Knuckles 23 [Apr 1999] "Dark Alliance: Part 2 "Election Night" Story: Ken Penders; Art: Jim Valentino; Ink: Harvey Mercadoocasio; Color: Frank Gagliardo; Lettering: Vickie Williams; Editorial: G-Force Spaz/Penders/Heroic Age/Laughton B. Huggins cover: Knuckles, Mighty, and Remington about to be jumped by a character named Benedict (more about him later) as Julie-Su is taken into custody by parties unknown and assorted dingoes heckle the echidnas on the platform. Boy, these echidna politicos sure know how to throw a convention! Unlike last month's epigram, I wasn't able to locate the exact source of the quote Ken included in this issue. For those of you who haven't covered the material yet, here's a short course on post-World War I German history: When the War ended, Germany was more or less forced to agree to the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles imposed upon it by the victors. The treaty was so heavy-handed and punitive that it offended German national pride. Conservatives who watched the establishment of a Republic based in Weimar rather than Berlin couldn't bring themselves to accept that Germany had lost. Thus was born the comforting myth that Germany lost the war not on the battlefield but in the halls of power. Germany, so the saying went, had been "stabbed in the back." This was political shorthand for "We did what we had to do to win, but somebody wouldn't let us win!" (to quote from Sylvester Stallone's rave-out from the climax of the first Rambo movie). Right-wing political parties, such as the fledgling National Socialist German Workers Party, didn't coin the term but they rode it to their advantage by alleging that Jews and Communists (among others) were the ones who had engineered Germany's defeat, and nobody benefitted more from that campaign strategy than Adolf Hitler. The quote thus may have come from his political testament, _Mein Kampf_, but I had no desire to try locating it by reading through a book which Leon Feuchtwangler called a collection of 164,000 offenses against German grammar and syntax. By the same token it could also have been part of a stump speech by another Nazi Party bigwig, Josef Goebbles, who was Hitler's de facto campaign manager (and whose later pervasive control of German mass media earned him the nicknake "Mahatma Propagandi"). I'll admit it, Ken, you stumped me on this one: please send an e-mail citing your source material. The Spaz drawing is of a new character, Xenin. We start with TV coverage of Councilor Pravda's version of Lyndon Johnson's "I shall not seek and I will not accept" speech of 1968. Quite a year, 1968. The war in Vietnam was THE hot button issue, Martin Luther King was assassinated, Bobby Kennedy walked into a bullet in Los Angeles, and the whole world watched Chicago's finest bust heads while Mayor Daley declared "The police are not here to create disorder, they're here to preserve disorder" Those were the days, my friend. Pravda's either speaking from a heavily- fortified bunker, or else the party's symbol is a stone wall. Try being more heavy-handed with the symbolism, guys. Jim Valentino demonstrates that he's discovered the ZOOM IN feature. General Buzzcut and Constable Remington each tries to figure out what the message portends, while Vector (who has become as unpleasant as Antoine was annoying) would prefer a heaping helping of media pablum and Espio casts his vote for the Apathy Party. The next day Knuckles, Julie-Su, the Chaotix, some dingo protesters, and assorted citizenry show up for the rally. So does an obviously brainwashed Pravda in the company of Benedict. Why the Chaotix notice the lemon-yellow limo before Benedict (who looks like a Creative Anachronist who got lost on his way to playing an extra in a remake of "Braveheart") is beyond me. And of course, nobody seems to think that the tubing connecting Pravda's jaw to his collar is even worth mentioning. I'll spare you Benedict's revisionist rave-out retelling of the back story as featured in "A Sense of History" and the first three issues, mainly because it goes for three pages and it looked like it was going to break SO bad that I couldn't bring myself to read it very closely. It ends with Benedict invoking the name of Dimitri, who isn't even on the ballot. The speech was being watched in Haven, where Thunderhawk, Sabre and Sojourner do what they do best: argue and end up deciding nothing. The decision is made for them, however, when Dark Legionnaires bust into the place and administer Prozac the hard way. Back at the rally, Remington starts out trying to confront Benedict and ends up sharing a ride with him and Pravda (who looks like his water's going to break any minute now). Julie-Su's high- tech braids, meanwhile, start fading out on her in the 4th panel of page 14, rather like they did in the 3rd panel on page 5. Not a good look for her, Frank. Back on the streets of the dingo enclave, Buzzcut's desire to take a meeting on the political situation is interrupted by Xenin. He smacks Buzzcut around and takes him prisoner. Next on Xenin's to-do list is to bring Julie-Su back into the fold of the Dark Legion in as many pieces as he has to. Knuckles's attempt to prevent her capture falls short. If, like me, you've been having trouble figuring out which way the plot is going, the exposition is on display on pages 20-21. The nameless echidna dominatrix re-introduces Moritori Rex, who's shed his identity as Pseudo-Tobor, to the remnants of the Brotherhood. Dimitri is informed that both Locke and Spectre were unavailable for capture when Haven