I'll never forget the cover in your avy, man. One of my favorite images of Dr. Robotnik. I grew up with SatAM and these comics, so this is like losing a pretty big piece of my childhood. I think I'll have to crack open one of the "Archives" collections I have when I get home. Need to start collecting what I don't already have too . . .
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Archie's Sonic Comics officially cancelled
- Thread starter AlexFlame116
- Start date
I'll never forget the cover in your avy, man. One of my favorite images of Dr. Robotnik. I grew up with SatAM and these comics, so this is like losing a pretty big piece of my childhood. I think I'll have to crack open one of the "Archives" collections I have when I get home. Need to start collecting what I don't already have too . . .
Argh. I was really looking forward to picking up the Sonic Meg Drive in collected trade paperback format. Amazon still has a listing for it. Sad if that is now cancelled:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1682559785/?tag=neogaf0e-20
Also sad that it seems like Sonic didn't get an official ending issue from Archie.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1682559785/?tag=neogaf0e-20
Also sad that it seems like Sonic didn't get an official ending issue from Archie.
SonicMegaDrive
Member
I've got it. It's nice in the same way those 'Showcase Presents' and 'Marvel Essentials' releases by DC and Marvel respectively are. But I'm still waiting for something that preserves the comics in exactly the same way they were originally printed. That's all I want.
Tizoc
Member
Long as Ian Flynn is writing it I am on board.
For that matter what's Ian Flynn up to now? It'd suck if he stopped writing comics :/
I remember getting the first comic the week it came out. My mom thought the comic store was basically a porn store, so I had to wait until the weekend to go with my dad and get it.
Gentleman Jack
Member
Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku!
Member
What's the highest numbered comic that hasn't been rebooted now?
Simpsons is on 239
Looney Tunes is on 237
2000 AD is on 2,010 but it's a weekly comic (still impressive as hell)
Simpsons is on 239
Looney Tunes is on 237
2000 AD is on 2,010 but it's a weekly comic (still impressive as hell)
AlexFlame116
Member
Stealing this from the other thread. In other news:
And this from RecRoullete.
And this from RecRoullete.
JSoup
Banned
The sad thing about Penders is he's...not a completely terrible writer. The original Knuckles stories and then the mini-series is led into are some of the best the books ever had.
That...fucking....swan.....always bothered me.
On the other hand, we're spared any further exposure to...well, this
That...fucking....swan.....always bothered me.
That's why I can't really hate on Penders much. The Knuckles the Echidna series brought me a lot of joy as a I kid. I also really liked his world-building. It's a shame about all the legal shit.
Welp, it was obvious for a while now, but at least it's confirmed instead of just left in limbo with no news whatsoever. Seriously sucks that they couldn't at least manage to get the complete set of Megadrive comics out the door first.
Also really, really sucks that I'd imagine that Ian Flynn won't be on it anymore wherever it may go, as he did a really killer job turning around the mess Penders made into something legitimately well done, and he clear had a ton of passion for working on it. On the flip side, though, having the license with literally anyone other than Archie would be a boon in terms of general competence in how it's managed, so that's something (IDW has done a damn fine job with their licenses, at least of what I've seen, so would certainly be cool to see it go to them).
Also kind of half wonder if this could somehow lead to the Mega Man comics coming back from hiatus. Because this was clearly a rights issue mess (thanks Penders!), and the cancellation should free up some space/resources for Archie... (Doubt it of course, but it'd be a nice consolation for this whole mess).
Also really, really sucks that I'd imagine that Ian Flynn won't be on it anymore wherever it may go, as he did a really killer job turning around the mess Penders made into something legitimately well done, and he clear had a ton of passion for working on it. On the flip side, though, having the license with literally anyone other than Archie would be a boon in terms of general competence in how it's managed, so that's something (IDW has done a damn fine job with their licenses, at least of what I've seen, so would certainly be cool to see it go to them).
Also kind of half wonder if this could somehow lead to the Mega Man comics coming back from hiatus. Because this was clearly a rights issue mess (thanks Penders!), and the cancellation should free up some space/resources for Archie... (Doubt it of course, but it'd be a nice consolation for this whole mess).
RadioJoNES64
Banned
Vector says it allOn the other hand, we're spared any further exposure to...well, this
Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku!
Member
There's something extremely sad about Ken Penders. The dude did some freelance work for licensed comics 20 years ago and he can't let it go.
UberTag
Member
Bongo has significantly scaled back their Simpsons comic releases so I suspect they'll meet a similar fate soon enough. The TV series might actually outlive it.
For reference, there's no numbered issue being released in October... only a reprint of earlier stories. The annual THOH issue hits in September. A Radioactive Man reprint hits next month. That's a pretty sizeable gap from Simpsons 240 which hits shops today.
