Knuckles #16 [Sep 1998]
     Cover: I looked all over and couldn't find out who drew
it.  Too bad because it is IMHO one of the coolest covers yet! 
As befits a single issue story where the focus is on some of
the significant people in Knuckles's life, a good number of
them make their appearance here in sort of a blue-gray full
face funk, while Knuckles sort of floats around not really in
sync with any of them.  The facial expression on Julie-Su, and
the coloring, both seem to be modeled after the credits page
picture of Lara-Le going back to Knuckles #5.  That's always
been one of my favorite pieces of non-story art, and I like
the fact that it's been expanded here.  I can also picture
Knuckles just sort of floating around while all those heads
drop down behind him at different rates of speed.  If you ask
me, that would make a great screen saver.  This one just
jumped to the No. 1 contender slot for Best Cover Art of the
Year.
     Credits page: same idea, different treatment.  This time
it's chalk on red brick.  This one doesn't do as much for me,
if only because it reminds me too much of bad Website
wallpaper.
     "Reunions"
     Story: Ken Penders; Art: Manny Galan; Ink: Andrew Pepoy;
Color: Barry Grossman; Lettering: Vickie Williams; Editorial:
G-Force
     "Born to the most dysfunctional of echidna houses, able
to leap ineffectual villains in a single bound...."  You know
the drill.
     After the slam-bang of the last arc, this one opens
rather quietly with Lara-Le at worship in the aurorium.  Her
shift of mood isn't quite as dramatic as Hershey's when she
confronted Drago in "For Whom The Bell Tolls" (Super Special
#6).  Here, Lara-Le moves from anxiety to serenity, then heads
home where we can assume that her prayers have been answered
in that Knuckles has come back.  They're joined momentarily by
Wynmacher who then makes himself scarce.  Knuckles, though, is
not enjoying this as much as his mom appears to be, and braces
himself for what he's certain will be a round of embarrassing
questions.
     As he does so, we watch as yet one more Star Wars-class
vehicle (how many times has Manny Galan SEEN those movies?)
comes in for a landing down beneath the Floating Island.  It
parks near a modified X-wing fighter and a Federation
shuttlecraft.  And we're introduced to the Floating Island's
answer to the Justice League.  I think.
     Most of them are on display on page 9: it's a bit
confusing, though, because someone undergoes a change of name
at some point.  Anyway, the cast of characters is:

Sojourner: He's red, wears a green vest, and for some reason
he has a 3.5 inch floppy disc stuck to his forehead.
     Thunderhawk: He's purple and looks like he's turning into
a bird.  He's easily got the second most pretentious name of
the bunch.
     Tobor: He's brown, wears a green medieval-style tunic and
a metallic visor.
     Spectre: Now THIS is a one pretentious echidna.  He's got
a black cloak to match both his complexion and his mood, red
eyes, and he wears a metallic helmet.  As this group of
echidna comic book geeks gathers...
     We cut back to Knuckles and Lara-Le.  When she questions
her son about opening up the wormhole (which she calls "an
energy tunnel"), he admits to being clueless as to how it
happened.   "You'll have to ask your father," Lara-Le replies,
conveniently sliding over the information that he's still
alive.  Remember, Knux still hasn't been given the grand tour
of Haven: what Hawking showed him in the course of the "Lost
Paradise" arc (#4-6) was (we can assume) what he CHOSE to show
him.  Anyway, this sets up some flashbacks to Knuckles's early
days.  Locke's heavy-handedness (heavy-MITTENedness?) came to
the fore early on when he had Knux spirited away before he
hatched and given to a "Dr. Jakk."  Personally, I think
Locke's explanation about the doctor running "tests" on the
pre-hatchling is a load of streaking pasha poop.  The fact
that Knuckles was hatched two days earlier than usual didn't
seem to register with Lara-Le at the time, overcome as she was
with maternal affection.
     Her next recollection shows her witnessing something
"different" about Knuckles: that even though he was still an
infant he was using blocks to spell...well, we can't see the
sides of the blocks facing her on page 8 so we don't know WHAT
he spelled out.  Could have been "Get bent" for all I know; it
would certainly explain the look on Lara-Le's face.  The side
of the blocks facing the READER, however, shows that even at
that tender age Knuckles understood the concept of product
placement.
     When Knuckles turned three Locke started calling the
shots on the subject of child rearing, and that apparently
began to push the marriage on the rocks.  Locke justifies his
daddy dictatorship by saying that's how he was brought up as
were those before him.  Before he can break into a rendition
of "Tradition" from "Fiddler On The Roof," Lara-Le walks out. 
The Floating Island may once have been a leftover chunk of the
planet Mobius, but it looks like echidnas can be divided into
Venusians and Martians.  So Lara-Le seeks out Jenna-Su,
Sabre's wife.  Jenna's homespun advice is OK as far as it
goes, but...
