232 replies to this topic

[NeonZephyr]

What I'm saying, is that I haven't heard of SEGA saying or doing ANYTHING. I mean, when this all started, Archie replied that they "Would respond through the proper legal channels" which tells us that they were aware and on top of things. SEGA? Zip. Granted, they know they'll win. They're SEGA. They've been around. They know business. They're not as strong as the past, I'm sure, but they certainly have strong lawyers and such. I just find it weird that they haven't even seemed to ACKNOWLEDGE that Penders decided to sue them.

@Ann Chovi: First, I agree with the color scheme thing, too. I get that she's Luger's daughter, but the purple should've been better planned out. And that green just look horrible with that pinkish skin/fur. If anything, I now feel a lot better about my own shading and coloring (which I used to think was about the worst digital color/shades that have any effort behind them). Second, I HAVE NO IDEA. Seriously. When I saw that for the first time, I was just... "What is this? I DON'T EVEN." I just... WHAT.

Proof that this man is either severely misguided, or just plain delusional.

@Furrykef: (Right?) anyway....cite: http://www.tssznews....lectronic-arts/

[PuffinGrandeur]

Sega doesn't care, seems like. Now that they and EA are being sued (where the hell did the official notification of that go?), they're forced to a bit, but they haven't even acknowledged him because why bother?

[salamander]

Wow, that's ugly art even for Penders. It's like he has no concept of colour or lighting. On a bright white background you don't have such low contrast and saturation. The colour scheme is all over the place, green and purple with red and blue accessories? The colours are so muddy that they all blend together anyway. Her face is way over-shaded, so she looks 100 years old. What facial expression is that supposed to be, anyway? "Who farted?" Her eyes aren't even looking in the same direction.
I don't know what's up with the hair, either. Femullet in a bun? What?
He's never really gotten the hang of drawing toony characters. His art isn't sloppy and his proportions are all right, but his toons are so stiff and awkward looking.
Well, good luck on the case there, dude..

[DaddlerTheDalek]

Now I'm waiting for:
Penders vs DC
Penders vs Marvel
Penders vs Disney
Penders vs Morshu
Penders vs Godzilla
Penders vs Jesus
Penders vs Norris

[furrykef]

Oh yeah, so he is suing Sega. It's easy to get lost in all this legal mess he's decided to get himself mired in.

[saber16]

Penders vs Marvel

Sounds like the next big brawler. I'd play it.

As for the art... the face... that damned face. The eyelids, the muzzle, the lips... seriously, that's freaky.

... I still can't get around him trying to sue Archie and Sega, and then turn around using these characters.

I mean... I'm not familiar with which characters he owns, I just know of Julie-sue and that Robin Hood Sonic, that's it... but these chraracters are already grounded into the main story, and without Sonic or Knuckles, they wouldn't even exist... so, to me, if they weren't tied into the Archie Sonic series already, they would just seem like fan characters, and nothing more. But if he does get a comic out of this (somehow...), he needs to get a better artist. Julie-sue looked fine, but the others... bleh. As it stands, I have a lot to work on myself, but... this is an established comic book writer/artist (before all this lawsuit crap, will anyone work with him after all this?)... I'd expect something better.

[furrykef]

But if he does get a comic out of this (somehow...), he needs to get a better artist.

Heh, that's not going to happen. Considering the size of his massive ego -- and there were signs of it even before all this lawsuit insanity -- he couldn't possibly be capable of admitting to himself, let alone others, that he isn't the best person for the job. Ken Penders is a shining example of "Unskilled and Unaware of It".

[PuffinGrandeur]

He wants Dawn Best and Spaz to do it. I don't think they will.

Anyway, more quotes and such (spoiled because Christ, the man knows how to ramble):

Spoiler

Who says they're echidnas? Seriously, I'm the guy who created these characters in the first place, none of whom were inspired by, were based on, or have anything to do with Sega (or Archie for that matter). Despite the uproar from what I see, there is a large contingent out there who loved those old stories and want to see what happens. Beyond that, there's a good chance the younger crowd will enjoy the stories, and because I'm taking the same approach that I did when writing the earlier series, that adults will enjoy the stories as well.

There was absolutely nothing in the video games or anywhere else to base a viable long-running series on utilizing the Knuckles character, as has been pointed out by many people over the years.

I suspect the uproar over Lien-Da is precisely because her design is so radically different from her previous incarnation compared to Julie-Su and Lara-Su, as well as the fact that people are taking what I'm doing seriously, if the coverage and my e-mail is any indication. The fact that people are willing to go to war over this on message boards is scaring a number of fans from engaging publicly in the conversation. I also never expected a united Sonic fandom behind me - or anywhere even a majority - simply because there is no such thing. The gamers were dismissive of our comics back then, as well as factions arguing whether Sonic UK or SegaSonic or Archie Sonic was better. This is something I've experienced nearly from the beginning and it's nothing new. Remember ENDGAME? It it weren't for the fact that sales took an unexpected leap upward, issue 50 was the swan song with Sonic and company going out in a blaze of glory. The uproar now is nothing compared to when I leaked it I was killing off Sally.

