Then you have the more…
“urban” characters. In the
Knuckles arc where the Chaotix accidentally got high on acid, the villainous drug lord is essentially a stereotypical pimp named
Downtown Ebony Hare. The character who took the cake, though, was Vector. In Ken’s stories, Vector was the jive-talking comic relief character. He was obnoxious, he was dim-witted, he was crude, he’d randomly bring up rap music. One time he started singing “Dem Bones” to himself while held captive by the Dark Legion. He was also
extremely misogynistic (one arc literally went into great detail about how he viewed women as prizes to be won — ironic, given Ken’s treatment of Sally). He constantly said shit that got on the nerves of either Knuckles or Julie-Su, and then they would smack him around to shut him up. It often felt like Penders was turning Vector into Julie-Su’s personal punching bag, making her look “cooler” and “tougher” at Vector’s expense.