|
I think one of the reasons Fleetway got away with so much is that, in the end, Sega UK just didn't give a poo poo. Comics have always been a pretty different business in Europe than in America, style-wise and format-wise. Meanwhile, Archie was able to get away with some stuff story-wise, but Sega was hardcore "THIS IS WHAT THE CHARACTER LOOKS LIKE FOR MARKETING PURPOSES NOW, FIX IT", to keep poo poo on-model. Though one of the biggest breaking points towards the end was a cover of Sonic crying over a marriage invite.  Someone at Sega's marketing noticed this cover, and was like "wait, what the poo poo has been going on over here?", and thus the marketing fist started coming down HARD. Sonic can't cry at all anymore, or be in a relationship with anyone, harsher oversight, all that stuff. Not exactly a bad thing, but it does show you that one of the reasons Penders got away with this poo poo for so long isn't just that Archie was asleep at the wheel; Sega wasn't doing anything much either. Ian Flynn has gone over the fact that he has a bunch of inexpiable restrictions now that he deals with on a case-by-case basis, that stem from that moment's sudden notice.
|
#
¿
Apr 4, 2016 01:40
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 02:14 |
|
|
Fun fact: Penders was very, very proud of not having ever played a single Sonic game. He also created a character modeled after his cat (Hershey), who in her initial appearance was tricked into killing Sonic's girlfriend (she got better, against Penders' wishes) by her abusive boyfriend. The Dark Legion stuff was horrendous, and completely contradictory, but honestly I do not have the energy to make a huge effort post about how terrible it was right now. I once did a long rear end post about their initial backstory at Ian Flynn's forum, pointing out how every single loving decision made by the characters in the story went against all common sense, but I don't feel like digging that all up or making it again. Long story short: After "Enerjak" absorbed the power of 11 of the Chaos Emeralds holding the Island afloat (Chaos Emerald bullshit is another long story), Echidnas were like "technology sucks, let's ditch it, by law". So they do. Except for the group that's like "uh, that's dumb, this is dumb, why are we tossing out all our tech?". Instead of making an actual argument though, they immediately form a technocult, and decide to assassinate people. They fight the "good" Echidnas, and eventually both sides get tossed into separate pocket dimensions. Upon their returns (which happens almost immediately in Knuckles' comic, because Penders had no idea how give Knuckles a supporting cast without literally creating two new, massive populations out of whole cloth), we also see that the Echidnas who gave up tech are riding around in flying cars, in a futuristic city, with guns and poo poo. This could be seen as some sort of hypocritical thing, or something. Anything. Instead, the issue is literally never brought up. We're told "the good Echidnas who gave up all technology had the right idea, also they have all their technology", and that is it. There is no conflict. There is no explanation. There is nothing. No one ever questions this. No one even mentions this. It's not like the backstory gets tossed; it is explicitly still the main point of strife between both sides. Nothing is done with it whatsoever. This is the poo poo Ken Penders is proud of.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 6, 2016 07:29
|
|
|
TFRazorsaw posted:it helps that most of Penders names or name schemes were stolen from TV shows or Superman. Also Star Trek.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 7, 2016 03:13
|
|
|
Farmer Crack-rear end posted:Does Jaleel White still do voice acting? Some people making one of those lovely live action/CGI fan movies got him to voice Sonic in one a couple of years back. It was pretty terrible.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 10, 2016 01:24
|
|
|
TFRazorsaw posted:Can we not bring him into this anymore? Hey, you included him in the topic's title.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 30, 2016 05:46
|
|
|
Fun part: Archie Comics is @ArchieComics, not @Archie. He just directed that at some empty account.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 18, 2016 02:14
|
|
|
If I remember right, it was less "compromise", and more Penders and Boller being told to compromise, Penders saying "gently caress that", going to press first with him named "Mace" in his little "Mobius 20 Years Later" story, and then Bollers whipping in from behind and using the present-day story to flat out say "The kid's name is Kneecapeon-Mace, and I come first in the timeline, gently caress you douchebag."
|
|
#
¿
Jan 22, 2017 00:21
|
|
|
Well gently caress.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 20, 2017 00:27
|
|
|
Hey, Onmi, I've read before that when Ken "left" Archie, it was basically being fired for throwing a another little hissy fit, and the editor at the time being like "Ok, you know what, we have this new guy coming in, you were supposed to work together, but gently caress it, you're too much trouble, get the gently caress out of here", but I can't find the source to back that up. Any insights on that?
