Last time on Knuckles the Echidna: Flashbacks flashbacks and more flashbacks! Knuckles recalled the teachings of his father, and how he was abandoned. We learned how the city of Echidnaopolis became the Floating Island through the power of the Chaos Emeralds. We then learned of Knuckles' ancestors, Edmund and Dimitri, how Dimitri absorbed the power of 11 of the 12 Emeralds, and went mad with power. Upon Dimitri being defeated by the fire ants, Edmund had the echidna species give up their technology, and became the island's first guardian. As Knuckles recounted this, he headed for Mount Fate to hopefully finish his search for Archimedes. So if you couldn't already tell, things are finally starting to happen.
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Alright, let's do this. The first issues to be purely focused on Knuckles and his guardian duties.
We begin the first issue with another huge text page (in case you couldn't tell, Penders really likes these) recapping the story thus far. Knuckles has reached the space underground Mount Fate, where the echidnas buried their technology, I haven't been talking about the art lately, but these pages of Knuckles traversing the bunker are well done, of the various artists who have penciled these Art Mawhinney has been my favorite thus far.
As Knuckles dodges booby traps, the bottom panel for each page shows something happening outside Mount Fate, it begins rumbling, followed by an explosion, with a shadowy figure coming out of it. Knuckles then thinks back to the events that led up to this, again. I don't know why, as the issue had already opened with a recap. Knuckles is then chased by a boulder, into what seems to be a storage hallway. He finds a blaster, which he uses to blow down a door, that's right, nearly a decade before Shadow got his own solo outing, Sonic's previous (and better) dark arch-rival got to use a gun.
As Knuckles enters the next room, he hears Archimedes once more, and we then see... a fanart page. Yeah if me using more images didn't already give it away, I'm using scans to read these now. I was using my own copies of Sonic Archives and Select to read the prior stories, but since I don't own any volumes of Knuckles Archives, I'll have to start using scans more often.
But anyway, Archimedes is then revealed. He's a fire ant. The Chaotix are also here too. We get explanation's for all the tricks Archimedes has played on Knuckles, he's been using ancient echidna tech, and he's able to teleport. He then boasts of how much the fire ants have helped echidnas. Just the, the shadowy figure we've been following reveals himself. It's Dimitri, now clad in armor and going by Enerjak. He battles the heroes and sends Knuckles and Archimedes to Sandopolis.
So that was the first issue, I have mixed feelings on it. The story doesn't have much going on. Most of it is Knuckles going through the bunker, or explaining things that have already happened. The highlight was easily the art. Art Mawhinney did an amazing job.
So Knuckles and Archimedes are in Sandopolis, one of the roughest spots on the island. They're attacked by a giant sandworm. Guess all kinds of things show up when your neighborhood turns into a desert. While fighting the worm, Archimeces shows off another one of his powers, fire breath. After the battle, Knuckles asks Archimedes about what he meant when he mentioned how much the ants have helped the echidnas. He then explains to Knuckles how the ants have observed the echidnas for years, and along with the Emeralds, they lifted Echidnaopolis up to create the Floating Island. While I don't have images of it, this had been cleverly foreshadowed, as in many of the flashbacks, ants could be seen in the background, even before they were more directly involved in burying Dimitri. Speaking of Dimitri, with Knuckles out of the way, he's been using his powers to create a new city, inhabited by Mechanauts (the Echidnaopolis robots he had previously hijacked). When Knuckles and Archimedes are heading to Enerjak's citadel the next morning, Knuckles nearly gives up, but is encouraged by a vision of his father, he and Archimedes then discover an oasis. After they get the rest and supplies they need, Knuckles speculates that some external factor allowed them to reach the oasis, which then disappears. It wasn't a mirage however, as the food and supplies were certainly real. They finally reach Enerjak's citadel, and battle the army of Mechanauts before coming to their greatest challenge yet, fighting the Chaotix.
This issue was another mixed bag. Doesn't do anything wrong but I don't particularly like it. I do like that the flashbacks from Archimedes actually give us new information.
Issue 3 begins with Knuckles and Archimedes fighting the Chaotix, before Enerjak decides he wants to deal with them himself. We then get another flashback, where Enerjak just explains what we already know. I can't even chalk it up to catching readers up, because by this point in the miniseries, readers should already know all this. It just feels like padding. The battle continues, with Archimedes even telepathically calling in more ants. As they fight, Knuckles talks about how he wouldn't have his guardian duties if not for Enerjak, but he has the pride and courage Enerjak lacks. Over these few pages, the bottom panel for each has been showing the ants attaching what appear to be rocket boosters onto Enerjak's tower, and they eventually launch Enerjak off the island. The citadel disappears, the Chaotix are freed, and Knuckles has finally accepted that he can be a guardian with help from his friends and mentors, not to mention learning from history, unlike Enerjak. We also get the big reveal that Knuckles' father has been alive this whole time.
Well this was a disappointing ending. My major issue is that Knuckles wasn't the one who saved the day, it was Archimedes, I understand this is part of the theme of teamwork, but Knuckles did very little beyond fighting Enerjak. Enerjak himself was also taken out a little too easily. I know he'll continue to be a main villain throughout these stories, but it's hard to take him seriously when he gets blasted off into space like this. I also think having Knuckles' father as yet another secretive mentor makes the reveal of Archimedes feel less special. Knuckles is still having secrets kept from him, just by somebody different. There's some bad signs in this miniseries, and I fear this won't be the end of them.
Well that was not fun. But I'll be getting a break from Knuckles solo books for a bit as the next arc I cover will be Knuckles Quest, another series of backup stories in the main comic, with a lot more overlap with the main story. I know Mecha Madness happened shortly after the miniseries, but Penders had no involvement there, so it will not be included.
