THE KEN PENDERS CHRONICLES: PendersCON Alert level 5- something actually made it to sale

Yeah, the whole thing about professionalism being determined by money thing really bugged me too, partially because of him blatantly missing the point (Ken does that a lot, I've noticed), but more because of how smug it is. The worst is that it isn't even the first time I've seen it said on his forum, though the last time wasn't from Ken, but one of his followers defending him a while back.

The worst part about his gender assuming? Later in the same exact paragraph, he used "his/her" to refer to people as part of his example while just using "him" for you, so it isn't even that using gender-neutral terms simply slipped his mind. (Also, to clear things up because of you noting me as "their", I'm male.)

His thing about lawyers not even understanding copyright sounded a lot to me like a really poor attempt at a subtle swipe at Archie's legal team, but just ended up insulting his own lawyer(s) in the process. But that doesn't matter to him, because he's apparently the master of law. After all, why else would he have in the past called people out in arguments for not having legal training despite he himself not being a lawyer?

It does seem like time for another revamp about now, but Ken's barely been on this week, so he might hold off until he's less busy. Either way, since he said he was planning on showing one or two others before Not-Knuckles, the next one will probably be Dimitri or Remington. Maybe Locke if he isn't tossing his own work out the window and throwing him in Knuckles' place.

How about Eggman during Iron Dominion?


One other thing. I went back to re-read some of the Penders posts you mentioned while typing up this reply and noticed something I overlooked before that, if I'm reading it right, really makes me want to punch a wall in frustration.

This part I did see, and it isn't really annoying, though I bet he's slightly overestimating how much of these "hidden secrets" aren't already public knowledge. What did annoy me was a bit after it:

Okay. I know why I missed the thing here; I was focusing on his talk about Ian. (Also, the Ian emails thing isn't a big secret either. Ian himself's mentioned it before, for one.) I may be misreading this, but is he implying he's actually planning to publish a book on the comic's behind the scenes secrets? If so, that's more of a blatant attempt for a quick buck than anything else he's done here. I highly, highly doubt there'd be enough material to fill more than 100 or so pages even if you padded it, and it could very easily be condensed in an article online for free. (Although presumably only after the legal battles ended.) There's no reason other than money to publish a book like that for this, so I really hope he was just speaking metaphorically with that.

 

Oh, should I be nice and mature and say "Well, maybe not that bad," or should I be honest and childish and say "At least Eggman was still upfront about being evil and ruthless, when he didn't think he was back to before the coup, that is"? Decisions, decisions.


Oh, god. Dimitri. I can't decide what's worse now. As much as I hated his old design (mostly, it just bugged me that an inorganic, metal muzzle would have an organic mouth, but other parts of it creeped me out), I do NOT want to see him have any of that bad "tech" stuff that his other revamps have.


As for that "book" thing he talked about, that is just the epitome of how unprofessional and hypocritical he's being. I'm not pretending that Archie is an innocent company, or that their business is all unicorns and rainbows, but considering the shit he put other writers through JUST from his inability to work together with them (he even said that he never read any of their work or considered it canon. What.), he doesn't seem to have much going for his image, either. Unless he devotes an entire chapter or something to just the shit he pulled, then this will be a HIGHLY biased piece of propaganda only written to make him look better. No workplace is perfect or completely uncorrupted, but then, we know that Penders is willing to do nearly anything for a paycheck nowadays. (Like he'd wait for the legalities to end. He didn't wait for them to even start with his other little vanity project.)

 

Archie isn't exactly known for being too kind to its creators when they ask for rights or royalties or whatever. For example, Josie and the Pussycats. However, that does lend support to the suggestion that Archie is also therefore not stupid enough to not have contracts and such in place that specifically say "We own all the shit you did". Their lawyers will, of course, specialize in copyright and slapping down shit like this.

In addition: A little "debate" on the Penders forums a couple of days ago, wherein a posted named Luger is trying to use an out-of-context line from the US Sonic 3 manual to prove that Roboteggnikman had nothing to do with Carnival Night Zone, and thus Echidnas MUST have built it for themselves and performed upkeep and ran the rides and fuck how can you even argue that?

The line in question? "Night life on the island is exciting".

