Knuckles #13: The Chaotix Caper, Book One of Three

"The Unsuspecting!"

Reviewed by Chaos Theory T. Echidna, June 27, 1999

TRILOGY INTRODUCTION/SUMMARY

The main verdict? I liked it. My reviews of these three things may not be the same as if I had reviewed them in "real-time" (i.e., having to wait until the next issue came out next month to read and review the next one) because they were, of course, old by the time I got to them. Ah, the glory of back-issues. So I got to read them all three in a row. Anyway, in general, I liked it. There were a few things I would have perhaps drawn differently and a couple of lines of corny dialogue here and there--and I could have done without the Knuckles Himself plotline altogether, as it had NOTHING to do with this particular story and somewhat took away from it--but altogether, it was good. This was the trilogy that made me change my mind once and for all on exactly WHO my favourite Chaotix member was--just before they got RID of him! (Waah!) This was the trilogy that made me decide that I liked Julie-Su after all, when at first I wasn't sure WHAT I thought of her. This trilogy REALLY introduced me to the city of Echidnaopolis and showed me that it was much more than an extremely unoriginal and unpronouncable name. And last but not least, this trilogy marks the first time that I have managed to read a Knuckles comic story-thread all the way through and actually UNDERSTAND it!
Final score: "The Chaotix Caper" gets points for good in-depth characterization and real emotion, humour, good artwork for the most part, excitement, and an interesting plot. It looses points for a couple of rather stereotyped characters, a bit of minor confusion on exactly WHAT do certain characters look like, and the fact that they wrote my favourite straight out of the series! But on the other paw, they GAIN a point back for the classy WAY in which they wrote that character out. In case anyone here doesn't know already I won't say who I'm talking about there, to avoid spoilers. Now, on to the comic review itself!

The cover's always a good place to start, so let's start there. The first thing you'll notice is this HUGE, transparent, ghostly image of Knuckles' head superimposed on the entire thing. I guess they did it that way to symbolise the fact that this IS still technically his comic even if he does only get a bit part in this particular trilogy. Frankly, to me it looks a bit creepy. Like "I always feel like somebody's watchin' mee...." oh, wait, '80s song reference there, never mind...Anyway, a bit eerie. The rest of the cover is taken up by a dark, gloomy city-scape shot of Echidnaopolis, and I think having it all lit by nothing but stark yellow street-lamps and spot-lights is very effective and really adds to the mood. There is a skyscraper, an unfamiliar new character in the background, and as for the "Buy Sonic Comics!" advertisement on the wall (complete with spotlights under it, no less!)--I'm not sure if that's tackily humourous, humourously tacky, or just plain tacky without the humour! But by far your eye will be drawn to poor Charmy in the bottom right part of the page, looking down sadly at the broken, limp form of a character that we will come to know is his buddy, Mello Bumblebee. (I must note here that I like Mello's funky large, clunky hiking boots, his gloves, and that scarf is a definite "fashion-DO". Charmy should try wearing one sometime.) But for all the details in this picture, the one spot I can't stop looking at is that tear in Charmy's little eye. Oh, geez...sniff. Waitaminnit, REAL EMOTION from a major character? Wow, something strange is going on here...
Okay, now the intro page. It's a pretty standard group shot, with the characters lined up like this: Vector, Remington, (who is not TECHNICALLY a member of the Chaotix but evidently hired them in an earlier issue I missed), Julie-Su, Espio, and Mighty, with Charmy flying above them between Espio and Mighty. Just a couple of comments here: I LOVE Charmy's pose, it's so dang CUTE! The angle he's flying at makes him look a lot more like a real bee than a bee-person--he's not flying in a standing-upright way, he's flying in a laying-on-his-stomach position, so that his wings and antennae stick straight up and his stinger sticks straight back--like I said, much more insectoid. The hands and feet sticking out at strange angles is funny, too. And on an unrelated note--why on MOBIUS is Mighty holding onto his EAR with one hand?! Whatever...weird little armadillo...
