“Hey, it’s MY name on the title!”
Knuckles The Echidna #13
Archie Comics Publications (June, 1998)
“The Chaotix Caper” part 1
WRITER: Ken Penders
PENCILER: Manny Galan
INKER: Andrew Pepoy
COLORIST: Barry Grossman
LETTERER: Vickie Williams
EDITOR: J. Freddy Gabrie
While Knuckles makes his way back to the Floating Island, finding a stampede in the “badlands” to his father’s concern, the Chaotix plus one deal with an emergency in the city. Happyland is back (with Remington Rat secretly still running things), so Charmy’s friend begs him to come check it out. Afterwards, the friend gets really sick and takes a cab to the hospital, with the cabby Harry the dingo trying not to get involved. The Chaotix learn that Charmy’s friend, who didn’t make it, was killed by an addictive drug called Lemon Sundrop Dandelion, and he’s not the first victim, just the first fatality. All of them were young people who weren’t on drugs, so Charmy gets Harry to take the team to Happyland, where they also appear to be hit with the stuff after eating the food, which Charmy didn’t see his friend do according to a flashback and didn’t make the connection. What does this have to do with Downtown Ebony Hare, who had declared himself Remington’s new partner, whether he likes it or not?
What they got right: It’s interesting to see the Chaotix get their own story. They haven’t been part of the story in quite a while, and not just in this title. This gives us a chance to see them in action in this new direction for the series, and how Julie-Su interacts with the team. Harry, who will be a semi-narrator, could be an interesting addition to the cast, even if just for this story. Charmy changing size may be a retcon but is a decent way to make Charmy and his friend big enough to interact with others, describing it as a “flight mode”. Since more recent renditions have Charmy staying at large size it does make for a decent transition.
What they got wrong: The introduction of Ebony should have been when he enters the room, not when spying on Remington. I’m not even sure how he got a spy camera in there but the early intro isn’t quite as organic as I would have liked. The Knuckles portion just seems to be to keep him in his comic, and doesn’t benefit anything else. Can we stop doing the “are we there yet?” gag in stories for awhile? Please?
What I think overall: This is a good start to this new storyline. We’ll have to see where it goes.
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