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

[Rabid-Coot]

3 hours ago, Promethean0416 said:

Also, pic of him and his booth:

That booth cover thing might be celebrating its 10th anniversary next year.

[Promethean0416]

52 minutes ago, Rabid-Coot said:

That booth cover thing might be celebrating its 10th anniversary next year.

Ah yes, it's from 2014, isn't it?

And we have his "reasoning" on why he is going the path he is:

Maybe it's because it is long since outdated?

[babsiwuff]

50 minutes ago, Promethean0416 said:

Ah yes, it's from 2014, isn't it?

And we have his "reasoning" on why he is going the path he is:

Maybe it's because it is long since outdated?

Oh THIS again.  It's not that it's outdated, it's more that everyone else is more practical.

[horridus]

17 hours ago, babsiwuff said:

Oh THIS again.  It's not that it's outdated, it's more that everyone else is more practical.

It's outdated because it's impractical. He spends so much time on these bells and whistles trying to compete with comic apps put out by DC and Marvel that as time goes on the technology he uses becomes outdated. Which leads him to having to spend time upgrading, then adding more bells and whistles, with more time wasted for his technology to become outdated... its a never ending cycle with him.

As for the Con photos, it really is just the same song and dance he's been doing since the end of the trial. He goes to a convention, claim he's a big hit and that people loved what he had, and yet somehow there is never any independent chatter about his new project or any sign anywhere that anyone who isn't already a fan of his is even remotely excited. And there will STILL be nothing worth noting released.

This guy pretty much lives off willfully interpreting basic politeness from other people as a ringing endorsement.

[Promethean0416]

And more Digimon art. He must have had quite a few assignments with the series. EDIT 4/1: Added new one:

 

And seems he is about to update his back issue list too:

 

Edited April 1, 2023 by Promethean0416
Adding.

[dwitefry666]

Penders' continued disregard for other people who worked on what he worked on is...irritating. In a mild way, I mean I'm eating a chocolate biscuit as I type this so I'm hardly foaming at the mouth (although if i did it the foam would probably taste like Nequik, so it might be worth it).

His Wondercon print, the Archie group shot. He claims to have done 'uncredited layouts' for it. Ok I'll believe him. I'm going to assume that he did layouts onto the boards the final artwork was drawn on (you can do layouts on other bits of paper and still call them layouts and indeed still be credited for layouts, Ken has done that before I believe, have you seen the OJ SImpson cover he did for Sonic? That wasn't on a board, but just on a bit of paper - I think?). I'm assuming he did it on the boards because he feels it's 'his drawing' enough to use it. He still didn't pencil or ink the damn thing. He's still claiming to own a drawing that's two thirds not him (I guess the print is technically 1/2 not him as he's done colours for that - unfortunatley). Ignoring inkers is commonplace, but pencillers too? He's re-used other people's art within his own for Lara-Su Chronicles before, he's planning to 'reprint' or give away or whatever, the last part of Mobius: 25 Years Later, all of this includes work he did not do. Yeah it's not the biggest problem with that reprint concept, I should think it takes a backseat to, at the very least, using characters he doesn't own. But it's just niggling. How does he reconcile this with 'fight the man! creator's rights!' views that he thinks he has? How does a man who fought for the ownership of his creations ignore the ownership rights of other creators? The hypocracy, and the fact that he doesn't seem to notice, or care, niggles each time I read though his antics each month or so. Or does he just think that he does own it, or that he can at least use it, because he contributed to it? He did the layouts, he wrote the script etc. Or have I completely missed something and he somehow does own this? Because to my understanding, if ownership was returned to him for his contributions - his scripts, his characters - he wouldn't get other people's, that would still be owned either by Archie (or Sega) or the artist. Which is why I always want to know, and can never seem to find out, what's up with ownership of co-creations and co-authored scipts beyond those with Mike Kanterovich (who, I beleive, signed over his ownership to Ken) and why he can claim to own them too.

I've been up for 20 Hours, I think I'll stop now. 

[Promethean0416]

Yeah, I agree there is some funny business regarding this whole thing, from that early OJ trial parody artwork design, that poem he lifted, the status of certain characters he claims to own, and his mysterious commission work (which to be fair, if I looked it up correctly, the rights to commissions belong to the artist that drew it).

Still, not much can be said or done about this besides what has already been said many times due to the fact that he has released nothing aside from some sneak peeks and concept art (which he has already changed on a few characters more than once), and this whole thing is likely not to be released any time soon as I think it was already confirmed that it had something to do with Sega themselves anyway.

With that said, here's some more uncanny valley Digimon art with the pre-meme Mighty Lips:

 

[Promethean0416]

So...to ink or not to ink?

Still looks uncanny valley, in my opinion...

[The Tenth Doctor]

Thats from the infamous gamble isn't it, for the guardianship? Jeez he's only doing that now. 

Dude, don't experiment on something so late on. Also, ink it. 

[horridus]

11 hours ago, The Tenth Doctor said:

Thats from the infamous gamble isn't it, for the guardianship? Jeez he's only doing that now. 

Dude, don't experiment on something so late on. Also, ink it. 

Yep, it certainly is!

God if he ever does finish this it's going to be so incredibly lopsided from page to page. Remember how they used to use different artists in the same book at Archie? It's gonna be the same effect purely because of the time he takes and his need to do different shit instead of staying consistent... which, given his insistence that this is a legitimate continuance of his Archie work, is almost appropriate.

