Ken Penders

Why not sign a contract for a license book? Why claim copyright on characters created specifically to interact with someone else characters? Why make a spin-off out of unpoluar characters? Why demand royalties when when your stuff isn't used? Why should one company honor the contracts of another? How is it copyright infringement to build on concepts you already own? How is it not copyright infringement to directly build on the works of others?

There's probably a "DO NOT SERVE THIS MAN" poster with his picture on it inside IDW offices.

You really seem to have no clue what's actually going on
Penders, like pretty much all comic creators working for a corporation, signed a work-for-hire agreement stating that anything he created for the Sonic comics belonged to Archie
Archie lost the original copy of this contract
When Penders was inevitably let go, he sued Archie for the rights to the characters he created, either because he was really that delusionally egotistic or because he knew that Archie lost the original copy of the contract, and he won

So as decided by a judge and jury, Penders DOES own the rights to those characters now, wholesale. Literally nobody on Earth can use them unless Penders says so, not Archie, not IDW, not even SEGA

Again, Penders is a delusional egomaniac and thinks that the Sonic comics sold solely because of his own plots and creations, and not just because it said "Sonic the Hedgehog" on the cover

Penders claims that Archie has not paid him royalties for certain reprints, but hasn't been able to prove this
He also claims IDW owes him royalties for reprinting Star Trek comics he wrote/drew. When IDW bought the rights to these comics, they also had to honor the original work-for-hire contracts. Otherwise think about how companies could abuse that loophole: they could make a shell company, have creators make stuff for them, immediately sell the rights to the shell company, and get out of ever paying royalties to anybody

...

He’s an autistic shitlord and you are a cunt for marking a thread about him

He's living Alan Moore dream right now.

What characters he created?

what is it about sonic that makes these sort of wild things happen

As shitty as what he did, I can see the potential. What I can't see is the shitty art. The writing will be crap but a good artist can win over Archie Sonic fans. And with the Archie series over the chance to capitalize on that void would be strong. I would make so many copies of characters (close enough to make comparisons but not close enough to get sued over) and recreate the series. I'd even snatch some of the previous Sonic artists. Is Ian still doing freelance stuff?

Penders could make a killing and there's already a hungry audience, autistic and with money, that would shower him with cash to keep their nostalgia running.

>When Penders was inevitably let go, he sued Archie for the rights to the characters he created, either because he was really that delusionally egotistic or because he knew that Archie lost the original copy of the contract, and he won

False. Archie sued him. Ken began registering scripts and art with the copyright office and Archie sued him to make him cease. They settled. These distinctions are important.

What about Marvel?

Basically the whole Echidna race except for Knuckles.

Knuckles and Tikal.

fourth post best post

>knuckles
That was Takashi Yuda

Likely a whole bunch of comic companies.

Or has he been able to get work at a comic company since the lawsuit ?

What said, but also Geoffrey St. John.

Awful sad of you make a thread about yourself, Ken.

>vanished from the story and couldn't be used anymore
>comic is now dead making absolute sure his story will never be finished
>never got his comeuppance for his betrayals
forever mad

What some people don't understand was that Penders is a lazy asshole and has an inflated ego, but his intention WASN'T ACTUALLY WHAT HE GOT.

His attempt of take his characters for himself weren't to make a comic, but to mess with Archie. You can see it in his demands when he threatened the sue; He wanted:

> Get Royalties for everytime his characters were used.
> Act as consultor whenever his characters and elements were used.
>the comics had to be on par with his personal ideas for the canon of the comic.

He was clearn he was "totally fine for other artists and writters to use his characters...as long as he had the final say-so in everything. His intention was never to write and make comics himself but basically act as a even shittier George Lucas: Basically get paid for doing absolutly nothing but approve or disapprove concepts according to whatever he anted. Easy money.

