Your article almost confirms my suspicion that the lawsuits weren’t entirely Penders being an asshole, but that Archie, a corporation, was screwing him over. Did it merit him dragging the comic through the mud? Hell no, he’s still a nasty goblin of a man who wrote terrible things, but Archie was also using those nasty things for their profit without giving him his due share. Neither side came out clean.
Yeah, that’s the thing. Both parties were at fault. Penders is an incredibly petty person, and the fact that he got away with what he did is astounding. But Archie absolutely should have paid him royalties for the reprints of his work, and the fact that that isn’t an industry standard is sad
It’s also worth clarifying that Penders didn’t demand they remove his characters. He mainly wanted royalties for the reprints and creative control over Locke, Julie-Su, and Lara-Su. Archie chose instead to reboot. Which, like... yeah, I don’t blame them for not wanting to work with him anymore
