A Friend found this on the Power Rings Forum, it's from Ken's message board as well,:
"Reading everyone's comments leave me with the impression neither Mike
Pellerito or Ian really know what to do with either the characters or
the stories beyond regurgitating what came before.I haven't
commented on any of this earlier because I believed it was too soon and
I didn't want to be accused of sour grapes or stealing Ian's thunder.
The fact is I get e-mail all the time asking me about this character or
that storyline, and it leaves me scratching my head wondering if Ian
has ever attempted going beyond what any of us did, if he's created a
character like a Julie-Su or a Geoffrey St John, or if he's written
something like an ENDGAME or THE DARK LEGION that people are still
talking about years later.The fact is I never relied on any
other Archie-Sonic writer's material for any of my stories, not even
when I was working with Mike Kanterovich. I would always come up with
the basic plots and Mike would throw in bits to improve them, then we
would work on the dialogue. I didn't rely on Mike Gallagher's material
to drive my stories, nor did I ever pay attention to anything Karl was
doing beyond supplying him with bits of info whenever he was
incorporating one of my characters into his stories. A thorough check
of my work will show I never used a Karl-created character until I used
Mina in SONIC #150, due more to a conversation with Mike P when working
out the plot. Likewise, Athair may have appeared with the Ancient
Walkers in the TAILS mini-series written by Mike Gallagher, but I had
serious input with regards to Athair's development before Mike G wrote
that story, as I had with the young Knuckles story that appeared in
SONIC SUPER SPECIAL #9, wherein I was handed a copy of the script and
told to make whatever changes necessary in order for it to fit
continuity as I saw it at the time. Otherwise, beyond the core
characters established in the original games and animated DiC series in
the early 90's, as well as the settings of Robotropolis and Knothole
Village, and a character or two like Lupe and Amy Rose, I pretty much
engaged in serious world building to keep the series interesting in the
long run. I didn't hesitate to push for killing off Robotnik and
fighting to keep him dead, thus allowing Sonic to find new adversaries
and new adventures. The map of Mobius I designed for SONIC SUPER
SPECIAL #2 was so I'd always have a jumping off point for Sonic to have
some new adventure or a new threat to engage him.Ian, on the
other hand, hasn't done any of that from what I see and hear. In fact,
many of the stories that appeared in issues #160 through #175 were
based off an outline I submitted to Mike Pellerito around the time I
turned in the script to SONIC #157. I didn't pay attention until I
caught the issue where Antoine married Bunnie, which was either the
exact issue I slated the story for or off just by an issue or two in
the outline I submitted. I never bothered to mention it until now
because I didn't see the point. All I had was an outline that could be
claimed by some to be written after the fact, resulting in a pointless
flame war because some would claim I was jealous or resentful.The
fact is I'm extremely happy where my life has led to these days. Not
everyone gets the experience I do directing a film in Hollywood with
real stars and trying to sell it to the studios and networks. My tenure
on SONIC alone has given me serious street credit in this town and
opened some very unexpected doors. I have nothing to be resentful over
and much to be grateful for.So from where I sit, all Mike and
Ian are doing is living off the work done by others that came before
them instead of allowing SONIC to grow and evolve in a similar organic
manner when I was on the book. I especially don't consider anything
either does with any of the echidna characters - especially Locke - to
be canon as neither created the characters nor established them in
stories as the viable fan favorites they've become. No matter what Ian
writes, he can never alter the fact that in MY universe, the events of
Locke's passing as depicted in SONIC #143 is canon. Anything he writes
can easily be counter-written by a better story with an alternative
solution."
Can you provide a link to Penders's forum where this was found? I checked and didn't saw this.
In summary:
Look at me! Look at me! I'm important! PAY ME ATTENTION NOW, UNWORTHY PEONS!!!!111!!11!!!
P.S. Please can I have my old job back?
Business as usual from Ken, really.
I'm going to try to make this my first and last word on the subject and treat these pathetic little attention grabs with the contempt they deserve - as much as I could deconstruct that unprofessional ego-fest sentence by sentence, that'd be playing into his hands and I've got better things to do with my time than feed his delusions that he's relevant. I'm not saying that Ian's work is flawless and anyone who's read my posts here knows that - but all Penders is continuing to do with mud-slinging stunts like this is prove why he doesn't matter and doesn't deserve to.
