Ken Penders

Ken Penders is an American comic book creator and writer. He makes his living as a freelance writer and artist, accepting assignments involving screenplays, storyboards, character design, backgrounds, website graphics, and some the magazine covers, portraits or commissioned work.[1] Penders illustrated the cover of the complete series DVD set of Sonic the Hedgehog.

Ken Penders
NationalityAmerican
Area(s)Writer, Penciller, Inker, Colourist
Notable works
Sonic the Hedgehog

Career

Penders is known for his work on the comic series Sonic the Hedgehog, which was published by Archie Comics.[2] He primarily worked on the former side-series Knuckles the Echidna before it was cancelled due to poor sales in 1999, though he continued to produce stories and artwork for the main title until 2006.[3]

In addition to his work for Archie Comics, Penders has written and illustrated stories for other comic publishers including DC, Marvel, Image and Disney on titles as Star Trek: The Next Generation, Disney Adventures, Savage Sword of Conan, Captain Atom, and The Green Hornet among many others. He also branched out into other media, producing children's activity books and creating graphics for CD-ROM games.[4]

In December 2011, Penders announced plans to utilize Echidna characters he created for the Archie comics in a graphic novel series entitled The Lara-Su Chronicles.[5] Said series is planned to feature Lara-Su, one of his original characters created during his work at Archie, as its protagonist. On March 5, 2014, Penders announced on his Twitter account that his characters were no longer echidna but Echyd'nya, an alien species.[6] Penders stated reasons for the change was that he needed to make some adjustments to broaden the audience while making certain longtime fans get answers and resolution and because of the difficulty he has seen with people pronouncing the word echidna.[7]

Lawsuits

Archie Comics vs Penders

In January 2009, Penders began copyrighting various stories, characters, and artwork that he created for Archie Comics' Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and spin-off titles, and these claims were certified as of April 2010 by the US Copyright Office.[8] After declaring that he would "use every legal means at my disposal to protect and preserve" his works, Archie Comics filed a lawsuit against Penders in the fall of 2010 in an attempt to retain their copyright holdings of his characters and concepts.[9][10] In the fall of 2012, Archie Comics fired its legal team and replaced it. Following this and a court settlement,[11][12] many characters created by Penders were retconned, never to appear in the comics again.

Penders vs SEGA and EA

Penders filed a lawsuit against Sega and Electronic Arts (EA Games) in 2011 for alleged copyright infringement in the game Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, which was developed by EA's subsidiary BioWare.[13] The case was dismissed without prejudice September 26, 2011, then again in February 2012, after the case had been refiled four days after it was originally dismissed, despite warnings from Judge Otis Wright who dismissed the case both times. In October 2013, the CA 9th Appellate Court upheld Judge Wright's initial ruling.[14][15][16]

References
  1. "SONIC THE HEDGEHOG". Kenpenders.com. Archived from the original on 6 June 2017. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  2. Schroeder, Bobby (February 11, 2020). "How a Legal Dispute Wiped Out Hundreds of Sonic the Hedgehog Characters". Intelligencer.
  3. "BumbleKing Comics". Bumbleking.com. Archived from the original on July 15, 2019. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  4. "ABOUT THE AUTHOR". Kenpenders.com. Archived from the original on May 30, 2017. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  5. "Ken Penders Forums". Kenpenders.com. Archived from the original on January 17, 2017. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  6. Ken Penders [@KenPenders] (March 5, 2014). "@julaylab Julie, Lara-Su is not an echidna nor an animal, but an alien. She is a member of the Echyd'nya species. There are 2 reasons why" (Tweet). Retrieved 30 November 2014 – via Twitter.
  7. Ken Penders [@KenPenders] (March 5, 2014). "@julaylab ...I've seen people have pronouncing the word "echidna"" (Tweet). Retrieved 30 November 2014 – via Twitter.
  8. "Ken Penders Forums". Kenpenders.com. Archived from the original on April 8, 2016. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  9. "Archie Comics Files Federal Lawsuit Against Ken Penders". TSSZ News. Archived from the original on 20 July 2015. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  10. Langshaw, Mark (October 20, 2010). "Ken Penders: 'Sonic lawsuit still on'". Digital Spy. Retrieved April 22, 2017.
  11. "Archie Comics Settles With Ken Penders Over Sonic The Hedgehog Lawsuit". Bleeding Cool Comic Book, Movie, TV News. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  12. "DECIDED: Archi Comic Publications Inc. v. Penders". Patent Arcade. July 13, 2015. Retrieved April 22, 2017.
  13. "Penders's Lawsuit Against Sega, EA Dismissed…for Now". TSSZ News. Archived from the original on August 18, 2019. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  14. "Listen to recording for Kenneth Penders, II v. Sega of America, Inc., et al, No. 12-55544". Ca9.uscourts.gov. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  15. Donahue, Bill (October 23, 2013). "9th Circ. Shuts Down Sonic The Hedgehog Copyright Appeal". Law360. Retrieved April 22, 2017.
  16. Slind-Flor, Victoria (October 25, 2013). "Qualcomm, Jack Daniel's, Who Dat?: Intellectual Property". Bloomberg Technology. Retrieved April 22, 2017.
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