Knuckles the Echidna: Issue 32

Knuckles the Echidna: Issue 32
Publication Date: November 1999

Here it is, you guys. The final issue of “Knuckles the Echidna.” I’ve always suspected the series’ cancellation was sudden. Ken and company had already planned out the next story line, which would tie into the “Sonic Adventure” arc currently starting in the “Sonic” book. A proposed cover for issue 33 of “Knuckles” was reused for issue 80 of “Sonic.” I have no idea how popular the “Knuckles” book was but, considering Archie’s history of financial mishandling, sales might not have been the reason for cancellation. Whatever it was, the Guardian’s series would conclude with the final part of the “King of the Hill” story line.

In hopes of evading Hunter, Knuckles and Monk descend into the Hydro City Zone, the aquatic piping system that runs inside the island. Though the two escape the Overlander killer for a while, he eventually catches up with him. Locke and Archimedes are also on Knuckles’ trail, hoping to find him before the expert marksman does.

The uninspired three-parter comes to its conclusion with the equally uninspired “To the Death.” Knuckles and Monk heading into the sewers shows that Ken doesn’t even grasp the material he’s ripping off. In “The Most Dangerous Game,” Zaroff hunted his human prey on his own island. Hunter going after the echidna and the gorilla on the Floating Island gives the prey the home field advantage. Sending the story into the Hydro City zone also means most of the story takes place in an ugly, industrial setting. (It doesn’t help that Ken’s rendition of Hydro City does not resemble its video game counterpart at all.) Of all the “Sonic 3” levels to adapt, Hydro City is an odd choice. Why would there be an aqueduct system within the Floating Island? Ken has no answers. Instead, he gives Knuckles a line about the zone being even older then the echidnas.

Monk and Hunter continue to be aggravatingly lame characters. Maybe several hours have passed in universe but, to the reader, it seems Knuckles and Monk have progressed from worst enemies to comrades immediately. Far too much of issue 32 is devoted to the echidna and the gorilla sniping at each other. I think it’s supposed to be charming. In effect, it just makes Monk look like an idiot and Knuckles look increasingly exasperated with his forced partner. The panels devoted to the two working together are especially torturous. Knuckles, for some reason, can’t glide in the Hydro City Zone. This is blatant, bad writing, forcing two characters that otherwise have nothing in common to work together.

Hunter was already a derivative, uninteresting villain. In “To the Death,” he graduates to actively annoying. For some reason, Ken gives the guy an interior monologue. While stalking Knuckles’ footprints, or following him into the sewers, he prattles on endlessly to himself. The thought bubbles contribute nothing to the story. Hunter’s thoughts aren't interesting or revealing. Instead, he basically lays out his plans and actions before he actually does them. Even though he manages to kill two characters before the story is over, he still feels like such a weak addition to the universe. It’s like a D-list supervillian from another comic dropped in and stumbles around awkwardly, before finally being defeated.

That Monk and Knuckles fail so totally at bonding makes the story’s conclusion even weaker. Yes, the gorilla dies. After a struggle on a catwalk, Hunter shoots him. You might not get this immediately, since Ken’s shitty artwork makes it look like a ray of light burst from Monk’s neck, followed by an extremely awkward fall towards the ground. Knuckles is so enraged by the bully’s death, that his latent Chaos energy powers are unleashed. Yet nothing in the actual story points towards Knuckles caring that much about Monk. It’s a ridiculous, unearned ending. Pinning the story’s entire emotional point on characters we do not like or care about was a mistake.

Yes, I mentioned Knuckles’ superpowers. Since last issue, Locke and Archimedes have been wandering around the island, looking for the young Guardian. Knuckles’ dad and mentor continue to add nothing to the story. Several pages are devoted to them bungling around. By the time they find Knuckles, the conflict has already ended. Their role in the story is totally superfluous. Knuckles’ great powers emerging is also a cheap deus ex machina. Not to mention vague as hell. As illustrated, we see Knuckles get angry and then shoot some bumpy waves from his head. This, somehow, is enough to disable Hunter. The villain’s final fate – imprisoned in a glass bubble underwater, while wearing just his underpants – is as senseless as anything else related to him.

Because issue 30-32 of “Knuckles” containing one bad story arc wasn’t enough, “The Worst of Enemies” also concludes the Espio centric story that’s been playing out in the back pages. Espio tricks the robotocized Valdez and Liza into going to one of the Island’s many ruins. There, he confronts his former friend, tackling him into a river. Afterwards, he frees the imprisoned chameleons. Even though he’s won, Espio fears this is just the first of many attacks on the Floating Island.

Unlike “King of the Hill,” which was more-or-less doomed from conception, Espio’s story actually had potential. A friend of his has turned evil. His newly introduced love interest is robotocized right in from of him. These are dramatic stakes. Yet the execution has been so flimsy and non-involving. Valdez has not been a convincing threat. We barely know anything about Liza. The plot, meanwhile, seems tossed together. It blunders from one minor point to another before finally ending here. At the story’s end, nothing’s changed. Espio’s concerns about the Island’s future could’ve been built into something more but comes off as a tonally inconsistent epilogue. Colleen Doran’s lifeless, disproportional artwork has done nothing to make up for the shitty writing. She manages to make Espio walking away from a huge explosion – itself a cliché image – look totally lifeless.

I seriously suspect “King of the Hill” was an idea Ken hadn’t really developed before tossing it into the comic. It has all the hallmarks of being filler: Characters that easily could’ve been ported over from some other story, a plot ripped off from well known material, artwork hastily provided by the writer. It contributes nothing to the universe or world. The central characters exit the plot no different then how they entered.

Good-bye, “Knuckles” solo series. You were often frustrating, as giving Ken an entire comic to play with allowed his irritating quirks to flourish. At the same time, you sometimes gave birth to good stories, solid ideas, and fascinating characters. We’d always have Julie-Su, at least until the reboot anyway. If nothing else, its definitely one of the weirdest chapters in the history of Archie’s “Sonic” universe. It’s just a bummer that the series had to conclude on such a shitty story. [3/10]