The Sonic fandom HATES this man. Does he deserve it? 

Shortly after I posted the video, Ken Penders contacted me his thoughts on it. With his permission, I'm posting them below verbatim: Matt, I appreciate the video. If I do take issue with anything, is that you make it sound like I’ve been bitter the whole time since I left the book or that Karl and I have been mad with each other all this time. Did Karl & I have differences during the run of M25YL? Absolutely. I also don’t recall banning him from my message board. If he made that claim, I take responsibility as I had a Web Administrator who monitored my message board. From my perspective, Karl and I cleared the air between us during a meeting in NYC when my legal battle was going on and I asked if he would be willing to submit an affidavit, which he did. We’ve encountered each other over the years since at conventions and I recall each encounter as a pleasant experience. Karl & shared similar experiences while at Archie and I’d liken that to the experiences I shared with guys I served with while in the military. What I disliked most of all is how you ended things, with Ian continuing on SONIC, and Karl on continuing to work on comics for major publishers while I just released THE LARA-SU CHRONICLES as an afterthought. What you failed to mention - and that I’ve been very public with - is that the book contains every MOBIUS: 25 YEARS LATER chapter that was originally published in SONIC issues 131 thru 144, establishing my right to reprint the works I had a hand in creating. (As for the other creators, my business dealings with them are private and will remain so.) Your comment that I didn’t have the right to reprint my stories ignores several facets of the copyright battle despite the legal assistance you had. Beyond Ian, I also helped launch the career of artist Dawn Best and encouraged other fans beyond Ian, including Jonathan Gray, who also posted on my website and I invited to share my table space in Artist Alley during one Comic-Con back in the early aughts. One omission that bothered me was not mentioning how I was the only creator who had a hand in every aspect of the book beyond just the writing. Neither Karl or Ian ever illustrated a story for any SONIC comic. The biggest difference between my scripts and Ian & Karl’s was that every script I created prior to ENDGAME also included unpaid, uncredited layouts which the artists used as the basis of their work. The final pencils resembled my layouts to such a degree that the US Copyright Office considered me a legal co-creator of the art as well as the story when they compared samples of my layouts to the finished pencils. Also, not only did Archie not respond to the US Copyright Office over my claims, but neither did SEGA, who received the same letter the US Copyright Office sent out to Archie. Had their lawyers challenged my claim, that would’ve made my battle easier as they would also have to prove a transfer of ownership of which they had no documents to cover. Copyrights are still the Wild West, and when it comes to comics, especially so. The main problem is that companies settle. Work-for-hire is not the hill they wish to die on. Not even Disney. When Ruth Bader Ginsburg decided to hear the Marvel v Kirby case, that’s when Disney folded. They did not want to open Pandora’s box despite their army of lawyers. Same with Warner Bros when it came to the Seigel / Superman case. They ended up spending $30 million dollars only to end up with the resolution DC Comics originally negotiated with the Seigel estate. To date, no one has ever asked why SEGA didn’t go after Archie for the loss of an asset that took 25 years to create. While you did a great job of research throughout, I was amazed you missed the court transcript posted on the BleedingCool.com website which revealed the real reason why SEGA eventually took SONIC away from Archie. During the legal battle, Archie was on the hook to pay for all of SEGA’s legal costs. When it came time to renew the license in 2017, Archie looked at the revenue they were getting from Warner Bros and Netflix for RIVERDALE and SABRINA and decided SONIC wasn’t worth indemnifying SEGA from any and all future legal costs. Since the legal battle, I’ve been more concerned over my personal life and relationships. My better half, Bernadette, who went through the legal battle with me, hated the thought of me doing work-for-hire, which I was in complete agreement with. We’ve seen 3 children grow up and graduate from college. 2 own their own homes with Steve married and the father of 3 beautiful children of his own. My work in advertising is mentioned in the book COMICS MAD MEN, in which I was a designer for the Motorola Razor ad campaign. I’m also sought out for commissions from SONIC fans the world over. THE LARA-SU CHRONICLES: BEGINNINGS was able to go forward to print and eventual release because of Sonic fans pre-ordering the book. As I write this, the cargo ship carrying the copies of my book is scheduled to dock at the Port of Los Angeles with eventual arrival at the warehouse they will be stored at on June 15. Copies are tentatively scheduled to begin shipping to those who pre-ordered starting June 17, going to readers in almost all 50 states as well as 7 countries on 3 continents. (I’ve just been asked to add Ireland to the list of countries I ship to.) Since the legal battle, I’ve also been overseeing a film I directed through post-production. It would've already been released but technology has improved to the point where I’m now upresing the film for 4K monitors. Do I take pride in what I do? Guilty as charged. But if one doesn’t ring one’s bell, will anyone notice? I actually liked your Penders & Flynn comment. However, after my experience making a film, it’s only reinforced my attitude to work on projects where I make the decisions. You have to understand I’ve come to accept my association with Sonic is lifelong and beyond my control. When I stopped submitting stories to Archie, I was still working with SEGA on a potential Sonic film. Not just with SOA, but also with SOJ. I have the documentation to show for those efforts. I broke bread with SOJ executives when we met in Hollywood long before Ian dealt with them. (I even sold original art to Sonic Team members at a Comic-Con, including the original art to the cover of SONIC issue 98 - the SONIC ADVENTURE 2 adaptation - which I also inked.) When the film project died on the vine, it was due to SEGA corporate upheaval. Even though Robert Leffler had passed, SOA President Rob Lightner was still willing to go forward until other executives decided getting into bed with Marvel was more important at the time. There could've been a KNUCKLES film based on my comics from Dreamworks back in the early 2000s but SEGA killed that baby before it could even leave the womb. It comes down to a lifetime of experiences as a result of my connection to Sonic which I never anticipated when I wrote those early stories. That's something that has yet to be properly conveyed. Maybe someday.