Ian Flynns worked with IDW before, and Im sure Sega knows fans like his work. Wouldnt be surprised if Sega tried to bring him along for the ride wherever the new comic ends up.
sixteen-bit
Member
On the other hand, we're spared any further exposure to...well, this
what's the deal with these proportions? more like ninja turtles than sonic, lol
Frozenprince
Banned
And thanks to the legal battle forget about ever collecting the entire run in an omnibus or anything.
Uzumaki Goku
Junior Member
Yeah why should've been a curbstomp battle in Sega's case turned out to be a complete mess.
AlexFlame116
Member
You should see how Lara-Su and other characters look like now.
Before:
Now:
Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku!
Member
Doesn't Matt Groening own Bongo? He could keep it open as long as he wants not turning a profit, like Charles Foster Kane
SonicMegaDrive
Member
That looks like somebody barfed pink paint all over a late '90s Toonami promo.
Ah, awesome, was not aware he'd done work outside of with Archie before. Well, here's hoping then, as that'd definitely be the best case scenario, at least by my tastes.
Pop-O-Matic
Banned
You should see how Lara-Su and other characters look like now.
Before:
Now:
Well they were saying he was a decent writer, but as an artist...yeah, how can you not look at that shit and think to yourself "I should probably hire someone who can actually draw"?
Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku!
Member
Nobody wants to work with him im guessing
Professor Beef
Banned
obligatory "fuck ken penders"
oh lord in heaven this page, i forgot all about those abominations he drew
oh lord in heaven this page, i forgot all about those abominations he drew
Well, it's good to have confirmation now because the limbo status was not doing anyone any favors. I hope that Sega will find another publisher to at least finish out the current arcs they have.
Does anyone know, if the arcs continue or get re-published under a different company, do they have to reset the numbers? So, for example, would the next issue be #291 or #1?
Does anyone know, if the arcs continue or get re-published under a different company, do they have to reset the numbers? So, for example, would the next issue be #291 or #1?
balladofwindfishes
Member
So I guess this is the end of the road for the old Knothole Village gang?
The comics had managed to keep characters from a 2 season TV show around for over 20 years. They don't really have anything else other than the comics, so I guess we'll never hear from them again unless they fit them into the game canon or something.
The comics had managed to keep characters from a 2 season TV show around for over 20 years. They don't really have anything else other than the comics, so I guess we'll never hear from them again unless they fit them into the game canon or something.
We will never forget
Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku!
Member
It depends. They usually go back to 1, but occasionally they don't.
GI Joe got cancelled by Marvel in the early 90s and IDW recently brought back the old numbering and the original writer after 20 years of different GI Joe comics, so you never know.
I don't think there's any reason why they'd have to reset the numbers, and now that they've gone through the whole Penders thing the rights to the characters are probably pretty clearly laid out.
I know for sure that Sega owns all the Freedom Fighters and any of the other characters from SatAM (like Naugus), but I'm not too sure about any of the things they introduced during shattered world (like the Egg Army and his rogue gallery of leaders). For the most party they could probably just hand it off to someone else and continue like nothing happened.
Hmm, interesting. Obviously, I'm still hoping that whoever picks them up can continue with the correct numbering because seeing it all do a hard reset after 24 years would be disappointing to say the least.
That would be AMAZING if they continued the series like nothing happened! It would please the fans and the new publisher would just make money off the comics.
Oh sega don't give a fuck about characters they don't make themselves. The only thing they reference from sonic boom is sticks, because sonic team made sticks. They strait up threw sonic boom under a buss recently.
Unless a couple of those characters get lucky, like shadow's inhibitor rings/sonic's love for chilidogs, where sega likes the idea so much they steal it. We will probably never see those characters again and a new publisher will most likely get rid of them to start with a fresh comic much closer to what the games are. Them dudes going in the same basement cosmo and sonic's brother and sister from underground are going in.
baddvision
Member
love archie comics but never read the sonic run. when we getting a archie vs sonic vs game?
SonicMegaDrive
Member
When you're hired to work for most comic book publishers, you must first sign an agreement where anything you create during your time working there becomes the property of the publisher. For instance, Todd McFarlane doesn't own Venom even though he created him. Marvel does.
According to Penders, he was never forced to sign any such agreement, and Archie couldn't come up with any proof that he ever did.
End of an era. 
I hope the Archives will resume print/be picked up by someone else and printed in colour.
