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

[Salamander]

This made me think of that live action Mary Poppin's chimney sweep mixed together with Disney's Snow White's "Whistle While You Work" song.

Knox, knock-a-knox
Knox, knock-a-knox
Knox knox, knock-offs,
A knock-off as legal
As knock-offs can be...

Knox, knock-a-knox
Knox, knock-a-knox
Knox knox, knock-offs,
I'll knock off your work when
I part ways with you,
If you try to stop me
I'll just have to sue!

[goku262002]

Hold the hell up I just skipped 20 pages of Penders Nonsense, LSC is an animation now?

[Ellipsis-Ultima]

Hold the hell up I just skipped 20 pages of Penders Nonsense, LSC is an animation now?

He's planning on making an app (so far we don't even have a glimpse of what it looks like) for us to read the comic in, he's adding music to make it 'realistic'. It's not a TV series.

[ZDozer]

AKA he intends to make a comic version of that Fantastic Four flop.

[Zaysho]

Apologies if this veers a bit off-topic, but I noticed this post and it's bugging me:

Here, Penders is claiming that he was initially approached to work on Sonic Chronicles. However, I seem to recall him saying this wasn't this case, and that he heard about the game and its contents after the fact from fans, which is what sparked the legal mess. I'm looking for the post right now, just because I'd like to know which is true, but I thought I'd ask in case someone might be aware or can just tell me if I'm misremembering or not and I'll let this drop(don't want to be spreading misinformation).

I'm asking because I was thinking recently that, maybe, this whole thing may not have happened had Chronicles not been released. But, considering Scott Shaw was going after Archie for "Sonic: The Beginning" and the Archives/Select volumes that featured his work (i.e. reprint royalties he likely wasn't entitled to), Pen might have still gotten involved in some way. Whether things would have spiraled into what this all became is another story.

[Toby]

This is a man who, because Robo-Robotnik transformed into Eggman in the comics, believes he owns the concept of Dr. Eggman.  He's always been unhinged, and I'm sure he'd become desperate enough regardless of whether the game had been made or not.

[King Scoopa Koopa]

Penders says lots of things. And like the stories he writes, they don't always gel together cohesively.

[Agie]

Hey, wait...I think I actually remember him angrily declaring that that wasn't the case when I misremembered an article...yet he's now saying it is?

Maybe I'm misremembering that...but it was actually a personal experience on his forums. 'course, my mind has played tricks on me before, so take this with a grain of salt.

[QuantumEdge]

If my memory serves right (better than Penders own I suspect) he had never said he'd been asked to help work on it and was, like others pointed out, learned about Chronicles from fans and so began the legal saga.  I suspect he suddenly says this nonsense for two reasons.  1) After all these years, he may actually have forgotten it's what started his legal crusade and 2) most likely because he's desperate to say to the world that he's a very important figure in the franchise's history, no matter how many contradictions he'll make in the process.

Edited August 29, 2015 by QuantumEdge

[horridus]

Count me among those who have pretty strong memories of him claiming he only found out about Chronicles using ideas like his because a fan told him so... I remember because upon reading it I had a distinct 'are you fucking kidding me?' reaction, along with him making judgement calls on the Enerjak Saga when again he'd only gotten information second-hand. 

Granted it was a while back, so there IS room for error, but I still think he did say something along those lines. Frankly, given his tendancy to omit details inconvenient to him or offer up skewed takes on actual events, most things he says can be taken with a grain of salt. Especially in this context, where he's really just trying to 'prove' he was relevant to Sonic. 

[Zaysho]

OK, so maybe I'm not crazy. I knew that tweet didn't sit well with me, but I wanted to make sure. I'm not sure this is the exact post I'm looking for (it sounds like there was another post floating around his forum where again he denied being approached/involved), but I did find something that seems to support the version that he had no idea until after the fact:

I initially took the action of reclaiming my work when I was contacted by many SONIC fans asking me if I had contributed in any way to the development of the video game SONIC CHRONICLES: THE DARK BROTHERHOOD. I was then startled to learn how many characters and concepts from the KNUCKLES series I created were adapted within the framework of the game's storyline. It was clearly obvious why suddenly so many fans sat up and took notice.

(source)

Sounds to me like he didn't know. I guess I can chalk things up to him inflating his importance.

Anyway, mystery solved.

[Gabz Girl]

Is it just me or does it bother anyone else when he capitalises names and titles like SONIC and KNUCKLES? Like what's even the point, to make it stand out? ><

[Salamander]

It's to emphasise that they're trademarked or whatever and are therefore respectable business entities and he is a respectable businessman, and no mere hack writer trading in, ugh, video games and comic books.

[Agie]

Oh come on, you know everybody should start emphasising SONIC and KNUCKLES' names for no good reason!

[horridus]

Aaand getting back to LSC proper, Penders has provided some insight into the nature of the aforementioned music.

Uh-huh. Atypical. So, what, is it techno or something?

