Knuckles the Echidna, Volume 18
"Deep Cover, Part Two: Debt of Honor"
Reviewed by Chaos Theory T. Echidna
October 10, 1999.
Now, I REALLY like this cover. When you put it alongside the cover of Knuckles #17, you'll understand why--it's just WONDERFUL symbolic irony. On the cover of the first part of this storyline, we saw a ghostly image of Knuckles watching over the battle between Tobor and a Dark Legionnaire (Moritori Rex). Now, on the cover of this issue, we see a ghostly image of TOBOR watching over KNUCKLES' battle with a Dark Legionnaire! (Kragok) Oh, man, can we say...turnabout? The circle closes in upon itself? History repeating? I knew you could. Just perfect visual sybolism there. (Only one little quibble--the way they've go the images superimposed, and the way Tobor is turned the opposite direction from what Knuckles was (other than that, it's the same pose exactly) it looks as if Remington, in the background, is WEARING a giant fist on his head. Hey, whatever...)
Born on an Island in the heavens, the blood of his ancestors flows inside him....wait, I mean, we've got the intro-page thingie again. This time, it sums up what happened in the last issue--Tobor lost to the Dark Legion on his first day as Guardian and wandered the planet until he met Julie-Su and immediately tried to disconnect her limbs from the rest of her body, then Knuckles embraced him back into the family, yada yada yada. Then it goes on to say that Knuckles senses a larger, more insidious Dark Legion plot behind all of this, so THAT'S why he's gone to talk to Kragok--who appears to be the only Dark Legionnaire successfully bred in captivity. Uh, no, I mean he's in jail. And we're back to the happy family reunion at Lara-Le's apartment.
This first bit confuses me somewhat...the intro page names Tobor as Knuckles' grandfather, then LARA-LE calls him "Grandfather". I assume she means "grandfather-IN-LAW", but still, which generation is he FROM? Is he Locke's father, or Locke's GRANDfather? I'm confused. Anyway, Lara-Le asks him about the problem she's been bugged with ever since #16 (and before)--which did Tobor consider more important--being a Guardian, or being a husband and father?
Tobor said he never really thought about it--he just assumed that BOTH things would happen to him in time, and that that was just the natural order of things. What he DIDN'T expect was the fact that it would be almost impossible to do both jobs at once! Little quibble with the artwork here: On the bottom panel, Lara-Le has suddenly turned from red to pink. I guess she's pale with shock...? Oh, yeah, and her eyes turned from green to pale blue. Weird.
Anyway, we then cut back to Kragok's jail cell, as Knuckles proceeds to re-enact the last scene of #17, for any of you who may have missed it--he tells Remington to lock him in WITH Kragok, again. (I LOVE the way they drew the Constable here.) Kragok, who looks more like a Borg than ANY other Legionnaire I've ever seen (the spinny-claw thingie on the end of his left arm makes me think that immediately. And his red, mechanical eye.) sneers that it's about TIME Knuckles decided to "grace them with his presence. Remington at first refuses to grant Knuckles' request, but Knux says HE promises not to hurt KRAGOK (ha ha. I have laughed. And by the way, he breaks that promise about TWO SECONDS INTO THE INTERROGATION!) Remington then very reluctantly locks the door, and Knuckles tells him to go away and NOT have his men waiting outside in case anything happens. This impresses Kragok for the first time, who thinks he is so wonderful that hardly ANYone would be "foolish enough" to go one-on-one against HIM! "Either you've got the biggest pair of knuckles I've ever seen, or else you're a complete fool! Which is it?"
Ya know, I'm sure glad this isn't being MiSTed by Crow T. Robot. I scored extremely high on the internet "Purity Test" and even _I_ think that line sounds dirty! "Biggest pair of" ANYthing has no place in this comic!
Back to Voyeurs R Us, as Locke is having a very hard time repairing the damaged systems. SUCH a hard time, in fact, that he's starting to suspect sabotage. (About TIME!) This worries the brown dude with the one missing eye and the white bands in his dreadlocks (actually, he looks a LOT like the echidnas from Sonic Adventure, not counting the cybernetics), whom Locke refers to as father. He reminds him that if it IS sabotage, that means it's gotta be one of the Brotherhood itself who did it--and that's one heck of a charge to accuse a Guardian of! Locke says that all he cares about right now is discovering the source of the problem and getting rid of it so they can get Haven back on-line, and we go back to Knuckles and Kragok.
