|
It's just a coincidence that "Hello" translates to "Fuk'Seg-uh", really.
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2021 03:01
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 14, 2024 10:58 |
|
|
Thanks to TKP for acting as a lightning rod for this poo poo so that I can have assembled all this cursed fuckin' knowledge, and by thanks I mean I am so deeply sorry. It did genuinely get me interested in Sonic and those comics for the first time in my life, though, so Bobby Schroeder deserves a lot of kudos for that. Understanding this man is straightforward if big to get your head around. Ken Penders, like all comics writers, is a fan of and driven by the people who were the key creative figures in his formative period. And for him, that's Jack Kirby. Penders thinks of himself LIKE a Jack Kirby and all of his writing goals and designs and stuff go in similar directions. You can also see very similar shades to Kirby getting screwed out of his rights by the Big Two in how Kenders views and undertook his lawsuit with Archie. Penders likes being the foundation guy. Building all this backstory and broader world to act as the foundation for stuff... later. He's always introducing stuff and broadening out and he's a huge, gigantic fan of the twist and the drawn-out reveal. Again, Kirby did a lot of the same stuff with his work on Marvel and (extra specially, pay attention to this) the New Gods for DC. The New Gods are aliens, they have extreme powers and strange names, their divinity equivalent is named The Source, and they have all of that Kirby tech with its intricate elements and Kirby dots. You can see all of these in Penders' run on Sonic, mostly in his Knuckles and Echidna stuff, but very specifically the divinity called the Source of All got crowbarred into the Acorn Kingdom's society and was extremely creepy. None of these are directly lifted but the inspirations are pretty plain. He's always wanted to write sci-fi, and that's always how the Echidnas in Sonic were cast. They're not just another branch of humanity, think of them as an outright alien society like the Vulcans or the Romulans and the way he's designed and built them makes much, much more sense. It's also why his new project with the same stuff went to directly making them aliens and also he's doing crazy poo poo like making a conlang. Penders likes to be the guy who laid the foundations, who everyone owes everything to literarily. He wouldn't be constantly trolling around looking for attention and claiming to be at the foundation of loving everything that happens in the Sonic universe even BEYOND Archie if he wasn't (and Bioware can be partly blamed for that, by using a bunch of his poo poo as inspiration material for the Dark Chronicles RPG). But he never wanted to work with anyone else, or have anyone else work with his stuff, so even setting aside his own inability to execute and any personal talent questions, he was NEVER going to be the kind of influential person Jack Kirby was. You can't work in a loving property that isn't yours, which has writers working on it that aren't you, and expect to have total control over what the property is and what gets done with it. What if the Fantastic Four could never be crossed over into other comics? It's insanity. Even IF Jack Kirby had been given the correct level of respect, pay, and recognition that he deserved -- which was a lot -- he wouldn't have just been straight up given ownership of Marvel Comics. Penders got away with that power trip because of his relationship with the editor Archie had for almost his whole tenure, Justin Gabrie, and because of Sega's extreme detachment from the peripheral elements of the Sonic property like the comics. It is worth noting, though, that Penders didn't quit (according to him, and there's actually no real reason to disbelieve it) because of staff or writing disagreements. By hearsay, Sega was ridiculously difficult for the comic to work with in the pre-Ian Flynn period due to their not giving a poo poo, which is part of why the comic got so loving out there. When told to write a Sonic Adventure tie-in, Sega refused to provide them with a copy of the game. They had to go buy one themselves and get cover artist Pat Spaziante to play it. This exact same thing apparently happened with Sonic Adventure 2 as well, and when it then happened for a third time with the Shadow the Hedgehog game, that was the final straw. And in that I can't blame him. Ironically they would become much more closely involved with the comic just after he left, because of finally noticing just how far out into left field it had gone. Redeye Flight fucked around with this message at 06:34 on Mar 1, 2021 |
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2021 06:26
|
|
|
Funny you bring up Star Trek as pretty much the only other thing of note Ken Penders had done in comics prior to ending up at Archie was doing some Star Trek comics for DC when they had the license, from what I've heard they're supposed to be pretty okay, not indicative at all of how bad he'd later become
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2021 23:43
|
|
|
Redeye Flight posted:. Sega's staggering incompetence continues to baffle and delight me. While Penders is a compete weirdo he's honestly a symptom. He would not have been able to do any of this with a competently run comic run
|
|
#
?
