Knuckles #28 [Sep 1999] Galan/Penders/Darrin Moore/Heroic Age cover: It's not every issue that proclaims its own spoiler on the cover, but the spoiler here is that Knuckles turns 16 this issue. Clockwise, from the top: the birthday boy, Charmy and Saffron (who aren't even in this story), Julie-Su, head shots of the Chaotix, and Spectre. Admit it, there's at least one member of your family who creeps you out of existence (mine was my Grampa Joe), and Spectre has to be the designated creepy family member for the Guardians. Athair might have been interesting to talk to about theological issues but he's out of the picture, and I think Rembrandt would have been a cool relative to know because of those funky threads, but Spectre? Forget about it! "First Date: Part 3" "It Could Be Love (I Should Have Known Better)" Story: Ken Penders: Art: Chris Allan; Ink: Andrew Pepoy; Color: FRank Gagliardo, Lettering: Vickie Williams; Editorial: G- Force. I don't say much about Ken's choice of titles, because for me that's always been the hardest part of writing. Still, Ken sort of breaks his song title streak with this issue if you don't count the subtitle. I've never heard of a song titled "It Could Be Love." There IS a Beatles song titled "It's Only Love" which may have been what Ken was thinking of, I don't know. Actually, if he had wanted to cobble together a title in Beatlespeak he should have gone with "Give Peace A Chance (I Don't Want To Spoil The Party)." That not only tracks with what happens between Knuckles and his parents during the party sequence at the end, but also foreshadows what happens in the food court scene on page 7. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Better late than never: Having made a date with Julie-Su in the previous installment, Knuckles drops in on his mom to try to get a line on what exactly one DOES on a date. "I don't know the first thing about going on a date," he admits. Yeah, well, considering Locke's parenting style that shouldn't come as a surprise. Once Knuckles tells Lara-Le WHEN the date is supposed to go down, however... We quick cut to Lara-Le dropping in on Julie-Su to enlist her in the conspiracy. And Kudos to Chris Allan for drawing Julie-Su wearing a sleep shirt; looks a lot cuter than her usual body armor. Back at the food court, we're reminded that Charmy used to be a member of the cast. Vector tries to explain to Espio and Mighty why he and Julie-Su don't get along. It might have something to do with the fact that she got the better of him in combat during their first meeting in "The Phantom City" (K4), but Vector conveniently slides over THAT point. Fortunately for Vector, he's saying the right thing when Knuckles shows up, and the two perform the traditional Male Bonding Ritual. Back at Voyeur Central, aka Haven, Locke gets a call from his ex about Knuckles's birthday, which it appears he might have forgotten altogether if Lara-Le hadn't called. This guy REALLY needs to get a life! At least he realizes that this is no time to act like a jerk. Comes the day of the date, and after a short visit with Archy (whose nose in panel 4 of page 10 is suddenly anything but), Knuckles calls on Julie-Su who suggests a change of plans. Before Knuckles can ask "What plans?", she's suggesting they take in a poetry recital. Of course when he gets there, he discovers it's really two pages of advertisements, which is no surprise at all. What IS a surprise is that Vector didn't come stag to the party; he's arm-in-wing with the swan from the first installment two issues back. Knuckles then gets the word from his parents that even though it's over between them they're still there for him. And everyone celebrates the fact that Knuckles will soon be a bimonthly rather than a monthly, so they won't have to work as hard. HEAD: The story worked well, even though there wasn't any element of suspense (which can misfire as often as not) and it didn't feature anyone getting pounded. It's back-to-basics storytelling, character-driven (by Lara-Le, largely, which is a good thing because she's a much more sympathetic character than Locke's side of the family) rather than plot-driven. A necessary antidote to the needlessly complex back story (about which more in due course). Head Score: 9. EYE: Like I said, nice to see Julie-Su in something other than her work clothes. I especially liked Chris Allan's depictions of Julie-Su in the third panel on page 11, where in anticipation of what's to come her head fights a losing battle with the rest of her to keep it together. Very nice. Eye Score: 10. HEART: That's what this story is all about, as the people in Knuckles's life come together for his sake. Ken sticks to his guns and avoids any kind of reconciliation between Locke and Lara-Le -- things have gone too far downhill for anything like that to happen. Yet the affection between the characters in their various relationships -- Knuckles and Julie-Su, Lara-Le and Knuckles, even among the Chaotix -- is undeniable. When Ken introduced the first installment talking about Spring and love, I wonder whether he realized that the story would be about more than the relationship between Knuckles and Julie-Su. It ended up being as much about the themes of Family and Belonging (which are themes I've covered in my own fanfics time and again) as about romantic love. It certainly worked out that way, and I'm not complaining in the least. Heart Score: 10. "Mighty the Armadillo" "Below the Belt" Story: Ken Penders; Art: Manny Galan with a dash of Andrew Pepoy; Ink: Andrew Pepoy; Color: Frank Gagliardo; Lettering: Vickie Williams; Editorial: G-Force. OK, let's see if I've got this straight: Mighty pulls open the vault door only to discover that Ray the Squirrel has spent the last 6 years between zones hanging onto a power crystal which was connected to the device that was creating the droid version of Fiona and when Sonic and Mighty tried to save Ray they spent time in a zone about which nobody gives us any details but then Mighty