Knuckles demands that Kragok tell him the secrets he knows about the Dark Legion's affairs--and Tobor in particular, he wagers. Kragok at first just laughs at him and tries to make a bargain, but Knuckles puts his hand around his throat and says that since he's the Guardian, he's "empowered to act as judge, jury--and you get the rest!" WAIT a minute, wait a minute, waitaminute. This really bothers me. I do NOT like the idea of any one person having that much power. The way I have the title "Guardian" in my own stories, it's just what Knuckles named himself after all the other echidnas disappeared, but here, it's WAY too strong. Not only does he get bowing-down respect from everywhere he goes, free meals, free clothing, have people calling him "Sir" all the time and feeling DEEPLY HONOURED if he even ALLOWS them to touch his shoe (I'm exaggerating, but only a little) but he's allowed to KILL PEOPLE whenever he wants?! ACK! That is just NOT RIGHT. Anyway, Kragok then makes another snotty remark and zaps Knux across the room with a bolt of electricity.
They fight each other for a bit and exchange cheesy puns, until all of a sudden, they both teleport to...somewhere...looks like outer space, for no reason. Kragok seems to recognise this place and is VERY upset he's come back here, but we won't find out where it is or WHAT it is until we're done with the family reunion again.
Lara-Le asks Tobor the question that was bothering ME in the last issue--how could Hawking have mistaken Moritori Rex for his own SON? Tobor explains that since he and Moritori were engaged in "mortal combat" (booming voice: FINISH HIM!!) when the surrounding structures collapsed on them (structures that, I would like to point out, were ORIGINALLY ancient marble pillars in #17, but have somehow now turned into Echidnaopolis-style modern skyscrapers) and both of them were badly injured. As Tobor lied there with his blood running down his face (eeww...) it didn't occur to him until later that the very NATURE of his injures might be what allowed Moritori to impersonate him! Tobor eventually lost his sight entirely, and had to go around with bandages over his eyes, then eventually have artificial ones put in. And it's possible that Moritori Rex's eyes suffered the same way--making his face look different, and also covering it for a while. He also could have feigned memory loss and also refused to talk to the others very much anymore. After all, it's not as if an aloof Guardian is anything NEW...
But how did his wife, Voni-Ca, not figure it out? Now THAT'S a good question. But we won't learn the answer now; it's back to the DARK LEGION INQUISITION! (which NOBODY expects, of course.)
Basically, Kragok refuses to tell Knuckles anything and makes snide comments while Knuckles threatens and pummels him some more. And we STILL don't know where the heck they are. Ho-hum. Let's see if there's anything good on the Haven channel...
Sabre, Spectre, and Sojourner argue for a bit about how it was AWFULLY CONVENIENT of that one little part to break down in that exact way, and they still have the Dark Legion to worry about--and if they were ever going to strike, now would be the best time! Whether the power failure was the result of a random accident or deliberate sabotage, however, the jury is still out on. Oh, come ON, you guys...
Finally, Kragok agrees to talk, figuring that his insurance probably won't cover all the damage he's getting. But first, he makes Knuckles tell him what he knows about Dimitri--that he tried to use the power of the Chaos Emeralds for his own purposes, until his brother Edmund stopped him. Edmund then became the first Guardian, and Dimitri, at the same time, eventually transformed into Enerjak, until Mammoth Mogul "cleaned his clock"! (In Sonic #56, which I DO have, unfortunately...) "That's it?" says Kragok in amazement, and then proceeds to tell him some MORE of the story. But not all of it, I'm certain, knowing him (and Ken Penders)...
Dimitri's son Menniker (HEY, the evil caterer who makes horrible coffee! Uh, inside joke...) founded the Dark Legion to get revenge, just the same as how his BROTHER, Edmund, had started the Guardians. Then Menniker killed Edmund. Ya following this so far? Unfortunately for him, Edmund's son, which would be...let's see...Menniker's cousin?--Steppenwolf, harnessed the power of Chaos Energy and used it to banish the Dark Legion to the "Twilight Zone", where Knuckles and Kragok are now. (You are entering a dimension of sight...and sound...) They (the Legion) kept trying to escape, but they were always stopped by whatever Guardian was in charge at the time. (The picture of the Guardian in the top right panel of this page looks JUST like the echidna version of Geordi LaForge from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Right down to the UNIFORM, which is almost a dead ringer! How often has Manny Galan WATCHED that show, anyway? I mean, first we had the Type 2 Shuttlecraft in #15, and now this... I'd also say it looks FEMALE, except that there has only been one female Guardian and she didn't look like that. But something about the figure and the eyes looks feminine to me.) For some odd reason, however, for every four generations that passed outside, only ONE generation passed within their Zone. Moritori Rex, who it turns out is Kragok's father, found out that he could watch people in the outside world without their being aware of it, so he then lured one Guardian into a trap so he could impersonate him and take over from within! Tobor, of course. And there you have it. (WAIT a second...according to the Female Furries Special, Moritori Rex is Kragok's GRANDfather! Mooommmeeeee, help, I'm confuuuuuuuuseeeeddddd!)By the way, the picture of the fake "Tobor" in his hospital bed with Voni-Ca and the little kid echidna beside him has now almost convinced me that the kid MUST be Tobor's SON, not his younger brother, so I guess that he and Voni-Ca got married when they were, what? FOURTEEN?! Geezus!
