Sorry, for the big spoiler in panel 3, but when I saw this post on the forum about events in #223, my soul died a little bit more.

Another chara’s pointless death happens off-panel for no good reason and #225 is teasing yet another. I’m at my limit. And how long is “a while” for Geoffrey? Hershey was at Bunnie’s wedding and she and Antoine can’t have been married for more than a month—two, tops.

——

I do have some positive news. The tentacles of Power Rings are reaching out and wrapping around more of your intertubes. We’ve just opened our official fan page on Facebook to share snippets of Sonic news we find and somehow—I don’t know how he types without fingers—our Lennie has started tweeting his innermost…I’m gonna say thoughts. Won’t you please be our internet friends?

Why I am so angry: Let me give you the list of all the things I find wrong, damaging, or just plain boring with Marvel and DC comics.

• Characters switching allegiances for the flimsiest of reasons
• Constant threats, constant attacks, constant fighting, fighting, fighting
• So-called heroes suddenly turning on each other, usually for an issue or two
• Death teases, death cheats, death retcons
• Variant covers (God, how I hate those)
• Alternate universes, alternate futures
• Aliens

I’d keep going, but I’m about to give myself an aneurysm. Point is, Sonic the Hedgehog has, in the past, let these gimmicks and narrative kludges slip into the pages on occasion. But with Ian, the parade of comic cliches are so omnipresent, it starting to overwrite the remaining few good memories I had. Power Rings hasn’t really updated because I can’t find anything to make fun of anymore; the Archie comic is already a parody of itself.

Take the last issue I read, #221 (and prepare for spoilers). Just on the first page, we’re reminded of Geoffrey’s defection and we still don’t know why. We’re just supposed to accept him being evil now. Or, in a few issues, that he was being blackmailed or something, and gets a free pass back to the good guy side. Just the fact that I’m using “good” and “evil” as terms shows how polarizing things have gotten. When Geoffrey was introduced, he was a spoiler character in that he liked to spoil Sonic’s fun. As the King’s top spy, he was a wonderful bastard, delighting in Sonic’s failures even if they were working towards the same goal. He put a face on the emerging corruption of the Mobian government. Now I have no idea why he’s involved at all.

The only real intriguing part of the issue is Mina’s calls for reform. At least her push for reform sounds genuine, not some manufactured call for an unnecessary revolution like with Tails’ parents. So I was both surprised and not surprised that it wasn’t even Ian’s idea but Paul, the editor’s.

But all of that is just facepalm worthy. What really sent me into rageguy screaming fits was seeing the variant cover for #225.

First, that there is a variant cover at all. I know of unscrupulous comic stores that, on the day of release, will demand 20 to 40 times the cover price for a variant cover. I remember seeing an issue of Batman being solicited, saying one copy of the variant would be sent only if the store ordered 50 copies of the plain cover. I get that they want to pretend that the art is valuable, but if I were spending 60 to 200 dollars for that art, I would want it printed on something larger and sturdier than a magazine cover.

Second, why is someone getting killed off again? Weren’t Tommy, the Brotherhood, a million echidnas, and three gods enough? Did he suddenly forget how pissed off everyone was getting by the end of his initial cast pruning? Even if the owner of that hand doesn’t end up dead dead, depicting it on the cover that way isn’t fucking helping. Nor were the near-instant comments on the Sonic Stadium from trolls hoping the hand belongs to Sally.

Oh, and I’m calling it here. Sonic: Genesis isn’t a series reboot, it’s Sonic’s Naugus-powered hallucination. Why do I think that? Because that’s the lamest weasel-out excuse I can think of.

I will have a more complete reaction after I calm down.

Kamal

So, I don’t know if you heard…but that’s ludicrous. Of course you’ve heard. Unless you actively avoid everything on the internet that has to do with Sonic the Hedgehog you’ve heard about the impending legal showdown between ex-Sonic scribe Ken Penders and Archie. Or Sega. Or Archie and Sega.

On Ken Penders’ blog just yesterday, he posted the following:

As of April 21, 2010, the U.S. Copyright Office finally began certifying my copyright claims (which I initially filed beginning back in January 2009) on every single story I ever wrote, penciled or both for Archie Comics. As a result, I am now officially recognized by the U.S. Government as the owner of every single SONIC and KNUCKLES story I ever created…

Well, really Ken, all you did was submit a claim. And you can expect those claims to be swiftly challenged.

