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

[Promethean0416]

Another update of sorts alongside some recycled artwork and the TOC page which still has that lens flare issue with some of the words in one of the book's "chapters":

https://kenpenders.com/its-been-a-hard-days-night/

Also, February 19th, huh? Guess we will see if he commits to this date or finds another excuse to prolong it further in a last desperate attempt to hit the magic 200 for the ones he is most thankful for...

[dwitefry666]

Well at least it's nice to know that he seems to have got permission from the other artists to use thier work, or so he says at least. If true: I aplogise for accusing him of not doing so.

[Rabbitearsblog]

3 hours ago, dwitefry666 said:

Well at least it's nice to know that he seems to have got permission from the other artists to use thier work, or so he says at least. If true: I aplogise for accusing him of not doing so.

The real question is though, will SEGA let him reprint the issues?

[LongcrierCat]

I just think it's funny he's not renamed Sonic into being an expy. He could legally get away with an expy and avoid the copyright issues.

I think it would be fuckin funny if he made Not Sonic look like this:

"Jimmy Hedgeman's Whole Life is about to get Blast Processed"

[Rabbitearsblog]

1 hour ago, LongcrierCat said:

I just think it's funny he's not renamed Sonic into being an expy. He could legally get away with an expy and avoid the copyright issues.

I think it would be fuckin funny if he made Not Sonic look like this:

"Jimmy Hedgeman's Whole Life is about to get Blast Processed"

Basically, Ugly Sonic....

[LongcrierCat]

23 minutes ago, Rabbitearsblog said:

Basically, Ugly Sonic....

[DaddlerTheDalek]

7 hours ago, LongcrierCat said:

 

"Jimmy Hedgeman's Whole Life is about to get Blast Processed"

Man. The 1994 Sonic: The Movie script treatment was just wild!

[StreetSonic2022]

10 hours ago, LongcrierCat said:

I just think it's funny he's not renamed Sonic into being an expy. He could legally get away with an expy and avoid the copyright issues.

I think it would be fuckin funny if he made Not Sonic look like this:

"Jimmy Hedgeman's Whole Life is about to get Blast Processed"

Oh no. This look even worse than Ugly Paramount Sonic. (And he looks kinda feminine with his face though IMO).

[LongcrierCat]

54 minutes ago, StreetSonic2022 said:

Oh no. This look even worse than Ugly Paramount Sonic. (And he looks kinda feminine with his face though IMO).

Was just doing what would have felt right for 1994.

Which also feels like the general vibe of everything Ken makes now that I think about it.

Edited February 15 by LongcrierCat

[Promethean0416]

An "interesting" post on his Xitter account (which I guess he is back on full-time if the date is of any indication).

As it has been stated before, pretty sure this is still overexaggerating if the online reviews of this character's current design are of any indication...

Oh, and he was responding to this poster who was apparently a fan of his:

Spoiler

 

Edited February 16 by Promethean0416

[horridus]

12 hours ago, Promethean0416 said:

An "interesting" post on his Xitter account (which I guess he is back on full-time if the date is of any indication).

As it has been stated before, pretty sure this is still overexaggerating if the online reviews of this character's current design are of any indication...

Oh, and he was responding to this poster who was apparently a fan of his:

  Hide contents

 

I wouldn't doubt that at least a few people would be genuinely impressed. Trouble is though, Penders has this rather unfortunate tendency to exaggerate about such things, often in incredibly specific and specifically-beneficial-to-him scenarios. The time he mentioned 'comic shop owners' were telling him that his work was 'on par or superior to Archie's output' continues to dwell within my head. Just in general whenever he makes 'these' tweets, it starts to become clear he willfully interprets basic politeness as a roaring endorsement.

He IS correct that the ship for doing it in the 'Sonic' style sailed a while ago. I don't think it's a decision he came to purely on his own given what the earliest released bits of art looked like, but he doesn't have a choice in trying to go for a different style. Even if that style is a horrible, uncanny valley between realism and cartoony that is unpleasant to look at just in general, especially with the garish and poorly implemented digital coloring he does. I still say he'd have been better off just making them humans, it's clearly what he's more comfortable doing...

And while I'm not one to advocate bringing up what his fans say... where the hell does THAT guy get off showing AI copies of Penders own art to him while saying he's a fan? Like, dear God, who does that to someone? "Oh hey I'm totally a fan but I think your current work is so bad that I felt the need to have a computer do it just to implicitly shame you for your current output no offense intended lol".

[Promethean0416]

And on another note, looks like he's getting his hopesambitions up once again:

Quote

I’m planning for the iPhones app to be released just in time for the San Diego Comic-Con. It will feature the last chapter of M25YL, then THE STORM, followed by the opening segment of THE LARA-SU CHRONICLES: SHATTERED TOMORROWS. The stories are in one section of the app, while the DATA FILES will be in the EXTRAS section, along with the ART GALLERY (which is not in the book). I don’t have a Droid version of the app yet, but I hope to eventually. One priority at a time is about all I can handle. If enough people support the book and the Apple app release, the sooner the Droid version will happen as I’d like to be paying people to take on some of the workload in order for me to get more accomplished.

So yeah, he's looking to release the app for Apple before July 25th, but going through 12 years worth of what he has said before about a product release, probably not likely, though despite his as-of-late seemingly aggressive push on releasing 25YLTLSC: Beginnings before that same timeframe although the circumstances surrounding its release are sketchy at best regarding a certain company's ownership of certain characters in those stories.

But we shall see. We shall see...

Edited February 18 by Promethean0416

[Stasis]

Tomorrow is deadline day. The printers are about to receive over a decades worth of... something.