fell. Meanwhile, he gets back to the business at hand: doing something heinous to Knuckles, Julie-Su, and Buzzcut, like having them re-enact "Guerrilla Thriller" from Sonic #45. HEAD: At first I was genuinely confused as to Xenin's identity; I honestly thought it was Dimitri for a minute. The fact that nobody noticed Pravda's prosthetics defied belief, as did the ease with which the Dark Legionnaires could move around (Pravda's intervention notwithstanding). Echidnas are spiney insectavores; the residents of the Floating Island appear to have spines but no backbones. But if this story has a REALLY serious flaw, it's a sense of _deja vu_. As Justin hinted in the text box on the final page, we've seen the Knuckles-Dimitri grudge match before in "Dark Vengeance" (Knuckles #7-9). Granted the circumstances have changed in that Dimitri no longer has all that Chaos energy going for him. As with so many Sonic and Knuckles stories, our Hero will emerge unscathed; the only question is "How?" Head Score: 5. EYE: It may be too early to tell, but in looking at this issue I got the sinking feeling that Jim Valentino had more fun drawing the villains and the fight scenes than he did the rest of the story. I hope I'm wrong. If not, maybe Jim's leaving the Knuckles books to work on the Sonic books (as reported on the Archie Comics Web site) will help (see below for details). Even Frank Strom has drawn a more appealing Julie-Su. Eye Score: 5. HEART: Surprisingly, I found it very difficult to care about the characters, the cross-currents of echidna politics, the whole shot. Benedict's presence was a total turn-off for me (which may be the way Ken planned it) but then so were the pages where the Dark Legion cleaned house. And there's no sense that Knuckles and Julie-Su are in imminent danger (compare this to Knuckles dissolving at the end of K8). This needs to turn around in the next installment, and fast! That's probably what Locke and/or Spectre are waiting to do. Heart Score: 4. Off-Panel: Go to Yellow Alert, Mr. Worf. For the first time since the feature was revived, the Archie crew outnumbers the story characters. If this keeps up, I fear the hyoomons will shoulder the furries out of the strip altogether, taking us back to the bad old days when Scott Fulop was the editor and the strip was nothing more than a forum for in-jokes and water-cooler humor. Not my idea of nostalgia. Speaking of nostalgia, memo to Paul Castiglia: Nice disco threads. Fistful of Letters: Repeat of the CBG/CSN news that ran in Sonic #69. Blurbs for Sonic #70 and Knuckles #24. Letters: Audra Sunderlin thinks Knuckles and Sally should get together; aside from what Sonic might think of the arrangement, she (and we) might want to consult Knuckles #25 and #29. "Visser 3" asks why Hawking mistook Moritori Rex for his own flesh and blood and is told "We'll get back to you on that one." "XPDNC" shows a keener understanding of the father-son dynamic at work between Locke and Sabre than Ken has let on. I wasn't about to test the limits of my optical coverage by reading the Find Your Name page. Fan Art: Yvonne Bonillas doesn't render Julie-Su as pukey-kyoot, but she does look like she's starting to morph into a Warner toon. You'd think the honchos at Archie who color this stuff would know by now that her eyes are violet, NOT green! Then again, Matthew Sebiri gives us a green Sonic, so maybe they're using the fans' color schemes, I don't know. And as a counterpoint to the fan art by Amanda Vanez, Nelson Ortega and Harvey Mercadoocasio show Knuckles and Julie-Su making war and not love. And now, here's how the Knuckles artwork is going to shift for the foreseeable (have your pencils and scorecards ready): Jim Valentino will serve out his term drawing K24 before relocating to the Sonic comics; K25 will be Manny Galan's official swan song (though he's done some back-up stories); K26 through K28 will see the debut of Chris (late of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles") Allen; K29 will be Art Mawhinney's official Adios; Ken Penders will write AND draw K30-32; and Steve Butler will officially move over from the Sonic books beginning with K33. In his column on the Archie Web site, Ken expressed concern that the fans who "appreciate continuity" may be puzzled by what's going to happen with so many artists coming and going. Ken's memory appears to have a slight flaw, since the track record for the Sonic books on this score is something else again. For the first year or so, Dave Manak WAS the undisputed cover story artist for the book. Since then, we've had stories with multiple artists, whether to achieve a certain visual effect (e.g., "The Dream Zone", Sonic #43, had story art by Manny Galan and flashbacks by Pat Spaziante) or simply to make sure the comic made deadline (c.f. "When Hedgehogs Collide," Sonic #24 and "Night Of A Thousand Sonics," Sonic #19, where Manak and Art Mawhinney shared the artistic chores). And at times it was anybody's guess who the cover story artist would be from month to month. Here's a partial breakdown: #40: Dave Manak (Court Martial) #41: Kyle Hunter (And One Shall Save Him) #42: Art Mawhinney (In Every Kingdom There Must Exist A Little Chaos) #43: Manny Galan and Pat Spaziante (The Dream Zone) #44: Manny Galan (Black and Blue And Red All Over) #45: Dave Manak (Guerrilla Thriller) #46: Nelson Ortega (Countdown to Armageddon) #47: Art Mawhinney (Endgame: Part 1) #48: Manny Galan (Endgame: Part 2) #49: Sam Maxwell (Endgame: Part 3) #50: Everybody and his dog (Endgame: Part 4) Somebody say something about "continuity"?