Knuckles: The Dark Legion: Issue 3

 
Knuckles: The Dark Legion: Issue 3
Publication Date: March 1997

“The Dark Legion” story arc concludes with the third issue, entitled “Blood is Thicker.” Picking up right where the last one left off, the Chaotix were about to be trampled by a stampede of people fleeing through the burning forest. With some quick thinking and utilization of the Chaotix’ abilities, Knuckles resolves that problem. His team then gets to work sneaking into the Legion’s lair, where Kragok and his men are about to steal the Island’s Chaos Emerald. Meanwhile, Locke and Archimedes watch from Haven, observing his son’s actions.

“Blood is Thicker” is a slightly disappointing but still mostly solid conclusion to the story line. "The Dark Legion" mini-series continues to be a straight-ahead action story. This story shows that Knuckles can be pretty smart under pressure. It also gives the other Chaotix more to do then just smash heads. Mighty stops the stampede with a down tree. Vector, meanwhile, blows out the fire by turning his headphones all the way up. Yeah, that’s ridiculous and awfully silly but at least it gives the crocodile something productive to do.

The disappointment comes into play when the story begins to repeat itself. Once again, Knuckles and friends try on some Dark Legion robes and sneak into the enemies’ base. This time, that base is a giant platform that rises out of the ground, without explanation. While it is satisfying to see Knuckles and his team beat up some bad guys and show off their individual abilities, the script definitely seems to be circling back to what it did previously.

Also disappointing is Locke’s involvement in the story. Penders has yet to make Locke an interesting character. Usually, he just sits back and observes his son’s adventures, seemingly disinterested in his plight. When Knuckles gets into a really tricky jam, Locke is also there to help him out, usually providing some totally implausible easy solution to Knuckles’ problem. Penders once again relies on that plot point. In this story, Locke calls on his secret Guardian chaos magic to make all of the Dark Legionnaire's guns freeze up. Seconds later, he causes the tower to fall apart. This is lazy writing, first off, the very definition of a deus ex machine. It also makes Knuckles and the Chaotix seem slightly incompetent. Couldn’t Charmy Bee or somebody sneaked off and found the Self-Destruct switch? Anything more elegant then Locke using his secret powers to make the building shake apart.

It’s also disappointing that Knuckles never gets a showdown with Kragok. The two scuffle for a minute, Knuckles putting the villain down briefly with an uppercut. After that, the bad guy escapes as his lair crumbles. Knuckles doesn’t even make sure the Chaotix have escaped safely before leaping from the joint himself. I get that the bad guy has to survive, so he can fight another day, but this mostly leaves “The Dark Legion” ending on a limp note. Once again, I wonder if three issues was enough space to tell the story Ken wanted to tell.

Luckily, the flashback elements remain fairly strong. Hundreds of years ago, a civil war broke out on the Floating Island, as the Dark Legion made its move. Steppenwolf comes off as practically a Christ figure here. A man is sent to assassinate him and he calmly talks the guy down. He then calmly marches into the Dark Legion HQ and confronts their leader. This is the juicy stuff, as Steppenwolf discovers that his beloved cousin Menniker has been controlling the Legion all along. It’s a potentially interesting point the book resolves too quickly. Steppenwolf spins his hands, performs some magic juju, and sucks the entirety of the Legion into an alternate universe. It’s kind of a dick move. Once again, I wonder if Ken is intentionally making the Guardians morally ambiguous or just doesn’t realize his heroes act like jerks. Giving someone absolute power to hand out punishments as he sees fit traditionally doesn’t end too well.

The artwork in the book is fairly solid and Manny Galan continues to do good work… For the most part. The first page features the same artwork of the stampeding locals, awkwardly shrunk down to fit in a smaller panel. Later, Espio goes slightly off-model. Still, Galan is talented. It’s clear that he was studying both Art Mawhinney and Spaz’ work. He has traits of both while bringing his own unique quirks to the table. (Such as really focusing on drawing mouths and teeth.) Speaking of Spaz, I should probably discuss his lovely cover art. When placed side-by-side, “The Dark Legion” mini-series forms a complete picture, a tactic Spaz would repeat over the course of the book’s run. It’s a neat image too, showing the past and present echoing within each other while featuring plenty of explosion.

By the end of “The Dark Legion,” it was already confirmed that a “Knuckles the Echidna” on-going book would be coming next. As a mini-series, it’s more satisfying then Knuckles’ first series and shows the characters developing stronger personalities and a stronger world. The last issue still falls victim to a lot of Penders’ annoying quirks but it’s, overall, not a bad read. [6.5/10]