It's funny that the lore behind making the Sonic comics is almost as complex as the Sonic lore they created.

I don't know why, but god has just decided that the Sonic franchise needs to be this cosmically misaligned divine comedy. It never ends.

Reminder that the Knuckles TV show had a whole acid crack flashback segment about Knuckles' backstory and they made his dad look like Ken Penders.

Just think, if this series had been canceled after issue 50, Ken Penders would’ve gone down as a legendary comic book creator, and wonderfully devoted father, nothing more. You either die a hero, or live long enough to become a villain

Gotta pity poor Karl Bollers. Has to share the book with Ken, gets forced at gunpoint by Sega to ram modern Sonic lore somehow into Archie's Pseudo-SatAM universe, and then gets fired over a fricken slap!

Sonic aside, you took the time to Interview the relevant parties. You didn't make a lolcow out of a strange guy with strong passions. You deserve so much respect for that alone.

Penders would be way more sympathetic if he hadn't screwed over SatAM writer Ben Hurst out of a Hollywood Sonic movie pitch before the lawsuit. Ironically, that probably came back to bite him, considering this may have indirectly contributed to the finalized Sonic movie having Ian Flynn contributions.

This whole saga becomes a lot funnier if you imagine “Archie” is not a company but Archie Andrews himself personally fighting against these writers.

There was another force at play here-- someone who sent Archie a mysterious clay medallion that looked like an ungodly fusion of Sonic and Pikachu.

I wonder how Penders feels now that Ian is pretty much a writer for the games, its gotta sting more since SEGA is actually using some of the characters from the IDW comics in the mobile games and they're even considering putting some of those characters in the mainline games. On a side im pretty sure SEGA ended their license with Archie due to their incompetence regarding their legal cases, I mean they pretty much hired most of the Archie Sonic crew when they started the IDW series.

