A few people have pointed out something AMAZING about StH #141 that I actually never knew
The scene where Knuckles transforms into Super Knuckles is a shot for shot recreation of Elpizo transforming into his final boss form in Mega Man Zero 2 (which was a recent release when this was drawn in 2004)
Writer: Karl Bollers
Pencils: Jon Gray
Colors: Jason Jensen
So things are… bad. Hunter is back and has a shiny new weapon to boot, which appears to vaporize anyone in his path. Sonic gives Knuckles a ride back to the echidna refugee camp at high speed, with Knuckles still doubting his ability to even be able to help without his Chaos powers, while the refugees flee Hunter's attacks. Remington tries to insist that he wants to remain behind to protect the Master Emerald at all costs, but Archimedes tries to dissuade him, instead trying to convince everyone to fall back to the emerald's chamber to defend it more directly. Finitevus isn't interested in Archimedes' pleas, but they're interrupted by the approach of Hunter.
No, Remington! I was honestly so upset by this, as Remington is one of my favorite recurring characters of the comic. Finitevus doesn't look too concerned, though… Archimedes meets Lara-Le, Wynmacher, and Saffron in the Master Emerald's chamber, informing them of the fate of the two outside, and they get ready to defend the emerald with their lives - but just as Hunter breaches the door, Sonic and Knuckles show up to help with the defense. Hunter throws some kind of fast-moving mechanical ball towards Sonic to keep him occupied and out of the way, and Knuckles charges in only to be once more overcome with agony from his proximity to the Master Emerald. Outside in the main cavern, the other heroes return from Dingo City only to be horrified at the devastation they see in the camp. Lien-Da becomes enraged, blaming Locke for "foisting the emerald" upon the Dark Legion, but Julie-Su has finally had enough and gets in her half-sister's face, yelling that she willingly chose to accept the emerald because she wanted the power it would bring her. You go, Julie-Su!
And right there we have the true reason behind all her hatred and vitriol. Of course these things always come down to daddy issues. Still, it's the first time we've ever really seen any true emotion from Lien-Da, apart from her usual scheming and power grabs, and it adds a depth to her character that she's been lacking thus far. Back in the Hidden Palace, Lara-Le rushes to Knuckles' side as he slumps to the ground, and Hunter approaches gleefully, raising his weapon for a death blow. However, a sudden pink light engulfs Knuckles, who rises into the air and begins to crackle with energy. He's overjoyed, announcing himself to the room not as Knuckles, but as… Super Knuckles! That's right, his Chaos powers have returned, and he's ready to stop Hunter's rampage, grabbing him and bursting through the roof of the palace.
Oh yeah - Knuckles straight up kills Hunter. It's one of the very few times we actually see one of the heroes of this comic intentionally end someone's life - but I think in this case, considering what kind of person he is and what he's done, killing Hunter is entirely justified for the greater good. As he descends back down to earth, the surviving echidnas all begin chanting "Avatar!" while the remaining dingoes retreat in a blind panic. Lien-Da is furious to see her hold over the refugees slipping, but Knuckles and his friends are clearly excited to see his Chaos powers return, with Archimedes revealing that he was certain that all Knuckles needed to reawaken them was to remain in close proximity to the Master Emerald long enough for it to power him back up. However, I'm actually not so on board with him regaining his powers. I really liked the dynamic of Knuckles losing the very thing that made him so special, and having to start from basics once again, learning how to fight without a superpowered edge. We've seen several different stories where Sonic lost his own super speed, but always got it back in the end - how interesting would it be to see a story where the hero never recovered their powers? And Knuckles, given his backstory, is the perfect candidate for such a plot - he never asked for his abilities, and they clearly brought him great pain and trauma as they developed. This would be an amazing direction to take his character arc, with Knuckles torn between the life he's always known, and the chance to start anew. After all, while he developed his latent Chaos powers without having a say in the matter, and despite the pain they often brought him, he did become accustomed to the effect they had on his life in a way, learning to control them to some degree and finding out more and more about why he had them. But the circumstances of his birth also ensured that he wouldn't have any real say in his own destiny, and this was always clearly troubling to him. Removing his powers for good would have put him in a fascinating position where on the one hand he would obviously be upset at losing such a great source of power, one which he's been told is his birthright, but on the other the loss of this power would leave him much freer to decide his own path from here, rejecting the path others have set out for him and discovering who "Knuckles" could be without others trying to define who he was for him. I don't know, I just think there's a huge missed opportunity here to explore more in depth who Knuckles could ultimately end up being without his Chaos powers being his most defining feature.
But alas, Knuckles has his powers back once more, and he's fulfilled the prophecy of the Ancient Walkers to boot. Eggman contacts the heroes via hologram once more, claiming that now that he knows where the Master Emerald is hidden he'll be there straightaway to steal it, but Sonic merely crushes the communicator and Locke enlists the help of the Legion once more to move the Master Emerald someplace else. Knuckles asks after Remington, but Archimedes sadly informs him that he and Finitevus were both casualties of Hunter's rampage. Lien-Da curtly tells Knuckles there's no time to mourn friends right now… and then quietly, when no one can hear her, adds "…or family." Wait, what? So, this is something that has actually been hinted at here and there for a while now, but so vaguely that one might not pick up on the hints unless they were already in the know. Remington's father is actually Kragok, which would make Lien-Da his aunt! This was never outright confirmed in any canon material until the Sonic Comic Encyclopedia many years from now, but I figured I'd go ahead and explain it right here, since, well, Remington ain't around these parts anymore. But yeah, that's why Lien-Da has always acted slightly weird around Remington. Anyway, Knuckles begins to say goodbye to his father, but Locke sharply asks him what he's intending now, seeming very upset at the idea of Knuckles leaving.
