COMING SOON IN 2012

[Darkfox]

Why is it copyrighted 1993? Sonic 3(the first game with Knuckles in it) didn't come out till 1994.

[Antarctic Deity]

I pity whatever artist has to draw all that useless filler on her dreadlocks.

[Luger]

Julie-Su is decked out and ready to kick some ass. Awesome. Like Paul though I'm curious if we'll get to see her wielding her standard side-arm again. Looking forward to more information on the series Ken. I think the only downside with the current situation is that we won't get to see Knuckles facing off against that "great threat" Locke was preparing him for now. Maybe Lara-Su will be taking his place though?

[Ken Penders]

This has been a story literally years in the making and was being plotted out even during the early days of the KNUCKLES series I was writing back in the day. It was always my intent to create an epic mythology that tracked the hero's complete life, including the history that preceded him as well as the legacy he left behind.

One of the main aspects that have come to define what we call heroes are their adversaries, and in the upcoming LARA-SU CHRONICLES, there are few that more ruthless, treacherous or deadlier than Lien-Da of the Dark Legion.



She is a key player in the civil war that's been a long time coming between the factions of science and religion of her people, and she has no intention of coming out on the losing end. Among the Dark Legion itself, there is no one more feared within its ranks, not even her great ancestor, Dimitri.

THE LARA-SU CHRONICLES is currently being developed for release in two different versions. There's the 20th Century Version (traditional print graphic novel) and the 21st Century Version (digital release). What makes the digital release different from most digital downloads is that not only is the art being produced for multi-purpose use, to allow for the limited use of animation in non-iPad/iPhone formats (since they don't allow for the use of Flash technology), but I'm currently exploring adding features such as an audio track and bi-lingual word balloons, making the story immediately accessible to readers in either English or Spanish. If circumstances allow, we may add on additional language translations to allow for wider global accessibility.

Due to my proximity in the Hollywood area with access to a number of creative professionals, and my experience with film projects THE LOST ONES and THE REPUBLIC, there will be some surprises as to the vocal talents involved with the project.

I'll have further details of both the story and the release formats in future announcements.

[Antarctic Deity]

God I
just
there are no words

I've seen 90's comics with better art design.

[The_Patman]

^ Haters like this guy ain't gonna stop our hype train, right Paul and Luger?

Besides me digging the new Lien-Da design (especially the Luger-Purple hair), I am highly anticipating where this story is going to go. It will be interesting to see just how far Lien-Da will go to get what she wants.

[Luger]

I'm not as big a fan of Lien-Da's redesign as much as the previous two. I prefer her with the traditional red colour fur, though it makes sense she would have inherited some of Luger's purple hues. As for her uniform, it reminds me a lot of Vorpax's from Mortal Kombat Conquest. The jack boots are wicked, but I'd prefer to see her back in the blueish uniform she had around StH #100-118 and M25YL stories like this one:

*Scan from StH #107, pencilled by Dawn Best

I'll probably get used to this change over time, though I don't think green goes with Lien-Da too well. In any case, I'm glad we'll get to see more of Lien-Da and written by the guy who actually knows how to write the character and what direction to take with her. In the Archie comics under Ian Flynn Lien-Da's become a complete idiot and a simple background flunky to Eggman. I also can't stand Yardley's drawing of her (though I must say that Steven Butler and Jamal Peppers do a great job drawing her). I'm really looking forward to seeing what direction Ken takes with her, and here's to hoping we get to see more of her early life with Luger and Kragok in the upcoming Chronicles.

While I'm thinking about it I wanted to ask: Mr. Penders, is there any chance that you might hire Dawn Best to do some artwork on the upcoming series? I thought her artwork was some of the best in the entire Archie-Sonic series, and I'd love to see her drawing the echidna cast once again.

[Ken Penders]

@Luger:

As for her uniform, it reminds me a lot of Vorpax's from Mortal Kombat Conquest.

Trust me, the design had nothing whatsoever to do with any video games. In fact, this was my original design for Lien-Da which got lost in the translation simply because I didn't draw or color her initial appearances in the Knuckles series. I decided to go back to what I actually came up those many years ago in order to offset her colors opposite her half-sister.

is there any chance that you might hire Dawn Best to do some artwork on the upcoming series?

