Megathread The Lara-Su Chronicles and Ken Penders topic - READ PAGE 164, POST 4096

[Zaysho]

Commander Michael Taylor? For a bit, I though Ken ripped off the name of Heston's character in Planet of the Apes (George Taylor) for allegorical symbolism of an outsider seeing a strange new world that BBC is oddly familiar.

 

But it's homage! No it's a parody! It's all fair use as long as Penders is doing it! How dare you say he's ripping people off?!

 

... I think I've met my stupid post quota.

 

I see he's maintaining this odd Star Trek-ish sorta naming scheme that he started with "Echyd'nya" (way to lean right up against the box, Penders).

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Honestly, "Mykhal Taelor" wouldn't sound that bad if it weren't piggybacking off the Sonic franchise while simultaneously trying to be it's own separate thing.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

So will there be "Hege Hoges" too to expy even further?

[SenEDDtor Missile]

So will there be "Hege Hoges" too to expy even further?

Hed'ja hogz. F'ukhs. Bahats. Cruk'adials.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

Humainez? Racki-oons?

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Hed'ja hogz. F'ukhs.

Say what?

 

...I clearly didn't read that right.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

It's Pender-nese for "foxes".

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

It's Pender-nese for "foxes".

I know, but it looked closer to a certain other word that sounded different from "foxes".

[Agie]

Uh'nts.

 

Okay, this is getting old.

[Tenko]

So...I wonder if he's talking from fact this time or not. He's in an argument with someone on his Twitter about how the End Game saga, which he is also claiming full credit for, was a huge success and that nothing before or since has ever had that much sales success or as much fan reaction.

I can't possible imagine why...me thinks any writer who killed Robotnik or Eggman would get attention for it.

Also doesn't that kind of invalidate his claims about his Knuckles stories outselling any Sonic stories. The man goes round in self congratulating circles I swear >.<

[Zaysho]

So...I wonder if he's talking from fact this time or not. He's in an argument with someone on his Twitter about how the End Game saga, which he is also claiming full credit for, was a huge success and that nothing before or since has ever had that much sales success or as much fan reaction.

I can't possible imagine why...me thinks any writer who killed Robotnik or Eggman would get attention for it.

Also doesn't that kind of invalidate his claims about his Knuckles stories outselling any Sonic stories. The man goes round in self congratulating circles I swear >.<

 

a while back, the comic's sales now (both titles) are miles ahead of both the Sonic book then and the Knuckles book from that era. It's just ego stroking (I can't believe he's not even giving consideration to the other writers and artists that made that storyline possible...oh wait, yes I can), but no numbers to back it up. And I'm sure if you throw it in his face, he'll claim the reason sales on Knuckles took a hit was because WalMart dropped comics (ignoring bookstores and many other places that had newsstands full of comics and comic book shops). It's real hard to take him seriously when he spouts crap like that.

[biznizz]

Ken thinks the very moment he stepped on the Sonic book, it shot up in sales and the very moment he stepped off, they tanked because obviously Karl could never hope to match HIS talent.

He also seriously underestimated how much the art helped sell that arc. You think it'd be as well praised if Penders did the art for the climatic battle instead of Spaz? I don't freaking think so.

[Zaysho]

Ken thinks the very moment he stepped on the Sonic book, it shot up in sales and the very moment he stepped off, they tanked because obviously Karl could never hope to match HIS talent.

He also seriously underestimated how much the art helped sell that arc. You think it'd be as well praised if Penders did the art for the climatic battle instead of Spaz? I don't freaking think so.

 

Honestly, I'd wager Spaz is more responsible for the book's success, especially around the "dark age," if only because he was consistently putting down killer covers even when the actual stories and interior art were rarely (or ever) up to par. Everything I hear about that period of stories, both on Bollers's and Penders's sides, makes it even more surprising the book survived long enough for Flynn to come in and resuscitate it.

[biznizz]

 

Honestly, I'd wager Spaz is more responsible for the book's success, especially around the "dark age," if only because he was consistently putting down killer covers even when the actual stories and interior art were rarely (or ever) up to par. Everything I hear about that period of stories, both on Bollers's and Penders's sides, makes it even more surprising the book survived long enough for Flynn to come in and resuscitate it.

 

,,,In many ways, you are not wrong in assuming that. Thank God I'm now in the Ian era of my read through.

[SenEDDtor Missile]

I know, but it looked closer to a certain other word that sounded different from "foxes".

Well when I originally wrote that one, I was thinking of the German word for "fox"...

 

except I got it wrong because the German word was "Fuchs"...so yeah .

[Agie]

...now I'm thinking of Fred Fuchs.

 

Wait...maybe he's gotten involved with Penders and we just didn't know it!

 

...yeah, I'll shut up now.

[biznizz]

Wait a second. Had a realization. ...Mykhal Taelor.

Michael Taylor.

MICHAEL Gallagher. Kent TAYLOR.

...Did Gallagher speak on Penders' behalf at the trial? I think Scott "Kent Taylor" Fulop did (he worked at Ken's studio for a while anyway). Because... is this Ken's way of thanking them, by "naming" a character after them? Because I still remember when Penders called Gallagher a lesser contributor to the Sonic comic.