Ian shows what companies and fans relations should be

I’m new to this whole saga, and had never heard about Pender before, but to me it seems like this is a case of a guy going from wanting to make a comic for his kids out of a desire to be a better father to straight up using the comic as a form of therapy to resolve his own issues. Which in one way is like-that’s part of what art is for! But in another is very frustrating because of the incongruity of engaging with that kind of content in the context of a sonic comic for kids. Not that kids can’t handle the subject matter necessarily, but it feels like over time it was being made for him, rather than for them if that makes sense. Thanks for this content Matttt!

Hearing the words “Other M” as a Metroid fan made me perk up out of fear/concern

the fact that Ken penders was seeking a 7 figure sum for the lawsuit tells me those licencing talks broke down because he asked too much. Reminder, he wasn't seeking payment for the use of knuckles or sonic or amy, etc, he was seeking payment for them to use things like "an ancient echidnia society" and "knuckle's dad" etc. I'm not gonna say his stuff wasn't entertaining, but Ken has a history of VASTLY overvaluing his original creations and getting very petty about people talking critically about his work. In my opinion, Archie was probably the typical greedy corporation, but Ken was also a petulant child who threw tantrums when he didn't get free reign to write his stories using an IP that he ultimately didn't own.

A part of me feels bad for Ken Penders. He inserted his own personal trauma, interests and hopes. Then he lost control of the plot, so to speak.

"Archie comics who were known for comics such as Archie" hmm yes the floor here is made of floor

The flynn reveal made me shit myself

this is one of those "you just had to be there" moments in the comics, i remember being so confused because they explained it as separate memories, then they did some classic storyline that had sally & rotor then the genesis wave happened again & the new explanation was that it was like fake memories or something then we just never saw those characters again, buying books hoping one of them showed up, they didnt even show up in the fanart portion on the last page they all just got straight up thanos snapped

Is it kind of weird that nobody talks about Michael Gallagher‘s contributions? I’ve noticed a common theme throughout all his fourth wall breaking work is kind of metaphysical about the nature of the comic, without ever directly addressing it.

Fun fact: I kind of met Ken penders last year at comic con. I saw him out of the corner of my eye when I was walking around the convention but when I went to his booth the first time, his second wife (bernie) was manning it since he was getting a signature for his will shatner commission. I bought some things from the booth mainly a patch didn’t get one of the comics since they were selling them for 100 dollars plus I got his business card.

He got paid $200 PER PAGE??? GIVE ME THAT JOB PLEASEEEE

Ian Flynn's story is so goddam inspiring dude. I love that guy and his passion for his work.

I really like your documentary on Ken Penders, from his goal of making comics to his strength and weakness in storytelling that build up and saved Archie Sonic for a time.

"I'm not saying it's Watchmen" That's it, now I want to see the sequel to Bartkira but based around Sonic characters re-enacting Watchmen. Imagine how it'd piss off Alan Moore!

Matttt, as a longtime Sonic fan and someone who read the Archie run as it was coming out when I was a child, you knocked it out of the park with this one. I already know I'm gonna be coming back to this one more than a few times. I also really appreciate the more objective view of the lawsuit and Ken Penders' run on the comics. A lot of people tend to turn documentaries about this era of Sonic into an impromptu roast session on Penders, so it's refreshing to see someone only presenting the facts.

I don't disagree with Penders seeking the rights to his creations and wanting compensation for them. I support creators rights. It's a shame this whole saga could have worked out better. But the creators at Archie deserved their rights given Archie fumbled the ball by not having them sign the correct contracts. Hooooweeverrrr.....in his recent work, Penders has repeatedly swiped and redrawn art by other creators that drew his scripts without crediting them. Then, when called out, has claimed that he owns the art because it's based on his scripts, even speaking as if it's somehow his own work based on that fact. This makes me feel that Penders doesn't respect creators rights. He's in this fight for his own profits.

"The Sonic fandom HATES this man. Does he deserve it?" Yes.

Rest in Peace, Comichistorian

To his credit: He did not mace someone in a GameStop because Sonic Arms Wrong.