 

[Rabid-Coot]

This close to this months "deadline" and there seems to be more time spent on getting dragged into dumb arguements on twitter then there is doing last minute reminders about ordering.

[babsiwuff]

I mean he literally doesn't even have the last 6 pages done.  What's he been doing for the last 12 years?!

[Promethean0416]

3 hours ago, babsiwuff said:

I mean he literally doesn't even have the last 6 pages done.  What's he been doing for the last 12 years?!

Apparently not much aside from "fine-tuning" an outline to his stories, if this response is of any indication:

Quote

Jaker, Riki-Le, Rutan, Selma and Lara-Su’s other friends will be making an appearance in the later part of SHATTERED TOMORROWS as there’s a couple of key sequences that propel the characters into directions they hadn’t anticipated or ever dreamed they’d have to deal with. A lot of characters will be appearing as the story unfolds. I have no claim to Espio but I’m not sure how I want to handle that situation at this time. Mina is Karl’s character but I haven’t had talks with him, and don’t anticipate addressing that situation in the immediate future. I only have a general outline for THE LARA-SU CHRONICLES at this time, which allows me time to develop the details as I go along. I ask for patience in the meantime.

Yeah, if I am reading this correctly, he's nowhere near the finish line on this, especially after refreshing myself on the definition of a general outline:

An outline is a general plan of the material that is to be presented in a speech or a paper. The outline shows the order of the various topics, the relative importance of each, and the relationship between the various parts. 

Another theory of mine is he probably went through multiple revisions of his "stories" before tossing it out and starting over, but that's just me. Either way, I do not see him getting this done in the future despite his previous statements saying otherwise.

ADDENDUM: I am wondering if he still has those scripts he showed off 10 years ago or if those got tossed out or lost at some point?

Edited February 19 by Promethean0416

[Promethean0416]

Apologies for the double post, but once again he has moved the deadline...

...by only a day (20 February, 11:59pm):

https://kenpenders.com/last-day-for-special-thanks-in-book/

And with him not putting it on Amazon or Diamond, I imagine he is trying to keep his book advertising on the down low, though advertising it on Xitter probably did not do him any favors, but I digress...

[Rabbitearsblog]

So...today is the 20th.  Does he have his book out yet?

[Rabid-Coot]

16 hours ago, Promethean0416 said:

And with him not putting it on Amazon or Diamond, I imagine he is trying to keep his book advertising on the down low

I think there may be a desire to avoid their associated fees too.

Edited February 20 by Rabid-Coot

[Promethean0416]

17 hours ago, Rabbitearsblog said:

So...today is the 20th.  Does he have his book out yet?

Apparently, it will be out in late May provided he finally shuts off the "Special Thanks" gimmick:

Quote

I’ve always stated it would be approx. 3 months for me to receive the books once they go to print. I’m looking at sometime in May at this point give or take a week. The books are being printed in Singapore and will be shipped via a cargo ship arriving at a port in Los Angeles. From there they will be transported to a warehouse where I’ve made arrangements for the books to be stored. (We’re talking 3 full pallets containing 2000 copies.) I will be keeping everyone updated at every stage of the operation once I receive word. If you think you can’t wait to see your copy, I’m even worse, because not only do I have a prototype cover, but I have a file with all the pages laid out waiting for me to complete the last pages for the SHATTERED TOMORROWS section. I know this is going to be something special once people see it.

 Welp, there's the answer on where he is getting his books made, out in Singapore. Not sure how much this sort of thing would have cost overall, but the shipping and handling would probably be a heavy chunk...

EDIT: Seems this is where he's getting them made at: https://www.sc-international.com.sg/

Edited February 21 by Promethean0416

[Promethean0416]

Welp, yet another push to the right due to some "minor issues" to February 26th now:

https://kenpenders.com/so-what-now/

Beginning to think that this was another excuse to try and get to the magic 200, but I digress. From what is said, he seems to have sold 157 books so far.

Quote

That means anyone still wanting to be included on the SPECIAL THANKS pages can still pre-order THE LARA-SU CHRONICLES: BEGINNINGS until noon, Monday, February 26, 2024. After that, the corrected files will be submitted to the printer with no further changes allowable. At this time, I’m exactly 43 orders short of 200 for those who are interested in the Limited LARA-SU signed print in addition to being listed on the SPECIAL THANKS pages.

Also, he seems to be either trying his luck with this like with the 25YL stories or the chance that he actually got permission to do this (though from his statements, it seems to be more the former, but could be wrong).

Quote

I’ve begun prepping for THE KNUCKLES OMNIBUS as a release for Summer 2025, as I do have a couple of people helping with production, as well as the app programming and language translations being worked on for the initial app release. I hope to begin recruiting a colorist by the time Comic-Con rolls around.

But then again, he has been known to miss deadline after deadline, so...

Edited February 24 by Promethean0416

[Lorekitten]

At this point, there's probably a betting pool out there somewhere as to when and if he'll actually release this thing.

I think he will, eventually, and live to regret the inevitable aftermath.

[horridus]

The more he talks about this, the more I feel validated in my belief that he would have been a lot better off if he had just released a webcomic and asked for donations and then setting up a patreon to give members extra goodies and the like. He'd have a lot more to show for his efforts and be saving a LOT more money... but then, given that this would require consistent output and work without the promise of large returns, maybe not.

[King Scoopa Koopa]

4 hours ago, Lorekitten said:

At this point, there's probably a betting pool out there somewhere as to when and if he'll actually release this thing.

I think he will, eventually, and live to regret the inevitable aftermath.

One can only hope.

[Rabid-Coot]

If it was just under 150 on the 9th and now its up to 157 thats about 10 more sales in 15 days I don't think there's going to be many more coming with how much it has slowed down.