Let's Rant about the Iron Dominion
It's on the first page, a little ways down. I dunno, I feel conflicted on how I feel so I'll let others blab about it. Though it does seem a little like sour grapes, eh. I think there are some valid criticisms...I think.
My god, Penders is becoming Archie's Rob Liefield, A guy who never does any actual comic book work but continues to discredit others works. Someone should ask Ken what happened to The Lost Ones? He's been working on that book for, what, 3 years!?
My god, Penders...
[GASPS] YOU SAID A BAD WORD!
is becoming Archie's Rob Liefield...
MOOOOOOM! SWANSON IS SWEARING!!! [runs away]
Hm? He still gets mail from fans asking him about certain characters even though he hasn't worked on the book in years? I guess I'd be a little cheesed off, too. No doubt some of the more obsessive "fans" are still pestering him about what he had planned for Mina Mongoose, what he would have done with Silver, would he or wouldn't he kill off Character X, etc., etc...
Surely the Trek fanbase is more reasonable?
I'm not going to deny that his Knuckles books were awesome back in the days, but his speech bothers me on several levels. Since when is taking existing characters and expanding them anymore of a crime then him trying to keep his "precious stories" separate from the overall canon? That doesn't compute; they exist in the same universe and if someone was to merge with another, I don't see how that's any of his jurisdiction. He acts like he owns Locke, Geoffry St. John and the likes. True, he may have created them, but last I checked, Sega's the one keeping them chained under their leash. It's the equivalent of that one guy on a team who refuses to get along. It's pure selfishness.
So is he a candidate for TVTropes' Small Name Big Ego yet?
Playing MASSIVE devil's advocate...
He's got an overflated opinion of himself and yet brings up some decent points. I'll go with the easier point to make in that he's Ken Penders and is being asked plenty of questions about a series he once worked on and probably is STILL bitter that he isn't working on it anymore. Stuff like that will make people a wee bit cranky and since he likes to have an opinion, by golly you will hear it. Somehow anything he does is Canon and anything Ian does is...well not. lol whut? And do we REALLY need more characters?
Oh wait, Ian's wasting quite a bit. Maybe he could stand to introduce more in.
Now let's see what Ian has done with the characters:
Made Mogul into a corrupt business tycoon with the powers of a god but who realizes the plot dictate he loses, so he'll just wait until the hero (aka plot device) kicks the bucket: Hey, at least Mogul has given up trying to rule the planet! Will this stick? Who knows
Turned Scourge into a thug: Great! Scourge realized his potential! He's still a bully who wants to cause trouble. Will his little arc have any lasting impacts? Early returns say no! But stay tuned! He's still mainly the same guy with a new look. At least he's in jail now.
Turned the monarchy into some sort of republic. Yet more political strife, where have we seen THAT before? Will they just sometimes be an irritant for our hero, as the monarchy was? Of course! Lasting impact? Stay tuned!
Darkest Storm: Got rid of the bloody Ancient Walkers! Whooo! Once again tried to build up Mogul as a serious threat, only to fail and FAIL hard. Oh and reduce Ixis to madness. Reduce a villain to madness, stay tuned boys and girls!
Knuckjak: Kill off Locke (Seriously, wth Ian?! Flesh out Dr Fini into a mad crazy loon who decides this world must be cleansed and brings back Enerjak to do it. Oh and Fini kills off a lot of echidnas. Try to revert Knux back to a loner. Any idea why this one might tweak ol' Ken? Any idea at all?!
Knothole falls: Eggman finally realizes he has the resources to wipe out Knothole, a perfectly easy target at that. Wait, where have I heard that one before? Oh and Nicole builds them a nice and fancy new city, which is again still out in the open! Will they ever learn?
25YL: I can't be bothered with this garbage but is Laru-Su still a Mary Sue? Is Shadow still misunderstood? Who is the Deus Ex Machina this time?
Knux saga: Why did Fini need to study the ME some more? Why? What was the point of this arc? Will Fini become more shallow? Looks that way!