 

So, guys. Ken is back, and he's ignored nearly every post made in his absence, surprising no one. But he does have some news.

So, uh, it looks like the trial's being pushed back again, which he's calling a victory. You'd think Ken would want to get the case over with so he could prove his point, but I guess this implies he thinks he's safer off with the case not going to court.

Archie's owners fighting each other? Okay, this I'd like some more info on. Anyone know what he means?

"Let's just say I believe one of the owners is being dragged unfairly through the mud." Yeah, we know. You've been doing it for months.


EDIT: Also, he wants to get Rotor to be in his graphic novel for some Rotor x Cobar action. I'm serious.

 

I'm fairly certain he's probably referring to one of Ian's bosses, someone who's in a more corporate or middle-management. Pellerito makes sense, as legal disputes would most likely be saddled on an editor rather than a writer. Or it could be further up. Needless to say, I'm sure it's Pender's antics that are putting Archie though whatever they're going through.

I seriously cannot believe that Penders would be this cocky over this unless he's literally completely delusional, or he actually has a legitimate way to win. I don't believe he does, because I get the feeling he's going to fall back on the "forged signature" thing, which I have a very difficult time believing. But there has to be something substantial that he believes is going to win it for him.

 

And you're not going to say what it was, were you?


Also, the in-fighting he was talking about:
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=36497

Truly pressing concerns, Ken.


EDIT: Finished reading the article. From the looks of that, Goldwater doesn't like Silberkleit and is exaggerating a situation. It doesn't sound like he's lying, just using hyperbole to make it sound like she's a huge problem. Unless there's evidence he's completely making things up (and the article seems to show there's evidence for many of his claims), it isn't really dragging her name through the mud. For that to be the case, he'd have to be making at least something up.

In short: Ken is trying to drag Goldwater's name through the mud in a way that allows him to still say "Hey, I didn't say which person was making the other look bad." I'm not surprised.

 

Which is something we've determined a long time ago. Though, the legal delays are starting to really annoy. I'm starting to really hope that Sega gets irritated enough to counter-sue him before this is over and just end it already (but not to pull the comic, of course. I mean, I just renewed for two more years...)

Of course he considers it a victory. It's just delaying the inevitable, though, I'm sure. I don't really see how Archie could REALLY have messed up enough that he could really win. They were ruthless in that Josie and the Pussycats case, if I remember correctly.

And this case between the whole Archie execs has nothing to do with the ownership lawsuit here. I mean, yeah, I suppose Archie could fall apart, but everything in the Sonic book(s) belong to SEGA in the end, and I'm sure they'd be willing to switch publishers but keep the actual creative team directly involved (writers, artists, so forth). I mean the book is doing really well right now (They're doing 2-year subs. I've NEVER seen that before....).

What.

No, seriously. I... I don't even.... WHAT.

I have nothing against homosexuality (I'm tolerant of all sexualities/orientations), and I even think that having a gay couple in the book (though subtly, at least until society freaks out less about it in children's stuff) would be a really interesting and great idea, if handled correctly.

But... Rotor never ONCE struck me as gay. On the contrary, I always had the feeling that he had some sort of small, unrequited crush on Sally (maybe I'm delusional, but there's the same amount of evidence before Penders decided he was gay to say ANYTHING about his definitive sexuality). Either way, pairing a long-term character with such importance with one of his personal recolors in tech and a wig (and wrinkles. Many, many wrinkles) with absolutely no real backstory or buildup... just reeked of poor writing. I was willing to accept them as acquaintances or even old enemies that had become fire-forged friends, but lovers.... I have this weird standard of thinking that all romantic relationships should be built up in a realistic and (at least somewhat) healthy manner. Some kid struggling with his or her sexuality could read this and use it as a role model for his relationships. They go through enough hell in their lives over who they are, don't give them bad/hollow examples to follow on top of it.

I also feel that the whole "Rotor is gay" thing was really done to get attention, but then everything Penders does is for attention.

And, it's all moot, anyway, as he's never gonna get to use Rotor, as he was developed by DiC and is owned, ultimately, by SEGA. Not Archie. And SEGA would never just give him the right to use Rotor or any other character they own.

 

Wait, so let me get this straight.

Penders is claiming a character that he didn't invent is gay?

WHUT.

