Artail Productions - Knuckles #12 Review

"INTERVENTUS DIVINUS ET PERSPICATITAS FERAS"

The above is just a little unfinished business from Sonic #58. I'd said in the context of the review that I'd like to see Rob O' the Hedge's line "Divine [with an "I", people, let's get it right!] intervention and animal ingenuity" translated into Latin, so I pulled down my Barnes & Noble Latin-English Dictionary. Of the several different words available that could be translated as "animal" I chose "fera" because it has more of a connotation of a wild (i.e., non-domestic) animal and the Latin word "animal" can just mean "living being." Works for me, anyway.

Knuckles #12 [May 1998] Review by Dan Drazen

Spaz/Penders cover: The Tribe continues on past remnants of the lava field from the cover of #11 and toward a mysterious figure. Above hover Knuckles, Sonic (who seems to be the only one who remembered to smile for the camera), and Rob.

"Journey's End" [The Forgotten Tribe, Part 3...it says here. Shouldn't it technically be Part 4?] Story: Ken Penders Art: Manny Galan Ink: Andrew Pepoy Color: Barry Grossman Lettering: Vickie Williams Editorial: G-Force.

     Credits page: VERY excellent drawing of Rob by Spaziante, except that what's supposed to pass for Rob having his left eye closed looks a little strange. Contrast it with Spaz's own design of Sonic winking on the cover and Manny Galan's variation on page 1.
     "Born to the most noble..." page: a few drawings, a LOT of text, I hope they take their cue from Sonic #58 and discontinue the practice.
     Put yourself in Knuckles' place: having gone through everything in the plot up to this point, he and the others arrive on the balcony just in time to witness the execution of Yanar. Sonic, who's had way more experience in the hero business, simply says "He's one of yours...so you make the call!" Now you know why Guardians make the big money. Knuckles does some quick thinking which works itself out in a GREAT two-page spread. I don't know where Mari-An got that piece of cutlery she's holding, but she looks like she knows how to use it. While Knuckles and Antoine's roboticized pere go one-on-one, the plan to leave the castle runs into a slight problem because the portcullis (that's the grating at the entrance) has been lowered. "Haven't you yet learned?" the General exults in what must be the post-Robotnik version of paper-scissors-rock, "Metal always triumphs over fur!" Rob begs to differ and makes sure The General keeps his appointment with Doc Marten. Meanwhile, the situation in the courtyard has degenerated into a melee, so Rob uses the flaming arrow bit to create a sort of diversion while Knuckles separates the factions. As Rob raises the portcullis, he tells Knuckles to lead the evacuation while he covers their tails.
     While everyone makes a dash for it, Tails (looking much like his anime self in the long shot at the bottom of page 7) naturally asks Sonic what they plan to tell Antoine about his dear old dad having gone renegade. To quote our "hero" in full: "We tell Antoine ZIP! Until we landed here we were just as clueless! He's Rob's problem now!" I'm sorry, but this makes NO sense to me. If Sonic still harbors a measure of resentment in not knowing what happened to his OWN father and wants Antoine to experience the same thing, that would qualify as a motivation (albeit a rather poor one). Secondly, isn't it Sonic's post-Robotnik mandate to deal with the sub-bosses and not pass the buck to the locals? Finally, this doesn't sound like the Sonic who advised Sally in "Back to Basics..." (#57) to take some time to "get to know your father" while at the same time flying away from his own. I don't want to make a habit of second-guessing the stories, but it could have worked just as well had Sonic admitted that the situation is a little too heavy for him to think about while he's busy running for his life. Still, this wouldn't be a Ken Penders story unless a character was shown withholding important information from another character, would it?
     Back at the castle, Rob happens to discover a room full of cases containing sticks of TNT, which makes me wonder whether the "Kingdom of Mercia" isn't located next door to Acme Acres. He touches the stuff off and there's the predictable explosion, which Rob predictably survives. Even money says that the General survived as well, but nobody in the group seems too concerned about him as Rob makes his entrance with Mari-An's two kid brothers in tow (the ones who got lost back in issue #11). Tails' reaction manages to both upstage and obliterate Sonic, preserving the hedgehog's emotional ambiguity and preventing the wrath of Sega from descending.
     Quick cut to Haven's Intensive Care Unit where Locke and Deo Volente debate the ethics of medical technology in the presence of Hawking who appears to have entered the "turn and water" phase of his condition. Constable Remington chooses this moment to contact Locke to tell him that the Chaotix have been handed their scripts for the next story arc and by the way your ex would like a word with you and I don't think she wants to discuss alimony payments.
     Back in the forest, Sonic gives a superficially truthful answer to Knuckles' question of "where's the rest of the team?" but it's undercut by Manny Galan's artwork; he makes Sonic look like he's hiding something or would rather talk about anything else. Tails shows up just in time to say that he's found the biplane and they can cut short their cameo. Yanar then tells Knuckles that, rather than having his life flash before his eyes when the executioner sprang the trap, he envisioned some futuristic city scape with Rob as part of the picture. So now Yanar thinks that Rob's the Designated Other. For his part, Rob manages against all odds to work in a reference to "my crazy kritters" [excuse me while I gag]. When Knuckles questions Rob about a detail of the vision of Yanar's, Rob zombies out and starts walking until he reaches a cliff. He stops and points to an offshore island that holds some Stonehenge-like dolmens.
[Knux on Water]

