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

[QuantumEdge]

That's actually a problem I'm trying to get rid of in my writing style

[goku262002]

Its probably good in script form but he really doesn't need to have it written down into the comic.

[Delta Starfire]

Oh my, it's all happening so suddenly! We don't even have rings, or a cake haha.

I'm glad someone else shares my opinion on that one, it's an uphill battle with how many people seem to like him. Tho we would probably be divorced pretty fast depending on your feeling about certain other characters, I can't stand Silver for a myriad of reasons, or Rouge for reasons you may approve of having seen some of your other posts. I usually end up alienating myself pretty fast with my choices of characters I don't like. So I just sit in the corner with no one to share my cookies with haha

 

Well, Silver I find boring. My only exposure to him, however, is through the comics, since I didn't play Sonic '06 long enough to learn anything about him, other than he likes to throw furniture with his mind...

 

As for Rouge... She has so much potential, which seems to be wasted in the games, although she's pretty cool in the comics (at least today as part of Team Dark). However, her character design is pretty awful. 

[biznizz]

"Well, Geoffrey was a rival to Sonic before Shadow or Metal Sonic even existed, making him Sonic's true rival. As for Rouge, a femme fatale character was already created for the comics with Lien-Da. SEGA is always trying to steal Ken's ideas from his special mind because no one can write like him!"

-Hypothetical Penders toadie, like BobR or FuhrerMustang.

I'm not real big in the games (haven't personally played one since SA2) so Rouge, Shadow & comics Silver don't really bother me.

[anna]

Before Ian I seriously couldn't stand Shadow. He just seemed so useless, and pretty annoying. I really do love Silver, though! Ian's way of writing him is so interesting, it makes you really wonder what happened to him and his timeline...

I don't remember much of Rouge from Pender's time, though. But I really am expecting less then nothing...

(I love team dark tho.)

[Delta Starfire]

Before Ian I seriously couldn't stand Shadow. He just seemed so useless, and pretty annoying. I really do love Silver, though! Ian's way of writing him is so interesting, it makes you really wonder what happened to him and his timeline...

I don't remember much of Rouge from Pender's time, though. But I really am expecting less then nothing...

(I love team dark tho.)

 

Metal Sonic appeared first in Sonic CD, which came out in 1994... Geoffrey appeared first in the comics in 1995. So, FuhrerFanboy would be wrong.  

[Big Panda]

I don't remember much of Rouge from Pender's time, though.

Penders Rouge kissed Knuckles dad.

Metal Sonic appeared first in Sonic CD, which came out in 1994...

1993. But your point still stands

Curiously Psuedo Sonic was introduced the same year. The question is which came first >_>

[Delta Starfire]

Penders Rouge kissed Knuckles dad.

 

 

Honestly, I had forgotten that much! Oh well, I'll soon be back there at the rate I'm reading.

[Big Panda]

Hehe.

I actually don't see what's so bad about a girl kissing an older man personally, but it raised a lot of eyebrows nonetheless.

[Delta Starfire]

Hehe.

I actually don't see what's so bad about a girl kissing an older man personally, but it raised a lot of eyebrows nonetheless.

 

I can't remember the context, so it's hard for me to judge... But knowing Penders and women, I reckon my response when I return to that point will be something along the lines of, "Grr! Beth smash!"

[Big Panda]

I can't remember the context, so it's hard for me to judge... But knowing Penders and women, I reckon my response when I return to that point will be something along the lines of, "Grr! Beth smash!"

I believe the context was she was seducing him to get to the Master Emerald.

[Delta Starfire]

I believe the context was she was seducing him to get to the Master Emerald.

 

Grr! Beth smash!

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Because Rouge at the time was more or less 15-20 years old while Locke was who knows what age. Along with that, every other source of Sonic aka games, Sonic X and other things involving her being firty to be able to get her hands on jewels but never so much as to go downright kiss someone, especially someone as old as Locke. Even in that context, had Rouge played it smart, she could have just lead Locke on, throwing him sly remarks and trying to flirt with him, rather than downright kiss him on their first meeting which would make Locke know something was going on.

 

Didn't Penders at one point as well read one of the Darkest Storm issues with the story Call of Duty and felt Locke was portrayed out of character? Is he serious? This is the character who ran tests on Knuckles, who put the damn Master Emerald before Knuckles so exactly how is it out of character for Locke to threaten Knuckles back to the Master Emerald by saying he can't ensure safety for Knuckles' family? If he put the master emerald before Knuckles, his family, and logic before than why is it hard to believe Locke wouldn't do it again? 