|
|
#
¿
Jul 24, 2017 06:00
|
|
|
Onmi posted:So... when they brought Ian in to replace Ken, they wanted to move Ken to backups again. Because this was after Sega saw what the gently caress the comic had become and was just all "No. gently caress right off with this nonsense." But Ken essentially threw, as you say, a hissy fit because he wasn't the head writer anymore, and that'd been his goal since Bollers had replaced him, to be the official 'scribe' of Sonic. To clarify though, he was not fired. He threatened to quit, assuming that they would go "Oh we can't possibly let Ken Penders go! We'll fire this new blood and return him to his rightful home post-haste!" Cool, thanks. Do you happen to have a reliable source on that, though? It's completely believable, but I've actually been called out on this and need to provide a source, and am unsure where to find it. Sorry to request so much, but thanks again.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 24, 2017 06:07
|
|
|
CowboyAndy posted:Is he trying to threaten IDW? I'm confused by that pair of tweets. Penders' MO is generally "threaten until they give in", so yeah, that seems to be exactly what he's doing.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 28, 2017 01:33
|
|
|
Personally, the only characters I'd like to have carried over are Bunnie and Nicole. Sally is great, yeah, but she's kind of generic leader princess lady. Bunnie feels like she could fit right in the games, and Nicole is just kind of great.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 28, 2017 20:39
|
|
|
Yes, but really only under Flynn's pen. Until then he was just another "hello i am your assigned father" character, since he failed to be either an Echidna or Echinda-adjacent.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 22, 2017 03:42
|
|
|
Oh, no, I think Jules was great. It's a real loss that he's gone with the rest now. Just that he only really became great when Ian started working on stuff.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 22, 2017 03:52
|
|
|
Yeah, Endgame was literally assumed to be the end of the comic. Part of Sega agreeing to let him be killed off in it was to bring him back later, but the general assumption was this was the end. Turns out it wasn't, though, and Penders suddenly had to deal with the fallout of everything. As you might imagine, he basically flailed around for a long rear end time. In 75, they brought back Robotnik by having a one-off Robotnik from the humorous/looser beginnings of the comics, who had roboticized himself and possibly turned his Sonic and Co. analogs into cyborgs*, come to "our" reality and kidnap and re-establish control over the Robians** via a satellite base, get defeated on said satellite by the Freedom Fighters, had his body destroyed, and then he downloaded himself*** into a robotic body on the planet proper that was the new Eggman design. Penders was proud of this, and of keeping Robotnik out of the series for 25 issues. *There were actually two Robo-Robotniks in these issues: One who turned his Freedom Fighters into cyborgs because it was from the looser, comedy focused issues and it made his Sonic a Terminator parody. This one tried to take over the multiverse with a giant robot or something, and was fought off by infinite Sonics from the multiverse. The second showed up in the first real "serious" story the comic did, around the early 20s, and was subtly implied to be the same Robo-Robotnik, but details didn't line up, his Freedom Fighters were fully flesh and blood (and had defeated him), and he was little more than a sentient AI in a closed system at this point. "Our" Robotnik was shifted into this reality because COMICS, and had a little pep talk with him, before being teleported back to "our" reality. This is supposedly the Robo-Robotnik who moved to "our" reality after getting back on his feet, killing off his Freedom Fighters, taking over his Mobius again, getting bored, and coming over here to take our Robotnik's place since he was dead and Robo-Robotnik was bored. Comics. The "simpler" answer to this entire thing of "Robotnik just happened to upload his mind to a computer before his death and was biding his time post-Endgame before returning in a new body" was never used or touched on, because we definitely needed reality hopping in there somewhere. Also, to make them "easier" to integrate, their backstories were said to be exactly the same as "our" Robotnik until the robo stuff, so they could slot right into the comic as the replacement Robotnik and still have everything else line up. **Robians are what the roboticized Mobians called themselves post-Endgame. They had their free will restored in the Endgame fallout, but because of modifications and repairs and such to their robotic bodies over the years, they could not be de-roboticized. They essentially became second class citizens, and eventually basically formed their own little village, before Robo-Robotink reactivated control over them and used them as a workforce again. Notable "Robians" included Sonic's Uncle (Chuck), and his parents Jules and Bernie. Eventually the comics tossed roboticization by the wayside by literally having aliens de-roboticize them all off screen between issues, and protect them from further roboticization in the future, with the explanation that they could do that because ALIENS! These same aliens are responsible for Robo-Robotnik's modern Eggman body being turned flesh and blood because ALIENS!, and had the ability to swap robotic and organic life forms between, well, robotic and organic via beams because ALIENS! ***This is where that panel of Hulk Hogan Eggman comes from, Robo-Robotnik had an entire row of available bodies to download himself to after his physical form was destroyed on the satellite, and he picked Modern Eggman. He also eventually managed to add to this body the ability to roboticize people with a mere touch of his hand, and had tons of backup bodies. After being turned flesh by ALIENS!, he was unable to re-roboticize himself, was stuck in his fleshy body, and lost his roboticizing touch. It should be noted this whole thing isn't all Penders, Karl Bollers did a lot of this stuff. Regardless of who wrote all of it though, just... look at that mess. This is horrifyingly badly done. Oh, and at one point Eggman brought the dead Robotnik back for an issue through science, and they teamed up for like ten minutes, before Robotnik evaporated again forever because science. COMICS!
