What is wrong with Sonic Live?
A Rant-Like Substance
Seldom is it, that something can really "get the goat" of this particular Sonic Fan, but Archie has gone n' done it, with this issue. Not that it ever went over particularly well with anyone else who had the misfortune of buying it...
This may not be a rant, because it rather lacks personal opinions. It's mostly here to state facts and "popular internet theories/assumptions/observations" that surfaced at the time of publishing.
Sonic Gear is dedicated to bringing you, the fans, the BEST info, and most complete facts on every Sonic the Hedgehog item available. This means covering the good, the bad, and the very, very ugly. This book? Very...very ugly. But you need to know.

The premise is this:
Two children who play Sonic video games are sucked into their TV due to a device that Robotnik built. After following Sonic through a blank green background, they then help Sonic to defeat the plans of different Robotniks from many dimensions who have gathered in the current dimension to overthrow it. It SOUNDS simple enough...
But the execution was a catastrophe of embarrassing proportions. First of all, NO ONE on any of the Archie staff owned a Genisis. That is beyond pathetic. Not only have the main workers of the book never touched a Sonic game, they are now trying to photograph the impossible.
As you can see, they think that readers are too stupid to realize the child is not holding a Genisis controller. Since they also fail at owning an actual screen-cap of a game scene, the TV is also being turned off by the "Hold it sideways" TV remote.
You might think that these grownups would understand a simple concept by this point in their lives. It is this:
"If you lack completely the materials to do something correctly, if you cannot hope to pull off a decent final product, WAIT until you do, or do not do it at all, it will only lead to dissapointment". No Genisis? No Screen caps? No controller? No believable sets? No research? They didn't get the hint.
Now for the real fun. This was accused of racism at the time. Serious allegations...yes. But see these two guys? "Mori" and "Jerry", they were credited with being the true creators of Sonic The Hedgehog (as well as the unnamed "staff artist"), instead of the rightful Yuji Naka and his team.
At the time, it was thought (by Fans) that Archie figured the Japanese people and Japanese names were too "Oddball" and difficult for children to understand. They figured that readers couldn't grasp that Sonic did not come from America, and that white people were a better choice for his creators. Everyone knows that "Eggman's" look and name were changed because "Western Audiences" would not understand the original. However, discrediting Sonic's founder was going way, way too far over the line, no matter what the reason.

This is NOT an isolated incidence of name swapping involved in "Westernizing" shows. A popular example is Yu-Gi-Oh's female friend is "Tea" in the dub, and "Anzu" in the original. Sailor Moons' "Usagi" was changed to "Sarena". It was common at the time of Live as well, so the assumption seems clear. The difference arises when it is used to discredit REAL people, not ficticious characters in shows. It is a bit of "Revisionist History".
Is it really racism, and trying to "Stamp-out" Sonic's Japanese origen? Or was Archie just ignorant of who Sonic's creators really were?

You would think that they would know, but this is coming from a company who did not own a single game-system between all of them that could be used for the book; and who apparently were never even given video-tapes of someone playing a Sonic Game to watch in order to inform them of what their own fans experience, as well as simple facts such as that "Tails is orange and not brown," or "Chaos emeralds are not all green".

Perhaps, they really had no clue where Sonic came from, despite the existance of the internet, and legal paperwork. Perhaps they just threw these guys into it to keep the plot moving and had no other motives. It wasn't really explained, but neither outcome for Archie is benificial. Either: They did it on purpose, and were being malicious racists, or they were too lazy to figure it out and went in ignorant. Yikes! What a trap!
Of course, it committed a bunch of little lesser offences. The subtitle "Last Game Cartridge Hero" is a direct rip off of the Arnold Swarzenegger movie "The Last Action Hero". This movie was widely regarded as 'not so great', and also featured an action hero 'coming out of the movie screen' to be with 'real world' kids and have an adventure. Why they cribbed a "B" movie title is unknown.

Next, it is freely admitted that the featured humans are none other than Ken Penders son and neice. This shows that the story is a simple ego-trip for a staff member. They also 'cheapen the feel' by mentioning that they worked for free to shoot the photos. You get what you pay for, perhaps?

All in all, it's ranked as one of the worst Sonic products yet produced...and now you know why.
Again:
The whole racism thing is NOT NEW. Sonic Gear is not accusing anyone of anything, this has been around since the day the book showed up on shelves. This page is here so you can draw your OWN conclusions about what went on. If they ever release any 'official word' as to why this comic is the way it is, then that will be added here as soon as it's found.

Also:
Sonic Gear isn't here to rate action movies. It is of a popular movie database/review book/critical review that "The Last Action Hero" did not score very high on an entertainment chart.