Damn, I hope not. D:
I hope the Archives will resume print/be picked up by someone else and printed in colour.Damn, I hope not. D:
BlazeHedgehog
Member
My understanding is this:
When Archie staffed up for the Sonic comic, nobody ever drew up proper "Work for hire" contracts. A "Work for Hire" contract usually states that anything made while employed by that company becomes their property. Meaning if Archie had those contracts in order, anything Ken Penders made while working for Archie would be the property of Archie Comics Inc. or whatever.
Since they didn't do that, once Ken Penders was fired from Archie Comics (2006 or so), he eventually realized that "nobody" owned the Sonic Comic characters he created while working for them. Since those characters are literally the most successful thing he's ever done, he went ahead and filed trademarks and copyrights for all of them so that he owned them outright.
The way Ken Penders tells the story, Archie was notified about him doing this, but didn't stop him.
Ken eventually announces he has plans to use these characters in an upcoming graphic novel he's writing. Archie Comics catches wind of this and says "No, those are our characters, you can't do that." and Ken's like "Nuh-uh, I own them legally."
So Archie sues Ken over it, and Ken sues Archie back.
Both sides dragged their feet on their respective lawsuits for SO LONG that the Judge visibly became angry with them for not having enough evidence for either side of the suits. He gave them deadlines to get their shit together or else he'd dismiss everything. It was basically the most polite, legally correct version of "Both of you can fuck off."
It's been a long time, but I believe one case WAS dismissed, but Archie Comics settled on the rest. The terms of the settlement have never been made public.
While all of this was going on, the Sonic comic rebooted several times. Once just to get rid of all the dangling plot threads Ken Penders left behind after being fired, and then once to get rid of Ken's characters, and then once more to get rid of ANYTHING that might be objectionable.
That's because, during all of this stuff, Ken Penders publicly said that if any other people who worked at Archie wanted to follow in his footsteps and claim their characters, he'd be glad to help them out. It really made him sound bitter and vindictive. No longer was this about him figuring out a loophole Archie accidentally left open and exploiting it for his own gain, now it was starting to look like he was out to burn Archie Comics to the ground -- or at least the Sonic portion of it.
Only one other person has ever come forward so far: Scott Fulop, who tried to trademark a handful of minor characters, got in to the same legal battles as Ken Penders, and then tried to back out. Reportedly, Archie denied him from backing out of their lawsuit, and that's the last I heard of the Scott Fulop situation. I think they're trying to hold his feet to the fire.
Ken, meanwhile, revealed that his shitty Knuckles characters were intended for more than just graphic novels. He wants movies and books and whatever else he thinks he can get away with. He's furiously counting chickens before they hatch even as we speak.
Sega was rumored to be very angry with Archie Comics that they let Ken Penders get as far as he did. Undoubtedly that was part of all this -- rumor has it that Sega was upping the licensing fees for Archie, and Archie isn't in the best financial situation right now. Supposedly they want to simplify their output back to just doing Riverdale stories again and with them pushing the TV series so hard and rebooting all of their Archie stuff recently that definitely looks like the case. Archie Comics doesn't want to do Sonic anymore, and Sega is asking for too much money for them to justify the cause, even if Sonic was still one of their top sellers.
Manic and Sonia will be characters in Sonic Mania, just you wait.
BlazeHedgehog
Member
Sega definitely does, or did, give a fuck about characters from the comics.
The big event Ken Penders planned for issue #50 was to kill Princess Sally and Sega stepped in and told him he couldn't do that because they considered her on the same level as Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, etc. She was an "untouchable."
At the time, Princess Sally was a big deal in Australia's "Sega World" amusement park. There was tons of merch with her on it. That made her a financial asset for Sega.
Sega World closed down some 15+ years ago, though, so that's probably not true anymore.
The big event Ken Penders planned for issue #50 was to kill Princess Sally and Sega stepped in and told him he couldn't do that because they considered her on the same level as Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, etc. She was an "untouchable."
At the time, Princess Sally was a big deal in Australia's "Sega World" amusement park. There was tons of merch with her on it. That made her a financial asset for Sega.
Sega World closed down some 15+ years ago, though, so that's probably not true anymore.
I'm so ready for that to come out.
BocoDragon
or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Even if Archie didn't make Penders sign a contract that they own all his creations.....
^ Something like this is so clearly a Sonic (Knuckles) ripoff that no one would be allowed to create this character on their own. They'd be sued by Sega for infringement.
Someone really fucked up in that case.
This is an atrocity.
JSoup
Banned
Correction: Scott Shaw also came forward with a similar story to Penders about unpaid work, then saw the shitshow Penders had started and backed out on the spot.
Edit: Also, in before Penders lapdog BobR joins Neogaf just white knight him.
UberTag
Member
Peyo's estate ought to sue for copyright infringement. Dude's ripping off the Smurfs.
AlexFlame116
Member
Who? I'm curious. Who is this BobR?