Knuckles the Echidna: Issue 30

Knuckles the Echidna: Issue 30
Publication Date: September 1999

The “Knuckles the Echidna” series would be over before the end of 1999, the comic wrapping up with a modest two-year-and-change run. I don’t know if the series’ cancellation was due to poor sales or industrial shifts inside Archie. Considering the “Sonic” suite of books would soon to be clipped down to just one, I suspect the latter is true. If “Knuckles” had ended three or four issues sooner, it would’ve wrapped up with low key, personal stories. Issue 29 or “The First Date” story arc would’ve been a good note to go out on. But the somewhat misguided love child of Sega and Ken Penders instead had to limp on for one more story arc.

The “King of the Hill” three-parter begins with a bizarre ape-like creature climbing aboard the Floating Island, after seemingly lassoing part of the island. This is Monk, a gorilla who used to bully Knuckles when both were younger. Monk’s abuse got him exiled from the island by the Brotherhood. Now, he’s back for revenge. Soon enough, Knuckles and his former tormentor are fighting again. Meanwhile, a mysterious and armed Overlander has also set his sights on the Guardian.

Throughout the “Knuckles” series, how often Ken Penders would indulge his Penders-ness would vary from issue to issue. Usually, the Brotherhood of Guardians and their treatment of Knuckles were the outlet for his worst tendencies. Issue 30’s cover story, “Bad to the Bone,” instead focuses on some of Penders’ other annoying quirks. The story is filled with bizarre pop culture references. Upon reaching the Island, Monk quotes “White Heat.” For some fucking reason, a whole page is devoted to Knuckles reading “2001: A Space Odyssey.” And not an echidna version either but the original book. (The same page also references Ken’s “The Lost Ones,” because of course it does.) Though only briefly glimpsed in this issue, the story arc’s main villain is a thinly veiled rip off of Kraven the Hunter. There’s also some heavy handed anti-gun imagery. It’s incredibly distracting and often annoying.

The “King of the Hill” story arc seems written to expand Knuckles’ rogue gallery. While Hunter would be focused on soon enough, Issue 30 is mostly devoted to introducing Monk. The character does not make an especially compelling entrance. The character is supposed to be a gorilla but he looks more like a purple Bigfoot. He also wears one of those sumo wrestler loincloths, which is deeply unflattering. The character has been holding an incredibly petty grudge for a decade, making him seem even more uninteresting. By the time the two meet again, Monk is so clearly out of Knuckles’ league, he seems more like a minor annoyance to the echidna then a great villain.

A part of me suspects that a heavy-handed moral about bullying is where this storyline is headed. The flashback shows a hopelessly naïve Knuckles playing with a yo-yo. Monk then steals the yo-yo, gives Knuckles a homoerotic bear hug, and tosses him from a tree. Presumably, this was not the only incident where Monk bullied Knuckles. If it is, that makes the following seem like even more of an overreaction. Because Knuckles has always had his secret granddads there to bail his ass out, the Brotherhood of the Guardians ejected Monk from the Floating Island. And not like with robots. Personally. They dressed up like Satanists, picked the gorilla up, and threw him off the Island. In other words, the bullied victim never even had a chance to stand up to his bully!

The script is pretty shitty but the artwork is much, much worst. Ken Penders provides his own pencils. Issue 30 makes a good case for why that happened so rarely. The opening pages are awkwardly constructed, seemingly showing Hunter kissing his rifle before stiffly firing it. Ken’s handle on action has only gotten worst. Monk’s climb aboard the Island features many hideous angles. Characters’ faces freeze in bizarre expression. Despite the gratuitous speed lines, the panels are utterly lifeless, lacking any sense of motion or movement. Ken has a faulty understanding of proportion, as Knuckles and his opponent frequently shift size. Lastly, Monk is just an ass ugly design. He doesn’t look like he belongs in this book.

At least Ken didn’t draw the back-up story. “Hiding in Plain Sight” stars Espio the Chameleon. After introducing Julie-Su to newly minted Chaotix Ray the Squirrel, Espio rides into a group of chameleon. An older chameleon collapses, causing Julie-Su to carry him to safety. Espio, meanwhile, is led by his former friends into an ambush. Valdez the Chameleon has been robotocized and is seemingly leading a Robotnik-sanctioned invasion of Rainbow Valley.

“Hiding in Plain Sight” is, sadly, not much of an improvement over the cover story. The opening pages make it seem like more of a Julie-Su story. The introduction of Ray is strictly a formality, as it has nothing to do with the rest of the story. The old and injured chameleon popping out of nowhere borders on the comedic. The ending reveal that Valdez has been roboticized annoys me. Ken hadn’t used the character in a while so, instead of developing him further, he just decided to turn him into a robot. That’s lazy and sloppy. (The story also features one of those stupid not-horse creatures.)

New-comer Colleen Doran’s pencils are not much better then Ken’s. Characters often go off-model, with the length of limbs or sizes of heads shifting from panel to panel. Julie-Su’s hair constantly changes. Ray the Squirrel looks like pasted-in Sega clip art. The backgrounds are all uninspired jungle scenes. At least none of the new characters are as grossly unappealing as Monk. They’re just indistinct.

Neither story line in issue 30 is very promising. Why do I have this sinking sensation that the “Knuckles” book is going to end on a whimper rather then a bang? [4/10]