 

Old news. He intended that Dark Legionnaire to be with Rotor in MxYL. Anyway, as soon as Ian came on the scene he immediately killed off the Dark Legionnaire by making King Shadow kill him in the altered timeline.

 

Welcome to 2009, where he claimed it out of nowhere to get some publicity. It's just that now he's saying he wants to get Rotor into his graphic novel as well to make it "official" or whatever.

EDIT: Ninja'd.

To be fair, Ian did point out that, like the rest of us, he had no idea Cobar was intended to be Rotor's lover until Ken said it, and that he killed him off because he was inconsequential to the plot.

 

I haven't read the comic in forever, so any inklings I've heard of this weren't of any value to me anyway. This just concreted my move from "maybe Penders has some weird sense of justice" to "Penders is a full-on loon".

 

Still, you'd think it would be common sense to tell other editors where you're hoping to take a character in the first place, if it's going to be something that might matter later. In any case, it's pretty clear, if a bit saddening, that he's gone off the deep end. Myself, I don't follow the comic anymore, but I respected Mr. Penders' works back in the day. They helped to further separate the comic from other Sonic works. While not all of his characters were really necessary, or honestly very original, the effect they had on the comic as a whole is pretty clear.

It's a real shame that it came to this, but I don't know what he thinks he'll accomplish. About all he's doing is trashing his own reputation and making a bunch of people mad. While it's not gonna bring me back to the comics, my hope hope is that this simply inspires the Archie Comics gang to further themselves from things like Mr. Penders' works and show what they can do without them from here on. I bet they have plenty of great stories and characters they can bring out to replace what they'd lose.

As for Ken, if I were him, I'd cut my losses and just get out of this mess as fast as I could. It's only going to hurt him more the longer he lets this go on. But then, if I were him, I suppose I'd be a bit too busy polishing the pedastal I'd put myself on to see what's really going on down below it anymore.

 

What characters of Ken's are still in the comics anyway?

Ian pretty much destroyed the Echidna homeland, said Hershey is dead, St. John is evil now, The Dark Legion can go up in flames at the touch of a button, Mina is now useless for some reason, and anyone that just kinda disappeared Ian can just say that they were killed in the Egg Grape Chamber.

 

@JaxTH: Mina was created by Karl Bollers, I believe. (He wrote her first appearance in 76, at least) Just saying.

Ken did create a large number of characters for the book (Like Elias), though he ability to write the characters consistently or to their full potential is debatable (I say he wasn't). The real threat is how integrated the characters, concepts, and plots he wrote are into the mythos of the book.

Granted, they're still heavily dependent upon the original Sonic mythos set up by SEGA and DiC (SatAM) for them to have much merit at all, but still.

 

I wasn't sure so if Ken or Karl had made her so I added her in anyway.

 

A lot of people have been calling Ken insane, or delusional. I've preferred to stick with crazy, because he never seemed outright insane, at least. I never really got the times people said he was like the Sonichu guy, just with more sanity, because he was just being super optimistic instead of outright flying in the face of reason.

This is from his latest post. If this was all his post had said, I'd say it was pretty much in line with what I just said, that he was just being really positive and optimistic. Good for him. Really, I mean it.

...Except there was the rest of his post. I have to warn you, it's going to be far more delusional than usual, and some of it's going to just have me reposting my own stuff as well.

But first, I need to lead you into it. Do you remember the whole Archie owner in-fighting thing he brought up? If not, quickly read about it. Okay, so he said that he believed Silberkleit was having her name dragged through the mud. I respectfully disagreed, and posted with the reasons why I personally disagreed with that. Now, ignoring how he somehow took that as me trying to prove him wrong with opinions somehow, he singled out one thing I said:

Basically, the documents he told me to read outright said that the injunction was successful, so I thought maybe he just meant they weren't successful because the lady ignored them. Well, then came his new post.

So, hang on, what? He tells me to go back and read the documents to see that the injunction was unsuccessful, I go back and read them and see they were successful, and he says...what? That the documents he himself told me to read aren't telling the truth because he personally believes the judge's decision is somehow invalid just because he says so?

For once, I really, really want him to prove me wrong. I want this part of this post to be pointless, because what the hell. Now I understand the comparisons with the Sonichu guy because if this is correct, Ken is acting like he controls the way the law works. There are no words for this.

