Artcow Ken Penders - Former Archie Sonic Comic Writer/Artist

[XYZpdq Jr.]

when that time

Is that Bravoman?

 

[Captain Syrup]

Oh sweet waffles with biscuits, do I remember how they milked this whole "Tails is the chosen one" storyline for as long as possible. And yes, you're correct with Fiona; that character alone was a big tangled web of "the fuck"

There was this awkward moment where Sonic and Sally broke up, and suddenly, Fiona pops up. We all knew Sonic was just going to crawl back to Sally in the end. It was a complete waste of time for both Ken and the readers. And Fiona? I can't even remember her being good at anything, let alone understand why Eggman would want her on his team. Total flop.

To give Archie Comics a little credit, I do recall some talk on the SatAM DVDs about them planning to give Tails a bigger role and introduce a new ability in season 2.

Fine, fair enough. They just kept making these bizarre hints and not following through. This idea that Tails was going to overtake Sonic as the hero? Never bought it for a second.

 

[The tired cat]

View attachment 7016831

There was this awkward moment where Sonic and Sally broke up, and suddenly, Fiona pops up. We all knew Sonic was just going to crawl back to Sally in the end. It was a complete waste of time for both Ken and the readers. And Fiona? I can't even remember her being good at anything, let alone understand why Eggman would want her on his team. Total flop.

It was almost like a running gag with the amount of love triangles Sonic was involved in whenever Ken was around. Hell, it actually gotten so bad, that they retconned how Scourge aka Evil-Sonic pretended to be the real one and banged Bunnie as this was their means of trying to cutdown on levels of love triangles they had going around. With Fiona, like her most deal is being good at combat, then got reduced to a love interest for Sonic, then got reduced to a Harley Quinn type that hung around Scourge aaaand...that's about it, she literally didn't go above the Harley Quinn thing.

Now, I dunno how this info is true. But, apparently after Ken was booted from Archie, there were actually plans in motion to give Fiona a whole story arc to flesh her out more as a character. Buuuut...then the lawsuit happened and all that stuff was flushed down the toilet.

 

[Zaryiu2]

It was almost like a running gag with the amount of love triangles Sonic was involved in whenever Ken was around. Hell, it actually gotten so bad, that they retconned how Scourge aka Evil-Sonic pretended to be the real one and banged Bunnie as this was their means of trying to cutdown on levels of love triangles they had going around. With Fiona, like her most deal is being good at combat, then got reduced to a love interest for Sonic, then got reduced to a Harley Quinn type that hung around Scourge aaaand...that's about it, she literally didn't go above the Harley Quinn thing.

Now, I dunno how this info is true. But, apparently after Ken was booted from Archie, there were actually plans in motion to give Fiona a whole story arc to flesh her out more as a character. Buuuut...then the lawsuit happened and all that stuff was flushed down the toilet.

I think i might remember potentially why she joined Scorch, wasn't there a panel that pretty much imply Fiona and Scorch are fucking or gives that vibes given what she says?

Spoiler: To avoid cluttering, here's more wtfery from Archie Sonic

Penders and how he handled Sally was really fucking weird, it went from making her Sonic's destined (in his version of things) wife or those times he saw her as making Sonic a wuss so multiple times he tried to kill her in the comics

 

[The tired cat]

I think i might remember potentially why she joined Scorch, wasn't there a panel that pretty much imply Fiona and Scorch are fucking or gives that vibes given what she says?

Ye, there was something with those vibes or how she likes "ze bad boys", again hello Harley Quinn vibes.

Penders and how he handled Sally was really fucking weird, it went from making her Sonic's destined (in his version of things) wife or those times he saw her as making Sonic a wuss so multiple times he tried to kill her in the comics

Its because Penders wanted to ship Sally with his Limey skunk OC (who I think was in his 30s or 40s) and even openly said how he wanted for Geoff to bang Sally first.

Also, I would suggest looking up the panels of how the war between Mobians and Humans started, that shit was SO bad they later had to retcon it.

 

[Zaryiu2]

Ye, there was something with those vibes or how she likes "ze bad boys", again hello Harley Quinn vibes.


Its because Penders wanted to ship Sally with his Limey skunk OC (who I think was in his 30s or 40s) and even openly said how he wanted for Geoff to bang Sally first.

Also, I would suggest looking up the panels of how the war between Mobians and Humans started, that shit was SO bad they later had to retcon it.

Another thing I need to show people or at least link to it is Penders adaptations of the games Sonic Adventure 1 onward, that shit was insane

 

[The tired cat]

Another thing I need to show people or at least link to it is Penders adaptations of the games Sonic Adventure 1 onward, that shit was insane

Oh ye gawds, dont remind me! Its double hilarious cause part of the Archie lore, Station Square was located inside a fucking ass mountain.

