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

[horridus]

On 2/4/2023 at 12:41 PM, Shaddy Zaphod said:

I think there's some value in it. Getting a view into the man as a person (not so much from what he says as how he acts) can shed light on his bizarre library of works. I'm currently reviewing quite a lot of his work on my channel, and I'm not sure I'd want to leave out a thing as bonkers as "I put all the Christian imagery in these comics because I wanted to appeal to southern conservative Sonic fans" in that analysis.

You really have to love the guy. He puts so much effort championing himself as 'the man who put adult subjects in the Sonic book', the man who 'fought' against Editorial, the man who 'didn't talk down to the audience'. All that effort and time he puts in to make himself out as some kind of daring auteur who pushed the boundaries of a book meant for children... and then he turns around and feebly declares 'I'm a powerless cog in the capitalist machine and I totally bowed down to the kinds of people I said I was challenging with my work because of it, all hail the almighty dollar'.

Its just... so pathetic, how much of a performance artist the man is at the core of things.

11 hours ago, Adamis said:

That "Genesis wave" occurs really early in "The storm". Page 2 IIRC. With absolutely no explanation. Like, first panel you see Geoffrey and Brownie with their Sonic-like design, panel 2 is a flash, and panel 3 shows them with their new design and no one bats an eye.

Ooooh right, that. It's been so long I'd honestly forgotten about that whole thing... which really says nothing good for this project.

[King Scoopa Koopa]

1 hour ago, horridus said:

You really have to love the guy.

Not the word I'd use, but you have to give him something, for sure.

[babsiwuff]

On 2/6/2023 at 3:40 PM, horridus said:

You really have to love the guy. He puts so much effort championing himself as 'the man who put adult subjects in the Sonic book', the man who 'fought' against Editorial, the man who 'didn't talk down to the audience'. All that effort and time he puts in to make himself out as some kind of daring auteur who pushed the boundaries of a book meant for children... and then he turns around and feebly declares 'I'm a powerless cog in the capitalist machine and I totally bowed down to the kinds of people I said I was challenging with my work because of it, all hail the almighty dollar'.

Its just... so pathetic, how much of a performance artist the man is at the core of things.

Ooooh right, that. It's been so long I'd honestly forgotten about that whole thing... which really says nothing good for this project.

That reminds me.  Ken has mentioned a bunch of times that he has a paying job outside of comics and stuff.  Such as in this example: 

What exactly does he do?  There's no way he's some Hollywood mogul like he thinks he is.  Does he bag groceries or something? O.o

[horridus]

2 hours ago, babsiwuff said:

That reminds me.  Ken has mentioned a bunch of times that he has a paying job outside of comics and stuff.  Such as in this example: 

What exactly does he do?  There's no way he's some Hollywood mogul like he thinks he is.  Does he bag groceries or something? O.o

My assumption would be that he does freelance art work outside of comics. He's done storyboard work for Animation in the past and if I recall correctly he's also mentioned having done work for computer companies. Otherwise he's never really hinted as to what his line of work is or the precise nature of his employment.

[babsiwuff]

So...this is a thing?  I think?  

 

 

[Promethean0416]

On 2/7/2023 at 6:34 PM, babsiwuff said:

So...this is a thing?  I think?  

Guessing mark the calendars for this? Also the same month on possibly getting a straight answer from him regarding a certain tweet of his regarding a certain character...

But I digress. Anyway, looks like he got another commission from someone:

EDIT 2/13: Adding art progression tweet.

And looks like there is yet another update on his "project" coming soon (in 20XX).

[Promethean0416]

Making this separate since aside from the recent addition to the commission, I'm kind of mixed on my thoughts on his most recent statement regarding the added character in the comics:

I wouldn't exactly call him an "integral part" in the comics. Sure, during the time of ye olde Penders/Bollers eras, he was there and had his "moments" during his time on-panel, Endgame included, but in my opinion, just a small piece in a former series, a side character.

He definitely had a larger role during the King Naugus saga, though sad that the arc was cut short for obvious reasons.

[Rabbitearsblog]

2 hours ago, Promethean0416 said:

Making this separate since aside from the recent addition to the commission, I'm kind of mixed on my thoughts on his most recent statement regarding the added character in the comics:

I wouldn't exactly call him an "integral part" in the comics. Sure, during the time of ye olde Penders/Bollers eras, he was there and had his "moments" during his time on-panel, Endgame included, but in my opinion, just a small piece in a former series, a side character.

He definitely had a larger role during the King Naugus saga, though sad that the arc was cut short for obvious reasons.

Is he talking about Robotnik or Enerjak?