Intro page: Tells us that Knuckles is trying to make his way back from some place called "Arion" that he visited in an earlier comic I have not read, and tells us that he's put the Chaotix into his job of taking care of things in Echidnaopolis--and that Julie-Su is a new member, and her "loyalties are uncertain". It has a nice "clear" picture of all five members behind the words.
Now onto the story proper.
The first page sees a new character, Harry the Dingo, driving his cab around Echidnaopolis. It's done in first-person point of view in a rather gritty-detective/film-noir style, and I like the stylized dark buildings of the city at night with their weird angles and shapes. The Morrissey poster on the wall and bits of garbage on the street are nice touches. As for Harry himself, he's pretty well drawn. I especially like the slouchy clothes, the pot-belly, the hair in the eyes, the long, sloppy shoelaces, and the bitter, cynical expression. Very descriptive. Anyway, he then hears someone yelling for help and on the next page we see that it's none other than our own Charmy Bee, who is leaning over the crumpled form of another bee. (I should mention here that in this particular picture, you can see CLEARLY that that black-with-red-trim thing on Charmy's head is a pilot's helmet--that it's SEPERATE, not part of his actual head--because you can see a bit of the yellow head underneath. I say this not because it's important to anything, but later on they draw him as if his HEAD is black and red, not the hat, but in my story I've got it so that he can take his hat OFF and he has fluffy blonde hair underneath. ONE picture in this trilogy backs me up, another doesn't, MAKE UP YOUR MIND!) Anyway, this picture is pretty cool, what with all the posters, garbage, and grafitti--like I said, one of the main reasons I like this trilogy so much is because it makes Echidnaopolis look so real and living--and reluctantly, Harry decides to help Charmy and his friend. He doesn't call for an ambulance like Charmy asked, instead, he puts them both in his cab and somehow radioes ahead to the hosptital to let them know he's coming. The night ride at high speeds through the streets was cool-looking. Then when they get there...I know the main echidna doctor is supposed to be imitating George Clooney's character from E.R. (which I have never watched, don't want to, and DON'T even think he's cute)--but I'm sorry, that dark brown buzz-cut on top of his red head is SOOOO phony and stupid looking. Anyway, Harry tries to figure out how to get away as poor Charmy stands there frozen in terror, but then Constable Remington comes bursting in, asking what's wrong, because he thinks that CHARMY is the one who was hurt--he heard about a victim matching his description. (Racist! "All bees look alike." Hmph! I've never been so insulted in my life! Hee hee.) Then Harry tries to leave AGAIN, but this time he is stopped by Vector's slamming the door into his face, HARD (ouch) as he comes into the room, followed by Espio. Then Vector gets confused as to why Charmy is so gosh-darned LARGE at the moment (frankly, I was wondering that too!) and then we find out that in the comic book version of the Sonic universe, bees evidently have the ability to change from a "flight-mode" size--which is about the size of a normal insect--to a "normal mode" size--which is about the size of Tails, I guess. Pretty darn HUGE for a bug! Then Vector asks AGAIN, Espio says, "He just EXPLAINED why!" and Remington says, "Obviously, it's a sign of the lad's stress!" a line that confused me a bit. Does he mean that Vector's asking twice is a sign that VECTOR is stressed, or that Charmy's being the wrong size is a sign of HIS being stressed? Probably the latter, but it was still a bit vague. ANYway, Mighty then helps Harry to his feet (with one hand, showoff) and the doctor--whose name is LOONY (would YOU let a guy named "Loony" operate on you? Neither would I!) comes in to give Charmy the bad news. Then we get the most ADORABLE and really really SAD pictures of Charmy as he first snivels with the initial shock and then FLINGS himself onto the shoulder of Harry and CRIES HIS LITTLE EYES OUT! Amazing for a Sonic character...probably the fact that he's only one member of the background crew allowed the creators of this issue to get away with it...You might think it strange that he chose to cry on the shoulder of a total stranger, but I don't think there was a "chose" about it--I think he just FLUNG himself onto the nearest solid object--it could have been a wall and I don't think he would have noticed or cared. It's a very emotional scene.