(EDIT: Ken has since finally clarified that he meant unsuccessful as in it didn't work exactly as it was intended to. This was after multiple posts where he kept dragging it out and being as unclear as possible, when I'd already asked him to clear things up. And, of course, this meant he originally brought it up for no reason whatsoever, as his point had nothing to do with what I was talking about to begin with.)

And, sadly, that isn't all.

...Uh, I never said there weren't. I'd be much more surprised if there wasn't at least one witness to a will signing. I only said that the documents he told me to read said that the injunction was successful because the judge approved it. What is he even going on about? Is he just throwing completely random stuff out there to brag that he has "inside information"? This isn't relevant, and it isn't shocking.

Well, I'd say it'd be likely the copyright claim battle would just be uptaken by Sega, since they're the ones with the actual claim to the characters, with Archie just acting as a go-between in this case. He already said in the past that it would be Sega and not Archie, so by his own admission there wouldn't be a clear claim if Archie folded.

...No. First off, if others are going to assert ownership, why wouldn't they just do it now? Maybe some of them would wait, but that brings me to the second thing: There's no way all creators would, partially because at least some of them simply won't care either way, and partially because at the very least one (Ian) has stated that he has a work-for-hire contract, if not more of them, which would mean they'd have no claim to begin with.

...There are no words for this either. I really, really doubt there's even the smallest chance of this. This is where we go from optimism to outright delusion. I don't know what else to say.


EDIT: I just thought of something from reading Penders' recent posts. He's one of the few siding with Silberkleit, he claimed multiple times to have inside knowledge on that case when it normally shouldn't have much to do with his at all, Silberkleit has been stated to be making numerous poor business decisions for the company which have a chance at ruining it... Does anyone else think it's possible that Silberkleit has also tried to give Penders the copyrights he wants?

 

Where is Judge Judy when you need her? I can hear her say "What? Are you nuts? Ridiculous!"

I just want to see him post more furry, Knuckles-clone, Wet n' Wild lipstick wearing, nausea-inducing, echidna artwork. I need a laugh.

 

...I have no words to describe the headache this is giving me.

First of all, him having absolutely no plans for if he loses is proof that he plans poorly (You should always be prepared for any eventuality. Especially in court. Strange things happen in the legal system. Like this case going to trial at all...). It shows that he has a childish, self-centered view of "I will win" without any sort of mature "but, just in case." He has failed to plan, and thus he has planned to fail. It's closed-minded. Granted, I'm not surprised, but surely the financial costs of all this should start to bear a weight on him soon, if not already (again, I ask, four lawyers?).

Then, the case of the Co-CEOs of Archie... that has no direct connection to Pender's case (except that, if Archie dissolves, SEGA will likely take up the counter-sue. Since we've already established that everything actually belongs to SEGA and not Archie). And, to talk as if he has massive insider secrets behind all of it, then refuse to speak about it, it's just as unprofessional as if he had come out and revealed them (though I doubt he really knows anything. This all sounds like he's trying to make himself sound more important than he was/is). It may not be illegal, but it's just as much in poor taste. Like I said, I think he's trying to use this to manipulate people into agreeing with him, possibly even the judge of his case. Which is still low, in my book. Fight on your own merits, man, not on those of others unconnected to your claims (good or bad).

Yeah, no. Most creators wouldn't really be after their DERIVATIVE creations, because they wouldn't be able to really use them. They were dependent on material that already existed and belonged to others (namely SEGA, though some was created by DiC for SEGA). Why? They're derivative. How many times do we have to say it? Other creators are off creating new things and earning new income, not trying to milk old work for every last cent. (Royalties are a different story, but that's clearly not his concern anymore. If it ever really was.)

And....no. SEGA wouldn't hire you, Penders. You're kinda suing them and trying to destroy their licensed book they're publishing through Archie. How on earth can he think that they'd hire him after this fiasco? Just... what.


At least there aren't any mutated "character designs" being unleashed tonight. I might actually get some sleep.

 

That would require originality. Which is something he lacks.

 

Jesus Christ, Zeus, Thor and every single god that has ever existed in history, why are we STILL hearing from this fuckhead?

When is the trial date supposed to be?