[Your Vest Friend]

I put the names of the ones who spoke for Penders in the Archie topic just. One of the names was Mike Kanterovich, so that might be it. 

[Sunwalker]

This made me think about one thing. At least Ken Penders has the guts of defending his ideas in the daylight using his own face and real name, unlike the other creatives who stood for Penders. They quietly took cover behind his butt while Penders got all the vitriol.

At least I can respect Penders for being frank, even though I don't quite agree with his methods or claims.

[anna]

I have to agree there, but despite that I'm having a really hard time taking him seriously. Sorry, Penders.

[Tenko]

Latest update : So apparently he's now saying none of the Knuckles comics ever outsold Sonic and he never said otherwise.

That if the Knuckles series was still going today it would be outselling Universe. That none of Ian's issues have come close to outselling his. And that his 1997 issues have outsold Ian's current works by over 300%. Dude..he really has it in for Ian.

Also he apparently only deals in facts that the general public doesn't know because its not released to them....convenient.

And last but not least...who or what is Auri-On, find out in The Lara-blah blah something Chronicles. Defiantly "what" if his current ideas and artwork are anything to go by.

/update end

[Zaysho]

Latest update : So apparently he's now saying none of the Knuckles comics ever outsold Sonic and he never said otherwise.

That if the Knuckles series was still going today it would be outselling Universe. That none of Ian's issues have come close to outselling his. And that his 1997 issues have outsold Ian's current works by over 300%. Dude..he really has it in for Ian.

BWAHAHAHAHAHA

I wish I had more to add, but I'd be spinning my wheels at this point. But...

"...the numbers I use are provided by Archie. If Sonic sold only the amount back then you claim, the book would've been cancelled. No Knuckles or Sonic Super Special, let alone what came later. 9K doesn't even cover licensing fees. The book would be cancelled now if it only sold 9K copies." (pieced together from his twitter feed)

Yet the book is still going. Try again, Penders. Knuckles wasn't selling well and in the state it was in, it was never going to. We get it, you're proud of the work you did, nothing wrong with that, but check the ego at the door. Nobody cares if you're hot shit in comics, so stop acting like you're a bigger deal than you are.

Also, does anybody know what he's talking about regarding the sales of the comics being published in the books themselves? I've never seen such a thing and I flipped through a few my books looking at the copyright text and didn't see anything. Am I not looking in the right place?

[Sunwalker]

Also, does anybody know what he's talking about regarding the sales of the comics being published in the books themselves? I've never seen such a thing and I flipped through a few my books looking at the copyright text and didn't see anything. Am I not looking in the right place?

He is talking about the statement of ownership, which is printed once a year in the final pages of the comic. Last time it was published was in March (Sonic the Hedgehog #258 and Sonic Universe #61).

It tells, among a lot of legalese, the monthly average number of copies of the comic during the previous year. For your convenience, here are the figures:

- Sonic the Hedgehog: 47,739 copies per month.

- Sonic Universe: 36,998 copies per month.

By the way, I have found an archive with the STH copies numbers until 2008:

http://freepages.misc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~bauerle/circ.htm

In the 1990's the comic had an monthly average of over 150,000 copies. So Penders' claims about the numbers are partially correct.

Ken assumes that his writing is the only factor in the sales numbers, but it is not. We should remember that the Sonic craze was at the top at this time. It is normal a franchise to be more popular in the next few years after its inception, and when the dust settles down the figures decrease and they keeps at an stable value. Also there are economic factors, comics sales have declined for everyone in the previous decade.

I do not know about Knuckles. Maybe someone could dig the old Knuckles comics to verify its statement of ownerships?

[Zaysho]

Oh cool. I'd seen those before, but it was just tiny text that I never bothered to give it a serious look. Thanks, Sunwalker!

I'm not sure what issues Knuckles' statements of ownership would have been printed in, but I'm sure someone with the full run could probably go through and get the numbers. Based on the general monthly numbers I found (in which Knuckles consistently ranked below the Sonic book). I get the impression they were likely still lower than the monthly average the main book had back then. While the current figures don't reach anywhere near in that regard, the numbers must be satisfactory enough for SEGA to allow Archie to keep the license and for Archie to continue publishing the book.

100% agreed about the reasons behind the sales back in the day though; the Sonic brand was much stronger then than it is now. I suppose there is something to Penders's claims then, even if he seems clueless as to the reasoning.

[biznizz]

Ken Penders accuses Ian of stealing his plotoutlines from before he was fired: http://www.sonicstadium.org/2010/02/ken-penders-speaks-his-mind-on-ian-flynns-performance-on-the-sonic-comic/

 

Said plotoutlines Ken himself released on his forum months later:http://25.media.tumblr.com/293d3eaf8668eefa069e9142b9d44cbb/tumblr_mwudd23gRu1rzxhn7o1_1280.png

 

So Ken being a lying douchebag about Ian, current Archie, & Sonic isn't a relatively new thing. Keep spewing out your bullsh*t, god knows your lackies like BobR & FuhrerMustang will keep lapping it up.