     Observation: At this point, Knuckles is 3 years old.  It
must have been shortly thereafter that Locke, having gained
"custody" of his son in whatever fashion, left the zone in
which they were residing to take up residence on the Floating
Island.  Remember, according to the "Lost Paradise" arc, the
two zones (plus the dingo zone) had yet to be integrated. 
Sorry for the interruption.
     Meanwhile we cut back to the Brotherhood.  Being
basically a bunch of old farts, they do what old farts do
best: sit around and complain.  First, Tobor of "The Dragon
Kingdom" complains about Sonic and Tails showing up in
"Arsenal of the Iron King" (#60).  What's his problem: he
wanted the mountain to keep burning?  Then Thunderhawk whines
about having to clean up after Sonic and Tails in "Outback Gut
Check" (#61).  Guess they haven't liked the recent solo
stories, either.
     Basically, though, they complain that their "mission" has
become "more complicated" since Robotnik was written out of
the series.  That mission, as defined by the "Council of
Advisors"   the fire ants Archimedes, Deo Volente, and an
Indiana Jones-wannabe named Semper Fidelis - involves "looking
after echidna interests on a global scale."  Apparently it was
in echidna interests to have Wombat Stu being controlled by
CrocBot, to hear Thunderhawk griping about it.  Yet Semper Fi
states that the way things are going "the echidnas [will]
become an irrelevant force on Mobius" if they stick to
business as usual.  It's news to me that these old goats even
HAVE a mission.  The last time they intervened in any
meaningful way was during "Immortality is Eternal..." (Sonic
#56) when they...well, it's not very clear who did what, and
whether Athair (who doesn't seem to have been invited to this
coffee klatch having abandoned the Guardianship as explained
in Knuckles #11) had anything to do with Mammoth Mogul's
ending up inside a Chaos emerald.
     Let's get back to Knuckles, who's just sitting down to
dinner with Lara-Le and Wynmacher.  It's during dinner that
Lara-Le drops the bomb: she's going to marry Wyn.
     A word about Knuckles's reaction might be in order.  Back
when I first met Ken Penders at the 1997 Motor City Comic Con,
he told me that a sizable number of the fans who write to him
come from what used to be called "broken homes."  This was the
inspiration for having Knuckles's parents separate.  While
there are children of divorce who actually enjoy a better
homelife with one parent out of the picture (I speak from
personal experience), there are also kids who somehow want
things to be as they were.  They thus get all weird at the
prospect of the custodial parent even dating again, never mind
considering marrying someone else.  Knuckles, despite being 15
years old (according to Sega and Archie) and despite the fact
that he hasn't yet tumbled to the fact that Locke is still
alive and well in Haven and ducking his parental
responsibilities, can't seem to handle Lara-Le's renunciation
(which must be what it feels like) of his father.  Which is
why he literally tries to run away from his problem.  Not a
thermonuclear family meltdown, but not exactly a Norman
Rockwell painting, either.
     Knuckles dashes past the Chaotix, who only get a one-page
appearance after their major performance in the last story
arc.  Julie-Su volunteers to go after him, Vector objects (no
surprise) and is overruled.
     Now back to Haven, where they've started complaining
about the New Guardian On The Block, Knuckles.  Sojourner and
Thunderhawk wonder what the big deal is, but Spectre
recognizes this as his chance to ham it up.  He confronts
Locke about "tampering with the natural order" in a way that
makes me wonder whether Dr. Jakk hadn't been allowed/ordered
to do a little genetic engineering with Knuckles- hence, his
early hatching.  Whatever the case, Locke and Spectre appear
on the verge of coming to blows over it before Sojourner
states that meddling in the life of Knuckles just might be Job
One for the old busybodies.
     Meanwhile, sitting on the dock of the bay, Knuckles is
working on his Otis Redding impression when Julie-Su comes up
to him in an echo of the opening of Knuckles #7.  Apparently
she's only read the first version of Sonic #50 and believes
that the only acceptable way to kiss someone is to give them a
peck on the cheek.  I don't think this is what one Julie-Su
fan had in mind when she talked about Julie-Su and Knuckles
getting "h-o-t-t HOTT!!" but despite Knuckles's spoken
objection there's the revealing thought balloon that maybe
he's been backwards about this boy-girl business.
     It's almost too bad that it will be "back to business as
usual" with Knuckles #17.  There was a lot of set-up here and
I can only hope that Ken follows up on it sooner rather than
later: Knuckles and his mom, Knuckles and Julie-Su, and the
business with the retired Guardians.  The artwork is as good
as always.
     Fistful of Letters: Plugs for Knuckles #17, Sonic #63 and
NiGHTS #5.  Fan art: despite designating them "Super Sonic and
Hyper Knuckles," the characters in Justin Koo's drawing get
standard colors.  Katie Moody of Alaska contributes a drawing
of Julie-Su...I've heard from several Julie-Su fans in Alaska;
don't know if there's a connection.  Letters: "Kat" Najera is
brought up to speed on events of half a year ago, and someone
claims to be Kragok which shows that even echidna superheroes
have to put up with spoofers.