Page 4: Main Story: City of Dreams (8 pages) Page 12: AD: Archie's Weird Mysteries Page 13: AD: S.S.S. #13 Sonic Adventure, A.W.M. Subscription Page 14: Knuckles Story: All You Need is a Bit of Chaos (8 pages) Page 22: Amy Rose Story: A. Rose Plucked (6 pages) Page 28: Sonic-Grams Page 29: Coming Attractions & Statement of Ownership Page 30: Find Your Name in Print Page 31: Sonic Fan Art Page 32: AD: Sonic Checklist (Back Order Sales) So ad up the pages of story material (the credits page, the cold opening, and the three stories) and you get 24 pages. Out of the 32 pages in the 2 bolts. Of the remaining 8 pages there was only 1, ONE!, outside (read, money coming in) ad in Sonic. There is one more ad on the back cover, for a total of 2 ads. All of the other "ads" were for their own properties, which means Archie didn't see any "new" income from them. (I'm not sure about the Sabrina ads on the inside back cover. Technically, it's an Archie property. But it is being produced and sold by others such as Viacom for the TV show and Pocket Books for Salem's Tails. Those might be paying ads...might not be. Depends upon the agreements worked out with Archie.) In either case, of the total 32 pages available for story, only 4 pages actually contain anything that could be called an "ad". That's a lot better than many of the other "newstand" magazines which have ads on just about every page! So I'm not convinced that Archie is what you say. They may be tight with their money, but I couldn't call them greedy based upon their ad placement rate. Compare to Image's TinCan Man #1: 22 pages of story, 10 pages of ads (2 outside, the rest internal.) And that comic cost $2.95. So more ads do not necessarily reflect a lower priced comic (and vice versa.) : um... i have to be bowling in nine hours, so i think i'm gonna go chat for :aanother half hour and stumble to bed Ooh, bowling. How'd ya do? -BobR- ---- Re: my opinion on tha upcoming Sonic #100... Posted by Sonya : first: either 48 pages or 52 pages. yes, i have seen 52-page comics before, :i have two or three of them. it should be ONE story instead of a few. :I look at my Sailor Moon comics and am quite satisfied by the end. :i'm not still trying to figure out what happened when i close the comic. It should be really long. I've seen Star Wars comic over 100 pages. I'm not saying #100 should be that long, I'd never finish it if it were, just that I've seensome that long. : 2)the cover. i've seen a lot of covers, and there's one that always sticks :out in my mind. the cover is pure white, and instead of printing anything :on it, the pictures are pressed in, like some book covers. :yes, this means that there won't be an advertisement on the back. :that's where the bar code, price,CCA logo, etc would be. I have books like that, but the color usually rubs off after awhile. : c. the comic company prolly wouldn't want to do this, :because they're greedy bastards (just like all :other humans): NO ADS IN THE COMIC. I don't care. Ads or no ads are both fine with me. : um... i have to be bowling in nine hours, so i think i'm gonna go chat :for aanother half hour and stumble to bed Did ya win? My cousin bowls but I really suck at it. ---- Re: my opinion on tha upcoming Sonic #100... Posted by Ed Would you honestly rather pay more for the comic instead of having a few adverts in there? They don't harm anybody. ---- I'd MUCH rather pay more than have ads in it Naraku