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

[Rabid-Coot]

There's still a small chance the container falls off the ship.

[Promethean0416]

And here we have the man's take/reasoning on why he went in the direction he did on TL-SC plus more comparisons to well known movies (Star Trek and Star Wars):

https://kenpenders.com/a-new-era-begins/

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I know there’s a lot of people who would love to see the Archie Comics SONIC THE HEDGEHOG series restored to its former glory, but there’s way too much water under the bridge for that to ever happen. For one thing, fights would start over which version – Classic (me, Karl Bollers, Mike Gallagher) or New (Ian and anyone else). And that’s just the stories. I doubt we could get Patrick Spaziante to do the covers, let alone an occasional story, or get Art Mawhinney and Steven Butler to make a comeback. Nor do I think IDW will be giving up the license anytime soon or that SEGA would be easier to deal with.

Frankly, at my age, I can’t see me taking direction from anyone when it comes to writing and drawing my stories. That’s clearly a case of my way or the highway.

I think there has been a few posts in the past showing that he will not work with others, but there's another for the record books...

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I had been struggling for a long time trying to figure out how to move forward. I started by writing a story in script form, but I wasn’t going to be bound by page count or company dictates. Since there was no chance of being able to use Sonic and/or Knuckles in any new material, anything I had developed for my proposed film project SONIC ARMAGEDDON went out the window. Whatever background I provided for the KNUCKLES series would have to be focused on a character other than Knuckles. Thus, the material developed for the future-based backup series MOBIUS: 25 YEARS LATER and the character of Lara-Su would have to be my vehicle for moving forward.

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I had initially mapped out the life of Knuckles from birth until his death, with the implication that his heirs would carry on his legacy. That map has since been reworked and is now my northstar in depicting Lara-Su’s destiny.

Provided the "destiny" doesn't get cut short by a certain company and/or publisher first...

Edited May 23 by Promethean0416

[Lorekitten]

10 minutes ago, Promethean0416 said:

Frankly, at my age, I can’t see me taking direction from anyone when it comes to writing and drawing my stories. That’s clearly a case of my way or the highway.

At least he's honest enough to admit this even to himself. That's quite frankly more than I expected from him, so I'll give him credit for saying it.

[dwitefry666]

On 5/19/2024 at 8:10 AM, King Scoopa Koopa said:

It's less -- not none, but less -- that I'm worried about free stuff like that, and more like stuff sold at conventions, on Etsy, maybe some online stores?

You may not need to worry. See this isn't a new thing what Ken is/may be doing. You're not allowed to reprint a comic if you don't have the rights to reprint a character in it, even if you own everything else.

For instance? IDW couldn't reprint an issue of Marvel's Transformers because it featured Spider-Man. It didn't matter that Hasbro owned everything else about the issue, and so IDW's licence meant they could reprint it. They don't own Spider-Man and IDW don't have a licence to print comics starring him.

Likewise, for years Marvel couldn't reprint an issue of Power Man and Iron Fist because it guest-starred ROM, and thier ROM licence had expired. It didn't matter that, like Ken, they owned the script, art and all the other characters, they didn't own ROM and didn't have the licence.

This is an established thing, an established rule that Ken maybe be breaking. So it should treated more like another burglary rather than a new type of piracy that requires re-evaluating things. 

 

 

[Promethean0416]

Well, we have yet another post from the man:

https://kenpenders.com/a-message-to-some-of-my-favorite-people/

I think he is trying to tell us something. Also:

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Especially since the printing and shipping were paid by those who ordered it. The book can now be considered a success. It’s also a better product than Archie or IDW ever offered to the fans. I couldn’t be happier.

Bitter much?

[Lorekitten]

Look, I haven't even read the thing and I can already tell you that if it's a straight-up retelling of M25YL, it can't possibly beat Archie's best and it isn't even capable of beating IDW's best (which I personally hold to be the Bad Guys miniseries, but you're free to disagree). And I harbor no delusions that anything Ken Penders or anyone else is capable of adding to M25YL's storyline can possibly skyrocket it up to greater than Archie's best, because it's still just M25YL and there were plenty of Archie stories better than M25YL.

