Vertical Slice: Penders vs. The World

65 Comments

1. Is this how lara-su will look in sonic boom?

   1. Either the funniest comment ever posted or the most disappointing… haha

      1. both

2. Ah, this…
   This.
   This thing.
   I’ve run out of words of how to describe this thing.

3. Despite Penders’ claims that he was indeed the Archie Comics’ series’ saviour, he was also responsible for creating a large variety of problems with the book’s cast and narrative. I’m grateful for his contribution to the comic because he was lead writer when my interest in Sonic was just starting to solidify and I’m sure that’s in no small part thanks to his contributions to the comic’s universe. However, by the end of his run at Archie his characters and stories were beginning to grow tired and I doubt that without Flynn the series would have survived to this day. If the book wasn’t still around I find it highly unlikely that he would’ve had a case or a viable market for his new stories in the first place.
   The man’s drive is commendable and I also admire his seeking ownership of his original characters, but I also find his ego and hubris more than a little oft-putting and his new venture to be confusing and bordering on idiotic. While his characters played a big role in some of my favourite moments in Sonic the Hedgehog, I certainly wouldn’t want to see them make a return anytime soon. They’re part of the book’s past and I’m glad to see the story go to new places. Regardless, I hope he finds success with these Lara-su Chronicles.

4. @TheSonicGamer20IX There’s a very good chance that Lara-su isn’t in Sonic Boom at all.

5. anyone else see that horrifying pic up there and think:
   http://www.melaman2.com/cartoons/looney/themes/merry_melodies_opening.mp3 ?

   1. HA! I knew I wasn’t the only one. Thank you, thank you!

   2. Haha! Yes!

6. Is this guy for real?

   1. As real as Sonic is blue I’m afraid.

7. Wow. There’s very little I’m not open to when it comes to Sonic. But this is… too much for me.

8. I covered my eyes screaming “BWAAAAAH” at the sight of Lien-Da’s new design…
   What I’m mostly concerned is if Finitevus is still in the comics.
   If he isn’t, I’m afraid of what he’ll do to a photo-negative echidna.

   1. At this point, it’s safe to assume only Knuckles and Tikal (the Segachidnas) will appear in the comics since the Super-Genesis wave.
      Yes, I invented a word. Yes, I know it’s crap. No, I don’t care 😛

      1. And Pachacamac of course. Athair might be safe too, but I’m not sure.

9. Oh sweet merciful Chaos, that CGI image is nightmare-inducing. And Penders’ arrogance is beyond reason. OK, I will defend his right to claim copyright on his creations; any sane person would. But everything I’ve seen since… no.
   Just no.

10. Ken Penders has major issues if he thinks those trash bin CGI renders look good in the slightest.

11. lol never liked the comics from the get go…
    *grabs popcorn*
    I need a lil drama doe! 😀

12. Those renders are lkke sega saturn graphics

    1. Pretty sure I’ve seen Saturn games looking better than this.

       1. Like those in this list?

13. If his ego gets any bigger we’re going to have a Solar eclipse.

    1. lol

14. 😎 here kids a little present for ya http://fav.me/d79hvwl and also here’s something from Omegamorph on deviantart that left me this awesome little speech for penders a while back…
    “Oh, you like to think you’re a god, but you’re not a god! You’re just a parasite eaten out with jealousy and envy and longing for the works of others. You feed on them. On the memory of love and loss and birth and death and joy and sorrow. So… so come on, then. Take mine. Take all my stories along with theirs. Along with the ones you claim are still yours. But I hope you’ve got a big appetite, because read everything until now, and I’ve seen a few things. I saw the princess walk away intact from the last End Game. I saw every echidna you helped cosign into oblivion. I saw the birth through the first four-issue mini-series and watched as the universe ran out due to your meddling. But so little remained. None of their characters! None of their continuity! Just Sega and what came before it! I’ve walked through the stories left dying by a mad~man. I’ve watched plots delayed and possibilities burned. I’ve seen the fans hang on in spite of all that and create things you wouldn’t believe! You think its all yours, but we’ve lost things that you’ll never understand! And we can still have those things. Secrets that we can be uncovered. Binding agreements that can be undone. Spirit that can send money-grubbing ex-writers lit ablaze! SO COME OOOOON THEN! TAKE IT! TAKE IT ALL, BABY! HAVE IT! YOU HAVE IT ALL!”

15. I was rooting for Penders during the legal battles, and I still thought his contributions to the comic were some of the best (the Knuckles spin-off was stellar and far better than even the primary Sonic comics,, and its cancellation a shame)… but I don’t know what happened. The man has clearly lost his mind.
    At this point, he’s starting to sound more and more like a tantrum-less Richard Kuta -shudder-

    1. My god this has to be the greatest speech I ever seen give that dA user a medal !

       1. wat.

