Knuckles the Echidna (Original Mini-Series): Issue 3

 
Knuckles (Original Mini-Series): Issue 3
Publication Date: July 1996

At the beginning of “Rites of Passage: Part Three,” Knuckles the Echidna has his spiked-hands full. Enerjak has turned his friends, the Chaotix, against him. Only with the help of Archimedes can he best them. Soon, the overpowered madman takes the fight directly to the young guardian. Knuckles has to face down his ancestor, even though he knows he isn’t powerful enough to defeat the mighty Enerjak.

A problem all throughout the “Knuckles” mini-series is that it’s main protagonist hasn’t been the one directing the plot. Even in the final issue, other people are pulling Knuckles’ fat out of the fire. Knuckles makes pretty short work of the Chaotix but he probably couldn’t have stopped them without Archimedes’ help. Later, the fire ant helps out again, calling on his insect brothers to sabotage Enerjak’s tower. (That makes this the second time Enerjak has falling for the same trick. So much for all-mighty, huh?) Later, Enerjak is defeated when rocket jets are attached to his tower, launching the madman into outer space. At the end of the comic, we find out that Locke, Knuckles’ dad, arrange this last course of action. The constant attempts to build Knuckles’ dad up as some sort of wise sage just makes his son look incompetent. There’s lots of talk of Knuckles coming into his own as a hero here. Yet, if it wasn’t for other people helping, he would’ve been dead about four times over.

And what about Enerjak? He’s obviously capable of amazing things. He raises a city out of the sand. He’s capable of flight, teleportation, and mind control. Yet Knuckles is still able to psych him out. I think the book is going for something here. That, despite his massive power, Enerjak’s arrogance still makes him easy to outsmart. Maybe. In the last third of the book, Knuckles successfully outthinks the villain out, getting him to discard his massive power and fight him mano-a-mano. Still, considering all of his abilities, Enerjak had lots of opportunities to crush his opponent. Shit, instead of stranding him in the desert, why didn’t he just kill him in the first issue? I mean, I know this is a kid’s book. But, geez. Mobius needs a better class of bad guy.

Penders try to spin these events into character development for Knuckles. And I suppose it is. Throughout the course of the story, he learns to trust Archimedes. That’s a fairly big deal, especially since Knuckles was ready to crush the bug in his first appearance. (And also tried to eat him, least we forget.) The events of the story also seems to bound Knuckles and the Chaotix closer together, though I’m not sure why. Mostly, Knuckles’ most heroic actions come at the end, during his first fight with Enerjak. In some of the best dialogue Penders would ever write, Knuckles lays out passionately why he’s less of an asshole then his great uncle. It’s maybe the only time in the entire mini-series that the hero seems triumphant. 

At least issue three delivers on the action. The battle between Knuckles and the Chaotix features the expected amount of fisticuffs. Really, it probably doesn’t make Knuckles’ teammates feel good to know their boss could easily beat the shit out of them. (Is this how the rest of the Justice League feels about Superman?) This issue also finally lets us see Knuckles and Enerjak fighting it out. Once again, I’m very please that Penders didn’t try to draw this book himself. Art Mawhinney’s pencils makes Knuckles’ scuffle with his great uncle a pretty exciting sight. Lots of pounding, swiping, and punching follows. If you’re just in it for the fighting, the last part of the “Knuckles” mini-series should prove satisfying.

Another problem part three shares with the rest of this series: For two pages, Enerjak flashes back to the circumstances of his origin. I think that’s the second time these events have been recapped in this book? Were the constant flashbacks necessary, Ken? Despite some great Mawhinney art throughout these three issue, the “Knuckles” mini-series is slightly disappointing. Truthfully, the mini-series isn’t even as good as some of the back-up stories that build up to it. It seems Penders is better at creating a mythology then utilizing it. Still, the “Knuckles” mini obviously sold well, because Archie would launch a second Knuckles mini-series early in the next year which would then lead into an echidna-centric on-going. That, my dear readers, is something we’ll get to in time. As for the first “Knuckles” mini-series, I sadly have to give it a [6/10.]