Of course, such demands are incredibly ludicrous so Archie decided to just give him the characters and reboot the comic. That displeased Penders. His talks about making his own comic were just a farse to keep his ego high and to not admit his real intentions. Remember, to this day HE HAS YET TO FINISH ANYTHING BEYOND 2 PAGES OF THE FIRST ISSUE OF HIS DUMB COMIC. HE EVEN TRIED TO SELL SHITY PATCHES AS MERCHANDISE BEFORE EVEN FINISHING SAID COMIC.

Further attacks on Archie by convincing other writers was mearly an act petty revenge, seeing if he could at least squeeze something out of the rare advantage he got of Archie's lawyers messing up. In any other company he'd have gotten his ass kicked in Court.

As soon as the news came of IDW picking up the Sonic franchise, he immediatly "just happened" to remember and claim that IDW owns him royalties. Oddly convinient...

he knows barking at the IP is the only thing he has to stay relevant.

>never got his comeuppance

Wasn't he deleted from existence from the whatever-wave? That's pretty harsh.

>Why demand royalties when when your stuff isn't used?
The man is deluded. Keep in mind he thinks HE made Sonic popular. So it's safe to say he THOUGHT he was going to make a mint licensing his characters back to Archie. But of course, paying unnecessary licensing fees just so fans get attached to characters they don't even own and will need to pay for through the foreseeable future is fucking terrible business sense, no one would do that.

Context, friend. He's listing exclusions.

>HE EVEN TRIED TO SELL SHITY PATCHES AS MERCHANDISE BEFORE EVEN FINISHING SAID COMIC.
Whatever happened to the comic? It's been several years. Is it ever coming out?

He claims he owns Scourge. Nevermind the only thing he actually designed regarding him was back when he was just "Evil Sonic" in a leather jacket.

Maybe he noticed nobody was clamoring for it.

Considering the sheer number of characters that happened to, it doesn't seem that earned.

Nope, everytime people ask, he says he is still working on it, saying he is working on a web app of it (Yet he fucks himself because when people ask about his work, he says the web app has obtained tons of downloads...you know..the web app he says he is STILL WORKING ON IT).

He will never admit he stopped working on it, but clearly he did because it was never his intention.

He claims he owns the concept of a multiverse in a Sonic comic.

Nevermind the fact you can't own such a concept. Multiverses have been around way before him. He is fucking nuts.

What does he even do for a living now? Imagine walking into a gas station convenience store and seeing Penders working register.

Think he'll try to sue and harass IDW over this shit?

He is already trying claiming they own him royalties over some Star Trek comics (strangely he mentions DC publishing...yet barks at IDW, so it sounds like him spouting shit.)

However, I imagine IDW's legal department is at least more competent than Archie.

I think he'll boast and threaten on Twitter, but he can't make a good case and I'm sure even he knows it... that's all he'll do.

he hasn't been able to get work since he left archie

He started bitching on twitter the moment he heard IDW got Sonic. Of course he's going to start a shitstorm.

He sells autographed copies of the Knuckles series on ebay.
And I think his wife is a lawyer

I doubt he's even looking. He seems like an adult NEET.

I feel really bad for Ian Flynn and everybody else involved with the series, having him nipping at their heels no matter where they go.

And Ian has to do yet another reboot/origin with Sonic and friends. I bet he's real tired of this shit.

On the bright side, this is the first time he's been completely liberated of the bullshit. Even the universe reboot got dragged back into the shitmire of bad lore with the memory restoration bullshit.
This is the only time it's a true, clean break for him. And I hope he's up to doing 100% of the world building and pacing from the ground up. Last I saw, his Archie series was kind of dragging.

>shitmire of bad lore
I think it's worth noting that Ian doesn't consider it a shitmire of bad lore. That's something fans with selective memories do. It was Flynn's love of the book that drew him to Archie Comics in the first place.

>I bet he's real tired of this shit.

Maybe not. Sega seems to like his work enough to keep using him for those Sonic Forces comics. IDW usually has more freedom do things and this might allow him to work with new materials.

