Re: A few things: (Actually, a lot!)

From: Dan Drazen <drazen_at_andrews.edu>
Date: Wed, 1 May 1996 08:50:04 -0400 (EDT)

Ken,

As usual, thanks for your courteous reply. Just a couple points:
>
> I would compare working on SONIC to be almost as complex as working on STAR
> TREK, which I have done for both DC Comics and Malibu. When working on any
> TREK-related series, the primary guideline was anything filmed was considered
> "official" TREK history. It's only now that some novels or certain projects
> contain "official" information considered part of TREK lore. Even so, nothing
> printed in comics is deemed official. In fact, Roddenberry supposedly
> disavowed the animation series he spearheaded back in the early '70's, even
> though it features stories by such TREK luminaries as D.C. Fontana, David
> Gerrold and Walter Koenig. Not to mention the voices of the ORIGINAL CAST!!!
> As far as I'm aware, even though Gene's ashes are scattered out in space,
> Paramount still doesn't acknowledge the animated series.
>

I didn't know you'd done any "Trek" work -- cool! I second the motion
concerning the animated series, if only because the Filmation animation
was so shoddy and flat no amount of classy writing could have saved it.


> Even Mike and I get it wrong ourselves. For instance, in A SENSE OF HISTORY
> Part One, we showed a hedgehog pounding a sign into the ground with his
> family standing nearby. We originally had on the sign "Future Site of
> Knothole Village", as we thought it would be a neat bit to state that
> Knothole Village stands where the Floating Island once existed. However, when
> we wrote that, Mike Gallagher was only beginning to write the TAILS
> mini-series. After he established the world of Downunda and Knuckles'
> grandfather Athair, it was decided it made more sense since echidnas come
> from Austrailia to have the Floating Island originate from Downunda. Due to a
> rush of deadlines at this time, I wasn't even made aware of this until I saw
> the printed story.
>

Yeah, I was wondering about that business with the sign myself. Since
it couldn't be read in the final art I was left to wonder what kind of
gag was involved.

>
> When Mike and I started working on the series, we were submitting stories
> based on what Mike Gallagher was doing, as he was the primary writer at the
> time. With each passing story, we started getting subversive and began
> emphasizing more of the adventure aspects and less of the bad puns, using
> humor when called for, and not doing a gag at the expense of the story. If
> you go back and reread those early issues, you'll see how we gradually began
> to steer the book in the direction we wanted rather than maintaining the
> status quo. However, we could not have done this had the folks at SEGA not
> been receptive to what we were trying to do.
>

I've made no secret about the fact that I've considered this to be an
improvement.

>
> "Battle-hardened" describes an attitude, not tactics. If Sonic and Sally and
> company had been fighting for over ten years with Robotnik, they'd have the
> attitude and look reminiscent of soldiers fighting in the trenches during
> World War II. And we'd love to do that, but we can't because of our young
> audience. As it is, in order to get anything with an edge through, we use
> Disney as our guideline, as in: If Disney can do it in their cartoons, why
> can't we in our comics.
>

Actually, you and Mike have already opened the door for some
"battle-hardened" Mobians: the cyborg freedom fighters alluded to at the
beginning of "Night of a Thousand Sonics" (#19). This occurred to me
one day when "Life During Wartime" by Talking Heads came on the radio
and I found myself wondering if the Knothole gang had ever cranked it up
to that level of intensity. I just couldn't picture it; the borg freedom
fighters, on the other hand....

> As for Sonic's history, Mike and I have a rough timeline and what stories
> we'd like to document about that timeline. For instance, if you read SONIC
> #36, we mention Robotnik's mentor Kodos, who is going to feature very
> prominently in the series after issue #50. In #17, we showed Robotnik taking
> over Mobotropolis, and portray Julayla getting Sonic and Sally to safety.
> Although we didn't have the room, Rosie was there as well, making sure that
> Tails was escorted safely out of the war zone. Antoine and Rotor were at the
> front lines, and beat a retreat to fight another day. Tails' parents were
> among those roboticized, and we have yet to decide how or if we'll
> incorporate them into the series. Y'see, we can answer your questions
> regarding continuity, but this is the Archie version APPROVED by SEGA.
>

I'll probably get my chance to check out #36 this week: the distributor
in this corner of Michigan doesn't drop off new issues until the first
Thursday of the month. Am looking forward to the developments you
described. And funny you should mention #17: I ordered that as a back
issue a while back in order to have the complete "Sally's Crusade."
Your description of what might have been included in the story had you
not confronted space limitations makes me wonder whether or not Archie
would issue a "director's cut" of a story such as "Sally's Crusade" in a
Digest format. I know that that's probably asking too much, that it's
more economical to do a straight reprint. Still, it sounds like a lot
of good stuff was left on the cutting room floor, as it were.

Thanks again for the reply.

Dan


Received on Wed May 01 1996 - 09:34:18 PDT