Note: I submitted this for tSF's Speakers' Corner #30

I didn't have time to write a response for the poll [note: Poll #40 at tSF] since I was in a hurry, so I decided to write it [as] an editorial for Speakers' Corner.

This paranoia (for lack of a better word) over whether we'll see Sonic #100 needs to stop. We will definitely see it when it's supposed to come out. Let's go over some facts, good and bad. Yes, the sales for Sonic have gone down about 40% the past couple of years. Yes, Archie has cancelled Knuckles and the Super Specials, both of who's sales went down a whole lot more than 40% over the same time span. However, during the same time span, the sales for comics and magazines across the board on average are down 30%. Therefore, the drop in sales is in part due to a slump throughout the industry, and in retrospect Sonic is doing fine. Another fact is that Sonic always has sold a whole lot more comics than Knuckles or the Super Specials so a drop in Sonic sales doesn't hurt it's survival chances as much as a drop in sales for either Knuckles or the Super Specials. Sonic comics is Archie's number one seller period. While they do have to give up some of the profit to SEGA, they still make a lot of money off of Sonic comics. A profit that they were not getting from Knuckles or the Super Specials, which they've cancelled. Archie is concerned with making money and that they are doing with Sonic so they are not going to cancel it.

I'm sorry, but I think part of this "will we see Sonic #100" was mostly started by Dan Drazen's review of Sonic #86. I also remember back in his review for Sonic #72 he mentioned that Rotor will probably be roboticized the next time we saw him and that started all these rumors that Rotor was going to be killed, roboticized, etc. NONE of that happened. If Ken Penders, who actually works for Archie, tells me that Sonic is in the least danger of being cancelled then I'll go with his word. He hasn't lied about the state of any of the comics, whether it's Knuckles, the Super Specials, or Sonic. Until I hear word from someone who works for Archie telling me that Sonic is in danger, I'm ignoring all other sources. We can all entertain our worst fears and some people are naturally pessimistic. But Sonic will make it to #100 unless people stop buying the comic because they THINK it will be cancelled and kill the sales. The people in the most control of Sonic's survival are US, the fans who buy Archie's comic. If you want it to die, drop it. If you want it to stay, then you'll continue to buy it and ignore the hype of Sonic dying.