Harry then wonders if he would have been better off driving a delivery truck like Jollie--and then we cut to Jollie the Dingo, driving a truck for something called "Rainbow Delivery" (and since when are the colours of the rainbow in the order of blue, green, red, and yellow?) to the backlot of some carnival-ish looking place, where a grey horse-person (! first of THOSE I've ever seen!) takes the order while complaining that it is late. Jollie has the typical macho truck-driver look, with a bandanna around his head and a flannel shirt with the sleeves ripped off. We then see that Jollie and Horse-Boy are being watched by Renfield T. Rodent, who is mad that the ingredients--for WHAT we don't know yet--have taken so long to arrive. Supposedly, he first appeared in the Chaotix special adaptation of the 32-X game of that name, but I have not read that so I wouldn't know. Anyway, I found Renfield a MUCH better villian than the guy who's watching HIM on ANOTHER monitor elsewhere--"DOWNTOWN EBONY HARE!!" (the way the words are done, you can just HEAR them being yelled.) Renfield is at least deliciously slimy, sneaky, and two-faced, whereas Downtown is an obnoxious overdone cliche. He looks like a "Pimp-Daddy" bunny rabbit. I like the sunglasses, though. He says that he's now ready to "make a real KILLING!" and then we switch back to our heroes.
The Chaotix are all sitting around as Remington gets ready to question Charmy, but first they have to wait for Julie-Su to arrive. I don't know WHY she and Vector don't get along, but MAN, they DON'T! She stomps in in a bad mood 'cos it took her so long to find the others and was never TOLD where they are, then Vector says something about how they didn't know which ROCK to look under and she asks him how he likes the taste of his own teeth. Remington then threatens to not only give them detention AND call their parents but also put this on their "Permanent Records" before getting down to business with Charmy.
Now we learn, in a flashback, that Charmy's friend was named Mello (if he appeared in an earlier issue, I missed it; page 10 of Knux 13 is the first time I actually heard his name) and that he and Charmy were coming home from Happyland amusement park--which was supposed to have been shut down after the Chaotix special issue--but was reopened under "new management"--when Mello begins feeling ill. This is going to make me sound rather cold-blooded, but I am GLAD they killed Mello. As a small part in flashbacks, he's bearable, but his EXTREMELY slangy speech patterns grate on my nerves. He makes Vector sound NORMAL. (The comic book version, I mean.) Lines like "This place looks like DA BOMB" or, in issue #14, "Yo, Charms m'budsman, how's it flyin'?" get old REAL fast. Another note: While I do think that the scarf is definite flying-creature tres chic, I don't think he looks DIFFERENT enough from Charmy for me to be able to tell he's another entire species (a bumblebee instead of a honeybee.) To make him look more like a bumblebee, I would have made him a LOT bigger than Charmy, not just somewhat, really fat and squatty, and FURRY. But all he has are long, gangly arms and legs to make him taller and a different pattern of stripes on his antennae--if I hadn't been TOLD he's a bumblebee I wouldn't have known. Ah, well. At any rate, Mello serves a much better purpose dead, as a means of getting inside Charmy's feelings and background than he would have as a living character. Anyway, back to Charmy's story--Mello started acting weird after they left the park and rambled about feeling "burning hot" and seeing "sunbursts and purple unicorns and rainbow fields that go on forever......." and then he collapsed and started twitching and screaming--and it was too late. Remington then tries to figure out WHY this happened. He explains to the group that lately they've been getting LOTS of cases--all of them youngsters--of people suffering from "Lemon Sundrop Dandelion" (SNARK) poisoning. It's as if they somehow became chemically dependent on it overnight! It must have been in something they ate, but what? Nice rather anime-style closeups of Remmy and Julie on this page, by the way. (I like Remington's floppy black bangs, hee hee.) Then we have...a commercial for JUNK FOOD! This is HYSTERICAL if you ask me. Not EXACTLY the right place to put an ad like that! Anyway, after that strangely-timed interlude from Frito-Lay, back to our heroes as Remington tells the Chaotix--whom he has hired in earlier issues I missed--to go check out Happyland. Charmy wants to know why the other people were fine after sleeping the drug off, but Mello died. Remington says he doesn't know. Well, _I_ have an idea. It's because the bees are SMALLER, you doofus! Same amount of poison + smaller body = a higher concentration. It reaches the heart, lungs, and brains faster, and the person is more likely to die. DUH.
We now take a break from your regularly-scheduled program to visit Locke and...I believe his name is Sabre? (the whole Guardians/Haven thing is a part of the Knux plotline that continues to elude me) as they watch Knuckles working his way back to you, babe--erm, I mean, from someplace called "The Badlands" on their monitor. Knuckles then hears some strange loud sounds and sees some very bright lights and, because his mama didn't RAISE no stupid hatchlings, quickly runs out of the way. Locke then decides to help Knuckles somehow even if it is against the rules when they both suddenly go "WOW, LOOK AT THAT!" and he never does get around to helping him...
Back to the REAL story--not that I dislike Knux, but (a) his storyline has so little to do with the plot of this trilogy, it feels tacked on and filler-ish, and (b) I find stories about losing friends, poison, sadness, the underside of a large city, crime, and sleaze MUCH more interesting than stories about special powers and mysticism. But that's just me. Anyway, we rejoin our heroes as they complain about how far a walk it is to Happyland, and so Charmy then shows them how he gets his name--by getting a cab--conveniently driven by the same guy we met earlier, Harry--to drive ALL FIVE Chaotix members a long distance, on his on-duty time, for FREE! (I can only assume they're broke at the moment. Well, how do you suspect these little nekkid guys carry ANYTHING, without any clothes?!) This was a nice touch, because it allowed Charmy to show how truly USEFUL he is--sometimes, super-strength, speed, flying, punching, spin-dashing, or climbing doesn't cut it--sometimes, you need SOCIAL skills. And that's what Charmy has. If he was a D&D character, his charisma would have to be at least 17! However, my problem with this page is the EXTREMELY sappy look that Charmy gives Harry--complete with FLOWERS AND HEARTS circling his head!!--that makes it look as if he is IN LOVE with the male dingo! (!) I mean, not even Amy Rose ever looked at Sonic with quite such a dreamy-eyed sighing expression! Scary...I can only assume it was not intentional, but it was a BIG mistake on the part of the artist...I suppose he was meant to be "charming" Harry into giving them the free ride, BUT...
The REALLY funny part of this is that Harry's monologue has him thinking, "I'd seen that look before--and it was usually accompanied by a capital 'T' as in 'Trouble'!" Trouble, all right, but in a different way than the writer intended... Anyway, we then see the group piled into the car--Charmy STANDING on the front seat and sticking most of his torso out the window while Julie-Su, who seems to be in a PERPETUALLY bad mood, grumps next to him with her arms crossed. Maybe she wanted the window seat? And Espio, Vector, and the happily-staring-out-the-window Mighty are in the back. (I mention Mighty's position 'cos he's got EXACTLY the same look on his face that _I_ always have on car trips--I practically always stare at the scenery with a big silly grin rather than talk to the other people in the car.) Vector asks the classic question, "Are we there yet?" and Julie-Su offers to give him some free dental work. Espio tells them both to shut up, and Harry says that he'd rather let them fight it out and place bets! (This was one of my favourite INTENTIONALLY funny parts.) Then he lets them off at Happyland.
They decide to go look for "anything unusual where food is sold" as Charmy has a weird flashback in which he clearly remembers being distracted by a clown while Mello ordered a chili dog (um...I wasn't aware that bees even had TEETH, let alone liked to eat meat, but oh well...) and tells them that he DIDN'T see Mello eat anything here. I can only assume that the flashback was meant to tell US the whole story but he, of course, only saw the clown. (By the way, the picture of Charmy on the front page of my site is from this page. The FULL text of the words in the chopped-off speech balloons reads as follows: "Not that I can REMEMBER, no!" and "Maybe it was something Mello ate ELSEWHERE! How should I know?") Oh, and he also pulls his Amazing Shrinking Bee-Man trick here, going from the size of a smallish Furry to the size of a normal bee, right in front of our eyes. Or more specifically, right in front of Julie-Su's nose.
Then we switch back to Harry, who, despite his resolve NOT to ever get involved with other people's problems, is starting to not only feel like he's made a mistake in getting involved with the Chaotix...but also starting to feel FOR them...
We then switch to Downtown again in his limo with his lovely lady friend--a vixen who, we will find out later, is named "Foxie" (like THAT'S original. But it fits her.) Sure, her head is too big for her body and she's a TRAMPY little thing, what with her furs, garter belt, slit-up-the-side strapless miniskirt dress, FISHNET stockings no less, and high-heeled shoes, but I think she's PRETTY. She's got really cool sharp exotic features and large, slanty, almond-shaped blue eyes with long eyelashes, and fluffy red hair. But here's an interesting question: WHY is a NAKED or mostly-naked Furry considered normal and clean, but one who's wearing clothes that are skimpy but DO cover her privates considered trampy?!! Makes NO sense...ANYway, Downtown is right near Harry's cab and he (Harry) doesn't know it yet.
Back to the amusement park, they don't find anything and Julie-Su says everything appears "copacetic" (excuse me while I spin-dash for the nearest dictionary: HUH?) and the IDIOT Chaotix--all except Julie--start EATING THE FOOD!! Even Charmy, who you would THINK would be too scared to risk it! Or at LEAST too busy grieving to have an appetite! But at any rate, they all start chowing down except for our suspicious, bad-tempered pink echidna grrrl, who is the only one smart enough to stay away from it. Well, it only makes SENSE that a FEMALE would be the one with BRAINS. Heh heh heh. This is when I first started deciding that I LIKED Julie-Su. At first I automatically didn't like her 'cos she was Knuckles' girlfriend and I wanted to be the one to make up that character, thank you VERY much, but now, I am beginning to actually like her in her own right. (And by the way, the picture of Mighty on my front page is ALSO from here: he's saying "Guess this means--the food must be safe!")
Back to Renfield, who says, actually SAYS, "Happy! Happy! Joy! Joy!" (he's obviously been watching WAY too much "Ren and Stimpy"--waaaiiit....Ren...Renfield...?!) because his "special" chili dogs are such a hit. Then Downtown and his...uh......"lady friend" stomp in and Downtown actually SAYS the word "homeboy" (yerk) and tells him he'll be his new partner, and that from now on Renfield will be doing things HIS way or be beaten silly by a bulldog flunky named Blackjack (who does NOT have a blackjack, but rather wears brass knuckles.)
Back to our heroes, they are all starting to get ill now, as you might imagine. Vector asks what's spinning, Charmy says it feels like his head is being hit by a sledgehammer, (I know the feeling, it's how I feel after hours and hours of updating this stupid website--heh heh heh), and Espio throws up in the background. Then Vector takes off his headphones for the first time (that I'VE seen) to rub his temples and then passes out (and he has BLUE eyelids--funky), Mighty runs off yelling "Come back here, little birdies!" (hee hee) and Charmy starts quoting rock lyrics. "Catch me now, I'm FAALLLLIIINGG!" (while standing on tip-toes and WAVING HIS ARMS to "fly"--and he already HAS a perfectly good pair of WINGS!--that made me crack up once I thought about it) and Julie-Su asks him what's wrong repeatedly. His only answer is that he can "see for miles and miles". The very last page of this issue is just done so RIGHT, in my opinion. We see Charmy and Julie-Su standing together in the centre of a whirlwind of distorted, melty, psychedelic-looking images of the other characters' faces, all in monochrome, and dripping and splashing surreally like that Salvador Dali painting of the clocks. (I think it's called "The Persistence of Memory" but that's not important right now.) This is a great picture; the creepiness of the faces, the way Julie-Su is standing near Charmy as if to protect him and looking up into the air with this scared look on her face, and Charmy's CRAZED expression, with his eyes all cracked and bloodshot and one pupil significantly larger than the other. (We also at this point discover that his eyes are a rather gorgeous shade of cobalt blue.) He tells her to "take a journey to the center of my mind, Julie-Su!"--
--and we'll have to wait until next issue to see if everyone'll be all right....



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tourists have visited the Happyland Amusement Park since June 28, 1999...and they're STILL having flashbacks...those that are still ALIVE, that is...BWAHAHAHAHA!!!