Mar 3, 2021 19:36
|
|
|
Dr Pepper posted:Sega's staggering incompetence continues to baffle and delight me. That's pretty clear, considering Archie's legal troubles have shown that for years, the entire company was basically run as a soap opera for their Board of Directors.
|
|
#
?
Mar 5, 2021 03:28
|
|
|
Out of curiosity, is Archie even doing much anymore these days aside from their flagship series (if even that’s still going on currently)?
|
|
#
?
Mar 5, 2021 06:38
|
|
|
So uh... https://twitter.com/KenPenders/status/1430048623778144260?s=20 For the low, low price of $10,000 dollars (plus royalties) you too can use such iconic characters as... um... A sonic recolor?
|
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2021 23:15
|
|
|
I... has something happened recently in the IDW comics? Because why would anyone one want to use Ken's characters when the Archie series has been dead for a few years now?
|
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2021 23:30
|
|
|
Aristide posted:I... has something happened recently in the IDW comics? Because why would anyone one want to use Ken's characters when the Archie series has been dead for a few years now? Live action Sonic TV series ala Riverdale?
|
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2021 23:43
|
|
|
I think the context is someone asked Ian Flynn if Penders' characters could ever return and he probably gave a diplomatic answer like "it would be too difficult to work out a deal to do that". When what he probably really meant was "why the gently caress would we ever want to do that?"
|
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2021 23:49
|
|
|
I can't believe we'll never learn the final fate of Penelope Platypus 
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2021 00:11
|
|
|
I like the implication that Penders doesn't understand the concept of separate continuities, and thinks that anything IDW might do with his characters would impact his future plans enough to require in-story retcons. Like, does he lie awake at night trying to figure out how Garfield Eats ties into the continuity of the comic strip?
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2021 00:27
|
|
|
Man, this guy is 10000 times the sonic artist that Penders is https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMRMBB2gY/ Imagine being shown up by some TikTok sonic fan.
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2021 05:10
|
|
|
FilthyImp posted:Man, this guy is 10000 times the sonic artist that Penders is maybe like 2X the artists that penders is
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2021 05:35
|
|
|
To be frank unless you're a Chris-Chan level garbage fire of a human being it doesn't take much to be a better artist than Ken Penders at least in terms of soul if not drawing ability though that isn't a high bar to reach either
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2021 05:39
|
|
|
Junkie Disease posted:maybe like 2X the artists that penders is Not actual artistic merit.
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2021 05:42
|
|
|
Didn't see a single Science Knuckles or Rasta Knuckles or Space Knuckles or Tree Knuckles or Hippy Knuckles, that person loving sucks
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2021 13:17
|
|
|
did he port colors to switch?
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2021 04:53
|
|
|
So Screen Rant, for some reason, did an interview with Ken Penders in which he revealed he not only intends for his The Lara-Su Chronicles to be seven books, but that he wants his son and grandchildren to turn his glorified fanfic into a generations-spanning franchise. I'm now concerned that Penders and his son are trying to groom his grandchildren into carrying on his "legacy".
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2021 13:44
|
|
|
Lol. I want Penders to live to be old enough to watch h his son declare "The En'Chyll-Adas were actually mutant humans" or someshit and just poo poo all over his plan
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2021 16:13
|
|
|
Hexmage-SA posted:So Screen Rant, for some reason, did an interview with Ken Penders in which he revealed he not only intends for his The Lara-Su Chronicles to be seven books, but that he wants his son and grandchildren to turn his glorified fanfic into a generations-spanning franchise. You gotta link it; it's hilarious https://screenrant.com/ken-penders-sonic-comics-lara-su-chronicles-interview/
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2021 19:28
|
|
|
Davros1 posted:You gotta link it; it's hilarious How did the interviewer not start laughing? Also love the "art" sprinkled through it. K'Nox
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2021 19:59
|
|
|
I just realized how much his art looks like those horrible "How to Draw Anime" books everyone makes fun of. 