"Oh, look. Matt has a new video out. Which comic will I be reading now?"

Ken is not a victim. He is an aggressor. He would have been stopped if Arche wasn't so incompetent.

When you find yourself completely compelled by a documentary about a comic that up until now you had not given even the slightest shit about.

This is probably the best video I've seen on this. Thanks for taking the time to interview and research!

Slight correction. There were THREE shows centered around Sonic, though the last one was made in 1999, and that was Sonic Underground. Still produced by DIC, and still had Jaleel White as Sonic, with elements borrowed from the Sat AM show. Manic and Sonia even appeared in the Archie Comics at some point, albeit with multi dimensional shenanigans.

Penders Isn’t the most truthful narrator so I take everything he says with a grain of salt for example: Penders says he doesn’t remember signing a copyright contract Archie indeed did make him sign one However the technicality was they didn’t have the original copy Penders even said he took advantage of how disorganized Archie so it’s a lie

Lets not forget Penders mining fanfiction, roleplay, and fan characters to steal for the comic. That's the infamous origin of "Do not steal"

Lol, you talk about Pender's awful movie pitch without addresing him sabotage Ben Hurst plans for Sonic Satam season 3 before he dies.

This is the only essay that humanizes Ken Penders. Behind all his shenanigans there's still a human being. Information over entertainment.

9:04 ken has balls of steel because this sounds like a perfect way to make everyone question your ability to take the holocaust seriously. Edit: the only other writer with a similar style of pure madness is tui, but they’re not bad at writing, just very strange.

Sonic comics were some of the first media that I got super into as a kid. I would buy digital copies for my (tiny!) iPod touch and read them on there, and then later buy physical copies to read. I must have bought at least a few dozen of comics between the digital and print versions, Ken Penders and Ian Flynn issues. Heck, some of the first YT videos I ever did was reviewing issues of the comic! I had always heard rumbles of Penders drama but never knew the whole story of it. Thanks for taking the time to go over the whole thing and to interview the people involved as well. Even though I don't read Sonic comics anymore, I think that will always be a building block of both fandom and media analysis for me.

I like how matttt doesn't waste time in his videos just to boost watch time like so many other youtubers. He just gets right to the point and gets all the information across clearly. And his delivery is so passionate it really sounds like he's excited to tell you about stuff, unlike other channels that read lines in a detached and bland way. I'm so sick of videos where a guy who talks like a bad actor in a high school play slowly trickles out his point

hello matttt, thank you for this doc. i really appreciate how it could've just been another penders dunk session (and man is there a lot to work with!) but you focused first and foremost on their contributions to the comic and the stories it led to, and also the legal battle as a piece of comic history. not sensationalism. i have almost never seen any other channels interview one of these figures, let alone all three at the same time. it's incredible. i think i speak for the entire archie sonic fan community, and sonic fans in general, when i say, please release these full interviews (i realize some might have to be edited, especially Ian, considering he is under contract). they are the most recent word on a very contested saga, and a piece of sonic history. bollers i have *never* seen interviewed. ian even can be extremely tight lipped about the situation, understandably so. thank you so much for doing this work. the fandom appreciates you.

Mike Pellerito and Ian Flynn are pretty dope hearing they achieved their goals.

I really like this video, its obvious you put a lot of research, time, and effort into making it and it really shows in the quality product. I'd also like to thank you for giving this comic the fair shake it deserves and not dismissing it like so many Sonic fans and people online usually do. As a massive fan of the comics, these are what got me both into Sonic and into comics in general, so they're very near and dear to my heart. Looking forward to your next video, no matter what it may be!

Matttt is the only guy who could have gotten me to care about Ken Penders ngl

He 110% deserves it, it's absolutely scummy behavior and an abuse of the court system.

I believe that just the comic book side of things isn't enough to judge Penders' character. There is a lot of weird and bad stuff he did (even within the comic book side of his life and work) that you omit here, making this kinda feel like you are stepping on eggshels.