 

[el bandito loco]

Oh ye gawds, dont remind me! Its double hilarious cause part of the Archie lore, Station Square was located inside a fucking ass mountain.

when I was a little kid, I read Archie sonic pretty religiously. I got it at the grocery store once a month. I got either that, justice league, a star wars comic or superman depending on the week and kept up with all of them.

when I was in high school my friend and I were playing through all the sonic games and he didn't believe me at all when I explained that. I also explained to him knuckles is like the most powerful being in existence who became a green god and committed suicide or something and he thought I was fucking with him.

I dug out my old comics and he laughed his ass off reading/flipping through them. He was like holy shit sonic is crazy. It was the first time I'd looked at them since I dropped them when I was 10 or whatever and it was absolutely hilarious to look at Archie sonic as a 17 year old or whatever and actually think about it beyond when I was a kid and I just took it as is without thinking about any of it

 

[The tired cat]

when I was a little kid, I read Archie sonic pretty religiously. I got it at the grocery store once a month. I got either that, justice league, a star wars comic or superman depending on the week and kept up with all of them.

when I was in high school my friend and I were playing through all the sonic games and he didn't believe me at all when I explained that. I also explained to him knuckles is like the most powerful being in existence who became a green god and committed suicide or something and he thought I was fucking with him.

I dug out my old comics and he laughed his ass off reading/flipping through them. He was like holy shit sonic is crazy. It was the first time I'd looked at them since I dropped them when I was 10 or whatever and it was absolutely hilarious to look at Archie sonic as a 17 year old or whatever and actually think about it beyond when I was a kid and I just took it as is without thinking about any of it

The oddes factor, Im least 50% sure the comics were aimed at a more teen crowd, because of all the romances, trying to be "cerial about da war" and etc. An yet, when I read em even at that most fitting age, they still felt like someone bad fanfiction.

Also, another funny bit of info,and take this with salt,but its rumored that Penders would go to Sonif forums/IIRS boards and would take ideas from fan concept or like silly rp setups.

 

[el bandito loco]

aimed at a more teen crowd, because of all the romances

that stuff was probably there for pre-teen girls. All I know was it bogged the book down. when I was like 5-10 reading it, it would piss me off how much relationship bullshit was in it. I wanted to see sonic and friends kick robotnik's fat ass. not read about furry love triangles. I didn't care about that crap. get it over with and fight some goddamn robots. I have nostalgia for the book but looking back on it, no wonder the only people still talking about it for the most part are the freaks overly invested in the shipping stuff, it's like half the goddamn comic.

once, I went on a road trip with my family as a kid probably 2nd grade. and my dad was hungover or something so my mom was driving. we stopped somewhere and they got me like 10 comics so I had something to do. my dad asked me what I got, and asked to read the sonic one. He'd played the Genesis games when they came out and bought me adventure 1/2 when they dropped. He opened it up to Mammoth Mogul and promptly asked "who's this fuckin' gay elephant?" And I started explaining him, and then he went "why the fuck is knuckles green?" And I started explaining that, and he went "you know what, never mind. Give me the goddamn Batman instead" and threw it in the backseat. In retrospect that's probably any sane person over the age of 10's response to looking at a random Archie issue after the first 15 with no context outside of the Genesis games.

 

[The tired cat]

I have nostalgia for the book but looking back on it, no wonder the only people still talking about it for the most part are the freaks overly invested in the shipping stuff, it's like half the goddamn comic.

Its actually a 50/50 thing, one part was the insane amount of shipping material, the other was the lore which in some cases felt like Ken plagiarizer it from other stuff or wasnt really thought out and slapdashed together (like the squid aliens who virus bombed Earth because their envoy was studied by humans, an said virus bombs led to the creation of Mobians)

 

[el bandito loco]

Its actually a 50/50 thing, one part was the insane amount of shipping material, the other was the lore which in some cases felt like Ken plagiarizer it from other stuff or wasnt really thought out and slapdashed together (like the squid aliens who virus bombed Earth because their envoy was studied by humans, an said virus bombs led to the creation of Mobians)

I don't really have a problem with most of the lore. Most of it is insane and downright ridiculous, but really it's a comic for children. Of course it's stupid and not particularly well thought out. It also isn't even someone's real artistic vision as a comic for children, it's a tie in to a video game nobody knew would last more than 6 months, and the game in question is just an animal guy in shoes running fast to the right.

The thing about Ken, in regard to all the lore from him personally, is he's an idiot. He's always been an idiot. all of the nazi echinda stuff, the shit straight from star trek, even the weird relationship shit written by him, he truly believed and still does, that he was doing something important.

Sonic to him, was just a bullshit job. But, there was nothing there really and he could do essentially whatever the hell he wanted. He thought of it as a vessel to be important by exposing kids to a comic not talking down to them really and covering some slightly complex or (I use this extremely loosely) adult topics or themes to make the comic more than empty entertainment.