As for how it affects the SONIC THE HEDGEHOG titles published by Archie Comics, while it does not prevent them from publishing the SONIC series, they are not allowed to use any of my characters, concepts or stories without further discussion with my representatives. For now, they cannot reprint any of my stories in any media whatsoever, nor can they use any of my characters. Julie-Su, Geoffrey St. John, Hershey, Rob O’ the Hedge, Lien-Da, the Dark Legion along with the rest of the characters and concepts I created – including the alternative universes and future timeline – cannot appear in the series.

And here’s the problem. Ken is only half-right when he says Archie may not use his materials without permission. Copyright law in the US is quite explicit on was is and is not covered by copyright. He is well within his rights to bar Archie from reprinting his old stories without his permission, but he erroneously believes those rights extend to complete control over the use of the characters and concepts within those stories. In other words, he thinks he has exclusive rights to his ideas, when copyright law doesn’t truly extend beyond the specific expressions of those ideas.

The difference between ideas and expressions is what keeps Sega from breaking down your doors whenever you produce art or fiction based on the Sonic the Hedgehog universe. As long as you’re not repeating  game or comic scripts verbatim, or copying box art or screenshots, your works can be, like Ken’s, protected.

So don’t take today’s comic too seriously. I’m not going to stop using Scourge, Lara-Su, and Julie-Su just because Ken thinks I need to ask his permission and neither is Archie.

(Now if Archie does want to be amicable, they could throw a few royalties Ken’s way, just because it’s a decent thing to do given all the man has contributed throughout the years. But since Ken has decided to lawyer up instead of discussing it rationally, I’m not going to hold my breath.)

Kamal

…And did it have anything to do with that minor earthquake?

Yes, as we saw here Amy was never let in on Sonic and Sally’s big moment, so a right ol’ walloping was in order. It’s good to be back.

Gear

Don’t worry, Amy! I’m sure Scourge will help you pick up the pieces of your broken heart!

G30FF

Well, we’re finally done with our upgrade to the site!  Please excuse our dust!  We’re still fixing issues as we find them. If you run into a problem, try clearing your cache and/or reloading the page first. If that doesn’t cut it, feel free to leave a message on the forum to let us know.  Make sure you include what browser you’re using to help us.  Hope you enjoy the new Power Rings!

Update:
To everyone still reading us, Happy Canada Day and Happy Independence Day! We’ll be back soon!

G30FF

And with this final comic from Road Rocket, our guest comic extravaganza comes to a close. Thank you to everyone who submitted comics, and apologies to anyone whose submissions we didn’t use!

Currently, we are working on a major overhaul of the entire site, and while we finish it up and kick the tires we will be taking a short break from producing strips. Our current ETA is near the middle of the month. I will post regular updates on our progress here, so keep checking back for more info!

In Sonic-related news, a fair amount of footage of Sonic the Hedgehog 4 has been leaked on the internet, as well as the soundtrack for the game. The soundtrack is… okay, I guess. I constantly find myself comparing it to the original Genesis games’ music, which in my mind is far superior, and finding Sonic 4 coming up short. While by no means terrible, in my opinion it just doesn’t have that same kick that the original games’ music had.

UPDATE:
First of all, I would like to put out an apology to everyone who participated in the Guest Comic Extravaganza, for two things. First, ending it as abruptly as we did, and as early as we did, leaving you all without comic updates as a result. Second, for our lack of communication with the participants, and not letting them know if we would/would not use their comics ahead of time. We dropped the ball, and we’re sorry.

Secondly, ladies and gentlemen, we have a date. On Saturday, expect the site to go down as we upload the brand new Power Rings!

Now as forewarning, when the new site goes live, you will have to update your bookmarks if you’ve bookmarked specific pages or comics on the site, as well as the RSS feed if you subscribe to the comic, because as of Saturday there is a good chance they will not work. I’m trying to make accommodations for existing links, but just in case, this is your advance warning. The forum, however, will be unaffected by this upgrade and will continue to work through the upgrade process.

G30FF

So, uh… April Fools, we’re not back in action just yet!

BUT, before you start boycotting us in anger, we WILL be coming back, hopefully within the next week, with some big changes in store for the site!

Also, we’re nearing the end of our Guest Comic Extravaganza! Today’s comic is by Crowley!

Kamal

We always said that the comic would only use characters from games Sonic’s been in. Aren’t loopholes wonderful?

Tennah

PINGAS!!!

G30FF

Well, if you can read this then that means the new Power Rings is back online!  Update your links, and you’ll have to update the RSS feed if you use that!

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Today’s comic by Dart the Hedgehog!

G30FF

Today’s strip submitted by Shadic!