I seem to recall hearing he was forced to do the memory plot against his better judgment. I think he would be at least a little relieved for a clean break, amid the disappointment of it.

Technically Penders sued first, only he sued Sega/Bioware directly over Sonic Chronicles, due to seeing them as infringing upon what he saw as his own material (regardless of how often he nakedly referenced and stole things as a writer)

He didn't won, Archie just did not wanted to engage in court without insta-win, provided by original contracts.

Is this guy literally autistic? How the fuck he expect to be hired by ANYONE if he's suing every single person who ever gave him a job?

because he thinks he can get away with it by doing enough noise.

His victory over Archie was a fluke due to Archie's own incompetence, but did nothing but to inflate his already large ego.

I legitimately fear of him trying to pull shit up against with IDW. Ian Flynn may not be the greatest writer around and I'm sure a lot of people do not like him, but he sure doesn't deserve half the shit situations he gets thanks to Penders' autism.

This. While he was happy to fix a lot of the crap that was given at the begining, he always was happy to touch elements that he used to read as a fan of the comic and make them work better.

a lot of those were even ideas Penders implemented. It makes it extra sad that ian has to deal with Penders shit when he was one of the few that actually thought some of Pender's ideas had good concepts.

I wonder if Sonic Boom will ever make an episode parodying Penders and all this shit.

Maybe a sequel to the episode with Mark/CWC, only now he becomes obsessed with Knuckles.

He doesn't. He lives off his lawyer wife.

I've personally always thought that there's no bad concepts, only bad executions. Hell even the ideas behind some of the most popular franchises on earth are dumb as hell--just look at fucking Yugioh. On its face something like Axe Cop seems stupid as fuck but in execution it works. Same works for Penders. The man is, at best, an ideas man. But he's heavily weighed down by an inability to write believable dialogue, likeable characters, and executing his ideas without using cliches and stealing from 80s and early 90s movies.

I wouldn't be surprised if Penders claimed that by parodying him, they're breaking whatever legal agreement that he has. Like, he's his own character or some dumb shit.

The whole thing with Penders going too far is fine and all, but it surprises me that Sup Forums shits on Penders for trying to retain some IP rights to his characters on the basis that they were being used in a licensed comic and yet Sup Forums champions the causes of Kirby, Ditko, and Bill Finger, who have been in similar situations.

I mean yea, I know, work for hire makes it legal and all but why is it autistic for Penders to seek control over what he created when the others get a free pass?

See Unlike Kirby, Ditko, or Bill Finger, Penders never wanted to continue writing but rather simply be the "ideas guy" and get paid royalties for it.

He uses the "artists should own their creations" movement to simply tell himself that he has the moral high-ground even if he is just being a parasite.

Too much divaiousness for plebs. I would've bought a patch or something of that abomination of art that Penders created had I ever seen him at a con.

I know this guy's a meme on Sup Forums but what's his deal? Does he really state he created Knuckles?

His plan backfired monumentally because he's a literal retard.

He wanted to have a veto right on stories in the comic even though he wasn't working on it anymore, such as Mobius X Years Later MUST be the CANON future of the Sonic universe, and Locke must not be killed off, and a bunch more. What sane company would agree to that kind of shit? Of course they would rather purge all his characters and never mention them again rather than pay some asshole money constantly and let him dictate scripts. If Penders had been smarter he could probably have found a settlement that would still have made it appealing to Archie to keep his characters around, but he did everything he could to shit in his own drinking water just because he was (and still is) convinced that his "Vision" of Sonic is why Sonic is popular.

He even outright said on his twitter that he didn't think anything based on Sonic would work as a movie unless it was based on HIS Sonic.

It's almost funny to see how thoroughly he and Scott Fulop fucked themselves over with this.

Get off the internet, Penders.

"Work for hire" usually means the creator keeps rights unless specifically stated in a legal document.

Example: tattoo artists are suing 2K games because their tattoos are in the newest NBA game. (It's actually a really fascinating legal battle)