Did it succeed? No. Not really. but again, Ken is a fucking idiot. This is why he's so weird with all of this shit, is he thought of sonic as a bullshit job and nobody cared about it, and he thinks his work on it is a large part in the lasting power of the property. He's wrong about that, but it did have some influence. We're talking about it 20 years later. He also thinks he was highly influential in children who read it's lives and development. Was he? Maybe for complete autists.

 

[Captain Syrup]

Also, I would suggest looking up the panels of how the war between Mobians and Humans started, that shit was SO bad they later had to retcon it.

The Sonic Adventure games were on the way, and they had to make sure the comic lined up with the games, like they always do. It worked with the early Genesis games – most of the event books were decent. But once Sonic Adventure 1 came around, the whole thing needed a soft reboot. Mobians couldn’t be the antagonists, not when Sonic’s supposed to be their protector in the games.

Oh ye gawds, dont remind me! Its double hilarious cause part of the Archie lore, Station Square was located inside a fucking ass mountain.

They were always going to have to retcon the entire universe, lawsuit or not. The whole SatAM premise had to go, or none of it made sense.

But what really made me facepalm was when they introduced Station Square's mayor as Rudy Bullyani. Where's Janet Rhino?

 

[The tired cat]

Sonic to him, was just a bullshit job. But, there was nothing there really and he could do essentially whatever the hell he wanted. He thought of it as a vessel to be important by exposing kids to a comic not talking down to them really and covering some slightly complex or (I use this extremely loosely) adult topics or themes to make the comic more than empty entertainment.

I kinda got the feeling that aside side glancing at other work for "inspiration", Ken thought that mayhaps his genius writing would get him noticed by the bigger fish like Marvel or DC and land a job there as head writer.

The Sonic Adventure games were on the way, and they had to make sure the comic lined up with the games, like they always do. It worked with the early Genesis games – most of the event books were decent. But once *Sonic Adventure 1 came around, they hit a wall, the whole thing needed a soft reboot. Let’s face it – it just didn’t work anymore. The Mobians couldn’t be the antagonists, not when Sonic’s supposed to be their protector in the games

Itz not even the games, just the concept how the war started because one kid plugged a mobian kid with a six shooter (who decided to jump before a bird like some retard), and thus the war kicked off (which ended with a sword duel). Like, one could tell Ken was on a huge anti-gun/FernGully kick when he wrote this. But as I said, this stuff was so bad that they later retconned how BOTH kids got killed by these Warlods and Eggmans secret alliance to kick off this war.

 

[el bandito loco]

They were always going to have to retcon the entire universe, lawsuit or not. The whole SatAM premise had to go, or none of it made sense.

SatAM/Archie and the games were "my" Sonic, and for years without reading the new comics I used to laugh playing the new games wondering just how the fuck they could possibly attempt to reconcile them together. from what I've gathered in the years since, they basically just didn't bother trying and then rebooted and then sort of did but not really. I was young enough that the SA2 lead in that ends telling you to play the game was just accepted in my brain and they were all one story to me. I think it was around Sonic X coming out and straight up adapting SA 1/2 that I was like huh yeah that does make more sense than trying to fit in with all that old shit.

I kinda got the feeling that aside side glancing at other work for "inspiration", Ken thought that mayhaps his genius writing would get him noticed by the bigger fish like Marvel or DC and land a job there as head writer.

I don't even think it was that. He thinks he's an important guy for not treating Sonic like a quick buck, and instead using it to be his soapbox to teach young readers something. this is why he's always been all in on the creators rights shit and how he ended up being the bane of many a Sonicfag's existence. He thinks he's particularly special for (in his mind) taking his monthly funny book seriously, just a job or not. I'm telling you, people seem to overestimate Ken's maliciousness or scheming. He's a total dumb shit. He's convinced he is an important man in comics history for his winning of the rights of his characters and stories, standing next to giants who tried and failed like siegel and shuster, or his hero jack kirby. he did what they couldn't do, except they created important and original shit, he wrote a video game tie in. I don't even think the plagiarism was intentionally done maliciously, I think he thought he was just repurposing things in an easy to digest way for kids in some cases, and just wearing his influences on his sleeve to a degree of unprofessionalism in others.

 

[MirageKai]

Itz not even the games, just the concept how the war started because one kid plugged a mobian kid with a six shooter (who decided to jump before a bird like some retard), and thus the war kicked off (which ended with a sword duel). Like, one could tell Ken was on a huge anti-gun/FernGully kick when he wrote this. But as I said, this stuff was so bad that they later retconned how BOTH kids got killed by these Warlods and Eggmans secret alliance to kick off this war.