ID: Why is Regina pulling a Eggman from earlier and forgetting the advantage she had (Aka power over machines?)? Why do the heroes continue to forget Jun Kun is the Hulk? When will Snive stop being a tool? Why is the Sally/Sonic thing being put through another episode of Let's introduce the Third Wheel? Why is this dragging on like all the other arcs? Will it have an impact?
WHY does every stupid arc go talk, talk, fight, more talking and then a BIG fight scene with ramifications that may stick around for the next arc or two (Eggman being posed as a threat and then going back to comically useless), (Fini being vague and mysterious, Fini gets development, Fini goes back to being vague and mysterious), why is there wasted potential (Sonic's crisis after breaking Eggman, Rogue and Knux...why are the echidnas still isolated from everyone? Will this EVER change?
I'll edit and post more, later...
There's more but I'll stop here
Someone should ask Ken what happened to The Lost Ones? He's been working on that book for, what, 3 years!?
Try 11+ years. The Lost One's protagonist was the while-clothed Mary-Sue in the Sonic/Image crossover back in 1999.
Wow. Penders has reached a new low in terms of petty drama-mongering. Sigh. guess I must emerge from lurking.
Not that Ken's wrong on all counts, mind you, and I acknowledge that he's responsible for an awful lot of the Archiverse's strongest material.
But clearly Ken has a fierce sense of ownership and auteurship over material he created and developed, but never did and never could own. Sonic is a licensed book, and nothing Ken ever created for it would really belong to him, despite the fact that the editors and other writers clearly acted as though it did. Why? Out of respect, out of kindness, out of the fact that it hardly mattered because the staff on the book spent much of its formative years thinking it was about to be canceled? Probably some combination of those.
So, to break this little hissy fit down: Ken wrote on the Sonic book, and particularly the Knuckles book, as though they were his. Ian doesn't. As far as I can tell, Ken's criticism of Ian essentially boils down to the fact that Ian writes Sonic as though it were a licensed book. Which it is.
Two additional points: First, Locke's death. I can understand why Ken would be upset that Locke's death has been undone because, if I recall correctly, that story was very much associated with Ken's own loss of a parent. But Ken should have known from the beginning, as any comic writer for the DC or Marvel universe would, that whatever they write can be easily written over, no matter how important it was to them, even if it's a character they created. Sorry, but that's just how this works, and getting personally invested to such an extent is frankly asking to be bitten.
And second, this sort of thing happens with licensed fiction all the time: one creator will put blood, sweat and tears into developing a character or group of characters, and then that work will all be undone or taken in an entirely different direction by the next guy. It just happened to Karen Traviss's work on Mandalorians in the Star Wars expanded universe. How did Karen react? She reacted the way I've always seen people react in that situation: she publicly shrugged it off and said "that's how these things happen. Ah well." Karen's a class act, and she did the professional thing. I imagine she's actually quite a bit more upset and affected than she'll let us know, but it would be unbelievably rude and unprofessional for her to publicly decry the new canon on Mandalorians, attack its validity, and criticize those responsible for it. It's simply abominable behavior and Ken should be ashamed of himself for engaging in it.
Good points, though I'd love for SOMEONE to say something about the massive character derailment of Jacen Solo. And all the pointless deaths just so we can leave Skywalker sad, again!
Good points, though I'd love for SOMEONE to say something about the massive character derailment of Jacen Solo. And all the pointless deaths just so we can leave Skywalker sad, again!
I don't want to drag this off topic, but that's another great example of the kind of professional conduct which Penders lacks.
For the uninitiated, Matthew Stover wrote a great novel called "Traitor" in which Jacen Solo (son of Han and Leia from the original trilogy) was trained by a master named Vergere to become some new kind of force user, neither Jedi nor Sith, neither light nor dark. It was really cool and philosophically interesting, but later novels and comics retconned the hell out of this, and said that Vergere was a Sith all along, and that her training of Jacen was an attempt to push him toward becoming a Sith (which later paid off).
Sounds like a typical Tuesday afternoon over at Marvel HQ. 😛
DC says hi.
Ken may have some vaild points, but his ego makes him one to talk. Ian's writing may not be perfect, I have some major disagreements with him right now, but Ken and Karl ruined the Sonic universe that I loved. I don't miss either of them on the comic at all.