[horridus]

Fun fact about that; apparently Penders intended to reveal Rouge to be in her thirties or such when he wrote that, but was sacked before it could ever come up. Viewed in that context it's slightly less skeevy, though still kind of brow raising for various other reasons. I honestly would not particularly object to Rouge being aged up, but I would have figured her to be in her mid-twenties rather than her thirties myself. 

 

As for Penders' objections to Locke during Darkest Storm... remember, Locke is based on his father. A father he admitted he didn't have that great a relationship with and whom he only appreciated in hindsight because he himself 'had it good' compared to what his own dad had been through (IE being abandoned by his father at a young age). Because of this, Penders takes any kind of insinuation about Locke being a less than stellar father very, very personally, despite the mountain of evidence that would suggest that yes, Locke is kind of a douchebag. It's been said before and I'll say it again; he put far too much of himself into this, and as such, invested far too much into it as well. 

[Ryannumber1gamer]

That's the biggest problem with Locke. At the end of the day, he was being created for a comic involving Sonic the Hedgehog and his gang of friends as they go on child friendly adventures. At the end of the day, one of the great things about Ian's run is he could do serious topics and have epic stories which still have the characters in character. Locke shouldn't have been so much based on someone. Even then, isn't it a better call to have Locke going out as a hero and showing he can do what's best for his son?

 

Locke at the end of the day is still a character in the comics and as such needs to be used for the story to progress, even at this point It's still 100% reasonable that once again Locke would put his duty as guardian above his own family's safety and happiness, why? Because he's done it countless times before even when Penders was writing him so the only difference here is that Ian is writing it and suddenly It somehow makes Locke out of character despite Locke being shown to do this sort of thing when both Karl and Ken was writing for Sonic comics.

[Tenko]

1993. But your point still stands

Curiously Psuedo Sonic was introduced the same year. The question is which came first >_>

Silver Sonic or Mecha Sonic depending on your country of origin on the whole name debate thing would have been first in the games anyway. But in the comics he wasn't introduced till what...Sonic Quest mini series? When was that '95? '96 I forget. Either way the Pepe knock off wasn't the first rival even in the comics.

[Delta Starfire]

Silver Sonic or Mecha Sonic depending on your country of origin on the whole name debate thing would have been first in the games anyway. But in the comics he wasn't introduced till what...Sonic Quest mini series? When was that '95? '96 I forget. Either way the Pepe knock off wasn't the first rival even in the comics.

 

Sonic Quest was 1996. Crammed the Death Egg arc into a three issue miniseries. Almost like they just didn't want to bother with game adaptations. StC on the other hand did the whole Sonic 3 & Knuckles arc (revolving around the Death Egg) in 1995! They never shied away from adapting the games.

[horridus]

Penders has flat out said he never played a single Sonic game, and even seemed pleased by the fact. 

 

Astounding, given that he only got his gig because he insisted that his son was a fan and thus he had first hand experience. 

 

His attitude towards the games is just warped in how completely unwilling he was to read between the lines and try and make anything more from what was given at the time, and yet at the same time he has the audacity to suggest the games don't have enough to carry a Sonic film. 

[Johnny2071]

Penders has flat out said he never played a single Sonic game, and even seemed pleased by the fact. 

 

Astounding, given that he only got his gig because he insisted that his son was a fan and thus he had first hand experience. 

 

His attitude towards the games is just warped in how completely unwilling he was to read between the lines and try and make anything more from what was given at the time, and yet at the same time he has the audacity to suggest the games don't have enough to carry a Sonic film. 

 

Wow, that's interesting. So he became a writer for the Sonic comic in the first place because his son was a fan at the time? Well folks, I guess that's what every kid needs, a thoughtless parent who uses their child's interest as an opportunity to get onboard and ruin it. Way-to-go Mr. Father of the Century! But still, why did Penders even want to get involved with the comic in the first place. Was he already a comic writer/artist at the time and he just decided to latch onto one of the most popular comics of the 90's, just to get work?

 

On a more curious note, I wonder what his own son thinks of his past work, along with The Pendering, these miscellanious lawsuit battles, The Lara-Su Chronicles, and his outstanding claims and snubs against the Sonic games and other people (both ex-co-writers and fans alike)?

