The GHZ Forum

Amy looks ridiculous on Sonic #210's cover. If they didn't have time to fix it before going to print, they should have just had an all black cover or something. If no one at Archie thought it looked bad... Well, that does explain a lot.

What is Taz doing there covered in pink, wearing a dress and holding a hammer?

The last two panels always make me chuckle.

The whole thing's ridiculous.

The current artist has a thing for comically exaggerated facial expressions. No matter the context. And applies to pretty much any character at any given time. It's amazing how something so over-the-top is made redundant with overuse.

I see nothing wrong with that cover. Yardley's a good artist and well suited to the series.

It looks fine to me, too. It's much better than that guy who drew the characters with their eyes stretching to the back of their heads.

Blank wrote:

The last two panels always make me chuckle.

That last panel is awful, but hilarious at the same time.

Speaking of funny facial expressions, I flipped through one of the recent issues a while ago and this caught my eye:



This was supposed to be a serious moment, btw.

Mexican stand off.

Neo wrote:It looks fine to me, too. It's much better than that guy who drew the characters with their eyes stretching to the back of their heads.

Who was that?

Maybe Spaz?

I don't know, I don't read the comics. Anything and everything I know about them has stemmed from this forum.

Ron Lim did the big eye thing. Lim is usually a good artist - solid, consistent. I really liked his work in Silver Surfer and various Thanos series in particular. On Sonic however he was goddamn awful, and I find it hard to believe that it was because he was used to drawing more life-like subject matter, given how objects, background, and even human characters all looked terrible. The inking didn't help, granted, but there was certainly something else amiss.

Is he still on the book? He really is horrible on it. I can only assume he hates it, or hates the work, the company, or maybe they just don't pay him enough to justify him spending time on it compared to other companies. I don't get why they kept taking his work considering how consistently awful it was.

Tracey Yardley does the work now. In fact, I think all the images posted in here are his work.

It's not USUALLY too bad, but it does have its low points. Somebody needs to post that image of Stern Shadow! from Sonic Universe #1, sometime. I can't find it on Google...

Yardley was perfect for the jokey lightweight material of Sonic X, but as UCHU points out, it makes any attempt at serious storytelling look completely retarded.

Shadow Hog wrote:Tracey Yardley does the work now. In fact, I think all the images posted in here are his work.

It's not USUALLY too bad, but it does have its low points. Somebody needs to post that image of Stern Shadow! from Sonic Universe #1, sometime. I can't find it on Google...

(was the first result for "serious Shadow", which gave me a good chuckle)

Personally I think it's hilarious, but I haven't read the context.

I've decided at some point in the near future to read the comics starting at #160, since apparently that's where Yardley and Flynn came in and started seriously toning down the stupid furry romance drama bullshit that Penders seemed to fill the comic with.

G.Silver wrote:Is he still on the book? He really is horrible on it. I can only assume he hates it, or hates the work, the company, or maybe they just don't pay him enough to justify him spending time on it compared to other companies. I don't get why they kept taking his work considering how consistently awful it was.

Indeed. The fact that he's capable of so much more only adds insult to injury: http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiec ... gsub=28786

Tracey Yardley has been the lead artist since #160. After a while he was doing practically all of the art on the book, including covers.

Earlier this year the Sonic X comic was cancelled and replaced by Sonic Universe, which Yardley has drawn every issue of thus far. Recently Steven Butler has been the main artist on Sonic the Hedgehog, with Yardley taking over as his schedule permits. I wasn't a fan of Butler's earlier work on the comic, but since his return he's been sticking very closely to the image Yardley developed for the series. There's also a new guy called Jamal Peppers who's been doing some good work on back-ups.

The official blog has a lot of previews and covers for the most recent issues of both titles: http://archie-blogs.archiecomics.com/sonic/

I think we can all get a little bit of a kick out of this one at least: http://archie-blogs.archiecomics.com/so ... hog-1.html - The Sonic Band!

I don't have any problems with that cover, either. Yardley's style isn't my favorite, but there really is no denying that he's a competent artist, and his facial expressions have got character. Now, if you want to see some disgraceful shit, look at what's become of Spaz:



I mean, look at it. There's absolutely nothing to see here. There's no composition, no focal point, no setting, action or originality. Or talent, even! It's like Spaz just copied one of Uekawa's illustrations verbatim, called it a day and thought this was acceptable for a milestone issue. It's not like this was just a momentary lapse either, as he went on to draw this 10 issues later. How is it even possible to fall this far from grace? Spaz was easily my all-time favorite illustrator back in his heyday, so it's super duper depressing to see him regress like this. I just don't get it.

It doesn't stop there, though! Check out salmon-lip Sally and trisomy Tails, not to mention that embarrassing tabloid cover stint. And those are just the covers, mind. Archie can do much worse than Yardley, so enjoy this period of consistency while it lasts.

G.Silver wrote:Is he still on the book? He really is horrible on it. I can only assume he hates it, or hates the work, the company, or maybe they just don't pay him enough to justify him spending time on it compared to other companies. I don't get why they kept taking his work considering how consistently awful it was.

Sad thing is that his work wasn't that terrible when he first came on. He did the Sonic Adventure special, which wasn't great, but I felt he made up for it with #85, the one with Silver Sonic 2. Then it all went downhill.

So, is Spaz doing something other than Sonic now? I assume that he's in the situation that I've always imagined Sonic artists get into: they have a stint as a regular artist, then quickly get sick of it and churn out mediocre work so they can focus on other, better projects.

Archie is THE lowest paying mainstream comic publisher in the biz. I imagine that's the reason they started dipping into the fanbase for new talent... up-and-comers (and die-hard Sonic lovers) are going to be more willing to work (and work hard!) for the grub than guys like Ron Lim, who you've got to assume was either phoning it in or just incredibly confused. If Spaz has started to get a bit lazy with some of his covers, I imagine we can probably chalk it up to him being too busy doing work that pays better.

Blank wrote:

The last two panels always make me chuckle.

Jesus Christ, Tails in that last panel... He looks like one of those muslim women you see on Oprah whose husbands have thrown acid in their faces.

Spaz is still good, just check out his Sonic Archives covers: http://archiesonic.wikia.com/wiki/Sonic_Archives (Umm, actually, maybe ignore #11 and #12.)

Esrever wrote:guys like Ron Lim, who you've got to assume was either phoning it in or just incredibly confused.

It's just hard to believe that he'd put his name to it. It's embarrassing.

I miss the old Spaz. Such a clean style, packed with detail and bringing an edge to a "cartoony" book that you wouldn't normally see. Now he's good for what? Apeing the style of other artists from years ago? I mean, I'm all for nostalgia, but it shows a distinct lack of imagination.

That page that keeps showing up, the one with Tails freaking out, has me all confused. Most of the art is standard fare, but the fourth and fifth panel look like the work of our very own Dubba-You-Bee. Was he doing *cough* breakdowns on that book, or is someone at Archie HQ ripping him off a little?