[Shaddy Zaphod]

He's talking about Geoffrey.

[babsiwuff]

He keeps using old Archie comic paper for his drawings and he’s been doing this for years.  What happens when he runs out?

[Mobotropolis]

Like how Ken held a poll for the next character and then decided to add his OC Geoffrey St. John instead of any of the choices. 

Probably because -- *peeks* 

Yep. Lien-da didn't win the poll. 

[Monkey Destruction Switch]

Penders seems to think Geoffery St. John was this amazing important character, but to me it seems like few people like or care about him, and he wasn't really that important in the grand scheme of things. Basically his creator is definitely his biggest fan, is what I'm saying. Even some of the people who like him like him because of Flynn's writing, lol.

[Shaddy Zaphod]

Thing is, it's not even really accurate. Geoffrey appeared prominently in Penders's writing until Knuckles #21. After this? Dude never wrote him again. He almost exclusively wrote Knuckles backup stories for the main book once the Knuckles spinoff got cancelled, and after SEGA said he had to undo Chaos Knuckles in #125, he didn't even write main-timeline Knuckles (although he did use Shadow as a stand-in), just M25YL.

 

From here, the only person writing Geoffrey into stories before Flynn showed up was Bollers, and that's easily Geoffrey at his least disgusting, since Bollers paired him off with an adult instead of a teenager he would routinely sexually harass.

[babsiwuff]

11 hours ago, Mobotropolis said:

Like how Ken held a poll for the next character and then decided to add his OC Geoffrey St. John instead of any of the choices. 

Probably because -- *peeks* 

Yep. Lien-da didn't win the poll. 

I notice that most of his big action-y “commissions” never feature Tails.  Does Ken even like Tails at all?

[horridus]

11 hours ago, Shaddy Zaphod said:

Thing is, it's not even really accurate. Geoffrey appeared prominently in Penders's writing until Knuckles #21. After this? Dude never wrote him again. He almost exclusively wrote Knuckles backup stories for the main book once the Knuckles spinoff got cancelled, and after SEGA said he had to undo Chaos Knuckles in #125, he didn't even write main-timeline Knuckles (although he did use Shadow as a stand-in), just M25YL.

From here, the only person writing Geoffrey into stories before Flynn showed up was Bollers, and that's easily Geoffrey at his least disgusting, since Bollers paired him off with an adult instead of a teenager he would routinely sexually harass.

It's one of the more baffling thing about Penders, which is saying something given all the other incredibly baffling things about him. He puts so much effort in emphasizing that these are HIS characters and how important HIS contributions were to the comic. This never ending, one man chorus of "ME ME ME! MINE MINE MINE!", to the point that he regards other writers doing work on the characters akin to blasphemy, so much so that he explicitly made one of the terms of hypothetically licensing any of his stuff out to SEGA being that for some characters, anything done with them would need to be okayed by him first.

Yet at the same time... he is INCREDIBLY negligent towards his contributions. Think of Albion. After the story when Knuckles turned Green he basically forgot that was even a thing, ignoring it completely despite seemingly aiming to make it a bigger part of his entire Echidna mythos, and the Lost Tribe with it. Kragok was built up as a major enemy at first before being tossed into the Twilight Zone and being forgotten about until it was time for him to die. Hell, after introducing Elias he only wrote for him once after in his last run on the book... he builds up all these things as if they were supremely beloved, and yet he can't or won't remember that he himself basically discards ideas like an easily bored kid discards new toys.

And yet even the smallest suggestion that other writers could have had more of an impact in making his ideas popular sends him into a lather (especially of said writer happens to be named Ian Flynn).

[Promethean0416]

21 hours ago, babsiwuff said:

I notice that most of his big action-y “commissions” never feature Tails.  Does Ken even like Tails at all?

Not really, unless you count this one (he still wants that Hershey bar):

And the winner of the character vote for his commission is (drumroll)...

 

..."Bunnie Rab-bot"!

 

[Promethean0416]

And now Lien-Da's been added to the group. Starting to look pretty crowded there...

But wait, there's more! Apparently there will be more characters added to this, though they will probably be miniscule in size since it's already looking like there's not much more room to draw anyone else there (wondering if that sheet he is using is exactly 11"x17"?).

And taking a look at Bunnie, I imagine he still has some back issues featuring her because it seems he is using this design of her in this commission, notably her arm design:

https://sonic.fandom.com/wiki/Bunnie_D'Coolette_(Pre-Super_Genesis_Wave)?file=Bunnie_upgrade.png

I tried to make the image appear, but it won't let me for some reason, so this is the best I can do. Sorry.