[horridus]

24 minutes ago, Promethean0416 said:

Well, we have yet another post from the man:

https://kenpenders.com/a-message-to-some-of-my-favorite-people/

I think he is trying to tell us something. Also:

Bitter much?

Oh, I'm well aware this isn't quite applicable- he has indeed gotten his product out, and I'm sure the fans of his who paid for it are happy with it regardless of the actual flaws it might have. And yet somehow, even screaming out his 'victory' like this, over a book of shoddily reprinted material twelve years after the announcement of this project, he captures this exact kind of energy. After delaying it several times over in order to hit the magic 200 pre-orders he was so dead set on, at that.

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Look, I haven't even read the thing and I can already tell you that if it's a straight-up retelling of M25YL, it can't possibly beat Archie's best and it isn't even capable of beating IDW's best (which I personally hold to be the Bad Guys miniseries, but you're free to disagree). And I harbor no delusions that anything Ken Penders or anyone else is capable of adding to M25YL's storyline can possibly skyrocket it up to greater than Archie's best, because it's still just M25YL and there were plenty of Archie stories better than M25YL.

Try and remember, this is a guy who insists that Very Real People Who Totally Exist told him that what they saw of his App was better than anything DC or Marvel had put out. His definition of 'better' begins and ends with 'I made it', and nothing more.

Edited May 24 by horridus
Added a bit more

[Lorekitten]

9 minutes ago, horridus said:

Try and remember, this is a guy who insists that Very Real People Who Totally Exist told him that what they saw of his App was better than anything DC or Marvel had put out. His definition of 'better' begins and ends with 'I made it', and nothing more.

I fear that man will go to his grave believing he's a misunderstood genius.

[Rabid-Coot]

I wonder if the warehouse fees will outpace the books revenue.

[horridus]

3 minutes ago, Rabid-Coot said:

I wonder if the warehouse fees will outpace the books revenue.

*Shrugs* Maybe, maybe not. It's not like he'd ever talk about it if it did though.

[Lorekitten]

6 minutes ago, horridus said:

It's not like he'd ever talk about it if it did though.

I don't know, he seems to be a fan of complaining about things. (To be fair, I don't think the Sonic fan community is really in any position to point fingers about that...)

[horridus]

7 minutes ago, Lorekitten said:

I don't know, he seems to be a fan of complaining about things. (To be fair, I don't think the Sonic fan community is really in any position to point fingers about that...)

Heh, can't argue with that one. But nah, if he suffered a setback that could punch a hole in his 'victory lap'? He absolutely would not let people know about it, unless somehow there was no way to keep a lid on it.

Either way though, I guess all that's left is to see who decides to review this 'triumph' first, and to see if it takes another twelve years for the non-reprint parts of this project to manifest in any meaningful way.

[captobvious42]

3 hours ago, Lorekitten said:

Look, I haven't even read the thing and I can already tell you that if it's a straight-up retelling of M25YL, it can't possibly beat Archie's best and it isn't even capable of beating IDW's best (which I personally hold to be the Bad Guys miniseries, but you're free to disagree). And I harbor no delusions that anything Ken Penders or anyone else is capable of adding to M25YL's storyline can possibly skyrocket it up to greater than Archie's best, because it's still just M25YL and there were plenty of Archie stories better than M25YL.

Considering M25YL was basically a badly-written and poorly paced teen drama/rom-com with the occasional plot relevant plot points revealed sparingly and all the important bits left until near the end, yeah, there's plenty of better storylines. I'll bet a week's pay that LARA-SU CHRONICLES is going to be 75-85% unneeded fluff.

[Promethean0416]

Looks like he is going to be attempting to get the rights to other creative's stories as well (likely minus a certain one):

Reminder (as far as I am aware): the man just got barely over 200 preorders for Beginnings out of his 2000 order package in just over 9 months time since the announcement back in August 2023. Unless some miracle happens at SDCC 2024 and/or he somehow avoids the wrath of a certain company and/or publisher, definitely do not see this going too much higher, let alone his future plans for the "Knuckles Omnibus."

[Lorekitten]

Dude... if you seriously think that paper quality is going to be your series' biggest selling point, then I don't know what to tell you.

