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

[Agie]

You know, I'm glad this thread is getting closer and closer to getting back its 200+ pages, with at least one or two pages a day.

 

In fact, even this post is helping it out.

[biznizz]

...Really? The mere fact that the existence of a species is being threatened means it's a Superman ripoff?

 

I'm sorry but just...no. It's not. That's way too generic.

 

I'm probably coming across as rude, which I'm sorry for. It just annoys me when people reach to find flaws in Penders' work when the real flaws in his work are so huge.

 

To be fair, the VERY first time I saw this page:

...I instantly thought, "This is referencing at least ONE version of Krypton".

 

But when it came to the depiction of Echidnopolis hidden from the world by technology, Gorilla City from the Flash became much more prominent.

[Mega]

Uuugh. What is with Penders and giving Sonic chars human toes? D: It looks creepy...

[Zaysho]

And how long before ol' Pen says that these comics have been translated and he is therefore world-famous and we all need to recognize?

 

You know, something about that page always stuck out to me as a kid, and it's the big friggin' tangent of Knuckles's dreadlock making Locke look like he has a kangaroo tail. This is ALL I saw whenever I would look at this story when I was little (I re-read my books a lot) and I was just wondering why in the world Locke had an extra long tail here. It's a little thing, but it's something that's always bothered me visually, even when I was able to see what Penders was actually illustrating.

 

Going back to the character design bit, I was wondering, who designed Julie-Su? I figured it was Spaz, especially since, like Athair, she's actually pretty unique looking while working within the constraints, especially compared to Penders's Echidnas.

 

I remember when I first learned of all the Archie Sonic spin-offs and past issues in Sonic Mega Collection and, in particular, how amazing the Knuckles covers looked and how awesome I imagined the stories would be.

 

Then I finally snagged one of the old Archie collectors sets and...yeah.

 

That's the power of Spaz, Panda.

[Mauro Fonseca]

...Really? The mere fact that the existence of a species is being threatened means it's a Superman ripoff?

 

I'm sorry but just...no. It's not. That's way too generic.

 

I'm probably coming across as rude, which I'm sorry for. It just annoys me when people reach to find flaws in Penders' work when the real flaws in his work are so huge.

 

You've also got the naming structure taken from Kryptonians (but given to women) or the statue of the two Echidnas holding the Island much like that statue of the two kryptonians holding krypton (at least IIRC that's what the original was). Plus the outfits, whenever Penders draws, being clearly like Krypton's.

[QuantumEdge]

You know, I'm glad this thread is getting closer and closer to getting back its 200+ pages, with at least one or two pages a day.

 

In fact, even this post is helping it out.

I'm a little worried though.  Sooner, or later we're gonna reach 252 pages again and by that time Penders might throw a lawsuit at us, causing a reboot of the thread.

[Wittymations]

I'm a little worried though.  Sooner, or later we're gonna reach 252 pages again and by that time Penders might throw a lawsuit at us, causing a reboot of the thread.

Soo...

 

which one of us will disappear forever?

[QuantumEdge]

Soo...

 

which one of us will disappear forever?

That's what worries me most...

[biznizz]

Obviously, it will be FuhrerMustang, who's gone quiet for awhile already.

Coming soon: The Fuhrer-Mustang Chronicles, created by Ken Penders.

[Osmium]

You know what adds to how boring the stories are? The art. No not just the designs, the actual art. 

 

Ken's art is so...vapid to say the least. I don't know, I mean the art is kinda shitty, but it's more dull than anything. I almost get tired looking at it. Everyone has like two expressions, and the backgrounds and settings are so dreary. And, everyone looks kinda off model. They all look stiff and they have to take a dump. 

[Gabz Girl]

The problem with Penders' art is that not only is it ugly as hell and really unappealing to look at, but the way the characters are posed in the panels is not very dynamic! The artists working on the Sonic comic nowadays all share one thing in common and that's dynamic, action poses. Penders on the other hand has characters just...stand around most of the time and it's SO bad. One good example I can think of is the issue where Green!Knuckles bumps into Charmy and Saffron (who had a growth spurt for some reason). They just stand around, talk to each other with barely any expression on their faces and argh, it's so bad!

 

Also, I read somewhere that he even took some of Dawn's Best work on the comics and credited it as his own! Is this true? O_O

[Osmium]

Yeah, I agree with you and the standing around part. Everybody looks extremely uncomfortable.

[Sunwalker]

Also, I read somewhere that he even took some of Dawn's Best work on the comics and credited it as his own! Is this true? O_O

I never heard about he doing it. What I have heard was about he doing the finishes over her drawings. But both of them were credited as artists, as far I know.

[Verb & Noun]

...Really? The mere fact that the existence of a species is being threatened means it's a Superman ripoff?

 

I'm sorry but just...no. It's not. That's way too generic.

 

I'm probably coming across as rude, which I'm sorry for. It just annoys me when people reach to find flaws in Penders' work when the real flaws in his work are so huge.

 

Is it reaching that much when Jor-Dann (as his name was written before retconning) and Kayla-La are the ones who save the island and the statue holding up the island looks strangely like the one which has been shown in Super-Man with Krypton*?

 

 

*The one Pendejo claims is based on Atlas but looks nothing like any statue of Atlas. I wish I had the image on me to share.

 

KKM beat me, though he didn't mention that Jor-Dann was a thing at first before Pendejo retconned it to just being the ladies who were named like that. This is what I get for posting before finishing reading updates, though.

[Cradily Lover]

 

I believe that Pendejo's constant defense of why all the echidnas look like clones of Knuckles is that 'they have to look like him, they're the same species/related to him'.

 

Which we know is bull.

 

The funny thing is, pretty much everyone EXCEPT Ken himself made an effort to make their Echidnas distinct from Knuckles.