[babsiwuff]

14 hours ago, horridus said:

Yep, it certainly is!

God if he ever does finish this it's going to be so incredibly lopsided from page to page. Remember how they used to use different artists in the same book at Archie? It's gonna be the same effect purely because of the time he takes and his need to do different shit instead of staying consistent... which, given his insistence that this is a legitimate continuance of his Archie work, is almost appropriate.

That’s nothing special. It’s from a post he made last year showcasing a preview page:  

 

[Razule]

I can't follow what order it's supposed to be read..

[Rabid-Coot]

7 hours ago, Razule said:

I can't follow what order it's supposed to be read..

I don't think its a normal page to read, looks like an attempt to fit a TV style preview in a comic.

[Promethean0416]

29 minutes ago, Rabid-Coot said:

I don't think its a normal page to read, looks like an attempt to fit a TV style preview in a comic.

From what I am seeing, it looks like it goes in a "Z" pattern, which IIRC, he's infamous for in some cases.

[Promethean0416]

Updated progress on color minus the inks:

Definitely going to be more inconsistency if he inked the other pages but not this one. 

[horridus]

18 hours ago, Promethean0416 said:

From what I am seeing, it looks like it goes in a "Z" pattern, which IIRC, he's infamous for in some cases.

Judging by the look of it, I'd suggest this is meant to be a bunch of flashbacks or memories, and at some level the chaotic jumble might be deliberate. However that being said its hard to tell with Penders- he does indeed do the "Z" pattern thing, as he likes to fancy himself as the sort who plays with the Medium when all he really does is ape the techniques of far more talented artists (Jim Steranko in this case) without actually understanding why they make it work.

3 hours ago, Promethean0416 said:

Updated progress on color minus the inks:

Definitely going to be more inconsistency if he inked the other pages but not this one. 

Yeah, like I said- if he ever does really release it? The sheer shifts in style and technique thanks to the amount of time he takes between pages is gonna do a magnificent job of aping the old days of Archie when they'd switch up artists from page to page.

[Promethean0416]

A "rough preview" of combining art design with 3D models:

Is it just me, or does Geoffrey's expression seem off?

EDIT: Adding more of his "reasoning" to why it is what it is.

 

Edited April 12, 2023 by Promethean0416
Adding.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

if his idea for gearing himself for a 21st century audience is adding in spaceships right out of transformers beast wars and reboot, i don't think he's doing quite as good a job as he believes.

Honestly, it's pretty amazing how Ken doesn't seem to get there's probably a reason why all of these comic publishers just provide the comics in a simple to read, and easily attained manner instead of all this pointless fluff.

[horridus]

9 hours ago, Promethean0416 said:

A "rough preview" of combining art design with 3D models:

Is it just me, or does Geoffrey's expression seem off?

EDIT: Adding more of his "reasoning" to why it is what it is.

It's Penders. When DON'T the expressions look off?

Anyway... I think whatever potential merit there is in this idea, its ultimately just not very practical compared to simply making a comic formatted for digital release and just releasing it. His fixation on adding these kind of bells and whistles is only going to delay the release even more than it already is, especially when the next flight of fancy hits him.

[King Scoopa Koopa]

Have we seen anything here yet that wasn't done already by that Marvel motion comic DVD I bought at deep discount 20 years ago and enjoyed, but not so much I'd keep buying them and they eventually went away?

[Rabid-Coot]

This is what happens when you don't have someone inserting themselves in the creative process with something like a cost/benefit analysis.

[babsiwuff]

31 minutes ago, Rabid-Coot said:

This is what happens when you don't have someone inserting themselves in the creative process with something like a cost/benefit analysis.

To be fair, Bob Repas was in that role when he was alive and this was still the status quo. 
 

Also good god. These characters look worse and worse every time he draws them.  Geoffrey looks hideous!!  Why doesn’t he just make them all human and be done with it?  And none of these characters are likeable in personality.  The men are all snarky and the women are all submissive gentle flowers.   It’s all so gross.

[Rabid-Coot]

18 minutes ago, babsiwuff said:

To be fair, Bob Repas was in that role when he was alive and this was still the status quo. 

I was thinking of his past comments on editors inserting themselves into the creative process. The need for someone in a formal position of authority like in a traditional comic publisher to say no these features are going too cost too much and not generate more sales.

[Promethean0416]

Sadly, I don't think he has too many creative ideas anymore aside from recycling a 20+ year old story and characters that have long since run their course as well as the uncanny valley designs and the 90's style CGI. And on different designs (including humans) it would have been smart and maybe would have had potential if he wasn't stuck in the past.

Anyway, more updated "progress" on that panel:

So, on the background, I wonder which one he will pick: grasslands, desert, forest, jungle, ice world, fire world, or boss?

Also, either the guy on the right has some serious shading issues or he's got quite a beard...

Edited April 13, 2023 by Promethean0416
Adding.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

35 minutes ago, Promethean0416 said:

Sadly, I don't think he has too many creative ideas anymore aside from recycling a 20+ year old story and characters that have long since run their course as well as the uncanny valley designs and the 90's style CGI. And on different designs (including humans) it would have been smart and maybe would have had potential if he wasn't stuck in the past.

Anyway, more updated "progress" on that panel:

So, on the background, I wonder which one he will pick: grasslands, desert, forest, jungle, ice world, fire world, or boss?

Also, either the guy on the right has some serious shading issues or he's got quite a beard...

For the record, that would be Rutan, Lien-Da's son: