Atop the Red Wall: Knuckles Reviews

[The Jest 45]

So not too long ago our buddy boy Skye decided to do a review series detailing all of the Sonic comics of the Archie series. ...not an easy feat with that, I wish him the bet of luck.

However, in a way he has inspired me to try my hand at reviewing as well. So, I decided to review the Archie series as well.

But if I did ALL of them like Skye is, it'd be redundant. Skye has a good sense of critical skill, There's nothing I could add to his reviews.

That and, honestly, as much as I love Sonic and the Freedom Fighters, I grew up with Knuckles and the Chaotix as my point of interest. What Sonic comics I actually had a physical copy of, somehow and someway involved the Rad Red: Sonic and Knuckles, Knuckles #25, and Sonic #121. (Yeah, imagine my reaction to THAT Knuckles story without context. o.o; )

So, If Skye is going to be reviewing all the comics of Sonic, then I shall be his Knuckles and spin-off into my own short-lived mini-series. ^_^

As you may have already guessed, I am ONLY reviewing the Knuckles stories. The stories in which he, or the Chaotix, are the main protagonists. Sonic stories WITH Knuckles in them, do not count, ...though with a few exceptions. (Such as his debut story.) To put it simply, if Knuckles is not a centerpiece of the story, I'm not reviewing it.

This also means any stories, main or side, that does not involve Knuckles or the Chaotix, I am not going to review.

For example, I am going to review "This Island Hedgehog" of Sonic #13, but I will not review "Space in yo' face". Likewise, I will not review Sonic #121's "The Prince and the Revolution", nor "Songbird", but I will review "Afterlife Part 1". If there's a Sonic and Knuckles story where they're both equally important, I will review that as well, like the Special literally called Sonic and Knuckles.

However, I AM going to be using Skye's guide and keep it in chronological order. Thanks again for that guide, Skye. ^^

I will critique art whenever I can but the only covers I'm critiquing is of the Knuckles the Echidna comics and the Sonic Universe Comics that focus on him. I must admit I'm not as good with critiquing art as I am with critiquing plot and character, so please bear with me as I try.

One more thing: I am doing complete reviews of the stories at hand so there WILL be spoilers ahead.

With that said...I am the Crimson Critic. *Puts on a blood red baseball cap* ...Actually, since I'm reviewing comics rather than games or movies...*Replaces baseball cap with a red fedora*

I am The Jest, and welcome to Atop the Red Wall.

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SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #13: This Island Hedgehog

Our story begins, almost exactly how it did in the games actually...Except that Sonic, of course doesn't have the Chaos emeralds and as such, cannot sadly turn super sonic and jump off the plane just to show off his chaos powers. Another difference being Robotnik came here on a hovercraft, rather than crash-landing there when Sonic screwed up his Death Egg...by blowing up a giant mech that wasn't in anyway connected to the Death Egg, so it begs to question how he actually pulled it off... Huh. ...Actually, the only reason in the games that he knows about the "Floating Island" as its called at the moment was really because his landing there was a freak accident, so how DID he know about this place anyways if it's suppose to be just a lege-

Anyways, as they head towards the island, wondering what kind of sorcery is keeping it high and detached from any sign of ground, correctly pointing out that clearly it has to be a Chaos emerald (Because as we ALL know, Chaos energy is to this series as nuclear radiation is to any superhero comics. Remember that, cause I'll back to it on a later review.) A mysterious red arm with a very unfair-looking boxing glove on him starts dishing out the "unwelcome mat" right through the Tornado, ...or as it's really called, A rocket-propelled fist missile with a mat decoration. (...Like the chaos energy, I'll get back to that later in another review.)

As they land safely they conclude that Robotnik must be behind this, right before Master Hand's abusive uncle decides to apparently signal in the batter blimp as Tails calls it, and giant marble as I'll call it, ...which burns up the entire forest and apparently the side of a mountain.

...Ignoring the latter silly moment of burning up the side of a mountain like that, does anybody notice that the supposed guardian is outright LETTING the giant flamethrowing marble start a forest fire on his island? At least in Sonic 3 it was implied that it was doing this behind his back, and could blame Sonic and Tails on the destruction. But here it looks like he outright initiated the marble to start it. What the crap?

Anyways, the fire is about to hit Sonic when...suddenly an energy shield pops in. ...Because the Walkers wills it?

Using this to his advantage he jumps into a pond to evade the giant marble and drops into what I could only describe as Hydrocity's back alley...or going by the tunnel and water pressure, a rather giant sewer system...Oh, and Sonic's Deus Ex Shield, fulfilling its purpose, conveniantly disappears, reminding Sonic why this was a terrible idea.

Though not to worry, they broke through the wall into the actual Hydrocity...or rather a giant brick tank that is pretending to be hydrocity...and look, they even ask the readers to help out...though help out with what exactly? They're already out of the-...oh wait, they're back in a suction tunnel in next panel and the player failed, (What'd be hilarious is if the kid who was doing this was actually pretty good at the games and got frustrated when the comic outright said he/she failed.) the pressure's too much for the two to handle, resulting in Tails falling into the tunnel and Sonic blacking out.

...Well...That went dark pretty fast.

But no, of course they're not dead. Now they're in a pitch black place, apparently very much dry, and tied up as a spotlight shines on an empty space near by. ...I would ask where they are, but Sonic already did that for me, and was answered with a basic "I'm not telling" answer. The voice is not of Robotnik, however, like they thought, as the ever mysterious stalker steps into the light to reveal...Rocky Bal-chidna?

No, it's Knuckles the Echidna, the apparent last guardian of the Island and its ...Chaos Emerald. ...*Walks out of the room for a second and looks at the instruction manual to Sonic the Hedgehog 3* So, normally I'd rant about this, as this used to bug the crap out of me during my read through of this series from the first time I heard about it. But it seems that, indeed, the manual says he does guard the Chaos emeralds as oppose to the Master Emerald he guards nowadays. Seeing as how this was made during and for the release of Sonic 3, this is justified.

Anyways, if you've played Sonic 3 already, then you know the deal from here. Knuckles is the guardian of the Chaos Emeralds but was tricked by Robotnik into believing that he was a good guy while Sonic was a thief attempting to steal the Emeralds from him. (Which is most likely disguised as a reason why Boom Knuckles has an Intelligence Debuff, when in reality, Knuckles is only naive to social activity since he's been almost alone all of his li-...But, I digress.)

This ends Part 1, and in Part 2 we see Robotnik and ever-the-verbal-punching-bag-Snivley watching from their hovercraft...I think, as Knuckles interrogates Sonic and Tails. After a little wisecracking as to be expected by Sonic and Tails. Knuckles, of course, gives them a chance to leave his island before he basically makes kabobs out of them with those gloves of his, to which Robotnik is understandably...disappointed.

"KNUCKLES!! Is your brain as tiny as the insects you devour?" ~ Dr. Robotnik

Apparently Sonic Team seems to think so. -.-; (Ok, Ok...I'll try my best to keep the Sonic Boom jokes to a minimum at least.) Also, noticing that question now after all this time, ...well, you'll see the irony of those words later on.

Anyways, upon basically responding to that with essentially a verbal version of the finger, Robotnik decides to take matters into his own hands, and sees that C-alliteration x2 Crabmeat has, somehow, gotten the Chaos Emerald from the place where it was taken. I'd ask how he managed to pull that out of the chamber it was in without anyone noticing since, well, let's just say there'd be a pretty good sign of gravity feeling a tad lighter. But I'll ignore that seeing how neither the chamber in question nor its purpose has been introduced, possibly even made creatively speaking, yet.

Turn to the next page and we see Sonic and Tails racing towards the Emerald with Knuckles noticing and taking a shortcut before realizing the Chaos Emerald was gone...from a pillar of stones...out in the open...

Did I say I'd ask how Crabmeat managed to get it from a chamber? I meant that I'd ask how it was a good idea to leave such an important emerald out in the open and TRAP-LESS...on an altar of gray stones just to make it stand out even more? If you didn't have a proper hiding space, why didn't you just keep it with you on hand? Guarantee that would have been much safer, and it's not like Robotnik wouldn't have a chance pickpocket it from him so the story still would have continued like it does.

Anyways, long story short, Knuckles realizes that he's been duped by Robotnik since it's pretty obvious that Sonic and Tails didn't take it, as they're just then heading there. They team up, head for Robotnik, destroy his daily unit of swatbots, making him retreat on his...apparently malfunctioning hovercraft, (So this might have been a freak landing after all.) and thanks to Knuckles picking up all the pieces of the tornado, (Must have been a pain...) and Sonic putting it back together in practically an instant, the duo fly off into the sunset with Knuckles looking on, making the accurate prediction that this won't be the last time we see of him. ...Technically that it won't be the last time he sees of them; different words, same meaning.

Now art-wise I don't necessarily have a problem with the art. The Island looks rather excellent, albeit undetailed with the background and all, and the characters all look fine...save for Knuckles. ...I don't know, it's probably just me, and I can't quite put my finger on why even if it is, but something about his design seems...off. Maybe it's simply because I'm more use to the modern version of him, since he seems like a complete duplicate of his Original game self...in concept art. But even still, seeing him in the Genesis game he debuted in and looking at him here...something just doesn't feel right to me about it.

Overall...The story was alright. It has a few problems, but as the single tie-in to Sonic 3, it served its purpose well enough, even gave a little kid-friendly interaction even much like a couple other stories in Sonic. It also did well as the first outing of the Rad-Red himself and showed him for what he is: somewhat intelligent, somewhat cunning, (Certain exceptions aside) but ultimately sheltered and gullible therefore to outside forces.

Honestly though, I think Fleetway did his debut a bit better, giving him 4 issues, 3 of which plays off the fact that he was basically Robotnik's version of Sonic (Besides Metal Sonic, of course.) and Sonic's equal rival until Sonic and Knuckles, of which the fourth issue seems to have been based off of, set the record straight.

But regardless, as a stand-alone single issue, it did good with what it had.

As such, I give it a 7/10.

And speaking of Sonic and Knuckles...

Next Issue: Sonic and Knuckles Special!

[Skye Prower 386]

Wow, really great review Jest. Nice and detailed.

If you're wondering what's wrong with Knux's design, it might be because he's more angular than his usual appearances. And it looks like his head is kinda cone-ish. And that's in comparison to his in-game design.

So, the question is now, should I review the Knux comics too? :P

[Lino Blythe 8]

Wow, really great review Jest. Nice and detailed.

If you're wondering what's wrong with Knux's design, it might be because he's more angular than his usual appearances. And it looks like his head is kinda cone-ish. And that's in comparison to his in-game design.

So, the question is now, should I review the Knux comics too? :P

He was leaving Sonic to you while he did the Knuckles ones XD;;

[The Jest 45]

If you want to. If you want to add anything about them, I won't stop you. ^^

[Skye Prower 386]

He was leaving Sonic to you while he did the Knuckles ones XD;;

Well, I was planning on doing the whole kit and kaboodle, not just the main series.

If you want to. If you want to add anything about them, I won't stop you. ^^

Given I'm also planning on looking at arcs and metaplots as I go, it'll be hard not to. What I'll probably do is summarize my own opinions on the issues you cover Jest, unless our opinions on an issue differ. But we'll see how it goes!

[The Jest 45]

Whatever you want, Skye. ^_^

Now then, on to the next one.

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Sonic and Knuckles Special



As I stated in the first part, this is one of the three comics I actually had a physical copy of. Bought mostly because, well, It's Sonic and Knuckles, the adaptation to one of my favorite games at the time.

The cover of which indeed caught my eye. Looking at it now though, one's got to wonder what Knuckles' plan was for the dashing Sonic. Because he has a leg out to trip Sonic, yet he's getting ready to outright deck him with that fist of his at the same time. It'd be one heck of a knock-out uppercut if he intended to trip and then shoryuken the hedgehog while he's still falling. One's got to wonder where Sonic's going though and why, since it looks like he's heading straight for a junkyard of swatbots and a....is that a Sega Saturn? Anyways, he could just be heading around that corner but there's no indication since his eyes are squarely forward towards the junk heap. I like Robotnik's shadow on the wall there, though one has to question how his eyes, mouth, and cross-belt are essentially all transparent. On that note, while I do like what Spaz was going for with this, one must question why the big guy is anywhere near him in this continuity. The last time we saw Knuckles, he was ready to stab the fatso with those spiked knuckles of his for tricking him and being close to nabbing his emerald. This makes perfect sense in the game, but not here. Also, the lumberjack's a nice touch for me personally, since that guy was one of the things I remembered most about the game. Also, really nice touch that said Lumberjack's rocket fire actually makes him look like he has legs.

However, I am going not by nostalgia, but essentially reading the comic now as I do this review. So just because it's a comic of my childhood, doesn't mean it gets any advantage over any of the other comics I'll be reviewing. This goes for the other two as well.

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Story 1: Panic in the Sky

We open to the western coast of the "Great Continent" that, though prone to Earthquakes, floods, mudslides and fires, (So basically California in a nutshell.) is one of the most peaceful places in the world as no fighting between Eggman and the Freedom Fighters has touched it. (Can't help but question that, a little.) During this, we see Sally's freedom fighters apparently enjoying a nice game of beach volley ball. ...Because I guess Sally didn't have anything better for them to do after that whole robo-sally mission. Anyways their game get called on account of a giant floating landmass flying over their heads. ...Yep, just another day on Mobius.

Oh, and because I will probably never find a better place to put this: "UNTIL TODAY!"

Credit where it's due though, the Freedom Fighters, or at least the prime members of said freedom fighters, assembled pretty quickly as they're already in the briefing. ...Ironically enough, Sonic and Tails are the only ones that are late.

Knowing what I do nowadays, I don't know whether to laugh or face-palm at Sally right now though. We'll get to why that is in due time.

"What do you two know that the rest of us don't." ~ Sally

...Heh, remember these words, I'll get back to that in another review down the line.

Anyways, Sonic and Tails give a brief summary of what happened during This Island Hedgehog, and ending it off by noting how mysterious Knuckles is. Oh, and Sonic says this:

"For an echidna, he's one strange dude." ~ Sonic



Just an odd and admittingly nit-picky question here: By both the game and comic's logic, the Echidna race are carefully hidden at best, and at worst, all but extinct. ...To our knowledge even going by his backstory he has never met any echidnas before Knuckles, and Knuckles he met on accident on a floating island. So how would he know what's strange for an Echidna? He's the only Echidna he met.

Anyways, since they have no idea what side Knuckles is on, they decide to fly up and knock on his door with Antoine at the helm of what seems to be a giant military cargo plane, ...Because the walkers wills it. But the Island decides to greet our heroes with anti-air cannons, to which they avoid and find rocket thrusters installed in the back. Knowing that Knuckles would never have any technology on his island (...To his knowledge, ;)), they head topside to figure out what's going on, jumping out of the plane and landing on the island without much issue.

"Need a lift, Sonic?" ~ Tails

"No thanks, pal. Being piggy-backed is bad for my image." ~ Sonic

...Uh-huh.

They walk from their landing spot with Knuckles watching them Solid Snake style behind the bushes.

"Everyone wants a piece of the Floating Island. But all those two are gonna get is a piece of the rock!" ~ Knuckles



The two heroes enter the first stage of Sonic and Knuckles, Mushroom hill...which is debatably where Mario apparently gets his own mushrooms from by the looks of these. As Sonic thinks about having Mushroom pizza, something comes down and whacks him in the head to...errm...make him hallucinate the Mushrooms wanting to grill him.

...There are so many jokes and memes I can make about this one panel alone. But as someone who does not condone illegal drug use, I'll simply show you this little treat of what most likely SHOULD have happened. Doesn't make sense you say? One, Carnival Night Zone. Two, MJ. Three, and most importantly,

They are not suppose to make sense!

So after that mini-hallucination, he wakes up to find he was knocked out cold by a pendulum. ...One has to wonder why there's a pendulum in the middle of a field of mushrooms, but it was in the game, so...Walkers wills it. So they use the Pendulum to climb to the top of the mushrooms and make their way through until they stumble across the Lumberjack bot...Well, I'll give them effort for trying, it's not a bad design, it's certainly closer to the original design then the one on the cover. But looking at it from this perspective, ...am I the only one who think he looks a bit like a Jay Leno parody, that orb-like body looks like a giant chin.

Anyways, After beating him...rather quickly, they're about to run off, presumeably to the next act of the zone when suddenly, Sonic falls into a trap door and almost into a bottomless pit if not for a cliff he found. As if things couldn't get any worse, in comes a certain angry echidna, ...somehow, who looks ready to retell the death of the Lion King's Mufasa. ...So Sonic, care about that image now? :)

In Part 2 we see Knuckles smiling for a panel...Not a clue why, especially when he's not smiling in any other panels on the page. Anyways, jumping to conclusion that Sonic is starting something on his island he prepares to actually re-enact the death of Mufasa when Tails comes in to try and drop a large boulder on his head. Knuckles of course evades and falls down with Sonic as the cliff collapses from the sheer weight of the dropped object, pretty much implying that Tails would have KILLED Knuckles with that rock if he didn't. The two tumble down the tunnel, making a bit of small talk about Tails' side, when they land right in the middle of what I can only assume is Lava Reef Zone.

...Apparently the level select code must have been activated when Sonic was on that Pendulum.

Knuckles is about ready to outright kill Sonic with that spiked fist of his until Tails comes in to save them both from a rumbling volcano, and Sonic takes back what he said before, ...Hey I'd be taking back anything negative I said too if I was standing in the middle of Nature's furnace.

After they were saved, which begs the question of why Tails would save Knuckles when not even a minute ago he was about outright to kill him with that rock, but hey, I guess he must have realized that rock almost killed him and is saving him as an apology. Once on nice solid land that's not over a volcano's mouth, Sonic and Tails explains to Knuckles that somebody hijacked his island and is currently hovering it over Knothill Village.

"Course, it's dark so nobody'd notice." ~ Sonic

It's a clear night sky with all the stars alight and the Moon out in a village that doesn't use much to light their forest town. I'm pretty sure they'll notice when a giant shadow blots them all out. Besides that, I'm fairly certain everyone knows about it by now, because of the same reason the Freedom fighters knew of it: It made a bit of a noticeable entrance, and caused some of the volleyball playing freedom fighters to sound an alarm and alert the others into bringing you here in the first place.



So after Knuckles realizes he got tricked...again, He decides to show them into...The Chaos Chamber? ...Ok, so NOW it shows up. I must ask the question then of why Knuckles placed the Chaos Emerald on a wide-open stone altar last time, as oppose to this place? The island should have been falling as Sonic and Tails were traveling on it. But I'm going to assume we were expected to forget about that.

As Knuckles explains, the Chaos Chamber is where the energy of the emerald is harnessed and keeps the island afloat, and spots some kind of device syphoning up the emerald's power. As he tries to pull a dumb move by touching the live energy sapper, and get shocked for his efforts, ...because science, when an incoming message from the giant floating head pops up.

Yep, it's Robotnik, able to apparently project his head on the wall without any projector...because science, and as usual for any villain at this point, explains his evil plan. ...I think it's best that he explains this.

"Since discovering its existence, literally hours have been devoted to Operation: Flying Destroyer! Phase one involved attaching a mobile command base to the Island's foundation and unleashing a series of paradroids--complex, automated mechanisms designed to refashion its shape from tropical paradise to engine of destruction!" ~ Dr. Eggman

..,



First off, ...When did you have the time to pull this off? In the last issue in the comic series, according to Skye's timeline, you were kidnapped along with Sonic by a giant alien bio-researcher who thrown you onto god knows what area of the planet when he was done. Secondly, assuming this is a few days after that and you were essentially closed off for hours if not days figuring out how to work this plan out, (Which actually might explain the reserve taking a vacation.) how exactly did you do this without Knuckles suspecting a blasted thing? It must have been one heck of a drill if it can break an energy syphon into the chaos chamber without causing even a small earthquake. He just broke through a wall of crystal that Knuckles just said redirects and amplifies the power to keep the island afloat. I'm fairly certain that a hole in an area of that much importance would at least result in a small vibration. (*Sees the panel showing it breaking in there causing a rumbling.* THAT DOESN'T COUNT!) Finally, ignoring the schematics and how off the placement of the shock cannons look, since that could just be the result of not a lot of space to put them onto, How exactly is he powering these things? I mean, yeah, he's syphoning the energy from the Chaos emerald, I understand that, but how is that energy directed towards the weapons and engine? They couldn't make some small thin lines from the back of the mobile base to the engine and cannons to use as wires or cables to move that energy to them?

Now don't get me wrong, this is a fairly decent plan: Sneak in and start sapping up the infinite energy of the Chaos emerald to control the direction of the island and add weapons to make a fortress, all the while making it look like Knuckles is the one doing it and starting another fight between him and Sonic&Tails, potentially removing one if not all three threats at the same time. It's a fair enough plan, it's just that there's a few things about it that really starts to stretch the SoD (Suspension of Disbelief) a little. One more question for Robotnik though: ...Exactly what part of this plan of yours involved a legless lumberjack cutting trees down in a forest of giant mushrooms?

Anyways, back on topic, Robotnik has the island in position to fire the shock cannons to absolutely devastate Knothole Village and outright kill all of its inhabitants, thanks to Sonic and Knuckles' fight buying enough time to pull it off. To which Knuckles responds rather admirably...by destroying the Chaos Emerald, depowering Robotnik's stuff, but ultimately dropping the island right down on Knothill. I'd complain about this idea, but the comic already addresses it, ...by waiting out the Doctor and pulling a spare chaos emerald out of his...wall. Ok, that was a fair enough resolution to all of this, and that actually explains the reason why Knuckles would risk holding an emerald out in the open when he knows that would mean the Island shouldn't technically be floating since the emerald powering it would easily be stolen and drop the island. ...I actually kind of like this, you managed to dig yourself out of a hole Pen, I'm impre-

"What spare? That was the real one I put back."~ Knuckles

...

 

"Removing it caused the Island to fall but I smashed the fake!"~ Knuckles



"I didn't see you make the switch!" ~ Sonic

"Neither did Robotnik!" ~ Knuckles



Pen...You, REALLY should have just stuck with the Spare idea. I'll admit the idea is a bit "Deus-ex-Machina"-esque, but this is the 90s, you can get away with this, plus it actually made sense considering the last issue. You just got out of a hole by dropping into an even bigger one. It'd actually be impressive if it wasn't so sad.

But the thing is, if you were really going for that approach, ...at least provide a hint as to how he not only switched it without anyone looking, but managed to put BEHIND A FREAKING WALL...OF CRYSTAL...without anyone noticing. ...Apparently Knuckles managed to use Chaos Control years before it was a thing. O.o;

To wrap it up, the three say their good byes the island somehow moves back into its flight pattern...I think, as Sonic and Tails return to their friends below and they all live happily for a while.

"Think he'll ever join the freedom fighters?" ~ Sally

"I doubt it Sal! I think now and forever... he's on his own." ~ Sonic

To quote Noah "Spoony" Antwiler: "HA-HA! Oh my God, You guys don't even know how funny that is yet." (Well, Sonic Scanf does, but the point remains.) As you may have guessed, like Noah, I'm going to be using this line and the line Sally used probably throughout all my Reviews. They probably won't be the only ones either.

Overall, Panic in the Sky isn't as good as it was when I first read it. But that doesn't necessarily mean it's bad. The plot is simple enough, and much like the series after the 20th issue, art work is actually improved since Issue 13. It's just that some aspects of it pulls it down from being really good, and as a result it just becomes Ok.

6/10 (Before you ask why I'm giving this a worse one then This Island Hedgehog, I was being merciful to that since that was the first comic involving Knuckles. Not this time.)

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Story 2: Fire Drill

We open to...the beginning of Knuckles game in Sonic and Knuckles? No, not really, but kind of close to it, huh? Kudos, Pen.

So like the game, Knuckles was enjoying his time of relaxation in Mushroom Hill when suddenly a bomb goes off a few meters behind him, as oppose to exploding in his face like in the game. So Knuckles, being the type to not let things that breaks the silence of nature go unpunished, rushes over to...erm, the beach of Angel Island? An Oasis of some kind? No, it's Sandopolis zone, but it does apparently have an Oasis. By Oasis, of course, I mean an excuse to put green lively bushes in the middle of a Desert. Knuckles heads for the spot where the explosion happens, but only sees a crater with nothing in it.

"Whoever it was must've took off out of sight, out of mind, hoping they wouldn't be spotted by the top dog. ...Or should I say, top echidna?" ~ Knuckles



Hmm, Nice try Pen, but if you're going to make a pun, you have to just assume that people get it, and make it fluent with the sentence. For example: THIS is how you do puns.

Whatever landed there decided to then take a few steps towards the bushes, leaving footprints for Knuckles to follow, but when he jumps towards it, they're nowhere to be seen.

"Nobody-but NOBODY-makes a fool out of Knuckles the Echidna and gets away with it!" ~ Knuckles

Says just about every Knuckles fan upon reading the Sonic Boom comic's first issue. (Ok, I said I TRY to keep them to a minimum, it's not as easy as it may sound. X_X )

Figuring out that there's nowhere else he could have went, he goes to Sandopolis ruins. Figuring out who could be fast enough to run from the bushes to the ruins, he assumes it's Sonic and yells at him to come out.

...Ok, if there's one thing I can at least say for Pen, it's that he knows Knuckles, or at least, he knows the difference between gullibility/naivety, and stupidity. Sure he's wrong, sure he's jumping to conclusions, but Knuckles made those two decisions because they were the only explanations that made sense to him, and it's not hard to see why he hit those conclusions. He's sheltered on this island, yeah, but he has street smarts and knows how to use them.

Since he believes Sonic is hiding, he enters in to find him and hopefully give him that spiked knuckle to the teeth that lava stopped last time. But as soon as he enters, he gets to reenact his near-death experience by dodging falling rocks again, brought on by someone in the shadows. As he progresses through the ruins, dodging traps along the way, he comes across a door revealed from a green wall...somehow...because the Walkers wills it. He opens it to reveal...errm...Sandopolis Act 2? Rectangle land? ...The grand hall of random picture frames?

"For once, I'm stumped!" ~Knuckles

You and me both. I get that Sandopolis ruins might not have been an easy thing to draw, and indeed it WAS filled with rectangles in the background, but this is so lazy that I'm not even sure what Pen was trying to do with this room. (What I meant was that I can't quite picture what he expected from the Artist.) The ONLY detail are four undetailed torches atop one of these rectangles. The rest are just random blank rectangles of random sizes and random colors. Even when I was a kid, this didn't make any sense, and I assumed it was some kind of special stage. I'm so tempted to use the Egoraptor "WHAT IS THIS!?" rant, and I probably would if I wasn't saving it for another time. I understand leaving them blank when you move the camera far from them, but even in the close up they're all blank squares of random colors. ...You couldn't have made at least ONE hieroglyph on one of those rectangles? Last I checked the walls of this place weren't blue either. NOTHING about this room gives me the feeling of an ancient pyramid's interior, it makes me think Knuckles was eating one of those giant mushrooms before coming here. ...Actually, that would explain alot.

Anyways, Knuckles is getting ready to explore more of the divine throne room of psychadelic geometry until suddenly he gets hit from above by a sandfall...I think, as it looks more like the sand exploded behind him then from above, and makes him slide down the hall...I think. Desperate to get out, he glides off of the sandfall to a random ledge by a random wall that he punches through

and reveals it just happens to lead him outside, and apparently just happens to be where the stranger walked from, leaving footsteps behind him. Errm, Knux, are you sure you still think it's Sonic? Sure Sonic's fast, but I don't recall him having the ability to phase through solid matter.

*Gets shown this*

...Nevermind, it still fits.

So Knuckles chases the foot prints down to the beach that Sonic the Hedgehog 3 started at...wait, what? During that one panel the water looks super close to the land like a beach but its still floating in the air away from the waters. ...Then again that was the case in Sonic 3 as well. Anyways, he notices that the trail ends at the edge and he ends the chase with that, our story ending with the stranger he was chasing hiding in yet another set of bushes, proclaiming that Knuckles still has much to learn, and that class is now in session.

This story is...Pretty good actually. Knuckles is something of an interesting challenge to write stories for during these early days, since he and the Island are really the only thing you can work with at the time of this comic. He's all alone, he's been alone for pretty much almost his whole life, (Save the time he spent with his father.) so of course he talks to himself to keep himself company, and he's shown to be intelligent at least in regards of common logic. It starts off almost exactly like it does in the game, and shows one more stage of the game with Sandopolis. (Apparently you can go from a forest of mushrooms straight to the desert, just like there's a volcano underneath said forest.) The art is a bit odd to be sure, but looking at it from a whole, the plot is simple enough and does what it's suppose to do, display Knuckles' skills, and as such, did its part well.

8/10

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Story 3: Lord of the Floating Island

Ah, but the special wasn't satisfied with just one crossover and one Knuckles Solo comic, so they added one more Knuckles Solo comic. Why? Well, I guess to show that there actually ARE inhabitants on this island besides him.

We open to Knuckles gliding in the rough air as rather harsh winds are making it difficult to properly glide. As he attempts this, he spots a little kangaroo that's apparently lost and looking for its mother. To which Knuckles responds by flying over him and kidnapping the little guy. Look at this without speech bubbles and tell me you don't see that. Then he simply lands after noticing the kid's making a fuss anyways. He introduces himself, but the Kanga already knows from his mother that Knuckles is apparently, as Guardian, the Island's local hero and protector. He then asks Knuckles if he can do something about the sky, which is currently undergoing an Eclipse. ...Of course, because in comic logic, whenever there's an eclipse, all hell breaks loose!

I should point out that it's also a total eclipse, so both the kid and Knuckles should pretty much be blinded since they're staring right into it. Anyways, Knuckles explains the nature of an eclipse and that normally the winds blowing the island aren't as strong as they are right now, but something's changed about this case. But before he could elaborate, in comes a stampede of Dingoes, to which Knuckles responds by jumping on a branch with the kid and watching them go by.

"Aren't they Friendly?" ~ Benjy

"Usually." ~ Knuckles

"HA-HA! Oh my God, You guys don't even know how funny that is yet." ~ Noah "Spoony" Antwiler

He explains that the Dingoes are pretty much going wherever the winds take them, but they can only go so far without, well, falling off the edge into the ocean. When the Kangaroo, named Benjy asks if his mother will be alright, Knuckles assures him that the island has been in a rather long state of peace for some time now, recent intruders not withstanding. As if to correct Knuckles' statement, or laugh him off, the wind blows even harder as Knuckles hangs on to Benji to make sure he doesn't get blown off the island.

As the eclipse passes and lets the sun shine on as Knuckles puts it, they find the mother Kangaroo and, like a typical superhero, leaves by saying he's just doing his job and flies off.

Definitely the shortest of the bunch, and probably not as canon as the other two are. But to be fair, it's also another rather simple but good plot that's designed to show what it is Knuckles does on this Island besides standing by the emerald all day, and confirms that there are actually other inhabitants of this island besides Knuckles himself. But he only communicates with them when he's needed to, due to, well, being a guardian and having to protect the entire island. The Eclipse was kind of random, but it's not everyday you get windy valley weather on an island like this, and what better thing to blame it on then blame pin cushion that is a solar eclipse?

7/10

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This comic, overall, is a good throwback to the Sonic and Knuckles game that it was adapted to. But like some of the other old comics, it doesn't age that well. The first story is ok but has its fair share of problems. The other two stories are good at their job of displaying Knuckles in his glory, but are pretty simplistic in their plot, and the third one is particularly short.

The special as a whole gets a 7/10. Fairly decent, and almost definitely a step up from Sonic's first encounter with the Rad Red, you just gotta suspend your disbelief a bit more than usual with the first story, and take in the simpleness of the later two with stride. I recommend giving this a read if you're curious about how Knuckles lived before his life got lively...and then consequently drained of that livelihood.



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Next Issue: Sonic Triple Trouble!

[Skye Prower 386]

Another great review Jest. Miles better than mine!

[The Jest 45]

Sonic Triple Trouble Special

 

 

The cover of this one is ok, showing just about the closest possible thing to the cover of the game, but apparently couldn't fit in Robotnik for some reason. Granted, Robotnik isn't as much involved in this comic as he is in the other comics. But it feels like false-advertising when you call it Triple Trouble, and only show two of the supposed three enemies of the game. You couldn't have just removed Tails or at least made him smaller for a transluscent image of Robotnik's head? ...You know, ....Like they did on the cover of the actual game?

 

 

-----------------------------

 

Story 1: Triple Trouble

 

So the Comic begins with Robotnik talking briefly about the Chaos Emerald, and, of course, gloats at how he managed to obtain one for his own. I can't help but wonder where he got it since they're all locked up in the Special Stage save for Knuckle's emerald. But then again, that also always bugged me in the games as well, since they always say in the manual of two and three to make sure he doesn't claim them, when they're in a different dimension altogether, possibly to prevent someone like him from getting them in the first pla-

 

 

Anyways, he intends to use this emerald to...well...

 

"It will drive my largest and most inefficient mega-engine, polluting the globe in days!" Dr. Robotnik

 

 

...First off and foremost, I don't think Inefficient means what you think it means. Secondly, ...Really doc? You have the power of a God literally in the palm of your hand, and you use it to pollute the planet as fast as possible? Wouldn't you want to use the Emerald for...oh, I don't know, killing Sonic and Co by putting it in a super weapon or something? Seriously, Robotnik, you REALLY need to get your priorities straight if polluting the earth > destroying the Freedom Fighters once and for all. You'll have plenty of free time to wreck Mobius' eco system when they're dead.

 

So Robotnik places it on a 3-pronged device for energy siphoning into his...*sigh*...Pollution machine, when Crabmeat panics and tells him that he set the machine for 6-prongs instead of 3, resulting in some kind of energy imbalance that blows up his machine and, somehow, split the Chaos Emerald in half.

 

...

 

 

I'll admit, I'm no energy expert here, nor an electrician, so anyone who is good at that field of science may feel free to correct me if I'm wrong here. That said, I do have some degree of basic programming knowledge, and I'm fairly certain the situation would not reach this level of exaggerated and explosive results. Assuming that the siphon is designed to occur via these prongs absorbing the energy through some sort of small tubes, (Because why else would the number of prongs matter this much?) programming the device for 6 prongs rather than 3 prongs would just make the prongs absorb less energy. This is because it was programmed with three extra prongs and the program assumes that there's more prongs then there actually are and result in the three prongs just absorbing less energy then they should. The amount of energy drained with 6 prongs rather than 3 would be an equal 100% draining power, just that it's done by a different number of these prongs. It shouldn't be causing some energy fluctuation that results in a big explosion, it should be barely able to work at 50%, like it's powered by an eternally low-powered battery. Crabmeat shouldn't be in fear of it blowing up, he should in fear of Robotnik crushing his very soul in a compressor for weakening his pollution device.

 

Now if it was the exact opposite, 6 prongs when programmed for 3 prongs, THEN that might have worked, as the six would be draining a LOT of energy because the program assumes there's only 3 when in reality there's 6 gulping up the energy at a time, resulting in a 200% energy charge. ...Or it would just mean that it'd use only the three prongs instead. But you never know, right? If Pen-...Errm, Gallagher, really wanted this to be the scenario, the reverse seems to work as the better catalyst. ...Or, you know, throw a rock at it or something to make it malfunction. Again, this is the 90s, you can get away with this.

 

Anyways, So the sucker blows up and the emerald not only splits in half but rockets, ...ROCKETS up into orbit going in completely different directions, and in response, Robotnik calls a Bounty Hunters R Us (How much you wanna bet it's run by a Giraffe named Jeff?) to hire a bounty hunter to get it back.

 

"They must be retrieved! Half a Chaos Emerald can be dangerously erratic and powerful!" ~ Dr. Robotnik

 

HAHAHA, I'll say! In fact I dare say that half a chaos emerald is apparently STRONGER than a whole one! Don't believe me? Well let's start a counter of the things that a half a Chaos Emerald can do, that we never see a Chaos Emerald actually do before or even since. Let's start with Rocketing into ORBIT without any propulsion powerful enough to pull it off, followed by shooting themselves from that orbit to parts unknown like post-dragon summoned dragon balls!

 

Chaos Halfsy!: 1

 

So we cut to Sonic eating a chili dog...or based on the perspective and the way he's eating it, a Sloppy Joe (Who eats chili dogs side-ways like that? That kind of position would make the hands, or in this case the glove, incredibly messy.) when Tail comes in needing Sonic to come to the control room since Rotor picked up something on the ...grid-screen? Unless you treat Robotnik's badniks like chess pieces, that seems like a pretty odd method for survailence. But, I guess if it works...

 

"I thought Rotor was working on that customized Submarine for you?"~ Sonic

 

Well he was, until he realized that he was making an armed submarine with a freaking drill on the front and equipped with active torpedoes for a child.

 

Anyways, Rotor detects the Half Chaos Emerald as it lands towards the Great Forest. detecting that its power is off the charts. But it's just half a Chaos Emerald right? Surely it wouldn't have as much an impact as a whole chaos emerald would.

 

*Looks at the next page* HOLY-...

 

"Through the magic of the Chaos Emerald, we're witnessing the creation of a new Zone!"

 

 

So, let me see if I got this straight: ...When a normal chaos emerald drops to the ground nothing happens. ...But when a Half of a chaos emerald drops to the ground, it manipulates the fabric of reality itself to create an entirely new AREA OF LAND IN AN INSTANT!?

 

Chaos Halfsy!: 2

 

Ok, this is jumping ahead in the series a little, but one of the main antagonist of Knuckles' story had the power of 14 chaos emeralds, and we only saw him make a mountain and a city at most. So, just to be clear, a HALF chaos emerald, is apparently just as powerful as 14 Chaos Emeralds, if not more so.

 

So Sonic heads off to the new zone that just appeared from HALF of a chaos emerald, when, just behind his dust comes his newest opponent, though still a silhouette from the smoke.

 

Meanwhile, on the Floating Island, Knuckles is apparently enjoying a long-overdue vacation from his guardianship. ...Despite, you know, a hero's work never truly being done when it comes to the inhabitants of the island. Suddenly he notices that the Sun is now glowing green and giving everything under it a glowing green tint.

 

"It better not threaten the floating island, unless it wants to mess with me, Knuckles the Echidna!"~ Knuckles

 

Knuckles the Echidna: Willing to Punch out the Sun itself if it threatens the Island. Also, remember this image of Knuckles in the third panel. I won't say why, but let's just say that I think Penders either asked Gallagher to make it, or was inspired by it.

 

So everything goes back to normal as its revealed that a green meteor covered up the sun while on its way towards this island. ...I'm fairly certain that if that was the illuminated object, unless it somehow got bigger than its suppose to be, that it wouldn't cover the entire island in a green tint,  nor last as long as it did under said tint.

 

But yeah, the Emerald lands near the summit of the tallest mountain of the Dragon Spine Mountain Range...A mountain range that, despite being infamous for being impossible to climb, will never be seen or mentioned after this special. Luckily Knuckles can glide through the air, and...apparently Gallagher wanted to scientifically explain how this works.

 

"By working up a head of steam, my dreadlocks fan out and I can glide over the razor sharp foothills to investigate this mystery."~ Knuckles the Echidna

 

What exactly are those dreadlocks made of if they can carry your entire body and make you glide as a result?

 

Anyways he lands on the main mountain and begins climbing with by slamming his spiked knuckles into the rock for support. ...One could ask if that's a painful process, since, well, he is still slamming his knuckle bones, however sharp they may be, into solid stone. But like the Gliding, it's better to ignore that and place it in your suspension of disbelief box. So he climbs up the mountain and finds the hole that holds the Chaos Emerald half inside.

 

"And it's still burrowing into the Rock!"~ Knuckles the Echidna

 

So assuming an emerald is sharp and capable of drilling through solid matter, which, ok, I'll give a whole emerald that credit, it's capable of continuing after being launched into the mountain with only a little lost momentum?

 

Chaos Halfsy!: 3

 

So the drilling caused by the emerald half apparently destabilizes the mountain Knuckles is, I guess it hit a vital mountain pillar or something, and lead Knuckles to do the smart thing and glide on out of there. ...Only to be bonked in the head while gliding and currently falling towards his imminent stage fatality, and they end Chapter one on that dark aspect...

 

So after that, We look at the next page where Sonic heads for the new zone and finds...finds...Wh-What the-Oh, OH, OH GOOD LORD!

 

 

Ok, I know this is still early to be doing this but...This is a record breaker. I am completely and utterly baffled by the very first panel of a comic page. Where do I begin with this? Well, let's start off with the one thing we can't get around: It's a Tardis, it's a freaking Tardis!

 

Secondly, Oh, the many appearance questions, like why it looks like a circus tent, or why is this zone apparently called "Triple Trouble". Why is there a police light on top the box? Why are there three entrances? Do the three entrance go into three different areas? Why are there three words of "In You Go" on the top of the Entrances? To top it off, without Knuckles there or even Robotnik, I must stress this again: WHY IS IT CALLED TRIPLE TROUBLE!? GAAAH!

 

Thirdly and finally: The Half Chaos Emerald not only manipulated reality to create a whole new  zone, a whole new area of land on the planet, but manipulated dimensional space to compress that new area of land into a circus tent-like Tardis the size of an escape pod?

 

Chaos Halfsy!: 4

 

Now that we're finally off that panel, We see the silhouette figure from before talking to Robotnik while spying on Sonic, ...and unwisely, yet sensibly shuts him up with a mute button.

 

"The Computer in my Sky-cycle is programmed to mimic Sonic's every move." ~ ???

 

...

 

I'm going to assume you mean "TRACK" Sonic's every move. Since I don't care how advanced it is, I think it'd be very difficult to mimic a person's every move without a freaking set of arms and legs. Ignoring that, who the heck designed his sky-cycle's computer if it can track a hedgehog that could break the sound barrier with his feet if he wanted to!?

 

So we FINALLY turn the next page when...Oh, this just keeps getting better. The next two pages have Sonic, still in this place, going through SIX different zones instead of one like we thought, and they're ALL compressed in that single place! 

 

...Did the Half Chaos Emerald just Out-Tardis the Tardis!?

 

Chaos Halfsy!: 5

 

Ok, I get what Gallagher was trying to do here. This is a Game Adaptation, a tie-in for Sonic Triple Trouble, and as such he needed to put those worlds onto the map, and yes, they'll probably never use them again after this, and they don't, and I understand this is for kids technically, but even still. There had to be a more sensible way of doing this then dropping a half of an emerald down and boom magical Tardis. There's just...Wait a minute...The next page, Atomic destroyer...Is that Robotnik? ...How the...But how is he...I...I...Oh, just show it.

 

 

And for the record, I'm adding creaing a temporal duplicate of somebody as an additional power from these half emeralds.

 

Chaos Halfsy!: 6

 

So after that little mess, Sonic races out of the realm's exit into what I can only assume is the core area of the Tardis in the form of a small chamber for the Chaos Emerald Half. Shutting down the...umm...What is he shutting down? Did they explain that anywhere? ...Anyways, he turns off...whatever he turned off, and gets the emerald, only to be blind sided by a backshot by what I can only guess is a giant stun gun, where held by the silhouette now in color. Ladies and Gentlemen, for the first time in Archie comics, meet Nack the Weasel, the infamous gunslinging bounty hunting weasel, ...And he won't appear in much of anything I will be reviewing, but he will be appearing in plenty of issues and stories that Skye will be reviewing so keep an eye out.

 

So Chapter 2 ends on that note as we enter chapter three with Nack contacting Eggman and reports his achievement to him, a dazed up Sonic tied up by a rock. He, of course, does the mercenary trick of wanting double for any extra demands, to which Robotnik accepts (and is most likely lying) as Nack grabs Sonic and heads for the other emerald half.

 

Meanwhile, Knuckles is just waking up, apparently surviving his self-kabob, saved by three masked...dinosaurs?

 

Actually not just any dinosaurs, these are the Ancient Walkers, a triad of immortal god-like dinosaurs that work as sort of a cross between guardians and watchers of Mobius, and they are the beings I refer to when I say the phrase "The Walkers wills it.". Personally I like them; their masks have a signature design you can immediately recognize, and they rarely ever talk, giving hints in some other ways for the people who seeks their advice. They're important in both Sonic and Knuckles' story lines, so expect to see them often in both my and Skye's reviews.

 

Anyways, even so, it's probably not wise to have a pointy stick that could very easily be assumed to be a weapon to loom overhead psycho-style. But I guess the pointiness is needed to work like a pen. Gotta say, they're impressive artists. They managed to make colorful murals from just a single bowl of red paint.

 

So according to the murals they gave Knuckles: The emerald that shot out and is currently digging through his island is heading for the chaos that's keeping the Island he lives on afloat via a magnetic attraction to it. But since it's an unstable half emerald waiting to go nuclear, if it hits touches the whole emerald, the energy imbalance will cause an explosion of nuclear proportions and blow the Island to kingdom come.

 

...Ok, So it's capable of a magnetic attraction with another Chaos Emeralds to a point where it can dig through solid stone...

 

Chaos Halfsy!: 7

 

...and once touching a whole emerald, can cause a giant explosion capable of annihilating an entire continent?

 

Chaos Halfsy!: 8

 

Now, ok, to be fair...It's possible the magnetic attraction part doesn't count. You could say that, since Tails stated in Sonic Adventures 2 that the Chaos Emeralds all share a magnetic attraction to each other, and that they can use that to find other emeralds, so the Emeralds DO already have that ability. ...I say, however, that I can guarantee that a Chaos emerald wouldn't be DRILLING THROUGH SOLID STONE to get to the other emeralds. I bet if Tails had a half emerald instead of a whole one in his hands at the time, it'll fly out of his hands, head to space, penetrate the space colony ARK and cause a power imbalance that blows the ARK to kingdom come and possibly take the planet with it!

 

So Knuckles Panics that he needs to get back to the Island so that he can stop this from happening, and the Ancient Walkers reply by putting the paint to his nose to make him smell it. ...So that's why Boom Knuckles lost all his intelligence. It makes so much sense now! Also, apparently the Pterodactyl can change its size, since in one panel he's normal, and the next he's on other's mask beak.

 

Anyways, the next thing Knuckles knows, he's back on his island in a forest, and just in time as Nack comes driving through with the other emerald half and Sonic in tow. Doing what Knuckles does best: Making assumptions, he does what he also does best as Nack heads his way: hides in the bushes for a surprise uppercut to the Weasel's face. Because if it can work on Super Sonic, it can work on anything.

 

The Sky cycle lands in the ocean with Sonic in the trunk, waking up in his worse nightmare.Heading up to the surface and spotting Knuckles and an unconscious weasel, the two do what THEY do best: Make assumptions about each other and start yet another brawl. CUE THE FIGHT MUSIC!

 

Uhh...Knux, Isn't there something more important you have to do? A certain half-cut god emerald to stop...it's still digging you know...no? You just want to fight with Sonic yet again? ...Alright, I'm sure the emerald can wait for you to settle your score with him for the upteenth ti-

 

 

So they continued to fight until Robotnik's impatient leads him to contact Nack and ask about the location of the other half, to which Knuckles and Sonic stopped fighting to try and puppet Nack into responding. After this, Knuckles apparently remembered that his island only has seconds before doomsday and the two head towards the Chaos chamber with the emerald in hand. They come with second to spare and throws the half emerald at the other half, automatically merging them into a whole emerald and gives a hammer to the laws of physics yet again.

 

Chaos Halfsy!: 9

 

(The couple of times whole emeralds did merge together, it was with special conditions being met, so it counts.)

 

So as the emerald merges the two are teleported back to the surface with the emerald that caused this mess vanished from their hand. They of course start blaming each other but realize wuickly it wasn't cause of either of them. Sonic decides to head on home, by using the remote control switch on Nack's apparently waterproof sky-cycle, ties him up, and with the two still not trusting of each other, Sonic runs on home with the day saved.

 

But wait, what happened to the emerald? Well, apparently the Ancient Walkers knew Chaos Control before anyone else, so they sent Sonic and Knuckles back to the surface, drew a circle in some sort of wasteland and summons the emerald to that circle. How did that worked? Why do they have the emerald now? What do they do with that emerald? Never explained. At least not to my memory. I'd guess it has something to do with the story arc of a certain main character, but I don't necessarily remember.

 

And that was Triple Trouble...What can I even say about this? It's one of the most insane sonic comics I've seen thus far, and I've seen Sonic In Your Face....AND the Fleetway stuff!

 

Now, to Gallagher's credit. Like I said, this is the 90s. Logic back then was still recovering from a labotomy it was given in the 80s and was replaced by its brother which became known as comic logic, but no one remembered to mention that he's a middle school drop out. So you can get away with this kind of insanity back then without much problem. Plus, I saw the story of the actual game, where Robotnik was trying to, guess what, BUILD AN EMERALD POWERED SUPER WEAPON and Knuckles was HELPING him do that, while Nack was just around in the neighborhood. So obviously things had to be changed and Nack and Knuckles had to be rearranged in terms of position. Plus, like I also said, you had to bring in 6 zones from a Game Gear game that probably will never be explored again.

 

That said, something called Triple Trouble, should have three forces fighting against Sonic and Robotnik was the only one not doing crap. All he did was make this situation happen, call up Nack and ordered him around. He couldn't have at least sent a Badnik to assist or something? At least Knuckles and Sonic had their fight. Yeah it was for a dumb reason, but they had it.

 

Overall, Not quite a terrible story, but one that could have been done a whole lot better.

 

5/10

 

------------------------

 

Normally, I'd skip story two since it's a Tails one. ...BUT, since it's in the middle and it's short, I'll give a small review of it.

 

Story 2: Submersible Rehearsal

 

It's very much an average, but not bad solo comic with Tails. I still can't help but question Rotor making a submarine with a drill and active torpedoes. No, I don't care if it's without oil, (Which, by the way, sounds very hypocritical for these supposedly freedom fighting environmentalists. Let's stop Robotnik from polluting the air with his factories and machines by using oil-fueled machines of our own. Classy.) If you're going to treat him like a child, DON'T WEAPONIZE HIS PERSONAL SUBMARINE!

 

Also, how the heck did he suck all the oil from the Seagull anyways? Must have been a pain. Anyways, he heads down, destroys a rebuilt underwater roboticizer, once again saving the day without anyone knowing it.

 

Nothing special, but nothing that harmful either.

 

6/10

 

-----------------------

 

Story 3: First Contact

 

So much for that vacation, eh Knux?

 

The comic begins with him apparently saving the hide of Vector the Crocodile who...wow, he was really skinny back then huh...and stereotypical with his words, though a stereotype of what I leave up to you. But possible stereotype aside, one must wonder why a crocodile would be travelling anywhere near a freaking volcano in the first place.

 

Anyways, after Knuckles saved his croc friend from getting a red-hot bubble bath, he apparently has...'dreadlock-smelling-sense' I guess, and hears a low sound coming from behind some bushes. The only thing being there is a rock with the word "Archimedes".

 

"Archimedes? Sounds like a History Lesson" ~ Knuckles

 

Actually it's more like a Math lesson, since the name comes from a historical mathmatician of the same name.

 

Anyways, confused by how quickly the one who etched the name on solid rock like that and disappearing without him knowing it, he decides to investigate. He first heads to a bird named Catweazle and asks if he saw anything, to which says no and Knuckles walks off. Bye Catweazle, looking forward to never seeing you again.

 

As Knuckles thinks about it, he gets blasted by a bit of fire, to which he dodges. I told you it wasn't a good idea to have a volcano underneath the ground. No, actually it's one of the giant flamethrowing marbles from way back in Sonic #13. ...I can't help but wonder why one would be here since they don't exactly have arms to carry off the Chaos Emerald, and I'd assume Robotnik would have used his resources for other approaches. Maybe he just forgot about it, but if that's the case, why would it have activated now?

 

"Well, I'm through being everyone's pigeon." ~ Knuckles

 

...Huh.

 

So Knuckles hides behind a rock and ponders about the situation. Since one of Robotnik's robots are here, it's easy to assume Robotnik himself is as well. As such he quickly disposes of the robot by...Throwing flaming mud at it?

 

You know what? I think that just answered my question. Robotnik just didn't care and left it there. Clearly it must have been a malfunctioning defect if it can blow up because it got mud on it.

 

So after that pathetic display on the marble's part, he walks to find Robotnik, only to find one of the lumberjacks from Sonic and Knuckles. Which leads me to once again ask: Why is it there? Did Robotnik have a shortage of wood to burn to power something now that his pollution device's chaos emerald is gone? As you might expect Knuckles makes quick work of that bot as well, rather easily I might add if a simple kick to the face made it blow up. It's no wonder now how Sonic always takes them down, their armor is apparently made of alluminum foil.

 

One bad cut pun later, Knuckles is about ready to restart his search when suddenly he drops down below right into the Chaos Chamber. ...Uhh, isn't Knuckles supposed to know every last thing about the island's secret passages? Or did the one he's chasing actually make a giant hole that leads into the Chaos Chamber on his own? Either way, probably not a good idea to have a hole in the sealing of the most important room on the island.

 

He then gets what I could only assume is a telepathic conversation with the person he's been chasing, assuming he's Robotnik and vowing to throw him off the island.

 

"First you think I'm some hedgehog, then a Mad Tyrant!" ~ ???

 

Well, yeah, I'm sure you noticed by now, he might be smart but he's not too bright. Anyways, the person claims himself to be Archimedes, the name he imprinted on the rock for Knuckles to find. He claims that Knuckles is apparently having a lesson, part of which being this little game of hide and seek.

 

"Only when you can find me, will we know that you are capable of seeing the answer within the question." ~ Archimedes

 

...So you want him to play Jeopardy then?

 

"You are too quick to act, not one to reflect." ~ Archimedes

 

REALLY NOW? Is that right? Oh, this is rich, coming from the guy who would one day sever Archie from ever being able to 'reflect' on the past again, due to a rather spontaneous lawsuit on YOUR part.

 

Now to his credit, this was said long ago, in the 90s. I'm sure that back then he never thought that this would ever happen like it did, and there was no way he could have known that this was going to happen. I understand that. Even so, I can't help but be amused by the sheer irony of those words; and don't even get me STARTED on the irony it creates for Sega themselves. Remind me again what Sonic Team was doing 8 years ago?

 

 

That's what I thought. ^_^ (For the record, I'm actually a fan of both Sonic Unleashed and Sonic and the Black Knight. This is purely satirical.)

 

So Archimedes takes his leave, leaving Knuckles to echo in the Chaos Chamber as to how to find him, and our comic ends with Knuckles sitting by a cliffside talking with Vector, stating how he needs to solve the puzzle of Archimedes.

 

This was, much like the last story of the last issue, not much to write home about. It continued what will be the start of Knuckle's solo story, but not much actually happened. It was a small chase to catch Archimedes which led to fighting two classic angel island bots, and the revelation that Archimedes was in fact the same person that Knuckles chased in Fire Drill. Catweazle I don't think ever appears again, and in fact Vector and Archimedes is the only other ones besides Knuckles that will. Still, it wasn't bad, just...average, nothing to really write home about.

 

6/10

 

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Which just about sums up this entire special. None of it is bad per se, ok, except for a few things in Triple Trouble, but besides that, it wasn't bad, just...average, just ok. As a Game Adaptation, I suppose it does the best it could, albeit by rushing through the stages, and it's not a bad first outing for Nack the Weasel's debut into Archie. But it could have been so much more though. Triple Trouble promises the idea that Sonic and Tails would have to fight against Knuckles, Nack, and Robotnik, and while Tails got his own solo story, Robotnik doesn't even do much of anything in this story whatsoever. All he does is cause the start of the story, hires Nack, and orders him around. That's it. Sonic and Robotnik don't even have an encounter with each other what so ever. I understand they couldn't use the actual story of the game, since that would make Knuckles look like an idiot, and kudos for choosing not to do that. But there's still could've been SO MUCH you could do with a concept like this, and with that in mind it just seems ultimately lazy.

 

6/10

 

Next Issue: Knuckles' Chaotix!