Any one else keeping up with all the Archie drama?

[JSoup]

And I don't mean Archie the comic, I'm speaking of the company itself.

Around the middle of last year, Ken Penders sued Archie for characters he's created for the Sonic comics, which has recently come to a head. There's also a different internal conflict going on with the heads of Archie that could shut them down.

For backstory, this is the initial article about Ken Penders copyright drama:
http://www.tssznews.com/2011/06/01/k...ectronic-arts/

He'd been talking about this on his forums since fall of 2010, but didn't actually get enough evidence to file suit until around the time that article was posted. He's been going on about this for months and has even started recently showing images from his new Sonic related project:
http://www.kenpenders.com/forums/vie...e5c8268f0fd638

This is just one of various threads on his forums about this project and the suit, might want to poke around if interested.


About the Archie heads drama:
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?p...ticle&id=36497

[theclaw]

Now THIS is intriguing. I guess the challenge is having your new plot make sense without feeling disrespectful to such an established backstory. Though perhaps a direct Sega license agreement may work long enough to tie up loose ends and still bypass Archie.

[JSoup]

Now THIS is intriguing. I guess the challenge is having your new plot make sense without feeling disrespectful to such an established backstory. Though perhaps a direct Sega license agreement may work long enough to tie up loose ends and still bypass Archie.

I don't really see either side as having an issue if Penders wins as far as story goes. Ian Flynn, the current writer of Sonic, has spent the better part of his stint on the book closing out old plot holes and unresolved storylines, all the while keeping up with the standardized story that Sega has forced. It wouldn't really matter if he had to drop all of Penders characters, as most of them are, currently, either dead or changed into new characters.

As for Penders, his echidna stores are provably just as good when divorced from the main Sonic story. Change around a few terms and ignore everything that happened after he left the book (which is part of his plan anyway) and it's all good.

[theclaw]

Oh. The story must've gradually lost my attention somewhere. Been years since I picked up an issue.

[JSoup]

If you're of the mind, the book has never been better. Ian Flynn and Tracy Yardly are an amazing writer/artist team.

[Sailorneorune]

Eep. I hope this doesn't cause the Sonic or Knuckles Archives books to go out of print. While I'm caught up on the Sonic ones, I am still missing 2 of the Sonic Select books and haven't even started Knuckles yet.

[JSoup]

Not sure, but I've been meaning to pick up the ones I'm missing just in case that does happen. Although, I don't think there is a real danger of that happening any time soon. Ian has finally convinced Archie to put out hardcover graphic novels of various runs on the comic.

[SEGA_Queen]

Oh yes, I've been following this mess ever since Penders announced his copyright claims. Here's my thoughts on the matter:

I agree that Archie should be paying their employees royalties. However, I don't agree with the method Penders is using to get them.

After lurking on his boards, and seeing how many times he's contradicted himself regarding this copyright issue, I'm finding extremely hard to believe him when he says he never had a contract.

I suspect he did sign a contract at some point. Then, as TSSZ News recently reported, Archie lost the contracts, and Penders decided to take advantage of that loss and file for copyright on his stuff.

What I find the most laughable is how Penders says he's going reprint the Knuckles stories from the Archie comics on his own. There's no way Sega give him permission, especially since he's the guy who's trying to sue them!

[JSoup]

What I find the most laughable is how Penders says he's going reprint the Knuckles stories from the Archie comics on his own. There's no way Sega give him permission, especially since he's the guy who's trying to sue them!

I would imagine that if SEGA thought there would be money in it, they might strike a deal with him (I believe he already stated that he'd approach SEGA about continuing the comic if Archie ended up loosing the rights over all this). He's also been claiming that a large portion of the Sonic fandom is on his side of this, although I've not seen anything to suggest that. Most of the fan reactions I've seen have either been out right hate for Penders or meh to the whole situation.

[SEGA_Queen]

I would imagine that if SEGA thought there would be money in it, they might strike a deal with him (I believe he already stated that he'd approach SEGA about continuing the comic if Archie ended up loosing the rights over all this). He's also been claiming that a large portion of the Sonic fandom is on his side of this, although I've not seen anything to suggest that. Most of the fan reactions I've seen have either been out right hate for Penders or meh to the whole situation.

Here the thing though: Penders has practically admitted that he's broke. (A while ago he filed a motion to have the trial moved to his area, claiming he was too poor to travel.) So, unless he manages to get any money from the Archie lawsuit, I don't see how he will able to strike a deal with SEGA.

Besides, I doubt he would be able to guarantee enough sales to make SEGA choose him over Archie.

[Parodius Duh!]

I thought Archie went out of business years ago....people still read their stuff? Heh, I guess you do learn something new every day!

[SEGA_Queen]

And the drama continues...

http://www.tssznews.com/2012/03/20/p...ie-sonic-work/

[JSoup]

Oh, fun times. Maybe I should make getting those archive editions a priority.

[SEGA_Queen]

Oh, fun times. Maybe I should make getting those archive editions a priority.

Yeah, better safe than sorry. If the series does get canceled due to this mess, I hope that Ian Flynn is at least able to finish the current story arc. I also hope Archie finally releases the Sonic comic encyclopedia that that has been in limbo forever. It scheduled to come out this fall, but who knows what will happen between now and then.

[JSoup]

Minor Penders victory?

http://www.tssznews.com/2012/04/19/p...o-9th-circuit/

[SEGA_Queen]

Another update from Penders:

http://www.kenpenders.com/forums/vie...php?f=9&t=2486

I'm curious how he expects to get away with distributing the Archie stories for free. He definitely doesn't own the rights to all the Sega Sonic characters in them. Heck, at this point we still don't know if he even owns the rights to characters/stories he created!

[JSoup]

I..he...what? The court case isn't over yet, he's yet to actually prove he owns any of that.

Then again, I guess someone needs to be blamed for Sonic Live!.

[SEGA_Queen]

I've been thinking it over, and I think I know one way Penders might get away with using Sega's characters. I seem to recall reading somewhere, that fan comics and fan-fiction stories can use copyrighted/licensed characters as long as they aren't selling them for profit.

However, it mostly depends on how strict the copyright holders are regarding fan made stuff. Anyway, Ken probably realized that he won't get permission from Sega to use their characters, so he might market his work as a free fan-fiction comic instead.

[JSoup]

I just submitted this to a few different fansites. I'm surprised more people aren't talking about this.

[SEGA_Queen]

I just submitted this to a few different fansites. I'm surprised more people aren't talking about this.

It's probably because it hasn't been posted on TSSZ News yet. A lot of fans are following the Penders stuff through them.

[JSoup]

It's probably because it hasn't been posted on TSSZ News yet. A lot of fans are following the Penders stuff through them.

Yeah, that's what the Moment of Archie Sonic guy is saying (that's the question I submitted up there right now).

[JSoup]

On the plus side, the guy who runs the A Moment of Archie Sonic blog has been doing redraws of Penders work. Which just landed him a job.

[JSoup]

The separate issues the heads of Archie were having has had a development.

http://www.tssznews.com/2012/06/07/a...kleits-return/

So, solve one problem, gain a whole new one.

[JSoup]

Penders defense asks for a adjournment till August, judge says adjournment till next Monday afternoon. Looks like we might have a solution to the situation as early as next week.

http://www.tssznews.com/2012/07/10/o...enders-motion/

[SEGA_Queen]

Looks like both sides are back to square one again. http://www.tssznews.com/2012/07/17/n...-penders-case/

If I'm understanding the situation correctly, Penders may have a stronger case against Archie than I first thought.