Dawn Best and Patrick Spaziante would be two of my immediate recruits to take over the art duties once I'm able to do so at a certain point. There are other former Sonic freelancers whose work I'm quite fond of as well that I'd be interested in working with again. My first thoughts are to have Dawn handle the art chores for the BROTHERHOOD OF THE GUARDIANS graphic novel that's part of THE LARA-SU CHRONICLES, and Patrick handle THE DARK LEGION graphic novel that's also part of the CHRONICLES, which is planned to consist of seven graphic novels total that come to a complete end with the seventh. (Four of the novels are titled THE LARA-SU CHRONICLES, and you'll have to wait to find out about what's planned for the unaccounted-for-as-yet graphic novel.)

However, the main focus right now is getting the first graphic novel completed while maintaining fan interest along the way with a variety of announcements and planned tie-ins with the project. Stay tuned.

[Luger]

@Luger:

As for her uniform, it reminds me a lot of Vorpax's from Mortal Kombat Conquest.

Trust me, the design had nothing whatsoever to do with any video games. In fact, this was my original design for Lien-Da which got lost in the translation simply because I didn't draw or color her initial appearances in the Knuckles series. I decided to go back to what I actually came up those many years ago in order to offset her colors opposite her half-sister.

I didn't mean to say you got the design from Mortal Kombat Conquest (a TV series based on the games), just noticed the similarities. Also, any chance that you might share some of the early design sketches you have for the echidna cast if you still have them?

is there any chance that you might hire Dawn Best to do some artwork on the upcoming series?

Dawn Best and Patrick Spaziante would be two of my immediate recruits to take over the art duties once I'm able to do so at a certain point. There are other former Sonic freelancers whose work I'm quite fond of as well that I'd be interested in working with again. My first thoughts are to have Dawn handle the art chores for the BROTHERHOOD OF THE GUARDIANS graphic novel that's part of THE LARA-SU CHRONICLES, and Patrick handle THE DARK LEGION graphic novel that's also part of the CHRONICLES, which is planned to consist of seven graphic novels total that come to a complete end with the seventh. (Four of the novels are titled THE LARA-SU CHRONICLES, and you'll have to wait to find out about what's planned for the unaccounted-for-as-yet graphic novel.)

However, the main focus right now is getting the first graphic novel completed while maintaining fan interest along the way with a variety of announcements and planned tie-ins with the project. Stay tuned.

Dawn doing the art for the Brotherhood of Guardians graphic novel - no words can describe how amazing that would be. If you could get Patrick Spaziante and/or Steven Butler to do artwork for the graphic novels that'd be incredible, though both still do work for Archie so I'm not sure if they'd be up for it given the legal battle going on. Also, Jeff Axer was easily one of the best artists for the Archie Sonic series, if you could get him to do some artwork for the series that'd be amazing. I couldn't be more excited for these upcoming graphic novels!

[Toby Barrett]

Seriously, she looks like a California Raisin from space.

[Mavrickindigo]

I have a question: now that you have freedom to deal with your characters as you see fit, apparently, why do you still make them Echidnas? You'd save yourself so much grief if you emancipated this from anything Sonic related at all.

[Ken Penders]

@mavrickindigo:

I have a question: now that you have freedom to deal with your characters as you see fit, apparently, why do you still make them Echidnas? You'd save yourself so much grief if you emancipated this from anything Sonic related at all.

Who says they're echidnas? Seriously, I'm the guy who created these characters in the first place, none of whom were inspired by, were based on, or have anything to do with Sega (or Archie for that matter). Despite the uproar from what I see, there is a large contingent out there who loved those old stories and want to see what happens. Beyond that, there's a good chance the younger crowd will enjoy the stories, and because I'm taking the same approach that I did when writing the earlier series, that adults will enjoy the stories as well.

There was absolutely nothing in the video games or anywhere else to base a viable long-running series on utilizing the Knuckles character, as has been pointed out by many people over the years.

I suspect the uproar over Lien-Da is precisely because her design is so radically different from her previous incarnation compared to Julie-Su and Lara-Su, as well as the fact that people are taking what I'm doing seriously, if the coverage and my e-mail is any indication. The fact that people are willing to go to war over this on message boards is scaring a number of fans from engaging publicly in the conversation. I also never expected a united Sonic fandom behind me - or anywhere even a majority - simply because there is no such thing. The gamers were dismissive of our comics back then, as well as factions arguing whether Sonic UK or SegaSonic or Archie Sonic was better. This is something I've experienced nearly from the beginning and it's nothing new. Remember ENDGAME? It it weren't for the fact that sales took an unexpected leap upward, issue 50 was the swan song with Sonic and company going out in a blaze of glory. The uproar now is nothing compared to when I leaked it I was killing off Sally.