     Meanwhile, Wynmacher tells Lara-Le that according to the Constable she should be hearing from Locke soon. Lara-Le as much as says that she's from Venus and Locke was a Martian.
     Rob, meanwhile, seems to have snapped out of it and declares that Knuckles is worthy to cross over to what he's only observed from afar. Knuckles, who apparently shares Sonic's non-swimmer status, is initially reluctant to take the "leap of faith...upon Albion's wake." This NEVER appeared in the Guardian Job Description, but under the watchful eyes of Rob and Mari-An and Yanar, he goes for it. Either the water is deceptively shallow at that point or else this doesn't qualify as "ridicule" of a religion under the Comic Code Authority. Mari-An says a quick goodbye to her folks, having elected to stay with Rob (surprise, surprise), and as the Tribe gets closer to the island they can see a rather vague glowing city scape behind the dolmens....
     "Hi, welcome to Albion. My name is Gala-Na and I'll be your tour guide...." I didn't think that Manny could work any more variations on the theme of echidna babes; nice to see I was wrong. The purple-tressed Gala-Na, complete with manga-esque eyes, tells Knuckles that Albion had been secluded for a thousand years having established itself as the most advanced civilization on Mobius, and that it was a group of Albionians or Albionites or whatever who founded what was eventually to become Echidnaopolis. As the Tribe is invited to kick back, Knuckles feels a hankering to get back to the Floating Island. Yanar then gives him a plot device as a parting gift, along with the "love and prayers" of the tribe.
     What happened to Rob? He was el wimpo supremo in Sonic #58, letting both Knuckles and Mari-An get the better of him in the hand-to-hand combat department. Here he seems to have figured out how to use that bow of his, and he knocks out the General and the executioner for good measure. As was said of (Turbo) Tails back in "Infinity Is Immortal And Immortality Is Infinite Or Whatever The Heck It Was" (Sonic #56), I didn't know the kid had it in him. My only real complaint about the plot concerns the business with Sonic sitting on the information about Antoine's father and my expectation that the Day of Fury plotpoint should have reasserted itself. Ken could easily have taken care of both issues by having a Day-of-Fury-related earthquake level the castle in place of the dynamite bit; that way, Sonic could jump to the conclusion that now he and Tails have nothing TO report. Aside from that, Ken has strongly rounded out this story arc (though I'm tempted to call it a saga). Along the way he managed to raise issues of personal responsibility without reducing the story to spinach.
     And even though I should have suspected that the Beatrice-like Gala-Na (or someone like her) would show up sooner or later, it was still a stunner when she did show up. The action layouts at the beginning of the story are first-rate, and we're treated to TWO dynamite two-page spreads. This is some of the best Galan artwork I've ever seen, even better than the splash page in Knuckles #8.
     Still, you should've seen the ones that got away...
     Ken shared a couple story angles with myself and a couple other cyberfans while this was still being plotted out. Perhaps the most major story elements that never saw the light of day (for whatever reason) concerned echidna religion. In the earliest draft, the Ancient Walkers were NOT god-figures. They appeared in the story, but were called the "heralds of Genova herself." That's right, the Walkers were supposed to be demoted to the echidna equivalents of Roma Downey, Della Reese and John Dye -- messengers ("angelos" in the original Greek) of the goddess Genova. And as if the name "Genova" itself wasn't problematic enough because it's so close to "Jehovah," there was a sequence that must have caused someone somewhere to have a cow. In the scene back in #10 before Lara-Le leaves the "aurorium" she was supposed to be shown touching in sequence her right shoulder, belly, left shoulder, right shoulder. This strikes me as being an understandable gesture if we're talking about a goddess cult, but since my "top ten list" parody from the review of Knuckles #11 was censored on someone's mail list I'm not going to go there in this review. Write me if you want an exposition. Ken also used the word "navel" in describing the sequence, apparently forgetting for a moment that echidnas are oviparous rather than viviparous (that is, that they lay eggs rather than give birth to live younguns) so they wouldn't have navels anyway. But all in all, this has been an exceptionally strong story arc with an equally strong finish. Double bag the arc, triple bag this issue!
     No fan art this time, but the Fistful of Letters contains, in addition to the hype for Knuckles #13, Sonic #59 and the Sonic Kids special, four letters. There's also a note about Ken's appearance at Megacon '98 in Orlando, March 13-15. Since I BOUGHT my copy of Knuckles #12 on March 13, I think they might want to print Ken's tour dates a few issues earlier. Three of the letters, by the way, are from 15-year-old girls, a distinctly different demographic from the Sonic audience. And though the letters don't mention her, I'm inclined to think that the presence of Julie-Su may be a determining factor. She's a teenager herself, not answerable to any parental units (c.f. Veronica and her dad), and she can kick serious butt. One fan who's sent me e-mail keeps wondering aloud when Knuckles and Julie-Su will ever (in her words) "get h-o-t-t HOTT!!" Bless you, Ken, I think you've created a monster and I mean that in a GOOD way.