[SenEDDtor Missile]

Wow, that's interesting. So he became a writer for the Sonic comic in the first place because his son is was a fan at the time? Well folks, I guess that's what every kid needs, a thoughtless parent who uses their child's interest as an opportunity to get onboard and ruin it. Way-to-go Mr. Father of the Century! But still, why did Penders even want to get involved with the comic in the first place. Was he already a comic writer/artist at the time and he just decided to latch onto one of the most popular comics of the 90's, just to get work?

 

I think he might have been hoping to use an existing popular franchise as a means to tell his own stories and springboard himself up to fame/"better stuff" like movies or something. He doesn't really seem to respect comics as a whole unless he's the one making one.

[horridus]

Wow, that's interesting. So he became a writer for the Sonic comic in the first place because his son was a fan at the time? Well folks, I guess that's what every kid needs, a thoughtless parent who uses their child's interest as an opportunity to get onboard and ruin it. Way-to-go Mr. Father of the Century! But still, why did Penders even want to get involved with the comic in the first place. Was he already a comic writer/artist at the time and he just decided to latch onto one of the most popular comics of the 90's, just to get work?

 

Supposedly, his son was a fan at the time. Given how little effort he gave despite having the perfect excuse for being a grown man playing a children's video game, he never really utilized anything from the games unless he absolutely had to... I sometimes wonder if it was just a ruse he made up so his buddy on the series would bring him on board. 

 

Prior to writing for Sonic, Penders did a bit of work on licensed Star Trek comics as both an artist and a writer... much like with Archie, he was brought on board due to a personal friendship with a higher-up in DC, first doing art for a Who's Who guide and then writing a few issues. Looking over his bibliography, his only steady, longtime gig as a writer and artist was with Sonic, and it was the only thing you could say he was successful at. As has been noted, he pretty much coasted off of Sonic's fame and really DID try to use it to springboard his own career; remember The Lost Ones? The Image Crossover? 

 

Even now though, he's trying to use Sonic for his own ends. How else do you explain his baffling, obstinate refusal to do anything to TRULY separate LSC from his work on Sonic? His redesigns still look like the SEGA conception of Echidna, and the story he claims will blend seamlesssly with his past Sonic work. Despite the fact he made them Aliens which, by default, makes it a less than seamless blending alone. 

 

He knows his own work cannot stand on its own, and that is why he refuses to move beyond Sonic. It was the only time he had any real success and the only time he really had a career in comics as a writer. Otherwise? The overwhelming bulk of his work for comics has been as an inker and letterer... notably, he does not consider colorists essential in the way writers and pencillers are, despite that being where most of his career has been outside of Sonic. 

[Big Panda]

Fun fact about that; apparently Penders intended to reveal Rouge to be in her thirties or such when he wrote that, but was sacked before it could ever come up. Viewed in that context it's slightly less skeevy, though still kind of brow raising for various other reasons. I honestly would not particularly object to Rouge being aged up, but I would have figured her to be in her mid-twenties rather than her thirties myself.

...then people would be raising eyebrows over the thing she had with Evil Sonic :/

[horridus]

...then people would be raising eyebrows over the thing she had with Evil Sonic :/

 

You know, I had honestly forgotten about that. 

 

Eeeeesh....

 

And then of course we there'd still be the fact he had Rouge, an extremely attractive younger woman, macking on a figure he based off of his father... there's no real way to approach this without being squicked, is there?

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Sounds like another Penders Plothole to me

 

I'm curious but this is a question in general that relates to Penders and other artists. Exactly how was the quality of art in issues 50-150? I know I hate the artwork from Ron Lim (The artist who always gave Sonic square eyes and made his spikes go down to Sonic's legs) the artwork from him was crap and looked horrible on certain characters (Sally springs to mind)

[horridus]

Poor Ron Lim. He really is a legitimate artist, but trying to do the 'Sonic Style' just *crippled* him. 

 

As to the art, it could vary. There were plenty of fine artists on the comic at that time, but also more than a few not-so-fine artists. That said, standards were not quite so stringent then as they were now, and there were more than a few hiccups even from the better artists.

 

Much of those hiccups are rather nicely chronicled here. 

 

In general though, these days the art is generally better, if only because the quality control has become a lot better since then. 

 

Back then, you could just as easily expect this... 

 

 

Or this... 

 

So yeah. Artistic schizophrenia, let us call it.