I really appreciate you taking the time to really everyone out and getting the full story. I feel all too often stories like get one narrative and then that’s the one spread around forever and ever, often dehumanizing a lot of key people. Great work man

Honestly, I didn't expect you to do something like this, probably because sonic stuff feels way more of a games thing rather than comics.. but this vid looks awesome and I'm glad more people are gonna find out about ken penders

I am not even into comics, but drama between artists and writers is always delicious. Thanks for the odd, niche content.

Well, R.I.P. Sally EVER being a part of anything 😢. Also, Bunny.

I can't believe it! Earlier this week, I watched your videos on Todd McFarlane and Carl Barks. And then this video came out, covering a comic and franchise that I have been deeply invested in! This video was awesome. Thank you for covering the Sonic comics.

Your old thumbnail rocked. Didn't need to change it, but respect the grind either way

I grew up with the Archie Sonic comics and they’re some of my favorite comics ever

Guy loves his son, leave him alone.

I never quite realized ken penders was just a really weird dad, still mad that he ruined the Archie comics.

As a lifelong Sonic fan, Archie Sonic was the first comic book I ever started collecting. It was the comic book that got me interested in the medium of comics (even as a 90s kid that grew up with Spider-Man, Batman and X- Men cartoons). I still miss the continuity of the Archie Sonic comics, but I've been enjoying the Sonic IDW comics just as much

It's painfully obvious that "LARA-SU CHRONICLES" is Sonic fan-fiction, from there Penders doesn't have much to stand on for claims to royalties. If he can create derivative works of SEGA characters there's no reason anyone else can't make derivative works of his characters for SEGA. So his claims on the Bioware games and pretty much everything are BS. I think if he wanted to continue making his fan-fiction, he should be allowed. Also Patrick Spaziante hard carried the series with his art.

I didn't know most of this. I'd only heard the Penders-hating side of the story from online sources. I met Steven Butler, one of the artists at the time, at a couple conventions and he's a class-act, so he wouldn't say anything negative about the guy, so I don't really know where he stood during all of it. But I'm glad you took the "let's see all sides of the story" approach to this. I learned a lot. Thanks. :)

I’ll admit that this video did shift my opinion of Ken Penders in a slightly more positive light before I dug a little deeper and saw what a horrible, slimy hypocrite he’s become. I can’t believe that a man who once fought for his right to own his intellectual property has no respect for anyone else’s. He’s utterly delusional believing that he owns the character Shade the Echidna and has even incorporated her name and design into his own comic. SEGA created that character, not him, yet he thinks he owns her because she bears a slight resemblance to his oc Julie-Su. This is the same man that created a character named K’Nox the Echdy’nya, who has the exact same design as Knuckles the Echidna, besides an outfit, metal eye and goatee. He says that, “K’Nox is a father, whereas SEGA’s Knuckles is not. See how that works?” to highlight that K’Nox is a totally original character, but he can’t fathom how that exact same logic can apply to Julie-Su and Shade seeing as one is a mother and one isn’t. I mean ffs, Julie-Su and Shade’s design barely resembles one another, whereas you show K’Nox to any average Sonic fan and they’ll immediately clock him as Knuckles. He stolen Scourge’s name and character design despite having come up with neither. He’s a greedy hypocritical parasite and thief.

I came to these comics towards the end of their run, but I would sit for a long time looking at the comic cover art gallery in Sonic Mega Collection+ on Xbox. Those visuals and the way they took something like Sonic so seriously still inspires stuff I work on today.

He shut down an entire, long-running comic, just so he could make and sell Echidna porn with anatomy that makes Salvador Dali art look normal.

I don't know what's worse The hacky writing or the absolutely dreadful illustrations that don't even hope to be on model. But honestly the thing I most petty about is that charmy was ruined and that now he's never allowed to be around his fiance ever again like come on that would be cute two bee characters with the chaotics. I know people ship charm me with cream but the man was at one time almost married a grown ass man bee!!