 

Sonic the Comic's Dr. Zachary gets at least a different fur colour, and later acquires cybernetics. Cybernetics that don't look stupid and pointless like the ones Ken's Echidnas wear, at that.

 

For Archie Echidnas not created by Ken, Athair, even as a relation of Knuckles, is still more than "Knuckles with a beard". Dr. Finitevus is likewise very distinct and pretty badass looking.

 

 

And of course, Sega themselves eventually introduced their own Echidnas. While Tikal still resembled Knuckles to a degree, Pachacamac looked radically different. Even Sonic Adventure's generic Echidna NPCs were easy to tell apart from Knuckles.

 

Even Bioware's Echidnas from The Dark Brotherhood, which were inspired by Ken's work, were still easily recognizable as separate entities from Knuckles. And the way Ix's and Nestor's beards blend into their drealocks actually looks Sonic-y.

 

 

The only example I can find of a lazy Knuckles clone not created by Ken is Athair's Sonic Underground counterpart.

[Osmium]

To further cement how better other people were at creating echidnas, at least STC's generic echidnas had different designs.

I can't find any pictures right now but I remember in STC's adventure adaptation, all the Echidnas were different colours and they had different markings and designs.

I also remember something from STC that was way more interesting than Ken Penders' stories.

In the Adventure adaptation, Sonic was sent 8000 years into the past and ran into... Knuckles. Like, the same Knuckles from Sonic's time. This means that Knuckles has been around for over 8000 years. Somehow.

Too bad the comic went full reprint a few issues later so this mystery never got an answer.

[Salamander]

So I'm catching up with the last few pages, and I see this...

 

 

So the very first Knuckles ancestor, the guy who's the biggest deal in this picture beside Knuckles, the Ur-Knuckles from whom all other Knuckleses are descended... is just Knuckles with a bored expression and 80s glasses.  (And a tail sticking straight out of the middle of his back.)  Wow, I'm hooked.

 

Actually, on a similar note, that picture from Sonic Live where Penders's kids (or whoever they were( are huge compared to Sonic: I think what it was is that Penders simply couldn't draw them small enough.  He probably drew everything else in first and then when the time came to add his kids then he just couldn't fit in all the details whilst making them Sonic's size, so he had to have them be bigger and hide their legs off-screen.

[Verb & Noun]

Actually, on a similar note, that picture from Sonic Live where Penders's kids (or whoever they were( are huge compared to Sonic: I think what it was is that Penders simply couldn't draw them small enough.  He probably drew everything else in first and then when the time came to add his kids then he just couldn't fit in all the details whilst making them Sonic's size, so he had to have them be bigger and hide their legs off-screen.

 

Or he has no earthly idea that Sonic is 3'3'' tall.

 

Considering how bizarrely off the mark his data files are, I think it may be safe to assume that.

[Osmium]

Or he has no earthly idea that Sonic is 3'3'' tall.

I think it's more likely he didn't care.

[Sunwalker]

The Penders kerfuffle summarized in one image:

[Osmium]

The Penders kerfuffle summarized in one image:

It looks just about creepy enough that he would have drawn it too.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Well guys, after reading Sonic #272, I can now say without a doubt that Knuckles is fucking amazing without all of Penders idiotic baggage. 

 

Here's a post I made in the Archie thread about it:

 

A lot of people were worried that Knuckles may get worse since a lot of what made up his Archie version was taken up by Penderp. But after reading this issue I can easily say that this Knuckles is the best version of him yet. Even better than pre-reboot Archie, his game counterpart, his Boom version and all the others.

 

The way Knuckles can be seriously, funny, and downright silly in the post-reboot is brilliant. My absolute favourites being when Werehog Sonic says hitting it works as a plan and Knuckles replies with a smile that he likes this new version of Sonic better than the original. Then there's when Amy tells Sonic that she's going with Knuckles to help track down the emerald shards, resulting in Sonic getting jealous and Knuckles telling him ''Wassamatter Shaggy, jealous?'' only for Sonic to reply ''Do NOT even start with me''. 

 

I was enjoying the reboot a lot but this has made it even better. Without all the stupid baggage given to him by Ken Penders, it's so great to see this Knuckles who can be serious but can also be carefree and relax with his friends.

[Osmium]

 

Well guys, after reading Sonic #272, I can now say without a doubt that Knuckles is fucking amazing without all of Penders idiotic baggage. 

 

Here's a post I made in the Archie thread about it:

 

A lot of people were worried that Knuckles may get worse since a lot of what made up his Archie version was taken up by Penderp. But after reading this issue I can easily say that this Knuckles is the best version of him yet. Even better than pre-reboot Archie, his game counterpart, his Boom version and all the others.

 

The way Knuckles can be seriously, funny, and downright silly in the post-reboot is brilliant. My absolute favourites being when Werehog Sonic says hitting it works as a plan and Knuckles replies with a smile that he likes this new version of Sonic better than the original. Then there's when Amy tells Sonic that she's going with Knuckles to help track down the emerald shards, resulting in Sonic getting jealous and Knuckles telling him ''Wassamatter Shaggy, jealous?'' only for Sonic to reply ''Do NOT even start with me''. 

 

I was enjoying the reboot a lot but this has made it even better. Without all the stupid baggage given to him by Ken Penders, it's so great to see this Knuckles who can be serious but can also be carefree and relax with his friends.

 

[Disonoid 3000]

Soo...

 

which one of us will disappear forever?

Don't worry, all we need to do is just draw goatees on our avatars and we can all stay.

[biznizz]

@ShroomZ, actually the Julie-Su page was drawn by Manny Galan, who IS a better artist than Pen. Tho knowing how controlling he is, Pen might have drawn breakdowns for Galan to follow. It certainly is as lazy as a typical Pen layout.