@Toby Barrett:
As I tell the paying customer, you pay your money, you have a right to criticize. I don't censor here unless it gets personal and nasty.

By the way, the work I created for Archie began in 1993 even though it was first published in 1994. Copyright exists at the moment of creation, and the dates refer to the full body of work I created, not just any character in particular.

And Knuckles is nothing like Lien-Da. A rip-off would be if she were also the sole inhabitant of a floating island guarding a chaos emerald. Larry Bird and Magic Johnson have more similarities than Knuckles and Lien-Da and no one would say one is ripping off the other.

[Toby Barrett]

@Toby Barrett:
--you pay your money--

[Mavrickindigo]

They're not Echidnas? What the hell are they then? They certainly look just like Sega Styled Echidnas to me. I'm gonna go draw a guy with a round head and two big round ears coming out the top of his head and tell you all its not a mouse. No, he'd look like a pink mickey mouse, but he's definitely not a mouse. It'll be the same type of argument. I just...I don't even....

Also about the 1993 thing, the character could not have been copyrighted then unless you put a copyright on her before Knuckles the Echidna even existed. The earliest release of Sonic 3 was in February of '94, I highly doubt they were already planning a Knuckles series that early in the game, especially since you admitted the comic was going to end at Endgame. You would have had to copyright her as soon as you were given the assignment to do issue 13, or copyrighted her before you knew about Knuckles, in that case you would have had designs that looked nothing like Sega Echidnas, because I really REALLY doubt you drew something that looked exactly like something out of Sonic the Hedgehog before you worked on Knuckles stories

[Mavrickindigo]

image

this sums up the argument much more nicely

[Antarctic Deity]

The uproar over Lien-Da is because she's the ugliest thing ever to grace the Sonic franchise. The statements here are going full-on delusional though. "Who says they're echidnas?" REALLY? And no, no one needs to pay any money to criticize a character design put up on the Internet for free. Especially when it's a character design like THIS.

(I do find it very amusing though that this whole thing is, as directly stated, relying entirely on Sonic's brand to sell while so vehemently denying any connection.)

[Lammy]

Penders, are you serious ? NOT echidnas ? And we are supposed to believe that ?

Let me copy you a message from another fan :

An open letter to Ken Penders.


Dear Ken Penders.

When a Mummy and a Daddy love each other very much. In this case Knuckles the Echidna and whatever bastardised rip off character you made, something su wasn't it? They might decide to get married or in this day and age have the baby first and then go live in a council flat.

In order for this to happen they need to be the same species or be capable of breeding with each other. Echidnas can only breed with other echidnas, therefore the following characters have to be echidnas...

Lara-Su.
Julie-Su.

Since they're mother and daughter the key to their species must lie in the dad, this being Knuckles, Knuckles the echidna. Remember this guy?

Of course you do, this is the guy you constantly rip off with your creations. He's a red fellow with dreadlocks only he doesn't look like he was a cancelled extra from Blakes 7.

Now. You say that Lien-Da is julie-Su's half sister, well by what we've come to understand so far, she must also be an echidna... otherwise how can she be a sister?

Here is a documentary about Sisters.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAFh-nPQgow[/media]

I used to fancy the brainy one myself.

I hope this has educated you in the ways of species and the ways of the echidna.

Kind Regards. Someone with a mind.

P.S. whilst I am having a laugh with each creation that comes out of the Penders Laboratory, is it really nessesary to keep giving them camel toes?


The madness of ken Penders is slowly becomming a daily event, it's astonishing I've never quite seen anything like it, can you imagine if fleetway was still on the go and someone tried to do this with a character like the Cybernik or if Nigel Dobbyn had tried to do a series based on Dr Zachary and claim he wasn't an echinda? Nope, neither can I, because those guys seem to have sense.

Surely you're going to dismiss anything we're saying. Next time, what will be your new lie ? "They're not related to the KNUCKLES series" ?

[Lammy]

Bah, you know what ? Your "they're not echidnas" new excuse is full of trash.
Let me show you some echidnas done by fans.