This video would be seen as many creators best work, but the fact you're a consistently strong storyteller with many videos as well done as this is incredible. As a fan of yours who's also just a Sonic fan, this video means a lot. Amazing work!

I think there's a little truth to both. Archie is corporation with no regard for creator rights, and Penders is a sentimental guy who attached himself to the characters he wrote and maybe needed a payday.

Oh god, Ken Penders. I was not expecting this to be a video so soon

OK, the whole thing of Penders not being compensated for reprints of the stuff he wrote is ridiculous. I will admit that he should have been compensated for that. That being said, I still think he had the wrong attitude about owning his creations, and it’s the same one a lot of other creators have had. I just don’t think you should ever expect to own the rights to what you create if you create it for another company, let alone a pre-existing property. If you want to own the rights, as hard as it might be to be successful with it, you really have to make your stuff independently or with a company like Image. That’s just how the entire entertainment industry works. I do think that creators should be properly credited and properly compensated, but if you want to own the rights to your work, then you need to make it independently. I’m sorry, but it’s just unreasonable to expect to own the rights to what you create if you are making it to be a part of a franchise/world that you do not also own.

This is such a cool channel. I'm super glad Matt treats comic creators as people rather than Twitter conversations.

At the end of the day, two solid facts remain: Flynn as head writer = fun adventure stories, Penders as head writer = daddy issues and gross furry sex stuff

He a man child he doesn't take constructive criticism at all he wants to put adult situations and comic that's pretty much aimed towards children not to mention he's actually quite rude

20:16 Eyyyy, I drew that cover

What a fantastic video. You did a stellar job getting the facts and info from the people themselves. Very well done.

as someone fascinated with wanting to know behind the scenes of creatives behind the archie sonic material, this is an extremely refreshing perspective! had a fun time watching these through and through learning new information how the comics came to be and the creatives at hand in a new lens.

Dude, Matttt, you have not only become the best comic youtuber on the platform, but you have become one of my personal favorite creaters ever. These kinds of video essays are what I look for when i open up this app and yi woild dare to say that you do them the best.

i think Sega revoking the IP from archie was a combination of both the Penders v Archie lawsuit and their plans for a divided sonic continuity between east and west falling apart (sonic boom heh bombing) and had to make a change in policy hence the collaboration between Sega of Japan and Sega of America growing tighter before SoJ was content to live in ignorance and indifference at what SoA was doing with the IP as long as they played along with the mainline releases, but after 06, after boom, after the lawsuits about characters and storylines the japanese had no idea were happening, something had to give and they concluded that both branches united could reinvigorate the IP after the bad streak bad games, bad reception, bad press, haunting sonic, it is no coincidence that IDW is releasing the sonic in japanese something archie never did, someone at SoJ has to keep tabs on what the branches are doing lest they "break bad" and cause problems like archie and penders did

This video punches well above its weight. Great delivery and editing. It made me care about a topic that I cared nothing about.

There's a twisted, grim, alternate reality where an Archie executive got so confused and instead of picking up Ian Flynn would've picked up Christian Weston Chandler, and that would've been the point where the western civilization would've collapsed immediately bringing the world until chaos and despair.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but he looked better with the mustache.

I appreciate the attempt to be more optimistic and sympathetic towards Ken Penders, but I just can't respect the level of vanity he clearly shoe horned into these comics, working through your Dad's death is something for your therapist, not your children's action comic

So this is my first video of yours I watched and I have to say, WOW!!! I always heard about Sonic fandom but always written it off, I thought it wasn't a serious of a comic book as it is. You have changed my mind by showing just some of the coolest panels and will be picking up back some back issues. As work for hire, I am totally against the idea I believe companies should have a shared owner ship when someone creates something for them. To rip the idea for a few people and make millions and in some franchises billions and the creators do not get that much money it sickens me. I think work for hire in most cases makes some people both artist and writers do not give their best performance and just hold on to their max potential.

this whole video is peak cinema. enjoyed what was happening all the way through, no distractions.

