Knuckles #7 (Dec 1997)
     "Deadly Homecoming" -- Dark Vengeance, Part 1
     Story: Ken Penders; Pencil: Manny Galan; Ink: Andrew Pepoy;
Color: Barry Grossman; Lettering: Vickie Williams; Editorial: the
G-Force
     Spaz/Galan/Penders cover: Knuckles, Julie-Su, Archimedes,
and the long arm of...
     Credits page: cameos are out, some weird stretch image of
Enerjak's mask is in.  Very effective imagery.
     Intro splash page: OK, I see Enerjak, Kragok, Knuckles and
Julie-Su.  I think.  Now that I'm set up to start reviewing
issues of the comic, Archie sent me photocopies of the art and
text SEPARATE.  I guess if I wanted to give myself that authentic
headache effect I'd hold the pages next to each other and cross
my eyes....
     Someone mysterious gazes into a Chaos Emerald and locates
Enerjak, still imprisoned after the "Rites of Passage"
miniseries.  Enerjak connects with the strange summons.  He looks
angered, infuriated...much like I felt when I realized who was
doing the calling.  But we'll get to that later.
     The Dark Legionnaires are apparently out on maneuvers or
having a camporee or something.  As they pause to dedicate a
status of Dimitri, their Luddite role model, the thing flies
apart as the real McCoy materializes in the same spot.  "By
Amil's force!" Kragok says.  Enerjak/Dimitri, after contemplating
the bust of himself, lets Kragok and the gang know that he's back
and Uncle Enerjak Wants YOU!
     Knuckles, meanwhile, is on edge...literally, dangling his
feet off the edge of the Floating Island when Julie-Su comes by
to rap.  In the aftermath of the dinner party in "Unfinished
Business" (Sonic #53), Knuckles observed that both he and Sonic
seem to be getting jerked around by their families.  What he
leaves unsaid is his belief that his father, Locke, left him
during "Fathers and Sons" (Super Sonic v. Hyper Knuckles Special)
without anything to work with when dealing with the Guardians. 
Remember, Locke has been keeping himself hidden away from
Knuckles the whole time and hasn't let on that he's still alive. 
If you think Knuckles is carrying a boatload of resentment NOW,
watch what happens if he should ever run into his old man.
     As for Julie-Su, it's been a tough time for her, too. 
Letting her "tough girl" mask slip momentarily, she lets slip the
fact that a renegade Dark Legionnaire is regarded with suspicion
and hatred by the rest of echidna society, the "straights" as she
calls them.  Either that or the echidnas are all Trek fans and
they're avoiding the Borg-like Julie-Su because they don't want
to be assimilated.  Realizing that life for Julie-Su has been no
picnic, Knuckles goes off to try and find some ants.
     Archimedes, meanwhile, is in the process of being warned
about something by Deo Volente when Enerjak makes his presence
felt.  Before you can say "Orkin Man", he's got the two bugs
paralyzed and encapsulated.
     Now on to new business.  General Buzzcut (I KNOW that's not
his name, but I think it's funnier!) is appearing before the
Echidna High Council...or some deliberative body or other.  The
situation with the dingoes is intense; actually the situation is
"in tents," which is where the dingo populace has to live.  Seems
their reality came off the worse when the dingo and echidna
worlds collided in the last miniseries.  Buzzcut's suggestion
that things would be different if the bionic boot were on the
other foot and it was the echidnas out in the cold is met with
the kind of embarrassed silence that must have been heard around
Archie Comics when Sonic #50 was released.  Councilor Darwin, who
apparently learned his negotiating skills from Benjamin
Netanyahu, suggests that unilateral disarmament by the dingoes
would go a long way toward normalizing relations.  Buzzcut
pledges his insincerity.
     It appears that the best place to look for fire ants on the
Floating Island is to go someplace hot, which is why Knuckles and
Julie-Su arrive at the Lava Reef Zone.  One of the residents
informs Knuckles that Archimedes and Deo Volente are M.I.A., and
that the consensus is that something bigger than the Dark Legion
is behind it.  Actually it's someONE bigger than the Dark Legion,
but Knuckles moves on.
