Writer: Ken Penders
Pencils: Jim Valentino
Colors: Frank Gagliardo
After opening our intro page with a quote from Menniker speaking on his promise to be a strong leader for the Dark Legion, noted to take place "after emerging from their imprisonment in another zone" (presumably after Steppenwolf blasted them there in the distant past), we jump right into this evening's news broadcast from ENN!
General Stryker and Constable Remington are both perturbed by this for their own individual reasons, watching on their TVs at home, but Knuckles and the Chaotix, witnessing from their booth in a local diner, are dismissive, believing that politics are of no concern to them. However, the next day, they're all there at the rally, as Remington has called Knuckles to be there to discuss these concerning goings-on. Apparently, Remington had previously had a conversation with High Councilor Pravda, where Pravda had stated he wanted to keep his reelection campaign lowkey. Obviously, a big rally in the park is kind of the opposite of that. At that moment, Pravda pulls up in a swanky high-tech golden limo, very much the kind of technology he was always so opposed to in public before, and Knuckles and Remington watch suspiciously as someone from the car's interior escorts him to the podium, someone whom Remington claims never to have seen before…
Ah, gee, I wonder what platforms this guy is running on? We get into another kind of uncomfortable reference to WWII, as Benedict basically conducts his own shouty little Hitler rally about how technology will save them and the current government is oppressing the echidna people, and then actually, literally ends with a "Hail Dimitri" and a salute that's clearly based on the "Heil Hitler" salute, of which many in the crowd copy him. Honestly, I don't even know why Penders is trying to make them all Nazi-like. The conflict he has going here, the general idea of it, could be a fascinatingly complex one if he didn't shoehorn it into being a WWII allegory. On one side, you've got the repressive government restricting the personal freedoms of its citizens by banning many forms of technology, and on the other hand, you have the technologically-based "freedom fighters" of sorts who take their devotion way too far and become a terrorist cult while still genuinely believing they're here to free the masses. You have hypocrites like Pravda, the man in charge who denounces technology while simultaneously hoarding advanced tech for his own personal entertainment, and you have the Brotherhood, ostensibly serving the anti-tech faction against the Dark Legion, while monitoring everything from their incredibly high-tech base. You have the protagonist of the story, Knuckles, caught up in the middle of it all, with a heritage and duty to the anti-tech side, but a friend and potential love interest hailing from the pro-tech side. There's so many interesting directions this could go, such a perfect opportunity to really delve into the whole gray-and-gray-morality thing, where no one is truly a "good guy" and everyone has secrets and shadowy dealings going on - and yet Kenders throws it all away to turn it into a tired and frankly insensitive allegory for Nazis. In a Sonic the Hedgehog comic, again I can't stress enough. This is ultimately what I find so disappointing about this particular arc, is that it's built on all the conflict and tension and worldbuilding from previous arcs, and it could be so cool, and yet… in the end it's just another "they're like Hitler and Nazis, see? See?" type plot. You had a good thing going, Ken, so why this?
Well, anyway, speaking of the hypocrisy of the Brotherhood - Thunderhawk, Sabre, and Sojourner have been watching the proceedings from their little hideout, and actually start discussing their own use of tech when they're supposed to be protectors against the Dark Legion, when alarms start blaring. They don't even have time to check why.
The Kommissar waltzes in, with the Guardians unconscious on the ground at her feet, and radios Dimitri to inform him - they've taken Haven. Back in the park, Remington decides to confront Benedict about his little rally…
Pravda butts his brainwashed head in to inform Remington that he's ordering him not to arrest anyone here, and insists he come along in his limo so they can discuss the matter "in private." Somehow, this doesn't ring any alarm bells for Remington, who just follows them and gets right in without an issue. Knuckles and the Chaotix watch this suspiciously, shocked that now Dark Legionnaires are just allowed to walk around the city without issue, and together they head off to find answers elsewhere.
That evening, General Stryker is hanging out on the streets of the slums that the dingoes are still relegated to, wondering how he can exploit this situation to his advantage, and for all his violent actions in the past I don't blame him. The place looks filthy and the dingoes have clearly been treated as second-class citizens ever since they lost their city, and he's supposed to be the leader of his people, looking after their welfare. He orders a nearby soldier to gather everyone around so he can address them, but suddenly a spotlight from above shines down onto his location and a voice from the darkness orders them to stay put. Stryker challenges the voice, which comes closer, revealing itself to belong to a Dark Legionnaire named Xenin. Stryker insults Xenin a bit, and Xenin goes ballistic, beating up on him like he just informed him he murdered his entire family with that one insult and shouting the kinds of things only villains shout, because I guess we still weren't sure if these guys were the bad guys yet after that Nazi rally.
Xenin has the other dingoes rounded up to be locked in the sewers, because racism I guess, and the truck carrying the dingo prisoners happens to drive by Knuckles and his buddies, who are discussing the "good old days" before the Dark Legion and Echidnaopolis and everything else made their appearance. Just as they notice the truck, Xenin and his fellows descend upon them too.
They fight back, but Xenin proves to be too strong with his cybernetic enhancements. It's a bit odd, actually, because the Chaotix aren't actually shown to participate in the battle, and in fact don't show up for the rest of the arc, nor the issue after it. I can only assume that the Dark Legion just focused on kidnapping Knuckles and Julie-Su and made off with them before Vector, Mighty and Espio could intervene, leaving them behind on the street, but it's oddly unclear. Ah well. With that, we jump to Haven, where Thunderhawk, Sojourner, and Sabre are secured in some kind of mechanical restraint tubes or something, furious that their sanctum has finally fallen to the enemy. And how did this happen? Why, of course, with the help of Moritori Rex!
Moritori reports in to Dimitri, stating that while the base is secure, they have yet to find and capture Locke or Spectre. Dimitri orders Moritori to carry on with business as usual for now, and as he ends the call, Knuckles and Julie-Su start trash-talking him, revealing that they as well as Stryker have been imprisoned in similar mechanical cylinder… things, only they've been hung from the ceiling upside down for extra humiliation. Dimitri is shocked, shocked I tell you, that they're continuing to be defiant, as if that hasn't characterized Knuckles from their very first interaction, and expresses his anticipation of "some serious screaming…" Dun dun duuunnn!
Look, finally, more dingo civilians! So yes, they are, in fact, an oppressed racial minority relegated to the city’s slums. And yet Penders still insists upon comparing them to the Third Reich
Lest we forget, the dingo associate General Helmut Von Stryker is calling for here is named Gerbil