|
|
#
¿
Sep 23, 2017 00:02
|
|
|
TFRazorsaw posted:Penders didn't write the Robo-Robotnik stuff prior to #75. That was Karl Bollers. He was, however, very proud of Robotnik being dead for 25 issues. He felt that was an impressive thing to do. Oh, he also wanted to replace Robotnik as the overall big bad with his own, original character, Dr. Droid.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 23, 2017 00:23
|
|
|
Wheat Loaf posted:Yeah, the Metallix were created by Robotnik's assistant, Grimer, but Robotnik's one contribution to the design was their self-destruct button. So the Metallix change history by going back in time and prevent Kintobor from becoming Robotnik; Grimer still creates them, but they're never equipped with a kill-switch, so they effectively have no weaknesses. Sonic and the Chaotix Crew have to follow them back in time Terminator-style and Sonic has to directly create his own worst enemy so they'll be able to use the self-destruct to stop the Metallixes when they return to the present. Did the idea of "just stop Grimer from ever making them" even come up? 'cause you know, you woulda thought "get Grimer tossed in jail or something" would work.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 26, 2017 22:17
|
|
|
CowboyAndy posted:And I have that mini-comic! It's weird how an American comic ended up influencing the UK comic. It wasn't like the mini-comic itself was the source. At that point, the Sega of America/Sega of Europe Sonic guidelines for licensees had that as the backstory. It was basically created whole cloth for the western market by SoA/SoE, and then they kind of ditched it as time went on. Meanwhile, early stuff reflected it because, well, yeah. At least, that's how I remember it going.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 27, 2017 00:39
|
|
|
Discendo Vox posted:Just watch, IDW will exclusively have rights to characters created by Sega... and Penders. Just make legally-distinct-but-still-similar versions of Penders' stuff, like Julia-shu, the Echidna with bio-mechanical dreadlocks, formerly part of the Shade League.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 9, 2017 23:27
|
|
|
TFRazorsaw posted:They've stated they have less restrictions than Archie this time. Where did they say that? Not saying you're wrong, just haven't seen that.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 16, 2017 03:36
|
|
|
Saoshyant posted:I've no loving clue what's going on with Archie anymore. Like, I was quite into that Josie and Pussycats reboot, and then one day noticed there hadn't been a new issue in like four months and to this day, nada, not even an official cancelation note. And all this after mere nine issues. Incredibly hosed up financial situations, a much needed Kickstarter falling through because people didn't understand why they needed it, and people heckling it, legal troubles everywhere, and finally getting a TV show that seems to work, thus pumping the money they had that direction. I mean, Archie has gone through some hosed up poo poo lately.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 23, 2018 10:35
|
|
|
"IDW's Sonic The Hedgehog Shows Us De Way" "IDW's Sonic The Hedgehog - Legal Troubles are No Good" "IDW's Sonic The Hedgehog - True Blue Round Two" "IDW's Sonic The Hedgehog - Still More Hype Than Sonic Forces" "IDW's Sonic The Hedgehog - Probably Related to Transformers Somehow"
|
|
#
¿
Jan 26, 2018 02:42
|
|
|
TFRazorsaw posted:yeah, maybe let's not make a new thread title that references a racist meme Yeah, that may've been bad taste, my bad. "IDW's Sonic The Hedgehog - Aw yeah, this is happenin'!" "IDW's Sonic The Hedgehog - Everybody's Super Sonic Reading" "IDW's Sonic The Hedgehog - Collect Fifty Rings to Post" "IDW's Sonic The Hedgehog - OC Appreciation Station" "IDW's Sonic The Hedgehog - And Knuckles!"
|
|
#
¿
Jan 26, 2018 10:31
|
|
|
Basically, the way it works is like this: If it was 95% of other comics talent, I would want them to get their royalties, and would be on their side in legal battles. It's Penders, however, so I would prefer he lose miserably and then get dumped in a trash can while everyone else walks away with everything he owns. Also a dog pees on him.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 26, 2018 23:25
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 02:14 |
|
|
Say Nothing posted:It's what everyone wants in a female protagonist - the cold-dead eyes of a shark. She's an antagonist. I know, that was important information you're pleased to have.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 28, 2018 00:16
|
|