@Toby Barrett:
As I tell the paying customer, you pay your money, you have a right to criticize. I don't censor here unless it gets personal and nasty.

By the way, the work I created for Archie began in 1993 even though it was first published in 1994. Copyright exists at the moment of creation, and the dates refer to the full body of work I created, not just any character in particular.

And Knuckles is nothing like Lien-Da. A rip-off would be if she were also the sole inhabitant of a floating island guarding a chaos emerald. Larry Bird and Magic Johnson have more similarities than Knuckles and Lien-Da and no one would say one is ripping off the other.

[furrykef]

Who says they're echidnas? Seriously, I'm the guy who created these characters in the first place, none of whom were inspired by, were based on, or have anything to do with Sega (or Archie for that matter).

... *snerk* ...

BWAHAHAHAHAHA! Seriously?? He's seriously claiming those facial designs and dreadlocks and whatnot weren't swiped off Knuckles? Wow. Either I'm seriously missing something or Ken's balls must be the size of watermelons.

I suspect the uproar over Lien-Da is precisely because her design is so radically different from her previous incarnation compared to Julie-Su and Lara-Su, as well as the fact that people are taking what I'm doing seriously, if the coverage and my e-mail is any indication.

Or maybe it's because it's a fucking horrible design by any objective measure. Sheesh. I don't even know what her old design looked like, so it can't be that...

[Speedy_25]

Wow....just wow.....first the saying that the characters don't look like echidnas ok ok ok...this is just

[MoonPrincess07]

I am not an artist and really don't have an understanding of what qualifies as art, but seriously? The creepy Sally doll is better than the picture of Lien-Da.

[Speedy_25]

I am not an artist and really don't have an understanding of what qualifies as art, but seriously? The creepy Sally doll is better than the picture of Lien-Da.

[NeonZephyr]

One last note: anyone posting ©Archie after any of their drawings based on anything published in the Archie SONIC series, please stop doing that. Either credit ©Sega if it's their material, ©Ken Penders if it's mine, and even ©Scott Fulop (AKA Kent Taylor), ©Karl Bollers or ©MIke Gallagher if it's their characters. But whatever you do, there is no such thing as ©Archie regarding anything related to these books. That is a fact.

Am I the only one who now has a burning urge to draw a massive amount of Archie Sonic fanart and posting ©Archie after it? (Well, ©Archie/SEGA is the more accurate manner, but...) And, 13-year-olds are not gonna look up who created whom. Or give a darn about it.

And, why does he keep repeating how some opinion or rambling of his is a "fact?" He sounds severely butthurt now. And, saying that Ian's writing the characters wrong when he hasn't even READ a single issue of his? What.


...They're not Echidnas? ...What are you smoking, Penders? Because, that stuff sounds waaaay too strong for you.

In all seriousness, this man's pretty much off his rocker in the worst way.

[LaserX5]

The creepy Sally doll is better than the picture of Lien-Da.

Well, I wouldn't go that far.

While Lien-Da's redesign was hideous, the Sally Doll IMO was even more, especially since it was made for peverted purposes.

But that's just me.

[saber16]

One last note: anyone posting ©Archie after any of their drawings based on anything published in the Archie SONIC series, please stop doing that. Either credit ©Sega if it's their material, ©Ken Penders if it's mine, and even ©Scott Fulop (AKA Kent Taylor), ©Karl Bollers or ©MIke Gallagher if it's their characters. But whatever you do, there is no such thing as ©Archie regarding anything related to these books. That is a fact.

Am I the only one who now has a burning urge to draw a massive amount of Archie Sonic fanart and posting ©Archie after it? (Well, ©Archie/SEGA is the more accurate manner, but...) And, 13-year-olds are not gonna look up who created whom. Or give a darn about it.

And, why does he keep repeating how some opinion or rambling of his is a "fact?" He sounds severely butthurt now. And, saying that Ian's writing the characters wrong when he hasn't even READ a single issue of his? What.


...They're not Echidnas? ...What are you smoking, Penders? Because, that stuff sounds waaaay too strong for you.

In all seriousness, this man's pretty much off his rocker in the worst way.

Everything you said. I agree. Seriously, that's pretty petty, "I'm mad at Archie, so DON'T CREDIT THEM! THEY DON'T OWN NUTHEN! Even though they own the publishing writes and are still publishing a comic I left quite sometime ago... THEY DESERVE NOOOOOTHING! It's a fact. A fact I can't back up, BUT A FACT!"

Oh Penders', just throw in the flag man. Why can't he just leave well enough alone and go off a make a new story with new characters and just avoid all this crap?

[blue]

So, who won the lawsuit? I know it's shallow to say, but I just want to know.

