While I don't think it's gone too far off the rails, I simply state that Ken Penders in no way deserves any royalties for any of the work he has done. @Pengi, if you wish to continue this discussion, you can do so via PM. But again, NOBODY here thinks Ken Penders deserves any royalties especially after the bullshit he pulled. Why you are so ardent to put him in some kind of correct light of the matter is beyond me. And if this isn't about Ken Penders, why the hell did you bring it up in the Ken Penders trainwreck thread? Again, if you wish to continue, do so via PM. If not, then this I consider this discussion over. Now, on the subject of reprints, no. Archie would not be able to reprint anything without a license from Sega. Now IDW could reprint the old Archie books with their consent/cut but it's safe to say that would be unprofitable and a legal mess. Like a lot of older books, there's digital. That's all you are going to get.
Personally I think royalties should have a credit limit tied to the proportion of involvement the original author/artist has with the product. I'd prefer art never be traded off to another publisher, but I'm also a believer in the idea that in order for money being made off your work to *warrant continuous profit* you should be actively involved in some way; thus, if someone like Penders leaves the company, he's no longer involved with the work and it doesn't make sense for him to be profiting off of something he's not involved with. Yes, he did make the original storylines and characters, and I guess to an extent it'd make sense for him to get royalties off reprints of his work since it was his work, but assuming it suddenly spikes in popularity (it wont lol) the idea of him living off paychecks for the thing simply existing doesn't sit well with me. It reminds me of patent laws, and how people can get money off of people using a technique/invention that they "made first." I'm not a fan of the patent system at all, and the fact Lucas has gotten constant paychecks for the Star Wars films he's sold off and was so adamant about his changes "improving the product" over some petty dispute with his ex co-writers is kind of sickening, and if he STILL gets royalties off the deal with Disney, that's just entirely upsetting. IIRC Penders complained about people living off welfare... Disregarding the fact he made a comic / piece of "artwork"/media, I don't see much difference in "welfare queens" and coasting off royalties. Sure, get paid for you hard-earned work, but if you're not doing anything with the product/project past that point, it's kind of out of your hands, isn't it? ...Also, because this can't be stressed enough, he was working on a LICENSED PROPERTY SO THIS SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN A FUCKING ISSUE TO BEGIN WITH.
Why? Lucas actually made Star Wars, with a talented group yes, but if he didn't pitch “Adventures of Luke Starkiller, As Taken From the Journal of the Whills, Saga 1: The Star Wars" to studios, we wouldn't have Star Wars at all. There's also the fact that I'm pretty sure he made most of his money through merchandising, since 20th Century Fox were so confident Star Wars would fail they gave them to him in exchange for a pay cut. Incidentally, I'd love to meet the genius who proposed that.
What surprises me most of all is that he's been a constant source of salt and asshurt for over seven years now. I think that kind of highlights how simple-minded and bitter he is about all this. Most people would learn a new fucking song already.
He knows where his bread was buttered. He's very aware of the fact that his legacy was and only ever will have been his run on Sonic. He'd never have gotten the level of recognition he obtained just being a no-name writer on other licensed books like Star Trek. For that same reason, he'll never willingly relent his moment in the spotlight - his legal "triumph" over Archie - because that is his last link to his once "empire."
This. All of this. Penders is creatively bankrupt which was made obvious after he failed to release anything after leaving Archie. His tantrum against Archie was the only way for him to remain relevant. In the end, he still succeeded to for one last time to alter the storyline when he forced Archie to reboot the comic. But now that Archie Sonic is dead, and the license moved to IDW, he lost any last bit of influence he had. He burned bridges so hard that his legacy burned down too. He's now toxic.
Ken tweeted this yesterday: https://twitter.com/KenPenders/status/922554435682930690 Real question: What's their endgame? Royalties for something Archie doesnt own anymore? Money for nonexistant upcoming reprints? It's like theyre some sort of resistance group trying to kill the big bad boss Archie, but don't realize the big bad's been dead for a while.
Honestly, I don't think it matters anymore. Ken and Archie are free to squabble with each other until the Sun expands and swallows the Earth, coz neither of them have (thankfully) anything to do with Sonic anymore. They're now completely irrelevant, and I couldn't be more happier.
Yeah, I doubt this really has anything to do with Sonic anymore, considering Penders may never actually release his fancomic, and Archie's got nothing to do with Sonic now. We can only laugh at the village idiot for so long before he just becomes pathetic.
Did this lazy turd ever release his book? I can't find anywhere to buy the damn thing which means he either has no business sense and it is actually hard to find, he hasn't released it yet, or the whole thing is a scam to use as leverage against Archie in the courts.
Both of the latter two things are true. We got sight of the first page last year, and maybe even confirmation of a second in progress. This kind of reminds me how people were saying that The Room was a money-laundering scheme, and that Tommy Wiseau was trying to pay back the mafia. Except that lead to a legendarily weird movie and a massive fanbase, while this only leads to angry memes and apathy.
I am fully prepared to gain pounds if it means playing the role of Ken Penders in a 'based on a true story' movie masterpiece. Picture a dramatic scene of Penders running da vinci code style through a book store with nothing but Sonic reprints either side of him, dramatic music as he realises with horror that his old nemesis Archie is re-printing his stuff. Ken falls to his knees. They've gone too far this time. Somehow the climax of the film involves Ken physically wrestling Archie's biggest, toughest lawyers, cage-match style to save the Sonic contract. IDW comics will be depicted as a snivelling worm-tongue who takes the throne from Archie post-credits. (sequel-bait an all that).
Yeah, while Ken's decisions regarding the book have been, uh, questionable at best, he's definitely doing actual work on it. Slow work, but work nonetheless. That's how large projects tend to go; They take a while to finish. ...Which is exactly why it was such a bad idea for him to make that infamous "COMING SOON IN 2012" promise, which is now "COMING SOON IN 2017" based on what he said over the summer. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if he forces out something out in an incomplete state in late December just so he can say he stuck to his word this time. My bets are on a barebones version of the app with some data files on characters, but little else. [inlinespoiler]If he manages to release The Storm by year's end like he implied he wanted to do, however, then kudos to him for actually completing something on time.[/inlinespoiler]