 04-01-2004, 01:12 PM | #1 |
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Shortfuse:  Tekno & Ebony  Now, before anyone starts charging around yelling about 'TEH SACRED COPYRIGHTS', I have a word from the strip's artist. Quote: Originally posted by WB on SHQ - Special Zone
Guys - stop sniping at each other. Stop stop stop. It's silly, it isnt that deep, and its not cool to do so on everyones account over something that is a misunderstanding on everyones account. Let me explain myself and in my own words since I did it and I drew it. If someone would please be so kind as to copy and paste this on Ken's board (where the situation came up) as well since my computer is still wonky since my crash and I'm doing this from somewhere else, I would be very appreciative.
First things first - Putting Tekno and Ebony in as a cameo was totally my thing. Nobody else's. It wasnt meant to be an insult. It wasnt meant to be LETS GET ARCHIE MORE MONEY BY STEALING OTHERS PEOPLES CHARACTERS! It wasnt done in any fashion like that. I drew them in the book solely as an homage/cameo thing for the fandom. Furthermore, it was like a one panel cameo at that. No different from how James Fry drew the Snuffaluphagus, Hong Kong Phooey, and Winnie The Pooh in his giant crowd scene, or even how we've seen marvel ripoffs in a DC comic book (in a very warped sense of an example, but an example nonetheless). The scene in question called for a very large crowd of characters.
Now I was sitting at my drawing table drawing that page, and I didnt want to draw just something generic. I wanted to draw something where people could go - HEY LOOK! Theres so and so and so and so and so and have it be relevant to Sonic. And I also knew that ever since STC Sonic got cancelled a lot of people in the UK had migrated from STC to Archie to kind of get thier official monthly Sonic fix. They had not seen "thier characters" in print for some time and I thought it would be a nice thing to do (At the risk of sounding kinda mean but truthful, I see now that it wont be appreciated so I wont be doing that again ). I thought that this would be the perfect way to send a nod to the UK STC fandom that I knew existed in Archie by tossing them in as a subtle cameo. Nothing more. Nothing less. They wouldnt be appearing ever again they wouldnt have any other impact but a "OMG LOOK ITS TEKNO **jump up and down and squeal**" kind of thing. Before anyone here goes speaking for me and putting words in my mouth that arent there, there was no disrespect meant to Mr. Kitching or Mr. Stringer. I only drew them in almost as a way of saying hi to the UK fans and telling them "Thank you. We acknowledge that you are here. Have fun!". Nothing more, nothing less. Like I said before, I wont do it again.
I thought to myself - you know it would be really cool if - to even cement that homage further - I had someone mention thier name just once. Personally - I've always liked STC and I am a HUGE HUGE fan of Tekno in particular. I have always liked her and how Mr. Stringer used her in the book, so I thought it fitting that she stand in that one panel next to Amy. Ebony was standing by her side only as bonus window dressing and you can kinda find both scattered in the huge crowd as it repeats.
Now you ask - well what about copyrights, huh? What about that? After my pages were turned in, just to be on the safe side the editor on the book checked with Sega Liscensing. If you have Sonic 134 in your hands you can see for yourself that there is a thanks to the Sega Liscensing division at the beginning of the credits because that question did come up. No thing like that would have been made on the fly. Would it be ok to use the STC characters only as just a cameo/homage (which I repeat is all they were intended for as far as this issue goes)? I was told officially that I may have to delete them and redraw that panel and I was like, if thats a problem then its no biggie, I would be more than happy to redraw it because I didnt want to get anybody in any kind of trouble over the fact that I wanted to draw a nod to a different continuity. Sega Liscensing says that if a character in the comics appears in a Sonic comic or any other kind of merchandise, then Sega can freely use them where they like - be it in a game (which we all know is never going to happen anyway) or another comic. Its exactly like how when Sonic Underground came out, Sonia and Manic played a MUCH MORE prominent plot role in the Super Special. And if you want me to turn the tables even further, much like how Princess Sally was used in the very early days of STC where no one in the Archie camp said anything about THAT. In other words - they were cool with it. Its not like we took Tekno turned her into a foil for Sally and planned to parade her around for 50 more issues. And you can rest assured and believe that if it were anything more than that I would have made EVERY PERSONAL effort that I could have to check with Mr. Stringer and/or Mr. Kitching. There was no disrespect intended and none was meant even at the very beginning when i was sitting at my drawing table. Again - all it was was that *I* drew them in one panel and we DID check to see if it was OK through Sega Liscensing - otherwise it would have never seen print.
Now having said that - I was never under the impression that Mr. Kitching or Mr. Stringer OWNED Tekno and Ebony flat out. And I'm bring dead serious. To be honest - considering what SEGA said I dont think that is the case. Even Ken Penders has stated that Julie-Su and Geoffrey St. John are no longer technically his, so if they were to be used in an ad he couldnt do anything, because much like Princess Sally who has been used in numerous places outside Archie and remains one of the only non Sonic Team characters to have a lot of merchandise outside of the comic and appear (albeit off looking ^_^) outside her own continuity, she, Bunnie, Antione, and even the STC guys are all part of the Sonic franchise. Its almost like saying Nigel Kitching had no right to use Pachacamac or Tikal in the final STC story arc, or if you wanna be REEEEEEEAAAAALLLLY nitpicky saying that he had no right to not turn Robotnik into SA Eggman when the story came out. We know he took creative liscensce with the characters much like ken and Karl do on the book even now. yes thats a flimsy example but I hope you get what I'm saying. No disrespect meant. ^^
Take it how it was meant to be please. Just a simple "Hey look! Cool!" cameo and nothing more. I just wanted to say hi to the STC fans. To say it was intentionally meant to be anything else but that is just absurd and to imply that they were stolen is even sillier because that was not the case. You cant rest assured now though that I won't acknowledge STC again. | Personally, I'd look forwards to StC cameos, especially if they got Nigel and Richard to help. If I could see Richard Elson's artwork and Nigel's scripting skills, I might even start collecting Archie. Anyway, what do you lot think? |
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