Yeah, I don't think the SatAM box art looks amazing or anything, but it's still competent enough for me to accept that it's an official product. It is heads and shoulders above any of the artwork for the other DiC cartoon DVDs, not that that's saying much as demonstrated above.
I didn't even know he had the rights to those Sonic stories, hereafter known as Lara-Su stories. Anyway, what are your guesses for the surprises? Here are mine: A signed apology from Ken that THE STORM could not be finished in time for inclusion in this first-print run of THE LARA-SU CHRONICLES: BEGINNINGS. An updated official list of the languages that will be available in THE LARA-SU CHRONICLES app, now including Belarusian, Neo-Sumerian, and Esperanto. The URL linking to the Kickstarter funding project for the theatrical distribution of THE REPUBLIC. Interesting, maybe he's not so keen on Kickstarter. I guess we'll find out. This umbrella statement as worded is not technically comprehensive enough to confirm the coming of THE LARA-SU CHRONICLES through waiting.
"This level of detail and thought occurs with everything depicted in THE LARA-SU CHRONICLES" Yea it sure seems like it. Ah and props to "Not Angel Island"
Not really news, but an Archie Sonic liveblogger I follow on tumblr wrote a pretty great piece on the grander issues with Penders's writing and characterization, his relation to other parts of the comic and the series as a whole. I knew I never liked a lot of his comics as a kid, but I never quite knew why or what was making me read something else instead of continuing with Sonic's comics.
Wow that was quite a read - it took me my whole lunch break! Being in the U.K. we didn’t have the Archie series so I didn’t know the finer plot details, but from reading that Ken really seems to have a scary view of the world.
I saw this pop up on Twitter. This is such a nice read (wait, to clarify, by 'nice' I mean fucking horrific in the most entertaining way). Props to them for subjecting themselves to all that in modern Penders era! As a UK reader, I thought our Sonic Comic hit it's lows, but here I can see maybe Sonic stopping lame bank robbers was something blessed compared to Max Penders Overdrive!
Fairly certain Sonic the Comic did that first. November 26th, 1994: Spoiler Remember kids, if another Sonic media did it, Sonic the Comic probably did it better first.
Charmy being a prince kinda writes itself though? Like bees are famous for having queens, and Charmy isn't far from Charming. It's like indecently coming up with an albino echidna, ie, white Knuckles.
A little off-topic a bit, I'm not sure if anyone's mentioned this, and I'm sorry if someone thought this first but uh... his drawings look like the kangaroo people from the Tank Girl movie. Anyone remember that? Ice-T?
What an engrossing read! I meant to skim over it, but here I am like 45 minutes later just now remembering to blink my eyes. I never looked into to it too much, always figured the Penders of today was a recent-ish phenomenon, but he was huffing his own farts from the very beginning, huh? My god, I thought this shit was the shit 20 years ago. And to think I could've been reading Marvel comics. I mean, they were right there on the same rack at the grocery store. I've still got my stack of Archie Sonics from just before 50 to 100-something, missing a few here and there, and a bunch of the Knuckles issues. Might have to go through and relive the experience some time. Looking through them now, my ironic favorite is the Image Comics crossover special.
Any excuse to post Doctor Zachary. EDIT: I actually do believe they used the term 'white knuckle ride' to describe an upcoming story featuring this guy once, now that I think about it.
Same. Bobby is an incredible writer, she really knows how to hook a reader. I knew Archie Sonic was screwed up to the core thanks to Penders, but I never knew just how fucked the entire thing is. This comic should never have been sold to kids.
now you see why we had a staunch anti-archie comics stand during the brief "Pelord's S2Beta" era But no, I never really got into the comics. I read a few issues here and there and enjoyed what I did read, but I never got super-into them. I hear the re-launched comics are better, but after years of knowing that Sonic comics were fanfiction garbage I never got into the new comics.