[Ann Chovi]

One last note: anyone posting ©Archie after any of their drawings based on anything published in the Archie SONIC series, please stop doing that. Either credit ©Sega if it's their material, ©Ken Penders if it's mine, and even ©Scott Fulop (AKA Kent Taylor), ©Karl Bollers or ©MIke Gallagher if it's their characters. But whatever you do, there is no such thing as ©Archie regarding anything related to these books. That is a fact.

Am I the only one who now has a burning urge to draw a massive amount of Archie Sonic fanart and posting ©Archie after it? (Well, ©Archie/SEGA is the more accurate manner, but...) And, 13-year-olds are not gonna look up who created whom. Or give a darn about it.

And, why does he keep repeating how some opinion or rambling of his is a "fact?" He sounds severely butthurt now. And, saying that Ian's writing the characters wrong when he hasn't even READ a single issue of his? What.


...They're not Echidnas? ...What are you smoking, Penders? Because, that stuff sounds waaaay too strong for you.

In all seriousness, this man's pretty much off his rocker in the worst way.

Isn't is ALL trademarked / copyright / whatever to Sega anyway? SoA DOES require that Archie sends them absolutely EVERYTHING to be ok'ed well before it gets printed. I was under the impression that Archie had publishing rights, and that everything they put out related to Sonic legally became property of Sega. :\ The writers don't get to keep jack of they do while they're working on the comic- because their contributions become the property of Sega automatically. It's pretty much the same thing Disney does with anyone on their creative teams. Anything they create while working for the mouse STAYS with the mouse.

I can't imagine how delusional he must be to think he's a special case. :| That's how the professional creative world works Ken. Put on your big girl panties and deal with it. [/rant]

And Neon- you're totally not the only one. I kinda want to go the extra mile myself and put ©Archie/Sega/DiC since the cartoon is what really shaped the comic in the first place.

[NeonZephyr]

And Neon- you're totally not the only one. I kinda want to go the extra mile myself and put ©Archie/Sega/DiC since the cartoon is what really shaped the comic in the first place.

Well, I meant primarily the characters Penders wrote for the comic, but yeah. I believe that the SatAM cast deserves all three. Or at least SEGA/DiC. Maybe a pic of Julian smashing a Legionnaire's face in? (Yep, I can be petty.) Oh, why aren't there more hours in the day?

Yeah, it's all technically SEGA, but I do it more to signify what continuity it's from, since not everyone knows them all separately. If I were to draw Porker Lewis, I'd label it ©Fleetway/SEGA (Why do I caps-lock that?).


@saber16: Because he can't seem to make his original ideas work. And, instead of coming up with something else (or, God forbid, get another job until something we writes actually sells again), he'd rather milk his old stuff for every cent he can, while screwing over the fans who appreciated and were affected (I've already discussed my personal story).

You know, if Penders' original works had actually taken off, he probably wouldn't even care about this. It's obvious he's just after an easy paycheck (though, there's nothing easy about the whole legal mess, he's just nuts).

I seriously think that the Klingon thing didn't take off because Penders was just some guy who did a little Trek work. He wasn't a big time writer for the show, or anything, so why would they give such a huge franchise to him? Comic writing=/=screen writing, so his work on Sonic would NOT be much of a resume, I'd presume. He's coming across as more and more desperate for sympathy, to the point that he ignores the fact that pretty much everyone either wants him to lose because of how he's handling this (and that he's wrong), or just want him to win because they DON'T like his work and want it expunged (or for this to just go away). That's not support. A circle of 10-25 people (being generous, but I'm in a good mood) is not support. That's a circle of personal fans. I wouldn't consider my inner circle of friends, family, and fans in constant contact that love my writing to be evidence that what I write will sell.

Again, if this had just been about royalties, and Penders had been all "these are reprints, shouldn't I and THE OTHER WRITERS [as in, share the glory, and not just say they support him] get a small cut for our past work" and done so privately and politely, I'd still be a massive fan. It's his greed, laziness, hypocrisy, and general jackass-nature that's turned me against him.

@Blue: Trial's at the end of the month, if I'm not mistaken. We'll know then. Unless they delay it. (Which might be Archie's tactic. They have the money to delay, but Penders... no way.)

[furrykef]

My predictions:
* Archie v. Penders: Ken settles out of court after finally realizing he's boned (which will not happen until his financial resources are exhausted)
* Penders v. Sega: Lawsuit thrown out of court.

[NeonZephyr]

* Penders v. Sega: Penders thrown out of court.

Fix'd. Simply because the image of ANYONE being thrown out of court and onto their backside (Yes, I mean literally), is rather amusing to me. Granted, I have a twisted sense of humor, but...

And, honestly, Penders may not be able to get Archie to "settle" out of court, not in the way he wants (not likely to happen at all, really), and might even end up being forced to give up out of a sheer lack of funds. I mean, lawyers aren't cheap, and he has FOUR (I still don't get this. Please explain. Somebody? Does someone understand law?) It's not in his nature, of course, but debt can force you to make tough choices....