       2. I think you commented on the wrong post dude.

    2. There were some pretty compelling moments in the comics that Penders had a hand in, and I really like the huge amount of depth that went into Knuckles and his race, but let’s not forget that he also made some rather…..”strange” contributions to the comic as well, such as Sonic’s real name being “Olgvile” (is that even a name?), a Sonic harem story arch where suddenly every female character had a crush on Sonic at some point, and the fact that the Freedom Fighters had to go to high school…..which I will admit, is a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine, but still…what the heck? And the artwork for Knuckles the Echidna issues 26-28….ULGH!! Sonic characters should NEVER have any visible knee and elbow joints! I think it was by this point he started to forget how to draw Sonic characters.
       For me, Penders was kind of a mixed basket while he was on board with Archie, but now that he’s on his own and trying to make this happen, he’s starting to have less and less redeeming qualities as he goes along.
       It’s really sad, there was some genius to what he did, but some ideas were just too convoluted and now his ego is the only thing that is increasing.

16. I seriously hate his art style.

    1. Like everyone else but Penders.

17. Wow Ken has to be the dumbest person ever plus doesn’t going to court cost money too ? Not wise if you living on a budget of 500 in savings

18. Ken Penders made such a mess of the comic universe. Always adding more and more characters who seemed to get more screen time than the game characters. Then Ken was pushed out, Ian took over, made the universe cool again, made Ken’s characters likable, then Ken ruins things again by taking the characters away.

    1. yeah

    2. Agreed. Flynn began making the comic good again because he got rid of Penders’ awful art and writing and put more focus on the main characters. Penders only seems to care about his characters, and not the main character of the comic Sonic The Hedgehog. What a moron.

    3. Seriously. Those characters were so much more interesting by the time Flynn and Yardley came around…and now we can’t enjoy them anymore, just because Penders wanted to hoard all of his characters for a project that won’t even get off the ground.

19. Nightmare fuel.

20. I personally wasn’t ever interested in the legal battles. I didn’t fully understand what was going on anyway… but I cannot believe how terrible this thing is. That render is hideous. I mean, seriously, that looks like some horribly done CG porno character from the 90’s (yes, those do exist). She’s just freaking creepy. I’m not trying to insult Penders himself, but I’m sorry, he really needs to make better characters if he wants anyone to read the Lara-Su Chronicles, if it ever comes to light.

    1. Oh, and not to mention a way better script.

21. I really feel bad for this man.

    1. He frustrates me to no end, but in the end, I pity him as well. It’s a steep and slippery slope he’s falling down.

22. Is it bad that I really hope is does ruin his life?

    1. Yes.

       1. ^This. Dude made some bad shit and ruined some Sonic stuff, but that’s all trivial against a ruined life. Let’s have some perspective here.

    2. Yeah, that’s kinda dark man.

23. That is freaking terrifying.

24. Michael, you compiled a very thought-provoking and well-written article. Except I found it strange that you didn’t mention the fact there was another piece of fiction called “The Lara-Su Chronicles” which has been going since the start of 2005, and for the most part still available to read online. Why people would want to scope out the original befuddles me though, since it has the habit of being a painful read, terribly written, and blatantly derivative at times. 😉

    1. Thanks for letting me know, but I can’t seem to find the 2005 “The Lara-Su Chronicles” on the internet. What is it exactly, a novel? If you could point me in the right direction then I’d greatly appreciate it.

25. I just noticed how all of the echidnas are drawn EXACTLY THE SAME. Not just in style, but the same pose, the same posture, the same mouth direction, and even some of the same hand placements! It’s like Penders only managed to draw his best Knuckles drawing and then made 17 copies of it, only changing up the character-specific details. I’ll give him this, at least he knows how to handle a copy machine.

26. Michael, you basically summed up everything I’ve ever thought. This story is going to be a sad one in the end, how sad it is will depend on how soon Penders wises up. At least some people can take some laughs from this. I actually laugh about some things from time to time, but I’m still reminded of the dark side of this situation.

    1. The way I tackle it is that I laugh at Penders’ designs and stories, but I try not to laugh at the man himself. This whole thing really does look like it’ll be a monumental train wreck and an entertaining one to watch, but I don’t wish any ill health on Penders.
       Thanks for reading and for the comment!

27. …….
    …oh…my….GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!
    I figured it out! I FINALLY FIGURED IT OUT!!
    The terrible ideas.
    The degrading art skills.
    The seemingly decreasing intelligence span.
    The huge ego.
    The slow loss of any sane amount of rationality and regard for what anybody else wants!
    THE LOSS OF HIS MUSTACHE!!!
    I KNOW WHAT’S HAPPENING TO PENDERS!!!!
    It’s finally clear to me now that Ken Penders is going through the very same EGGistential crisis and slow fall into madness that Doctor Eggman went through from #177 to #200! It all adds up! Now all we have to do is humor him until he finally has his mental breakdown and rids himself of whatever hair he has left. Then he’ll be left in captivity for about 9 issues until he finally starts to regain himself and becomes a decent man again! And then he will relinquish all of his characters to Archie and SEGA and we will all have our characters again and all will be right with the world!!! 😀

    1. Or, I could be full of shit and just wanted to point out a weird coincidence I just thought up about 15 minutes ago. Either way, entertainment can still be found despite all this depressive drama. XD
       Sincerely though, I hope he doesn’t go through a mental breakdown. It’s sad to see that happen to anybody, even if they have done nothing but frustrate you beforehand. I do hope though that he finally comes face to face with reality. But the odds of that happening are about the same as the odds of my bogus theory proving to be true.