You know, I always wondered why Return to Angel Island had such a different art style from the rest

Great video! I jumped into reading these as a kid. I just happened to start at #11. I got it at the local grocery store. I still have it, although it's in rough condition. I got the back issues as well. I liked the silly aspect of those. Slowly throughout the issues it got more serious. I stopped reading around issue 100 I believe. I had lost interest and was doing other things at that point. At that point I feel like the story got so convoluted. I never realized how long it lasted afterwards, or all the drama behind it. I was just a kid who wanted to read about Sonic. I feel it started going downhill when they "killed" off the original Robotnik.

WHOA! How'd you get an interview with Karl Bollers? That guy is a phantom. I think I've only seen one photo of him prior to this video. So grateful to finally hear him speak.

This was a phenomenally researched video. I never expect youtubers to honestly depict the events from beginning to end. Loved the bit detailing Ian's journey to the games and the humanization of Ken.

God I love your videos, it started a little rough presentation wise but you’ve improved so much. Great work dude.

the fact that his works after the lawsuit are absolutely horrendous doesn't exactly help his case in the eyes of the sonic community.

Probably the most balanced take on this whole thing I’ve seen covered on RU-vid. Good stuff

10 minutes into the video - "Oh, I actually empathize with Ken Penders. Holy shit." 20 minutes into the video - "I no longer empathize with Ken Penders. Holy SHIT! 😳"

I read this comic series faithfully from issues one through 70 around the time I guess I sort of grow out of it, but I was always astonished at what an insane change of tone it was from the goofy issues to the super serious later ones

The funny thing is, I'm pretty sure that Archie Sonic isn't the strangest Video Game Comic tie-in. There was a Brazillian Mega Man comic that had some almost comically dark content. Most infamously, the original writer introduced a villain named "Princess" and planned to have her kill off the entire cast and take over the comic. Honourable mention to the Street Fighter comic that got cancelled after a single issue because the writers thought it was a good idea to have Ken get scalped.

This was such an insane ride. I grew up on the orginial Archie comcis, I remember reading Issue 11 over and over again. A few years ago I was hoping to get a collection of those and loosely told it would never happen. NOW I KNOW WHY. This was a mess from both parties. Archie structure and not paying royalties. Pender weird choices... The fact he changed things just enough not to get sued fan comics is a choices. I hoep all parties are happy. Sad I'll get to enjoy that part of my childhood again.

Short answer yes. He is a horrible person even if you take out the lawsuit this guy tries to justify child marriage and statutory R.He's disgusting.

Holy crap. Out of all the commentary I've heard about this subject, this is the first time anyone had mentioned the family stuff. Everyone just makes Ken sound like a furry with an unrealistic obsession with the franchise.

Kids everywhere can't get enough of My Dinner With Andre!

To Ken Pender's credit, I did mentally associate similarities between the Pender's Dark Legion Echidnas and the Echidnas of the Twilight cage in Sonic and the dark brotherhood. That game is unique, but awful sadly. I am sad Archie Sonic ended, but Ian Flynn and IDW aren't doing a bad job.

Matttt is proof of that less is more. I wanted to watch all his videos. Turns out.. I already did lol

There should be a difference between creating your own thing, and playing in someone else's toybox. If you're making your own thing, then yeah, I support creator ownership. But when you're working on an IP owned by someone else, that's their thing, and anything you create within the paramaters of that IP should stay with the IP. It's like how Hasbro owns characters created for Transformers comics, and Marvel premiered characters like Circuit Breaker and Death's Head in different comics first just so they'd retain ownership.

part of me misses the Archie comics setting and characters. Bums me out that we're prolly never gonna see Sally or Bunnie in a Sonic game or in the new comics (or ever again)