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Sonic The Hedgehog #46
Archie Comics Publications (May, 1997)
WRITERS: Ken Penders & Kent Taylor
INKER: Brian Thomas
COLORIST: Barry Grossman
EDITOR: J. Freddy Gabrie
“Countdown To Armageddon”
PENCILER: Nelson Ortega
LETTERER: Vickie Williams
Knuckles Quest part 4: “A Goat, A Raven, And A Swan Song!”
PENCILER: Manny Galan
LETTERER: M. Eisman
In the main story, Chuck learns that Robotnik sabotages his “roboticizer”, intended to help treat the injured but turned into Robotnik’s tool of domination, to steal his position as part of his conquest plan. Upset at other recent mistakes, Chuck is in a low state so Sally suggests a campfire retreat to help boost morale. They’re joined by the Wolf Pack, having just left a recent battle, and unfortunately by Geoffrey St. John, who accuses Chuck of being a traitor, upsetting not only Sonic but Antoine, who is convinced St. John is lying about being in charge of the resistance movement Antoine’s father was putting together. Meanwhile, Lupe is suspicious of one of her pack members’ mysterious disappearances. Sally finally breaks it all up and sends them away.
There’s a lot of lore dumping here. Antoine only became a goofball because of his unrequited attraction to Sally but used to be a good fighter until his dad’s disappearance, and Geoffrey just shows up as the leader of his father’s group. Robotnik sabotaged the machine. Chuck has upgraded his systems to project images and recordings. There’s some dissention in the Wolf Pack…in fact that’s all this story is. It’s about creating dissention in the group. Everything was fine until Geoffrey showed up, which is just another reason for me to not like this character. Nice to see Sonic and Antoine on the same side, and a hint that Bunnie likes Antoine after he saved her long before she became half robot. Otherwise that’s all this story is: worldbuilding and team destroying.
Meanwhile, Knuckles returns to the Floating Island, making me wonder why he had to go through all this unless the Ancient Walkers had another reason to delay his finding the Sword Of Acorns. The quest leads him to caverns currently being used by Mathias Poe and Damocles The Elder. Poe uses his magic through Damocles to bring a metal golem to life and Archimedes is there, tagging along with Knuckles, to distract Poe so Knuckles can smash the golem and defeat the raven wizard. The heroes also learn that Damocles is actually a wax figure hiding the Sword Of Acorns, which doesn’t work for Knuckles but it should work for Sally.
If the first appearances of Mathias Poe and Damocles the Elder were in the Ancient Walkers’ vision, how does he know their names? A lot of this is convenience, making the entirety of this quest seem rather pointless. And when did Archimedes join up with Knuckles? Was here there the whole quest or just this leg of it? It’s a weak wrap-up of this story arc.
Overall the art is nice but stuff happens in this issue that just doesn’t work for me. Penders and Taylor seem more interested in creating story ideas at this point than the actual stories. I just couldn’t get myself to enjoy any of it except the artwork. There’s some nice use of panels play, like showing Bunnie’s crush on Antoine with the heart shaped panel, or when to not use panel lines. I give them credit for trying to make Antoine less of the goofball he was in the early comics and Sat AM show but I’d rather see character growth than retcon be involved. I’m just not a fan of this issue since it’s more setup than execution. Fine if that’s the goal but it didn’t make for an enjoyable read.
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