28. You know he’s probably going to kill himself just look at him ever time he talks he sounds like a deranged lunatic. People are saying they don’t want him to have a breakdown newsflash that shit happened years ago. He’s out of work spending whatever money he has left on lawsuits and an idea nobody wants to read or care about. The man is delusional look at that CGI trainwreck you cant convince me a sane person would think that would look good let alone think someone would pay for it.
    Also his fans those people are enablers fueling the fire of his delusions if your a fan of his work think Archie fucked him over thats fine. I do think he deserved royalties off his written work that gets reprinted but the rights to characters he created that was bullshit. Ken Penders is not Jack Kirby or Neil Gaiman. He desperately needs to realize this he needs to go to his lawyer and sell the character rights back to Archie and for royalties off reprinted works. Oh and get a fucking job and stop sponging off the government.

    1. ^This.

29. This Lien-da drawing reminds me of Freaky Fred from courage the cowardly dog.
    
    *shudders*

30. Ken Penders’ bullshit after the lawsuit is the reason why I’m scared to touch the Archie Comics before the reboot.
    He has made some good characters, but now they’re ruined thanks to The Lara-Su Chronicles. I really hope that Lara-Su Chronicles is unsuccessful.

    1. Growing up in the UK, I didn’t have easy access to the Archie comics. Getting into them has always been a plan of mine, but Penders’ run on the comics sounds really confusing, so I’m considering just skipping the whole thing completely and start from after the Genesis wave, which I HAVE read.
       Thanks for reading the article and commenting!

       1. It’s not THAT bad, there are just a few parts where it’s cringe-worthy. It’s sort of like eating an apple with 2 or 3 bruises on it. The stuff involving Knuckles is actually very interesting and leads for some great character development from a lot of characters. However, it also shows little hints, nods, and teases to what Penders was hoping to write for Knuckles’ story way further in the future, which may lead you to scratch your head, as it never really get’s anywhere (seeing as how he left before that could ever happen). And Penders is only one small part of the Archie Sonic history, there are a ton of other writers and artists who helped influence and shape Sonic into what he is today, or at the very least helped set up the stage for newer artists and writers like Flynn and Yardley. The only thing you should be cautious of is the first 24 issues or so, they got EXTREMELY goofy, the art work was pretty passe’, and the puns….oh the puns, THEY WERE EVERYWHERE! It was definitely easier to tell that this was an Archie comic in those issues. But despite how ridiculous it used to be back then, or even how ridiculous some writers like Penders have made things since then, it’s still a very worth-while experience to actually go through all of that history, at least, I find it worth-while. I would highly recommend going to your local comic store and ordering some Sonic Archives volumes, that’s what I’ve been doing so far, between current issues. The early ones may require some patience, but that patience is well worth it once you get to the point where Archie suddenly realized that they had something good going for them.

31. A true Sonicfan he is. So obsessed with his own vision of how he believes the Sonic franchise should be that he can’t handle the simple fact that the vast majority disagrees with him.
    No let us all give thanks To Ken Pender’s for removing his horrid Knuckles recolors from the comic and freeing up for the space for more SEGA characters.
    Now if only they’d get rid of the Satam elements all would be well.

    1. You do know the SatAM elements were created by Sega right?

32. “I was the savior of the series”
    Literally the cockiest fucking thing I’ve ever come to know about him. Fuck him.
    I hope this shit fucks him up for life: however much time he has on the planet.
    No I don’t feel bad saying that. What a cocksucker.

    1. That’s a little mean. I mean, think about it, what you’re basically saying is that you want his life to be screwed up for 1. ruining a comic book series and 2. acting cocky. Is that really a justifiable reason to verbally condemn someone to a life lived on support checks and such, having basically no financial stability or independence of his own? No one deserves that, let alone a man who’s dispute is over a COMIC BOOK for crying out loud. Get some perspective. A man’s well being is far more important than Sonic the Hedgehog, even if he does act rather arrogant. Don’t wish ill on people you don’t even know.

33. I’m still waiting for ‘truebluesonicfan’ to comment so I can tell him he’s an idiot for his posts on the last Penders-related article.

34. Penders, what are you doing? if you needed money, you could have offered work at Archie, and you could have been fine. then you piss off the only fanbase that knows who you are.
    then you continue with your “I AM GOD” shit, FUEL rage, and infringe not only SEGA, but Archie. way to go. way to fuck-ing go.

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