Well, since the topic was bumped anyway, might as well have something new to discuss, eh? Like, maybe this?: http://www.kenpenders.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2595 It's full of teal deer, but here's the part I'm most... interested in: Ken's apparent rules for using the characters (assuming this was even part of the settlement, which was supposedly NDA'd or something). Sounds like Penders is still counting on most of his readers coming from Sonic, and just spring-boarding off of the comic's sales. Because, Locke is already dead and if I recall, even in the Editorals of 144, it was outright said that the M25YL storyline was ALWAYS just a possible future. So, he should be more than able to just consider his GNs as their own little AU for the characters, right? I can't decide if this is just because he wants Archie to want to license the characters, or because he got royalties out of that settlement. Or both. Maybe I'm just being cynical, but history sets a precedent for that not being the case.
He is doing a Kickstarter? Ugh, fuck it. Why not? Rob -Cant-Draw-The-Human-Anatomy-To-Save-His-Life Liefeld recently had a successful comic Kickstarter, so I guess Penders attempting one shouldn't make me shake my head as much as I want to.
Man, if I had 5 or 10 bucks to chip in towards every kickstarter that comes my way, I'd totally do it for this case too. Is it bad to want his campaign to succeed, if only because it would be a captionable goldmine for memes?
There's no way a Kickstarter will get off the ground. The only reason I am aware of him still doing anything is because of Retro. Even when I was collecting every issue without fail for almost 10 solid years I wasn't aware of any events taking place in the actual production of the book. The Sonic fan sites and die-hard Penderfans are the only audience he really has, and the majority of that group won't be buying his work.
Short answer: Don't do it, man. It's not worth it. Long answer: I'm wouldn't encourage contributing anything that will actually help him, plus with penders I will guess the reward tiers that are worthwhile will be way overpriced. He strikes me as that kind of guy. If the book itself is the right price in the reward tiers, I will probably back if and only if he gets droves of idiots to back him to his goal amount. Then my contribution won't matter and I will get the lulz guilt free.
Well, I guess if anything, this Kickstarter will prove whether or not Ken's purported "silent" fans are real or imaginary.
$5 isn't a whole lot, but you've got a point. It would be more worth it if a bunch of others had already pitched in first. And I'm also pretty sure the incentives from Ken would be ridiculous. Just getting the book itself would be enough for me, I wouldn't need it signed or including photocopies of NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN sketches collecting dust in his drawer.
Kickstarters are amazing because it's the point where people finally realize if the public gives a shit about their craft or not; no excuses. It's going to be :popcorn: either way.
This basically means free reign then. Lara-Su only exists in the future and she hasn't been seen for awhile plus I don't think Ian has any plans to do future arcs at the moment besides going to Silver's future every now and then. Locke is dead. Julie-Su is currently gone along with the rest of the Echidnas and if Ian knows whats good for him he will try a Sonic Chronicles adaption once all of this is through. And none of this interferes with whatever the hell Ken is doing.
First off, it's worth noting that Ken isn't doing this Kickstarter. A fan approached him about his thoughts on what would happen if the fans went through with the idea. This is one case where Ken isn't making a desperate dive for money/attention. While I have no real thoughts on the actual idea (What people want to do with their money is their decision), I will say that was a very well written and fair post Ken wrote up, with surprisingly lenient conditions of use. He put a lot of thought and effort into it. Kudos to Ken on that, at least. I won't be contributing to it, and I'd be shocked if Archie agreed with it, but if fans want to try it, then hey. Not necessarily. Ken's "silent" fans he goes on about are people supporting him in the entire lawsuit / Lara-Su thing. Everyone I've seen supporting this Kickstarter idea are people who are upset he ended up getting his characters removed from the comic and just want them back.
Is that possible? Did Ken not put any restrictions from that? Because honestly I wouldn't mind having that put into the canon.
The Nocturnus are already ingrained into the canon of the comic. Plus since the game is already out there is pretty much nothing ken can do about that. There was already one of those little mini-adaption things for Chronicles in the comic already and I doubt Ken would try to cockblock SEGA.
So let me get this right, Archie can use the characters pretty much like always, but when it comes to Lara-Su he needs to see what they are doing with her in the Archie Comic and that they have to let him know if they are gonna kill off one of his characters. Well that sounds kinda reasonable overall, but that might mean we won't see Lara-Su for a quite some time, then again there isn't too much you can do with Light Mobius, but the way Ian handled it was good. Although does that mean the same thing for her Dark Mobius counterpart? I don't know. If they aren't in the comic anymore, I wonder if being erased from existence counts as killing them off. Although the first 2 terms puzzle me a bit, so pretty much anyone can use his characters except for Lara-Su, Julie-Su, and Locke? Why would other people WANT to use his characters in other things? I mean really the only way I can imagine those characters being in something else is a different Sonic Comic, and even then I doubt that ever happening again unless it's some kind of recurring Manga Series, speaking of which seriously WHY isn't there a recurring Manga Series, Mario and Megaman have them why can't Sonic? Anyway I can understand why he would do this but there isn't much else you can do with them, and even if other people DO use them it'll probably be for something like fan comics and those are always free. Man this whole thing has been a mess, I'm just glad it appears to be finally over. I do hope Archie uses them, but considering the higher ups running Archie are kinda dicks from what I've heard I'm a little doubtful. Then again we DO have the Lara-Su Chronicles to look forward to, oh boy...
Would it be completely out of line for me to say that Ken Penders is like a less talented Terry Nation? They both seemed to assume that their creations could be used elsewhere and/or thumped their chests that their creations could go it alone. Or did someone else make that comparison on one of the previous pages?
The crucial difference being that though they're both somewhat obstinate arses about it: 1) Terry Nation is dead, his estate are the ones being difficult now. I don't see what right they should have to keep royalties, the whole "copyright continues after you're dead" is bullshit anyway. This is what public domain is for. 2) A sizable number of people actually care about Daleks, about 12 people care about MaryLara-Su and company.