[Promethean0416]

And we have yet another new post/update:

https://kenpenders.com/one-picture-can-say-a-lot/

Yeah, I was wondering what his "inspiration" was from that pic there:

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Right now, most of you are asking who is the character in the lower right corner. As I’ve been telling everyone who asks, his name is Xero, and how he’s related to the women pictured above is part of the narrative of THE LARA-SU CHRONICLES.

Chances are I may reveal hints of his backstory by the time SHATTERED TOMORROWS comes to a close. Then again, I may leave it up to the readers to guess until a follow-up novel is released.

Well, he did reveal this on one of his past Xitter posts:

Still hazarding a guess that Commander Hud-excuse me, Taelor may be his father but sure not his daddy, but I digress...

Also, he's doing a contest of sorts:

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The first who can guess Xero’s backstory will win an original pen & ink drawing of Xero signed by me. Guesses can be sent here. Take care.

There's an email link in his post. Anyone going to make an attempt to guess Alien Kanye West's backstory?

Edited May 27 by Promethean0416

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Times like this, I feel bad about my henscratch of sketches, and then I look at that art and realize that I can at least do better…

…except coloring. Ass as his drawings may be, Penders is definitely my better in that area.

[TripTrap]

On 5/19/2024 at 11:28 AM, Ryannumber1gamer said:

Chronicles was used again for the Encloy-speed-ica, and we know that if Chronicles was in legal trouble, it wouldn’t be there because Pocket Adventure did have to be excluded due to rights issues presumably with SNK.

The reason why Penders hasn’t launched a case is because put bluntly, it was thrown out multiple times and it doesn’t take much of a genius to see it would be thrown out again. So it’s easier for Penders to just kick up little stinks like using Shade stealthfully and pretending Ian can write things without SEGA’s approval rather than admit defeat that his attempts to cash in on Chronicles failed.

Depending on the timestamps, I wonder if it was a coincidence that they chose to feature Shade with her mask on given how Penders seems hellbent on insisting that he can get away with stealing it for Julie, along with her name. 

[Promethean0416]

Looks like Penders made a change to a certain character's backstory, she now has two sons. How..."intriguing:"

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It’s a great guess, as it will be revealed Lien-Da does indeed have two sons. However, Xero is not that son. Nor is Xero the only new character introduced. There’s Commander Mykhal Taelor, Dr Zephur and Ensign Brownie among others yet to make their debut. And Rotor has been swapped with Artemis.

And here he goes again on the whole "use certain elements for stories"...again.

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I had the freedom I did because nobody at SEGA thought the comics were anything more than advertising for their games as they never cared about story during my entire run with Archie. Personally, I’m not sure how controlling SEGA is with the story these days, especially when it comes to the SONIC films and the KNUCKLES series. Those projects alone are bringing in considerable money to SEGA’s coffers so I highly doubt they’re going to rock those boats. As for the IDW comics, I believe they can do more than they are. I believe certain creators prefer to stick more to the games than introduce the SatAM or other elements.

I believe that's exactly what they are?

[horridus]

25 minutes ago, Promethean0416 said:

Looks like Penders made a change to a certain character's backstory, she now has two sons. How..."intriguing:"

If this isn't the biggest piece of evidence that Penders operates almost purely under Soap Opera Logic, I don't know what is. There was nothing ever hinted to Lien-Da having any children outside of Rutan, but because Penders thinks this is a detail that could lure people in, he decides to implement it even if it seems out of the blue. It's the kind of thing that only works if you're GOOD at it, because otherwise it opens up a bevy of questions, such as why this person was never mentioned before this point.

It's all so... gimmicky.

25 minutes ago, Promethean0416 said:

I believe that's exactly what they are?

Yep. Penders constantly tries to push this narrative so that he can make himself look like a visionary who was stymied by 'the suits', but the fact remains that the Archie Comics and the SatAM cartoon, along with ALL Sonic spinoff media, exists purely to promote and spread awareness of Sonic's brand. This does not lessen their worth, but Penders has never approached any of this as being popular spinoff material for a video game franchise- his mindset is purely to see Sonic through the lens of a COMIC BOOK series that he personally led to greatness. It's not about the reality of things, only his fantasy of who he is and what the Sonic books could be for HIM, and him alone.

But that's nothing new, nor is his attempt to infer that the thing standing between the SatAM characters and IDW is Ian Flynn and the creative team at IDW, rather than the simple reality that SEGA has no interest in utilizing characters from a spinoff cartoon that was cancelled decades ago. Disgusting behavior to be sure, but that's just par the course for Penders.

[Lorekitten]

Honestly, I'm not sure why I keep revisiting this topic, given that I always have the same reaction to Ken Penders being full of himself. I guess I just want to wait around to see what happens when and if he near-inevitably gets into trouble for the copyright crap he's pulling.

I pray that he learns a permanent lesson at some point, but if he hasn't learned it yet, I have very little optimism that he ever will.

[horridus]

16 minutes ago, Lorekitten said:

I pray that he learns a permanent lesson at some point, but if he hasn't learned it yet, I have very little optimism that he ever will.

He's been this way for basically his entire adult life. The Lawsuit and the rise of Social Media put him on full blast, but even in the Olden Times of forums he was always an egotistical jackass. At this point even if by some miracle it was revealed that he had lied during the lawsuit and everything was reversed, he'd be claiming he was the victim of a corporate conspiracy.

The best we could ever hope for is him pulling the plug on his social media and websites and just getting off the Internet forever.

[King Scoopa Koopa]

23 minutes ago, Lorekitten said:

Honestly, I'm not sure why I keep revisiting this topic, given that I always have the same reaction to Ken Penders being full of himself. I guess I just want to wait around to see what happens when and if he near-inevitably gets into trouble for the copyright crap he's pulling.

I'm pretty sure that's the long game for most of us by this point.

[Promethean0416]

Wow, he has been posting updates and whatnot like wildfire these past couple of weeks. However, I will not be able to check for updates starting next week as I am preparing for a move. 

Anyway, here's yet another update regarding the status of his bootleg stories as well as his "pre-order" prrrrromotion:

https://kenpenders.com/final-days-of-the-pre-order-promotion/

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I just received email stating the cargo ship containing all 2000 copies of THE LARA-SU CHRONICLES: BEGINNINGS has left the dock and is now heading out to the high seas. The ship is expected to arrive at the Port of Los Angeles by June 15. Once the books clear customs and are delivered to the warehouse for storage, I’ll begin processing all the pre-orders.

I imagine that's the beginning of when we will know if any action will be taken by a certain company and/or publisher, but that's just me...

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The current promotion of including a 5 x 7 Limited Edition Signed Lara-Su print plus a randomly-selected issue of either SONIC or KNUCKLES issue I worked on signed by me comes to an end on June 15. 

Still don't think the random selection thing is a good idea...

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At this time, there are no plans to reprint THE LARA-SU CHRONICLES: BEGINNINGS as I will be focused on getting the LARA-SU APP ready for release as well getting production for KEN PENDERS’ KNUCKLES OMNIBUS underway. Beyond that, I will be working on more SHATTERED TOMORROWS pages, as there’s a lot of story to tell. (The current script is approx. 160 pages currently. Chances are that could increase.)

Between the pre-orders and copies I’m pulling for Comic-Con, that leaves me with 1400 copies available for sale. As copies get pulled for convention appearances, that decreases the amount for store orders, so if you don’t want to miss out, sooner is better than later.

Yeah, unless some miracle happens, those 1400 copies are likely going to sit there for some time, but again, that's just me. Also, recapping on that number, he just barely surpassed 200 on that (taking 9 months to do so), putting it at roughly 1800, so from this, he is planning on hauling roughly 400 of those books to SDCC to try (key word being "try") to sell them. Only time will tell on where this goes next...

Edited May 28 by Promethean0416

[Lorekitten]

Honestly, the more I learn about the history of the Archie Sonic comics, the more impressed and incredulous I am that they not only lasted as long as they did, but hold the world record for longest-running comic based off a video game. I have no idea how much of that was because of Penders and how much was in spite of him, but suffice to say that I'm surprised the whole thing didn't come crashing down much earlier.