     Back in Echidnaopolis, a stone's throw from the R2-D2
Building, Lara-Le is afraid that Knuckles must think she didn't
want him.  Whatever Wynmacher's drinking it can't be any more
potent than the concoction Lara-Le is having: motherhood on the
rocks with a splash of guilt.  It's a pretty popular mixture here
on Earth, too.  Wyn tries to comfort her by telling her she
didn't know what she was getting into by marrying a Guardian, a
proposition to which the late and EXTREMELY lamented Princess of
Wales could have related.  While Lara-Le thinks about contacting
her ex about visitation rights...
     Knuckles and Julie-Su arrive at the Rainbow Valley, home to
Espio and the other chameleons.  As has been suggested elsewhere,
a book on Echidna optics might be an interesting read since their
visible light spectrum goes from purple and blue right to red and
through to yellow.  Anyway, Knuckles finds that Espio's not home
and his place has been trashed.
     Meanwhile, back on Haven, Locke monitors Hawking's condition
while the old guy is apparently hooked up to life support. 
Locke's father (and Knuckles' grandfather) looks on.  This
particular dude hasn't been named yet but since he sports a
monocle I'm going to call him Colonel Klink until Ken sees fit to
drop his name.  Anyway, while Klink upbraids Locke for not
getting enough sleep, Hawking goes into cardiac arrest. 
Interestingly, the monitor to which he's attached starts going
"Breep! Breep! Breep!", whereas every fan of "E.R." knows that
when someone flatlines the monitor just goes "Breeeeeeeeeeee...."
Before Locke can say something doctorish like "Gimme a heart
needle with 50ccs of adrenaline STAT!", he decides that
psychosurgery is indicated and makes telepathic contact with
Hawking.  The result is Locke floating around Hawking's brain
synapses; sort of like "Fantastic Voyage" without the wetsuits or
submarine.  Locke pleads with Hawking to hang in there, but
Hawking suggests that Locke get a second opinion...from Dr. Jack
Kervorkian.
     Cut back to Julie-Su scaling the side of a cliff courtesy of
a grappling gun she must have purchased from one of Bruce Wayne's
subsidiaries.  She catches up to Knuckles, her "tough girl" act
polished and ready.  Mighty Armadillo's home, however, appears to
have been trashed as well.
     Back at Camp Runamok, Kragok reports to Dimitri, who's got a
worse case of crystallization than King Acorn will EVER have!
     Yep, Mighty's place has been trashed, all right.  Knuckles
takes a header off the cliff with Julie-Su along for the ride. 
Which brings us to...
     The SINGLE DISAPPOINTMENT of this story.  Page 20, Panel 1,
if you want to skip over it.  That unmistakable silhouette
belongs to none other than...Mammoth Mogul.  Seems HE'S the one
who sprung Enerjak at the beginning of this installment.  Man,
Ken and Manny couldn't have waited until later in the story to
spoil it?  It feels so premature!
     But anyway, to finish this installment in high style,
Enerjak appears before the two echidnas threatening something
nasty.
     Ken continues with the strong narrative style that's been a
part of the Knuckles line from the beginning.  He's managed to
work in subplots involving the Guardians, the dingoes, and Lara-
Le without losing the audience.  I was also VERY impressed by the
introduction of a touch of vulnerability in Julie-Su, who now
finds herself caught between two societies and not really feeling
she belongs to either.  And as I said, the one thing that really
galled me here was the presence of Mammoth Mogul as the power
behind Enerjak, even if Enerjak himself is clueless.  Knuckles
said early on how much he resented the Guardians stringing him
along; let's see if Enerjak likes being strung along by M.M. 
Galan and Pepoy continue to supply a strong visual style to the
story.  Nice green light effect on page 21.
     "Fistful of Letters": that was the winning entry by Nick
Accristo of Helena, Montana.  Considering we've had "Knuckles
Sandwich" and "Postcards from the Floating Island" I can see where
it's an improvement.  Quick mentions of Sonic #54, Sonic Firsts,
and Knuckles #8, along with NiGHTS Into Dreams #1.  And as if the
Find Your Name column wasn't enough, looks like everyone who sent
in an entry got their names printed.  I recognize the name of
cyberfan Thad X Boyd.  And that's where I stopped