Knuckles in First Contact

Two weeks ago we had an all powerful Chaos Emerald break into two pieces all because a machine was set to the wrong pronged setting. Last week we had a very short bit where Tails gets a fully working submarine but Sally (who never shows up once in this comic) stopped Tails from having fun. Sonic, then Tails. Hmm. Who are we missing?

Oh yeah. Knuckle head himself.

Video game wise, I love Knuckles. He was always the most fun to use since you can do a lot of exploration with him. At least more so then when you used Sonic I felt. But over the years, Knuckles has become somewhat of a joke. Case in point, this week review of Knuckles: First Contact. So, let’s just get right into it, shall we?

 

The comic starts with. . . . . ok. HOW THE HECK DID VECTOR GET THERE?! Knuckles is saving Vector from falling into an active volcano that is on a floating island. How can you have a volcano on an island that is not even part of the earth? Where is the magma even coming from? Is that just a pool of boiling rock? If so, what is heating it? But the questions don’t end there. Vector the crocodile was going to fall into this place. Aside from jumping in head first, how the heck do you manage to fall right into the middle of all this? All Vector says is that he took a wrong turn. Vector, unless you were blind, mute, deaf, and drunk at that time, there is no way you should have walked right into an active volcano.

Luckily, Knuckles was close by and was able to save Vector. Ok, I’ll just say that Knuckles was going to the volcano anyway to put up a fence and saw Vector cannonball right in. Or Knuckles pushed Vector then saved him to have Vector owe him one. The second panel makes me wonder even more if Knuckles pushed Vector since he says that if Vector does something like this again, Knuckles will make it really hot for Vector. After wondering why he even bothers, Knuckles notices something.

Knuckles dreadlocks smell a low noise.

…

Yeah. Knuckles dreadlocks twitch, which makes him smell something, which is a low noise. What. The. Heck? And no, I don’t mean that he smells danger or something abstract like that. In the third panel, he very clearly thinks that smoke from the rock is what he smelled. The smoke is from someone writing the name “Archimedes” on the rock with an arrow below it. Like the reader, Knuckles has no idea what is going on, but he does want to follow all the arrows. 

As Knuckles is walking, he randomly runs into Catweazle. In the comics, Catweazle is a minor of minor characters. He’s just a bird that can talk. That’s it. From what I looked up, he does nothing at all ever. Anyway, he tells Knuckles nothing at all then flies away. Truly, we needed this page to move the story forward. But in the last panel, ACTION! Fire comes from no where and attack Knuckles. 

The thing that attacked Knuckles is a sphere, fire blasting, robot-thing. Because this robot is made by Robotnik, Knuckles thinks that Archimedes is Robotnik. How he got there, I still have no clue but whatever. Knuckles throws, what is that? It’s glowing yellow but Knuckles calls it mud. But mud doesn’t burn that good so it can’t be on fire. But it causes the robot to blow up somehow. Alright, I’m just going to say that the writers said the robot needs to blow up. Artist, make something up. Anyway, Knuckles walks off and into another robot.

This time it is the Mushroom Hill sub boss. Only recolored. Hey, I just noticed that the first robot is the fire guy from Sonic 3, and now his guy is the first robot from Sonic and Knuckles. Well I hope that was a nod that the comic looks at the video games. Anyway, blah blah blah fight and banter that means nothing in the greater plot. 

And Knuckles wins the fight that had no point. Whee. After brushing himself off, he quickly falls into a pit. Ah the great guardian of Angel Island. Knuckles falls right into the master emerald chamber. You know, the one from two weeks ago. He hears a voice in this chamber.

Ok, before I continue on, look at the master Emerald. It went from having a 3-pronged energy converter to a 7-pronged energy converter! Who and why did they add in 4 extra prongs? So Knuckles talks to the voice from nowhere who says it is Archimedes. He says that Knuckles needs to learn to think before he acts. Yeah, good luck with that one. Knuckles can’t find Archimedes because *SPOILERS* he is a fire ant. Yes, a tiny ant is Knuckles mentor. Like all mentors, Archimedes really tells Knuckles nothing at all. Why can’t mentors just give out the lessons and answers? Most of the time, mentors make their own villains in these things since they never really teach.

Anyway, our comic ends with Knuckles shouting “YOU” a lot before going to the surface. Holy crap that is some crumby art Vector has there. Vector asks Knuckles what he is doing and Knuckles replies that he is thinking. But right after, Knuckles says that thinking makes his head hurt. Yeah, Knuckles was never that bright I will admit. The last panel says that if you want to know more, buy the next super special issue of Knuckles Chaotix.

Yeah, I don’t have that issue. Sorry.

So what did we learn here? Vector is suicidal. Ok, what else? Archimedes is a horrible mentor who doesn’t really want to teach Knuckles rather them have Knuckles teach himself. Anything else? Oh yeah, Knuckles gained only a headache from this whole adventure. Good. Like with the other Sonic stories, the art was ok. Nothing got lost in a sea of blacks, greys, or whites so I guess that is something. But the story was nothing more than to get you to buy the next super special.

With that, we end the Triple Trouble super special. But don’t worry. Come back next week where I’ll take a look at more comics that I find aren’t really that awful.

All images (c) Archie Comics