Knuckles asks where Moritori Rex is now, and instead of answering, Kragok quite LITERALLY "sucker-punches" him and goes through a wormhole. Yes, another one. Knuckles then decides what the hey, and flies through it as well. Never mind the fact that he has NO idea where it leads...
Lara-Le and Julie-Su are both pouring over the family albums (incidentally, the way Julie-Su is just totally acting like she IS a member of the family seems to be a precursor of things to come...I hope...) and Lara is amazed that there are NO pictures of Tobor or Voni-Ca anywhere! Well, of course, says the real Tobor, the enemy wouldn't want records of what he's really supposed to look like sitting around to contradict his story, would he? Then he senses a disturbance in the force--Knuckles is in trouble!--and flies out the window.
The top picture on page 18 is cool, but a little problem: Tobor says he is going to Knuckles' "aide". That would mean he's flying to his assistant, not to HELP him. (And who would that be, exactly? Espio? Mighty? Vector? Julie-Su? Remington? Archimedes?) Shoulda been "aid" without the "e". Anyway, Lara and Julie are both rather miffed that he didn't tell them anything at all about where he was going, (how WUDE!) and Lara says that she and Julie need to talk.
Tobor thinks to himself, as he flies through the air, that Knuckles must be projecting energy VERY intensely, since he can see his image in his cybernetic visual implants even from ACROSS A ZONE BOUNDARY! It's almost as if Knuckles has become a living Chaos Emerald! No Guardian has ever been able to wield so much power before! WHOAH! Well, if that's true, then I guess I can SORTA understand the Old Farts' freaking out about Knuckles all the time. I still think they're a bit overprotective/tyrannical, though. Anyway, Kragok then pops out of the wormhole, and for once, Tobor gets to fight a Dark Legionnaire that he SHOULD be fighting! They go into a major battle, Tobor unable to fight Moritori Rex himself until he finds out where he is, so he might as well beat up his SON! (Again, the "sins of the fathers" thing here, but in this case, Kragok has plenty o' sins to answer for HIMSELF.) This time, Tobor's beserker attack makes some kind of sense, and Knuckles watches in awe as his grandfather (or is it great-grandfather?) FINALLY gets his sweet revenge. They tumble back through the wormhole again, and Knuckles wishes his ancestor luck.
Meanwhile, back at Lara-Le's apartment, Our Lady of the Ankle-Length Braids demands to know exactly what Julie-Su's intentions are towards her son! (Wait a minute, isn't that usually the other way around? "What are your intentions towards my daughter, young man?!") Julie holds up her hands and protests all over the place. Oh, NO, she wouldn't even DREAM of getting closer, she and Knuckles are just FRIENDS, she's perfectly happy with things the way they are NOW, really, ma'am, would I lie to you?
Methinks the lady doth protest too much! ;)
Anyway, Knuckles flies in through the window (good thing they left it open for him, eh? And no screen, either!) and they both hug him from each side. Julie-Su looks so CUTE in this picture! Lara is glad to see her son, but wants to know what happened to Tobor? Then it's back to Haven one last time.
The Voyeurs, and I mean that just about LITERALLY this time, are watching Julie-Su and Knuckles hug, and even THEY have it figured out. "A pairing between a Dark Legionnaire and a Guardian? It opens up intriguing new possibilities!" Yeah, they know it. Everybody knows it. Julie-Su has got it BAD! And so does Knuckles...he just doesn't know it yet...
They don't know what could have possessed Julie-Su to "behave in such a bizzarre manner"! Not to be crude, but she's a teenage girl, he's a teenage boy, and it's called HORMONES, ya dork. Locke then says that maybe his "father", who must be the fake Tobor 'cos he's wearing the same outfit the REAL one has on only not ripped up, and he has a visor to cover his eyes, should consider having a little more fun every now and then, too! (WAIT--didn't Locke call that dude with the white bands in his hair and the glass eye "father" TOO, at the beginning of this comic? He can't have TWO FATHERS! AAACCCCCKKKKK!!! Stand back, I think my head is going to explode!) We end with Moritori thinking to himself about how the REAL Tobor is nowhere in sight, so he better be prepared for anything, a rather nice splash page shot of Espio disappearing from the feet up which has NOTHING to do with the storyline but is cool anyway, and an advertisement for Knuckles #19. And with that, dear readers, we leave you. Good afternoon, good evening, and good night!
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tourists have stopped by to read Chaos Theory's review of Knuckles #18 since October 10, 1999. Of course, they all fell through a wormhole into the Twilight Zone and were never seen again, but hey...