The legal battle between Ken Penders and Archie Comics continues. As of December 2016 the Sonic Comics have been delayed. SEGA of Japan have allegedly sent the Archie publishers a Cease and Desist letter to stop printing any and all comics as their contract with SEGA has apparently not yet been renewed.

The licensing issues continue, as fans noticed that several pre-orders for Sonic the Hedgehog comics and Sonic Universe disappeared off the Archie website last year. In early December it was announced that they would change the release of Free Comic Book Day from originally planned Sonic the Hedgehog to replace it with a promotional issue of Riverdale to help boost the television series. Fans began to think that at 290 issues the Sonic comic series would be getting cancelled.

This also lead to the question; what happened to Knuckles Archives Volume 5? Which was announced in 2014 for a December 2016 release (originally 2015). Now it seems to have vanished from site order listings. Even though it was announced on the back of Knuckles Archives issue number 4. It is possible that the Lawsuit still affects the release of this issue.

On January 13 2017, Archie included Sonic the Hedgehog #291 and Sonic Universe #95 in the listings for release in April 2017. This means the issues were delayed from February to April 2017. So instead of the series being cancelled, the official confirmation is that it is actually delayed, while we assume Archie Publishing try to sort out the legal issues with Ken Penders and SEGA of Japan.

What do you think of these ongoing issues? What do you think has happened exactly? Let us know in the comments below!