[horridus]

12 hours ago, Promethean0416 said:

And now Lien-Da's been added to the group. Starting to look pretty crowded there...

But wait, there's more! Apparently there will be more characters added to this, though they will probably be miniscule in size since it's already looking like there's not much more room to draw anyone else there (wondering if that sheet he is using is exactly 11"x17"?).

And taking a look at Bunnie, I imagine he still has some back issues featuring her because it seems he is using this design of her in this commission, notably her arm design:

https://sonic.fandom.com/wiki/Bunnie_D'Coolette_(Pre-Super_Genesis_Wave)?file=Bunnie_upgrade.png

I tried to make the image appear, but it won't let me for some reason, so this is the best I can do. Sorry.

All I can say really is that I hope that whoever paid for this is cool with things being done this way.

And yeah, that image of Bunnie seems to be his go-to 'reference' when drawing her. He used that same pose and everything in the last commission he did that had her.

[babsiwuff]

8 hours ago, horridus said:

All I can say really is that I hope that whoever paid for this is cool with things being done this way.

And yeah, that image of Bunnie seems to be his go-to 'reference' when drawing her. He used that same pose and everything in the last commission he did that had her.

And looks like he finally added Tails.  Wishing he hadn’t.  I hate how Penders advances all the characters but keeps Tails as a 4 year old like he was in SATAM.  Also, why does he draw Tails‘ namesakes so weird?  They’re on the same side, when they should be at opposite angles to simulate a propeller.

[Promethean0416]

Yeah, he did. Even gave him a slingshot, thinking that is part of his character. Pretty much confirms that he does not check out or even care about what Tails' current personality/interests are like. Regarding the tails, yeah they are placed weird, maybe the older Archie comics had them that way at one point? I recall the tails being straight and wiggling when he was "flying" in some of the first issues.

I do not recall Tails having a slingshot at all in any incarnation, even the SatAM version. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong. Anyway, he seems to be emulating Dennis the Menace with that:

"Hey, Mr. 'Botnik!"

[babsiwuff]

33 minutes ago, Promethean0416 said:

Yeah, he did. Even gave him a slingshot, thinking that is part of his character. Pretty much confirms that he does not check out or even care about what Tails' current personality/interests are like. Regarding the tails, yeah they are placed weird, maybe the older Archie comics had them that way at one point? I recall the tails being straight and wiggling when he was "flying" in some of the first issues.

I do not recall Tails having a slingshot at all in any incarnation, even the SatAM version. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong. Anyway, he seems to be emulating Dennis the Menace with that:

"Hey, Mr. 'Botnik!"

I get it to a point, if he's going strictly for SatAM canon, where Tails was just a toddler that everyone looked after.  But at this point, he shouldn't even be in the pic to begin with, since he was too young to really be of much help.

Also on the topic of Geoffrey and a few of the other characters Penders "created", he's lying when he says he thought up their designs all on their own.  They were animated in the dang show!!

[King Scoopa Koopa]

To his credit, at least the tails aren't just sticking straight up and wiggling like I feared (and like some artists used to do).

[babsiwuff]

On 2/18/2023 at 2:10 PM, King Scoopa Koopa said:

To his credit, at least the tails aren't just sticking straight up and wiggling like I feared (and like some artists used to do).

Good point.  XD. Still?  Bleh.  I’m never pleased when Ken deals with Tails and it gets under my skin.  To a point, it annoys me when he excludes Tails, but then when he DOES draw him, he’s wildly out of character and looks terrible.

I don’t get why Ken doesn’t pay attention to any of these characters in canon.  It’s so aggravating.

[King Scoopa Koopa]

Only his canon is the real one! All other gods -- er, canons -- are false!

[horridus]

2 hours ago, babsiwuff said:

Good point.  XD. Still?  Bleh.  I’m never pleased when Ken deals with Tails and it gets under my skin.  To a point, it annoys me when he excludes Tails, but then when he DOES draw him, he’s wildly out of character and looks terrible.

I don’t get why Ken doesn’t pay attention to any of these characters in canon.  It’s so aggravating.

Despite it being the job he was hired for, one gets the impression with Penders that he actually really, really does not care for working with characters that weren't developed by him personally, and on top of that? He doesn't like to write Teenagers or especially children... even though these are literally what he is paid to do. When it comes to Tails though, he personally outlined his view that Sonic was only friends with him because Tails because Tails was his cheerleader. He's never actually seen Tails in any capacity beyond the most basic take of being a Kid Sidekick. While SatAM gets invoked here, it should be noted the show was developing him towards being a more independent hero. Penders however can't even imagine THAT much- for him Tails is just The Kid, and nothing more.