[Agie]

"Nothing that is John Williams-like."

Well, I certainly wouldn't expect it to be anywhere near the quality of his work, that's for sure.

[Shaddy Zaphod]

At the very least, Penders' quality or lack thereof is consistent

[The Tenth Doctor]

Well John Williams is normally filled with whimsy, glory and wonder so it wouldn't fit. Ken needs bombastic, dark and edgy. Heck, I found a track that just fits his style.

 

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

Well it's been a long time since, I've surfed the net in this thread's  waters.  Tell me,  had anything beyond those first few demo pages of LSC#1 been shown or is it still more likely that it'll come out by the time I have kids (possibly even grandchildren )?

[Ellipsis-Ultima]

Well it's been a long time since, I've surfed the net in this thread's  waters.  Tell me,  had anything beyond those first few demo pages of LSC#1 been shown or is it still more likely that it'll come out by the time I have kids (possibly even grandchildren )?

Actually, we only saw the first page of the prelude, THE STORM, and we saw a data file of Lara-Su.

Now we're seeing merchandise artwork, such as a T-Shirt Design and a notebook design (Well, his friend made that design)

And we're (kinda?) getting news about the app, he's adding music to it, and we haven't even seen WHAT the app looks like.

 

[Disonoid 3000]

Is adding music a thing that actual comics ever actually do? Cause it doesn't seem like a good gimmick to start with to me. Admittedly, I haven't listened to that much score and stuff, but I kind of got the impression that the point of music, most of the time, was to underscore exactly what was going on, actions and stuff like that, and you can't really do that when you can't sync up the music to the background. You could put a heavy bass type thing in the music to emphasize panic and I could still be back when things are still calm. 

I mean I guess there are also those times where there are just sweeping, orchestral numbers, but those tend to be in moments where nothing much is happening (like, that iconic Jurassic Park song plays when they're all just sitting in a helicopter heading towards the island, not doing much, and we're seeing pretty landscapes), which I would hope wouldn't be in a comic. 

Unless he plans to have you start up a new piece of music for each panel, or to just have this subtle melody that isn't really specific to everything playing softly. Or just have stuff playing over the menu. 

Or I'm misunderstanding the point of music and scores. 

 

[Zaysho]

Aaand getting back to LSC proper, Penders has provided some insight into the nature of the aforementioned music.

Uh-huh. Atypical. So, what, is it techno or something?

Not going to lie, when I read this... I thought of this.

With that out of the way... I'm guessing Pen wants to do something akin to motion comics, but I'm not sure those ever really took off. 

This would be fine, I've seen some comics that add some animated GIF elements to certain panels that look interesting, but the thing about them is there's a certain subtlety to them, and they can be read with or without the extra effects/animation and get the same feeling. It's supplemental.

My problem with Pen's approach is that he's presented these things as necessary for the story/experience and that it's better than what's currently available. It comes off as polishing a turd and hoping all the bells and whistles will minimize or distract from the shortcomings of the work itself. I've said before, LSC could have been something at least sort of interesting and worth checking out, even though it was always going to be tainted by the lawsuit, but he's practically gone out of his way--whether burning a possible audience with his attitude, turning off more with unappealing art and writing, desperately clinging to his glory days on Sonic and ripping off that property and ignoring actual constructive criticism--to make it an impending trainwreck.

Edited August 29, 2015 by Zaysho

[Blacklightning]

Is adding music a thing that actual comics ever actually do?

I actually downloaded a Scott Pilgrim app that did this once. It's... exactly as awful as it sounds. You turn the page and SUDDENLY SUPER LOUD MUSIC AUUUUUGH SHUT UP I'M TRYING TO READ HERE. It's crazy distracting and adds basically nothing of value - if you want a sensory experience of some kind you might as well full blown animate it, you can't really meet it halfway and make it work somehow. 

In theory I guess it could maybe work if it were mostly just ambiance, but I don't expect Penders to have that kind of subtlety. This is, if I recall right, the same guy who proposed adding voice acting to it.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

''Every detail matters''

Yes Penders. That's exactly why you looked at the CGI models, deemed that they weren't very good, but still went ahead and released them, and defended them for so long. That's exactly why you won't take any shred of criticism or suggestions to perhaps improve this piece of shit you call a book. Here's something that may just shock you Penders. MUSIC. IS. NOT. A. DETAIL. OF. COMICS. Comics are a visual medium. You show, not tell. You are meant to portray what's occurring in the book. When I sit down to read a issue of Archie Mega Man, I don't want to here listen to a bunch of music I'll probably not like. I don't want to be interrupted to be given some weird interactive thing, or a game. I simply just want to open the comic app, and read my comic. Nothing more. Nothing less. But of course, once again Penders has to aim for the stars and it'll likely all come crashing right down on him once again.

[Monkey Destruction Switch]

Gee, why all the negativity? I mean, clearly Ken knows background music and how to use it as effectively as possible. I mean, check out his The Lost Ones trailer!