starts trashing the place when he thinks Ray is dead but Robotnik still got away with Fiona whom he eventually used to create the "Growing Pains" droid but then she was left alone for the next two years so she could escape and hook up with Nic who fires some ray at the crystal Ray is hanging on to which was apparently all that was needed to free Ray from its hold on him. Yeah, right! HEAD: If I were an English teacher grading this I'd give it B- /D+. There's a story in here (mainly about Mighty finding out what happened to his old friend, Ray) but it's almost hopelessly lost in the telling. Ken made two fatal mistakes in writing this: 1. Chronology: What was Ken thinking by setting the flashback part of the story 6 or 7 years ago, when Sonic would still have been a gap-toothed kid, and apparently not telling Manny Galan about it? We get an out-of-place adult Sonic and a continuity that won't dovetail with the overall scheme of things no matter how hard Ken tries. And part of that chronological problem was due to... 2. Fiona: OK, just WHAT purpose did she serve in the plot of this story? Nothing essential, as far as I can see. If Ken was trying to explain how she came to have a droid double of herself made by Robotnik, surely there were better ways of doing it. For the most part she was just along for the ride! The creature on the table in the scene where Ray boosts the crystal didn't even have to BE Fiona; any Jane Doe or Joe Buck would have done just as well. Using an anonymous redshirt in Fiona's place would have freed up the Fiona exposition on page [6] and allowed Ken a little more room to iron out the rough spots in a story that frankly has more wrinkles in it than a shar pei! Head score: 2. EYE: And aside from the chronologically inappropriate Sonic and the disagreeable-looking Fiona, check out the Fiona driod on the aforementioned page [6]. Back in "Growing Pains," I seem to recall that the Fiona driod looked, well, cute! No visible joints, no loose wires, no seams, nothing that screamed "DROID!" at first (or even second) glance. I can only assume that this was a Model A Fiona which Robotnik then reworked into the cute little number depicted by Dave Manak to which Tails (quite understandably) lost his heart and very nearly his life. I know that the original story took place like FIVE YEARS AGO but this is ridiculous. Eye Score: 5. HEART: This story was such a muddle, with no real resolution when all was said and done, that Mighty's reunion with Ray was beside the point. What I REALLY wanted to know was: Why did Andrew Pepoy make his debut as panel artist on one solitary page? Maybe Manny Galan didn't have time to finish it before packing his pencils and relocating to Nickelodeon Studios. Or maybe after he was gone Justin realized that the story was SO confusing that he drafted Penders and Pepoy to do an extra page to try (unsuccessfully) to make sense of it all. Pepoy is to be congratulated for keeping everyone on-model and for putting together a workable composition. But what's with the off-the-cuff Visit To The Zone story element? That only succeeded in muddying the waters even further. It's a bad sign when I'm more interested in what went on in the office as opposed to what ended up on the page. Heart Score: 3. Off-Panel: Ah, the inevitable problem of pot lucks: who gets the first serving and who gets the last? Fistful of Letters: Letter of the Month writer James Santos is told to watch for developments "in the coming months" which will actually be "in the coming every-other-months," starting at some point or other. Knuckles had apparently been on the bubble for some time, and Management decided that for economic reasons to cut the Knuckles production schedule. Which makes me wonder at which point they decided to cut production. Was it as a result of a dip in sales during the "Dark Alliance" arc (which wouldn't surprise me a bit)? Still, I don't see this as qualifying as a disaster. Ken Penders, who has shouldered the Knuckles load from the beginning, is to be congratulated for having got the series THIS far with nothing more than a character whose sole purpose had been to butt heads with Sonic every now and then. Since Knuckles's premier he's been blessed with friends, family, a kick-butt girlfriend, a fairly-well defined reality, a grab-bag of powers and abilities, and the usual assortment of comic book villains. All this without supporting games or animation tie-ins (which don't guarantee success anyway; ask Bollers and Spaziante about the short-lived NiGHTS Into Dreams series). One look at Ken's Web site and you know he won't lack for work if Knuckles were to disappear tomorrow; at the very least, he'll have more time for the launch of his beloved Lost Ones. But here's hoping that even if Management pulls the plug on the Junior Guardian, that the continuity will live on in the Sonic flagship comic. It's too good a thing to let wither on the vine. And it's proof that Archie isn't SOLELY committed to perpetrating garbage such as the Sonic-Sabrina crossover. Having said that, I direct your attention to the blurb for Knuckles #29, "Guest-starring the ever-popular Princess Sally!" Exsqueeze me, "ever-popular?" Are we talking about the same Princess Sally whom Ken Penders was intent on killing off in Endgame? The same Princess Sally whom Ken swore a sizable body of fans didn't want to have anything to do with? The same Princess Sally who along with Bunnie, Hershey, Julie-Su and Lupe will have a prominent role in the NEXT Sonic special, with stories written by the very same Ken Penders who was to have been her executioner? THAT "ever-popular" Princess Sally? I've had people e-mail me asking when I'm going to get off Archie's case about Endgame. There are five possible answers; pick one: NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER! Don't bother looking for Fan or Pro-Art this time around: I think they got crowded out by the extra page Andrew Pepoy did for the Mighty back story. For all the good it did.