Your designs aren't unique. Even fans used more human-esque proportions on SEGA-echidnas. But those fans made them pretty, unlike that ugly Lien-Da redesign.

I'm the guy who created these characters in the first place, none of whom were inspired by, were based on, or have anything to do with Sega

They ARE based on KNUCKLES the echidna. "Not have anything to do with Sega" ? Even though they starred in their licensed comic ? Oh please !

But tell me. If, as you imply, they're not echidnas, why do you keep saying that your new stories are the continuation of your stories from KNUCKLES THE ECHIDNA ? Especially with those characters (Lien-Da, Julie-Su and Lara-Su) being echidnas in these books, mmmmh ? Sudden change of species ? What are they now ? Octopuses ? You just tanked your project : you wanted to attract the few people who want a continuation of your stories and "your" characters and BAM "no they're not echidnas"...

[Mavrickindigo]

Another thing: Didn't Ken say this takes place in "Echidnaopolis"? If they aren't echidnas, why are they living in a city named after them?

[KaosuReido]

It's like watching someone take DeviantArt fancharacters and make a totally serious fancomic about them. Only in this case, you're actually suggesting you're going to make money off these. Your fanbase is... what? People who used to read your comics? Except then you subtract people who have moved on, people who hate your old work, people who simply hate what you're doing, people who have moral issue with this, people who just plain don't like you. Who are you adding, though? This isn't going to sell in comics shops, so the demographic of kids who grab Sonic comics is gone. You're not going to manage to work up the capital to get any major publishing deal. You're poisoning your reputation even further, so you're actually shooting yourself in the foot here. You don't have previous good will to fall back on like a Frank Miller or a John Byrne or a Chris Claremont. You're just some jackass who drew furry comics, and then got all pissy that his actual creator owned crap didn't take off.

Of course, this isn't going to make money for you; not nearly enough to pay your legal bills. You're never going to get a movie running, Sega will keep your ass in legal limbo as long as they want, and you won't ever have the resources to stop them. You won't even get to the part where you try to sell or license your stuff for profit, the same thing'll happen. So, what's your goal here?

That's pretty obvious. A settlement. You want to try to turn the fanbase against Archie as fast as you can, and things like suggesting that you can make everything all better with your personal comic is a great way to do it. If the fanbase still gives a crap about your work, which, considering that sales of the series appear to have jumped quite a bit since you left, probably isn't true. However, it makes you look like you have a leg to stand on. Which, even though it's obviously not true, lets you try to sell this to the fans. The longer that happens, the more you rile crap up, the more Archie is going to want to sweep this under the rug.

The fastest way, of course, is just to hand you money, and have you agree to screw off. That's essentially how you want to make money. This project would never get to the point it could; but you want to work up all the little fanboys you have to pressure Archie to give you your settlement, and possibly a cut of the royalties. It's obvious once you think about it. Even if you had a legal leg to stand on, you're up against what are essentially giants compared to you. Seigel and Shuster's estate hasn't managed to get SUPERBOY from DC, you're sure as crap not going to get Knuckles or his extended cast.

Plus, you can't friggin' draw or design characters, or stop ripping off Star Wars, Star Trek, and whatever else you've seen recently. So there's that, too.

Extra credit: Anyone working with you on these would poison their careers, too! BS all around!

Extra extra credit: Editted to remove cursing beyond what has already been posted on "concept art" text. "Attack" on Penders stays, because he's a grown up, he can handle himself.

[The_Patman]

It looks like there are a few people here that took Ken's tounge-in-cheek comment about his characters not being echidnas and totally blew it out of proportion. Him starting off the next sentence after said comment with "Seriously" shows it was a joke. Get a hold of yourselves, guys. Relax.

If this stuff really offends you guys that much, you have no obligation to continue to follow it. Why even give it the time of day when all it will do is make you rage? Besides, I'm sure there are plenty of other more important things in life that are actually worth freaking out about.

@KaosuReido

Please respect the other members of the forum. We do not expect you to agree with everything being posted but please behave respectfully to other board members. Personal attacks, flaming, and trolling will not be tolerated.

No swearing or being 'clever' with the word filter. SHOUTING ALL THE TIME is not acceptable either.

Personal attacks on the administrators or moderators are forbidden in any forum. If you have a problem with a moderator, bring it to the attention of any administrator. If you have a problem with an administrator, bring it to the other administrator. The board lists current moderators and administrators on line at the bottom of the page.