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2021 03:18
|
|
|
Well how do you think he's been putting food on his table these last few years.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2021 04:48
|
|
|
Knormal posted:I just realized how much his art looks like those horrible "How to Draw Anime" books everyone makes fun of. I just noticed the human? in the upper right corner and it's killing me.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2021 06:54
|
|
|
It's all humans
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2021 10:57
|
|
|
The regular-style human is good enough to make all the mutant humans all the more horrifying. If the ordinary human wasn't there, you could write it off as Sonichu-esque bad art, but no, this person can actually draw and they chose to draw the mutants that way.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2021 14:59
|
|
|
His art is passable when it's just flat comics stuff but this weird-rear end blender 3D poo poo is just offputting.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2021 15:01
|
|
|
Billy Gnosis posted:I just noticed the human? in the upper right corner and it's killing me.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2021 19:11
|
|
|
Billy Gnosis posted:I just noticed the human? in the upper right corner and it's killing me. He's always been there, check the pic in the OP
|
|
#
?
Sep 7, 2021 04:54
|
|
|
Billy Gnosis posted:How did the interviewer not start laughing? From reading the interview, I got the impression that the interviewer loves what Penders did on Sonic, and is quite the fan.
|
|
#
?
Sep 7, 2021 14:13
|
|
|
Davros1 posted:From reading the interview, I got the impression that the interviewer loves what Penders did on Sonic, and is quite the fan. The same author has another article about how the comics benefitted from Penders, and were ruined when Ian Flynn made them in-line with the Sega interpretations instead of sticking to the Penders style of writing. So yeah.
|
|
#
?
Sep 7, 2021 15:32
|
|
|
Author's name Peter Suckerners Is an anagram for Reporter Knuckles
|
|
#
?
Sep 7, 2021 15:47
|
|
|
I love the opening paragraph of that interview claiming that "few people have had as big of an impact on Sonic the Hedgehog" as Penders. In America maybe? Were the Penders-era comics even widely available outside of the US? I know that was before digital sales were a thing. None of his characters appeared in any games or cartoons while Tangle and Whisper at least got to make an appearance in a mobile game. Hell, I didn't even know the Archie comics existed until some cover scans and one issue were included with Sonic Gems Collection or something on the Gamecube. I was very confused when I saw them, since they weren't the comics I remembered growing up with in the UK.
|
|
#
?
Sep 7, 2021 16:17
|
|
|
Veotax posted:I love the opening paragraph of that interview claiming that "few people have had as big of an impact on Sonic the Hedgehog" as Penders. In America maybe? Were the Penders-era comics even widely available outside of the US? I know that was before digital sales were a thing.
|
|
#
?
Sep 7, 2021 18:08
|
|
|
Gruckles posted:The same author has another article about how the comics benefitted from Penders, and were ruined when Ian Flynn made them in-line with the Sega interpretations instead of sticking to the Penders style of writing. So yeah. This squares with what I know of ScreenRant's reputation.
|
|
#
?
Sep 7, 2021 18:16
|
|
|
Junkie Disease posted:Author's name Reporter Knuckles v Detective Pikachu: Genesis of Justice
|
|
#
?
Sep 7, 2021 18:59
|
|
|
Holy poo poo. https://twitter.com/ScourgeComic/status/1460235434118635522
|
|
#
?
Nov 16, 2021 22:20
|
|
|
Veotax posted:I love the opening paragraph of that interview claiming that "few people have had as big of an impact on Sonic the Hedgehog" as Penders. In America maybe? Were the Penders-era comics even widely available outside of the US? I know that was before digital sales were a thing. To be fair the Bioware Sonic game did basically file the serial numbers off his Echidna villains
|
|
#
?
Nov 16, 2021 22:45
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 14, 2024 10:58 |
|
|
It's very generous to assume Bioware was actually digging into some of the source material rather than just dusting off their standard KOTOR / Mass Effect / Dragon Age "Ancient something or other returns to cause trouble" plot and calling it a day.
|
|
#
?
Nov 17, 2021 01:05
|
|