My idea for the whole Ken Penders thing.

This may sound really dumb to a lot of you, but some time last month, I learned about the whole Ken-Penders'-characters-had-to-be-removed-from-Archie-Comics'-Sonic-Continuity-after-a-lawsuit thing.  How did I feel about it?  Well, pretty upset.

I knew of the aftermath of the Second Genesis Wave, but I thought it was just gonna be a temporary thing, just an arc.  However, finding out about the legal ugliness that lead to it on TVTropes dashed my hopes of seeing Hershey St. John's return (that was something I wanted to see happen).

When I say upset, I mean really upset.  It actually gave me headaches, stomachaches, loosened my bowels, and decreased my appetite.  I literally could not feel hungry because of what happened with Archie Comics, and what it means for people (like me) who wanted to see some closure and resolution for what Ian Flynn was doing.

Now, I am aware this whole thing happened about a year ago, and it's unlikely Archie and Sega are gonna want to go back to it.  However, all the same, I tried to think of a way to allow Ken Penders' characters to return to Archie Comics in a way that can appease Ken, Archie, and Sega.  Granted, realistically, if it does happen, it might not be until either...

a) Ken Penders finishes The Lara-Su Chronicles.

b) Ken Penders dies, and his family, no longer interested in retaining the rights to his characters, sells them back to Archie.

However, I would still like to pitch my idea for how to allow Ken Penders' characters back in the comics.

Here's what I know.

Ken Penders' terms of use for his characters in Archie Comics are that Archie is allowed to use his characters however they see fit, so long as...

a) Julie-Su, Lara-Su, and Locke are untouchable, and anything they do with them, they must run by him first.

b) Anything that happens with Julie-Su and Locke mustn't contradict what happens in the Mobius: 25 Years Later storyline.

c) Archie must run all their Lara-Su stories by Ken Penders first.

In addition, they must also obviously pay Ken Penders royalties for the use of his characters.  The problems I see with these terms, however, are as follows.

1.Keeping Mobius: 25 Years Later as the official canon for the Sonic Comic storyline has the potential to be very limiting for future writers for Archie comics.

2.These terms have the potential to contradict Sega's original agreement with Archie when they started the comics (Sega owns everything in the comics, Archie only owns the right to license, make, and distribute the comics.)

That second one is one of the bigger problems.  Archie doesn't want to risk another lawsuit from Sega, and risk losing the license to the comics.  As such, they can't agree to Ken Penders' terms anyway.  However, a thought occurred to me sometime last week about them.

What if Archie and Ken Penders were willing to compensate Sega so they would be willing to allow these terms to occur?

That was when my idea formed.  Here is what I thought should happen.  Ken Penders, Archie, and Sega all need to sit down and renegotiate new terms of use for Ken Penders' characters in Archie Comics.  And here is what I think the new terms need to be to be fair to all parties involved in this thing.

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Ken Penders will allow Archie to use his characters however they see fit, and will receive royalty fees for their use.  Meanwhile, to compensate Sega, Ken Penders will allow them to have a small percentage of his royalty fees (I'd say 50% at most to keep it fair to Penders.) as a compensation fee to allow this to happen.

Perhaps as an additional term, regarding the canon of Mobius: 25 Years Later, it doesn't have to be the official canon, but it will be the most likely future.
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Now, obviously, there's no guarantee that this will happen.  Archie and Sega will most likely just wish to put all this Ken Penders business behind them and move on.  However, even they must be aware of how much they've upset their longtime fans, and how this could effect them.  Sure, the Sonic fandom is the most fractured fandom in all of geekdom, but after being in publication since November of 1991, the Archie Sonic fandom is one that has emotional nostalgic ties that, even now, we will not give up easily.

Maybe I'm being too optimistic, but hey, anything to have even a smidgen of hope to hold onto.  These new terms I've made might not be perfect, obviously.  I'd say there's room for tweaking and improvement.  However, if not the true final version of the renegotiated terms of use, I hope you consider this the basis for something more fair that Archie, Sega, and Ken Penders could likely agree to.

Well, that's my idea on how to get Penders' characters back in Archie Comics.  I hope to hear your thoughts on them.  And please, I would appreciate no negativity in them, okay?