KEN PENDERS UPDATE Ken Penders, based on his Twitter feed, is a full-time political commentator whose hobby is discussing comics books and related media on the side. And you can only base it on his Twitter feed, because the website he continues to link to on his Twitter remains down. Commentary in italics is mine. 11/06/2019 Today's update on the Republic: I spent the day with our sound guru Jim Christopher - I hate using the term "sound editor" as Jim's responsibilities encompass so much more - working on the sound mix for the opening segment. Happily, Ken has his finger on the pulse of what to prioritize for his projects: making sure offensive terminology like "sound edi***" (I refuse even to type it out) has no place here in 2019. Before anyone gets the wrong idea progress isn't being made, the audio file is composed of thousands of audio clips containing dialogue, sound fx, background sounds, and soundtrack music, all of which has been inserted at the proper points that track and sync with the video. so the first half of the sound work has been completed. Unfortunately, some people have gotten the idea that progress hasn't been made. In large part this is because of your own updates which suggest that you have put the cart before the horse time and time again, for example in prioritizing the sound and foreign language options of the Lara-Su Chronicles (LSC) before, say, writing the actual pages of the comic. And, lest we ever forget, "Coming Soon in 2012!" But you have a sound guru now (feels good to type that!) and the first half of the sound work has been completed, so progress has been made! I assisted Jim for several hours as he worked solely on the dialogue tracks, adjusting not only the levels at which the audience will experience, but also the positioning, determining which speaker or speakers the sound will emanate from. while we were working on just this aspect, Jim would also play some of the non-dialogue audio tracks to give me some idea how everything was coming all together. Hey, wait a minute Ken! Jim isn't some lowly sound edi***, he's a sound guru, he doesn't need you holding his hand working on the sound mix for the opening segment (opening segment? I thought the sound work was halfway done). The whole point should be that you've hired others to assist you and so free you up to work on the bread-and-butter aspects of things like, say, creating pages for the LSC. To hear the tracks play alongside the video was absolutely jaw-dropping. "This is all I have to show for all these years of work!?" To ensure we don't have to reinvent the wheel in the event of something unforeseen occurring, Jim will be providing a weekly update of the audio files on hard drive which will be held by Steve. So on a weekly basis, more audio file hard drive updates (at least one) are created than LSC pages (zero). As good a summation of the problem as any. In the meantime, I'm still checking out potential film festivals we hope to present the finished film at. We'll keep everyone posted the details get nailed down. Take care. I'm sure he will find a film festival; if nothing else, there surely must be sham film festivals that allow you to pay to get your film showcased, much like those sham coffee table books where you can have your poetry included in the "collection" within. Ken This paragraph is fine. 11/12/2019 My first question regarding the Sonic trailer is ... why didn’t the filmmakers make Sonic look like this in the first place? The look is much better. The story and dialogue are still absolutely lame. The best scene is Sonic with the dog at the end. It was very bush league of the Sonic people to try and sell a piece of creative media where the lead character looked so ugly! After all, they could have improved its appearance at any point with a little extra hard work. And don't get me started on the terrible story and dialogue. Anyway, coming soon: the Lara-Su Chronicles! -Ken Penders 11/18/2019 In the past, I have been complimentary of Ken's art when it was warranted. But I find the faces of both characters depicted above unappealing, not least because Ken's Sonic has not noticeably changed from that infamous piece in the recent past. Also another example of his time being diverted everywhere except into what he should be doing on his main projects. 11/19/2019 I received confirmation today that I'll have the same table location in Artists Alley for the 2020 @Comic_Con as i did in 2019. Come find me at Table II-24. I'll be there. Now you know. 11/22/2019 Here's the finished inked version of the drawing of Dr Robotnik I previously displayed in pencil form. This was rendered using brush with ink. This is one of the things of his that I praised in the past. But, again, how much additional time did he sink into it between then and now? 11/24/2019 If it comes down to doing the right thing or losing a sale because someone doesn't like what I do or say, I have to go with doing the right thing. Despite the comments made during my fight with Archie, I would do it again if I had to. Presented without further comment. 11/25/2019 My new iPhone case arrived in the mail today. Presented with further comment: should someone trying to sell art of this quality really be critiquing others doing the same? 12/01/2019 A rare glimpse at the analog section of my work area. Where Ken gets his work done (assuming this is where Ken micromanages his sound guru and completes the multi-week process of finishing a single piece of fan art). ----- That's it, for now. If you're wondering about any sort of response to that unfavorable article that just came out about him discussed right above in this thread, there has not yet been one.