Lmaooo that reminded me of issue 110 where sonic & tails just casually comits genocide and doesn't even care about his Roboticized friends that blew up and this would never be addressed ever again in the series.

 

[The tired cat]

I don't even think the plagiarism was intentionally done maliciously, I think he thought he was just repurposing things in an easy to digest way for kids in some cases, and just wearing his influences on his sleeve to a degree of unprofessionalism in others.

Oh, I never implied that he was malicious about it, just the stuff he copied from felt very blatant in cases (like one character havin the Millenium Falcon as their means of transport) or obvious in other (like Charmys friend dying from ODing on drugs felt like something youd see in a Teen Titans anti-drug PSA comic)

Lmaooo that reminded me of issue 110 where sonic & tails just casually comits genocide and doesn't even care about his Roboticized friends that blew up and this would never be addressed ever again in the series.

The most hilarious it gotten was two panels of that war, you clearly see humans firing this huge Howzerr type cannon and killing God knows how many Mobians, but moment one of the characters gets grazed across the eye, then suddenly you have characters go "Omg! This war is for realzied guyz!"

 

[AnOminous]

He's convinced he is an important man in comics history for his winning of the rights of his characters and stories, standing next to giants who tried and failed like siegel and shuster, or his hero jack kirby. he did what they couldn't do, except they created important and original shit, he wrote a video game tie in.

He wasn't even responsible for his win. It was Archie's absolute incompetence, actually losing the contract, that made it possible, and all it got him was the right to cringy characters who were immediately memory holed from the Sonic universe.

 

[MerriedxReldnahc]

Latest update on the reprints, I just got an email from Penders about the release of the first Knuckles omnibus, which has a secret pre-order head start for anyone moronic enough to order Lara-Su Chronicles (such as myself)
What's really damn rich is that this is the first email communication I've had from him, despite ordering the Lara-Su Chronicles, where I never even got an order confirmation email.
But I digress, here are the covers!



The email breaks down the contents of the volumes and the price, I am not getting this once since I'm not interested in the reprints, and I also have better things to spend $125 on.

Spoiler: Email Text

It's Time to Pre-order!

Dear (MerriedxReldnahc) :

If you are receiving this email, it means you are one of the many who purchased a copy of THE LARA-SU CHRONICLES: BEGINNINGS who are now being offered the opportunity to pre-order my latest release, KEN PENDERS’ KNUCKLES OMNIBUS VOLUME ONE, which collects for the first time in chronological order every story I’ve written featuring Knuckles the Echidna.

The book is approximately 440 pages and includes material and/or complete stories from the following issues:

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 13

SONIC & KNUCKLES SPECIAL 1

SONIC TRIPLE TROUBLE SPECIAL 1

KNUCKLES' CHAOTIX SPECIAL 1

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 30 - 36

SUPER SONIC VS HYPER-KNUCKLES SPECIAL 1

SONIC'S FRIENDLY NEMESIS KNUCKLES 1 - 3

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 44

KNUCKLES THE DARK LEGION 1 - 3

KNUCKLES THE ECHIDNA 4 - 6

&

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 53

The book also includes some special features along with a SPECIAL THANKS section listing everyone’s name who orders a copy before the book goes to press,

The book comes available with a non-variant as well as a variant cover edition, both illustrated by me.

Cover price for either edition is $100.00 US.

I will sign each copy ordered at $10 a copy. Personalization of a copy is an additional $15. Priority shipping in the USA is a flat rate $25 whether 1 or as many as 3 copies are ordered.

If you live outside the USA, the system is currently programmed for shipping to specific countries, but if your country is not among them, please let me know ASAP so I can get a price to ship to your location. Keep in mind the shipping costs are more because this is a bigger, heavier book than BEGINNINGS.

The completed book is being submitted to the printer before the end of March 2025, with the finished printed copies schooled to arrive here around mid to late June 2025. Once received, the books will then be mailed to those who ordered on a first come-first served basis, much like I did when I received the copies of THE LARA-SU CHRONICLES: BEGINNINGS. While I hope to provide tracking numbers, I can’t promise them un less someone personally requests.

If you change addresses in the meantime before the books arrive, don’t worry. I have you covered if you forward me your latest address to ship to.

To order either edition or both, go to the following URL https://tinyurl.com/KnucklesOmnibus and enter the Code THANKS2025 where it says PASSWORD to access the store pages for ordering the books. After five days upon receipt of this email, the general public will then be able to order, so take advantage of this window of exclusivity while you can.

As always, I am here to answer any and all questions, and greatly appreciate the support you have provided thus far. This is just the beginning of the MOBIAN ADVENTURE SERIES line and hope you’ll join us for our upcoming releases that follow.

Thank you and take care.

Best,

Ken Penders

 

[Rukario]

Why does the second look like he photoshopped a picture of knuckles on top of FIRE.GIF?