A Legacy of Glass
Rondo of Blog - Published: July 1, 2024
I don’t talk about this terribly often, it’s not something I look back on fondly, but there was a time when I fell in line with other Sonic fans and posted negatively about Ken Penders’s work. These posts were deleted after I learned better and came to my own conclusions instead of letting misinformed fanboys decide what I’d think for me, but I bring them up to illustrate a point.
Each time I’d criticize Ken’s writing, I’d maybe get a few likes and that would be it. At no point, in the months I ragged on his stories in 2020 did I ever have someone replying to me in a desperate attempt to defend them. Some would argue that’s because “no one likes his stories,” a verifiably untrue statement.
But then also, sometimes, I would criticize Karl Bollers’s writing. To this day I don’t think too highly of Mike Gallagher’s, and I’ve posted criticisms of Evan Stanley’s stories on occasion as well. I’ve never been hassled by any fans of theirs.
Which brings me to the question I’m writing this blog post for - Ian Flynn fans: Why are you so scared of my criticism?
I think it’s a valid question. Ian’s worked on Sonic comics for going on 20 years and, by all accounts, his writing is more entwined with the Sonic franchise than ever. People buy his comics, they talk about how much they like them amongst themselves, so… why is it that, so many times when I’ve had a problem with something he wrote, a fan of his chimes in to tell me how I’m wrong? Or I’m being unfair, or he just needed more time, or whatever the defense is.
Surely you can enjoy a story without feeling the urge to defend it from every criticism, yes? I mean, for crying out loud, there are stories of Ian’s that I have criticisms for that I still like!
Take for example the Tangle & Whisper miniseries. I consider it the finest story Ian has written yet, likely ever, and it’s a story centered around characters he made. That’s not him piggybacking off of SEGA’s creations, he wasn’t relying on references to past video games, if he didn’t have a good story to tell with the characters he brought into existence it would’ve fallen flat on its face.
But it didn’t! It’s one of the best stories the IDW Sonic comics have managed to produce, it deepened the titular characters’ development as well as their bond with one another, and I just like reading it!
However, I do still have some criticisms of it.
Issue #4 is basically where it all nearly falls apart, with the utterly bland and uninspired character motivation of the villain Mimic (whose Mimic Octopus parents named Mimic, presumably because he is a Mimic Octopus or perhaps it was his grandfather’s name) failing to add anything to the climax. He’s just a bad guy, nothing else to him, and that has unfortunately borne out in every story he’s appeared in since.
Not only that, but the part where Tangle talks Whisper down from murdering Mimic in cold blood is just flat-out bad. Heroes should not be making speeches on doing the right thing rooted entirely in cruel and vindictive spite, but that is exactly what Tangle does in that scene and it frankly flies in the face of what is otherwise one of the comic’s brightest lights in its cast.
These are serious criticisms that I have held for years, that I do think impact the quality of the comic… but the comic is still damn good, and a success on every measure that matters.
See how that works? There can be problems with a story and someone’s contribution to it, and that doesn’t take away from my being a fan of it! It’s still a good comic, it’s still one of Ian’s (and IDW Sonic’s) best, even after I pointed out some nearly-fatal flaws in it.
It’s at this point I feel the need to bring up that multiple fans of Ian’s have given me shit for this criticism I have of this miniseries, in the past. Criticisms that I have always couched in the fact that they don’t ruin the story, and that they don’t ruin Ian’s contributions to it.
Why this defensiveness? Are you afraid that, if you don’t put up a flimsy reactionary defense against my criticisms, you’ll stop being able to enjoy Ian’s comics? ‘Cause, in case it needed saying, I can’t stop you from liking his writing! I haven’t been trying to, believe it or not!
That last part is something I unfortunately can’t say for many of Ian’s fans, as they have actively and repeatedly tried to stop me from liking Ken Penders’s writing.
I’ll be innocently enjoying Ken’s Archie Sonic comics or looking forward to The Lara-Su Chronicles when, time and time again, in comes one of Ian’s diehard fans here to ask if I know “what Ken Penders did.” Presumably expecting me to reply “what did he do?” and then “oh NO!” after they tell me some made-up bullshit about him burning down a warehouse or whatever it is on a given day.
But even as they try to stop me and everyone else they meet from liking Ken Penders’s writing, even as they’ve littered the internet with lies and slander about both Ken Penders’s work as well as his character, The Lara-Su Chronicles: Beginnings still came out and still sold (and is selling!) very well.
So why rush to Ian’s defense, even as his comics seem to be generally-liked by Sonic fans as far as I can tell, when I criticize his writing? Why can’t you let a single word of criticism against him stand when he’s writing in Sonic video games, encyclopedias, and even cookbooks? How can he simultaneously be your favorite writer, the undisputed king of Sonic comic mountain, but also his body of work is a delicate flower that must be encased in amber or else a strong breeze might kill it?
Because no matter how much people try and claim they think Ken Penders’s work is garbage, that his graphic novel series will fail and that everything he ever tried to do failed, the Sonic fans I’ve encountered have given every indication that they are terrified of people deciding on their own (like I did) that they like Ken Penders’s stories.
In a sentiment that I consider far more insulting than any criticism I’ve leveled against Ian’s comics, those Sonic fans are also terrified that should Ian’s stories meet a strong enough criticism? They’ll just shatter like glass.