Knuckles the Echidna (Original Mini-Series): Issue 1

Knuckles (Original Mini-Series): Issue 1
Publication Date: May 1996

As I’ve mentioned before, Archie was definitely interested in launching a spin-off series from their successful “Sonic the Hedgehog” comic. The “Princess Sally” and “Tails” mini-series didn’t lead to on-going series about either hero. Suggested mini-series about Bunnie Rabbot or Espio the Chameleon never even saw print. It wasn’t until Archie decided to gift Knuckles the Echidna with a series that this plan met with any success. It’s a conclusion they should’ve touched upon earlier. Until Shadow came along, Knuckles was the only “Sonic” character to rival the blue hedgehog in popularity. In 1996, only a few years apart from his debut appearance, fans were curious about the echidna’s origins and adventures. Writer Ken Penders was all to happy to delve into these issues. He hyped the “Knuckles” mini-series for months before the first issue was actually released.

 
“Rites of Passage” begins with Knuckles finally rescuing his friends from the mysterious Archimedes. After seemingly months of wandering the desert, he makes it inside a pyramid and avoids a number of death traps. Upon reaching the building’s center, he discovers the Chaotix are safe and sound. Archimedes, turns out, is not a great villain. He’s instead a fire-breathing ant that wishes to mentor Knuckles and guild him on his journey. Meanwhile, Knuckles great^X10 grand-uncle Dimitri escapes from his stony tomb. Flying in to meet the young echidna, he introduces himself as Enerjak, an immortal and immensely powerful super-villain.

Knuckles' storyline had been frozen for a while. Via short back-up stories in the “Sonic” series, Penders had been inching the plot forward for months. Some of those back-ups provided valuable information about the history of the echidna race. Too many of them were two-pagers that barely advanced the plot. So finally seeing Knuckles track down Archimedes and rescue the Chaotix is way overdo. The pay-off – that Archimedes isn’t a villain and is also an ant – is slightly disappointing. Turns out, the mystery of Archimedes’ identity was a big false lead. Enerjak is the villain of this mini-series. Penders’ awkward attempt at misdirection didn’t exactly pay off. Truthfully, the most satisfying part of this first issue is Knuckles yelling at Archimedes for being such an evasive jerk. The audience relates.

Plot wise, part one of “Rites of Passage” mostly exists to set-up the rest of the mini-series. Too much page space is devoted to recapping the Knuckles back-stories and showing what happened behind the scenes. The issue ends with Knuckles and Archimedes tossed into the Floating Island’s desert, suggesting the two will put aside their differences and work together. Enerjak’s first appearance – in a rather impressive six page spread – immediately sets him up at the series’ villain and Knuckles’ adversary. One of the first things the bad guy does is put the Chaotix under his will, meaning Knuckles’ primary goal here will be to rescue his friends again. (This, disappointingly, once again sidelines the Chaotix.) After waiting so long to see this mini-series unfolded, it’s a bit of a bummer that the first issue just tosses everyone to the whims of the plot.

This being a comic marketed to young boys, there’s still plenty of action here. Many pages are sacrificed to Knuckles dodging the ancient temples’ death traps. Penders doesn’t even pretend to deny the obvious comparisons to Indiana Jones. Knuckles even out-runs an on-coming boulder. However, a hero exploring a temple full of death traps has a pulpy attraction that’s hard to deny. Knuckles’ also blows a fucking door up with a laser cannon. Like-wise, Enerjak’s first appearance makes an impression. He flies, can shoot laser beams from his hands, teleports people, and seems impervious to regular attacks. That certainly makes him a more intimidating force then Robotnik, at least initially. His design, which decks the echidna out in Egyptian-style gold armor, is also pretty cool.

Thankfully, for the mini-series Ken Penders handed the artist’s pen over to Art Mawhinney. Mawhinney’s skills for clearly illustrated but exciting action is put to good use here. The two-page spread that opens the book, of Knuckles swooping through the traps, is fantastic. On the next page, he leaps from one hazard to the next, Mawhinney nicely capturing a sense of movement. Mawhinney even makes the potentially ridiculous designs of Archimedes and Enerjak look cool. When he first started drawing Knuckles, the artist didn’t have a perfect grasp on the echidna. That’s all changed now. His pencils are smooth, confident, and gorgeous.

Whether or not the “Knuckles” mini-series will ultimately work is still up in the air. The first book is merely the first act, the steps being put in place for the rest of the story. We don’t know if it’ll build towards a satisfying whole yet. Still, it’s not a bad issue either, with some fun action and good artwork. We’ll see where it goes from here. [6/10]