Bolded are the board rules you violated in your post. It's alright to express your opinion on the characters or design or what you think is really going on, but personally attacking Ken and dropping F-bombs in the process will not be tolerated. Either edit your post, or face the ban hammer. You have 24 hours.

[Tylinos]

Well, some people do use "seriously" like that in the context of just saying the statement as a whole is meant to be taken more seriously than normal. That's why it's hard to tell what Ken intended it as.

Personally, I take more issue with the "none of whom were inspired by, were based on, or have anything to do with Sega (or Archie for that matter)," part. No matter who has the copyright, it still stands that they were made for the comic. Even if it ends up not mattering in a legal sense that they were made for it, it still makes saying that they don't have anything to do with the comic pretty silly.

[Ken Penders]

@Tylinos:

No matter who has the copyright, it still stands that they were made for the comic.

Where do I say the characters had nothing to do with the comic? By the same token, that doesn't mean Sega or Archie had anything to do with the development of the characters or set-up that took place in the series.

The reason I ran with the KNUCKLES series as opposed to continuing as the head writer of the SONIC book is precisely because I had a blank slate to work with. There was nothing viable to make a series work until I went in and assembled the whole operation. Knuckles could have just as easily lived in the arctic at his fortress of solitude guarding the last power chip and you're still going to have to do something in order to make the character viable on an ongoing basis. The games certainly don't supply enough of anything to go beyond one 48-page special.

If people like Julie-Su, Locke, the Brotherhood of the Guardians, Lara-Le, Constable Remington, Kragok, the Dark Legion, Lien-Da and Dimitri, to say nothing of Archimedes, Harry the Cabbie, Gala-Na and Lara-Su, that's my work work they're enjoying, not something created by Sega or Archie. Nor can Ian lay claim to the material, either because he isn't allowed to do anything with it or he has yet to show a clear understanding of the characters. The Dark Legion I know, especially Lien-Da, would've had Eggman in any incarnation for breakfast. That doesn't mean he doesn't have the ability and talent to do something well. It's just that he doesn't have the same stake in the characters that I do.

The characters and set-up can easily exist outside what people consider the Sega Universe because it literally has nothing to do with the Sega Universe as Sega itself sees it. That's what people don't seem to get.

If someone doesn't like what I do, fine. That's their choice. They should support what they like. But don't act like there isn't an audience for my characters and the world they inhabit. SONIC UNIVERSE proves that. As a Star Trek fan and someone who actually worked on the comics themselves, I attempted to launch an official Klingon series back in the 90's. The only reason Paramount wasn't sold on the idea at the time is that they didn't think anyone would be interested in a Klingon film or TV series, and if they couldn't make it work, no one could. I still believe I could have made it work, based on the response I've received over the years on my Trek work.

When I discuss what I'm up to with anyone, I never treat the other person any less than how I expect to be treated. I may not agree with you, but I don't insult or belittle anyone. And I let people have their say. All I ask for is some courtesy when engaging in the conversation. Thanks for listening.

[Antarctic Deity]

Nor can Ian lay claim to the material, either because he isn't allowed to do anything with it or he has yet to show a clear understanding of the characters.

As I tell the paying customer, you pay your money, you have a right to criticize.

How many times have you been proud to say you've never read a single issue past your reign? No, fans whining to you doesn't count as a full and unbiased view on the matter.

Sonic Universe only has one Knuckles arc (which focuses on a Karl Bollers creation with most of his characterization coming from Ian Flynn, and Freedom Fighters created by Mike Gallagher) by the way. It has a Sega character at the forefront for every arc. Not a very good example that YOUR work has an audience.

[Ken Penders]

How many times have you been proud to say you've never read a single issue past your reign? No, fans whining to you doesn't count as a full and unbiased view on the matter.

I don't have to base my opinion on anything fans post. I can easily sum up my opinion on three words -- Dark Egg Legion. Hoo boy. Shows a complete lack of understanding how to handle the characters if that's how they're incorporated in the current mythos.

Besides, Ian himself has posted that Archie and Sega would rather he focus on the core cast than anything I developed, which is why he shoved so much of it aside.

My point with SONIC UNIVERSE is that the spotlight isn't on the headliners, which pretty much answers how I can do a book using everyone but Knuckles. Whether or not you think my work has an audience is immaterial to the discussion.