I love this. It's about freaking time we finally saw some serious conflict between Knuckles and Locke. For too long Knuckles has always dutifully followed whatever his father told him to do, but now, with a year away from the island under his belt to give him some real perspective, for the first time he's standing up for what he believes in instead of just doing whatever the Brotherhood wants, and Locke is clearly feeling threatened by this display of independence. To be fair, I can see Locke's point, as the island is clearly still quite devastated by Eggman's occupation and they could use someone like Knuckles to help them clean up, but still, I do think Knuckles has the right idea, as taking down Eggman for good seems like a better idea than just cleaning up after him - pulling up the weed by the roots, you know? Knuckles does seem quite sad as his father stalks away and vanishes through a warp ring, but he merely says his goodbyes to his mother and Wynmacher before joining Sonic and the others to head back to Knothole. For now, the day is saved, and everything seems fine and dandy - but what's this? It seems something quite disturbing is happening in Eggman's main base…
This. Is. Horrific. Say hello to the Egg Grapes, everybody, because this isn't the last time we'll be seeing them! We can see that apparently, these things have three functions: "Energy Drain," "Mind Eraser," and "Toxic Infusion," none of which are explained but all of which sound terrifying. We also get to look at some of the poor unfortunate souls trapped inside the pods. A few are just background characters from previous issues, but others are far more heartwrenching. We can see the three other surviving fire ants, minus Archimedes, meaning Archimedes is likely the last of the council now. We can also see, of course, Remington in front there, which again just makes me sad as I love Remington. However, perhaps the worst one is hidden in the back: Simon. As in, Simon, Julie-Su's adoptive father. Floren-Ca is also in there somewhere, just not shown on panel, which means that without even being aware of it, Julie-Su has now become a true orphan. It's incredibly tragic, as she'd just begun to get to know her own family after being separated from them for so long, but the island was invaded shortly afterward, and a year later, they're just… gone, being tortured to death inside one of Eggman's awful experimental devices without Julie-Su ever getting a chance to say goodbye. This is, I think, the moment where I realized just how truly terrifying comic Eggman is. Anime Eggman is hardly a threat at all, very much the type of villain who's more invested in their fights with their heroic nemesis than in actually taking over the world. And Eggman from the games, while he is genuine about his plans for world domination, has never actually committed mass murder, at least that we've seen. Sure, he's used small innocent animals as living batteries, but never actually mass tortured half the populace of an entire island just for the hell of it. This is where the comic begins to get truly dark, as we realize just what a terrifying megalomaniac we're facing here. No more silly jokes, no more half-assed villainy - Eggman is a monster, and the Freedom Fighters have to take him down for good lest he destroy the entire world.
Mobius 25 Years Later: Scenario
Writer: Ken Penders
Pencils: Steven Butler
Colors: Jason Jensen
Oh, but, y'know, we could also just jump forward into a boring future where everything is fine apart from reality beginning to tear itself apart. Granted, this issue's story actually has more real plot than the rest of the entries put together, though also granted, that isn't much. We're finally going to address that whole "collapse of spacetime" thing, as Knuckles leads Sonic to Rotor and Cobar's hidden laboratory to discuss the issue. Cobar is shocked that Knuckles knew the location of his lab, and Knuckles casually mentions that he likes keeping tabs on Lien-Da's favorite scientist wait excuse me what?! So all this time, Cobar has been in Lien-Da's employ, and we just never heard about it until now? Why are you so mistrustful of Lien-Da and yet totally trust the word of her favorite scientist when it comes to all this world-ending stuff? Ugh, I feel like I've spent far too much time and energy pointing out the many, many plot holes of this arc, so we're just going to move on like everything is fine. Rotor and Cobar explain the whole shebang to Sonic, while we get a short and useless scene of Julie-Su and Sally being unable to sleep and reiterating once again their worries for their husbands, and when we flip back to Sonic he's shocked to hear that he's the cause behind the acceleration of entropy on Mobius!
He tries to argue that it might have been the Dark Legion or someone else who had done a lot of zone-hopping in the past, but the two scientists insist that their experiments show that it was his fault. I really don't see how arguing over fault is going to help, especially when Sonic had literally no idea that actions he took when he was fifteen were going to someday contribute to the end of the world twenty-five years after the fact, but eh, again, we never claimed this story made any sense. Knuckles and Sonic leave, with Knuckles telling Rotor and Cobar to find a solution and fast, and as soon as they're gone a panel slides open in the wall to reveal who else but Lien-Da, who has listened in on the whole thing and is very curious about why exactly Cobar has been hiding all of this from her. Hmm, suspicious! Do you think we're finally about to get an answer about what treacherous deeds Lien-Da has been planning this whole time? Ah, c'mon, this is a Penders story, of course not!
So, to cap off this arc: where did all the Mobians Hunter zapped get sent?
Folks, say hello to quite possibly the most fucked up thing in Archie Sonic: The Egg Grapes
Eggman’s done with the whole roboticization thing. He’ll still do it sometimes, but it clearly didn’t work out for most of his captives. So now, he’s just straight up draining them of their life forces and using them as living batteries. And there are characters we recognize here! Remington! Julie-Su’s step parents! The other bees from the Goldenhive Colony! The Council of Ants! This cyborg guy! Bimmy!! Not poor Bimmy!!!
And if you’re wondering: yes, if these captives are drained of their life forces, they will die. And this WILL happen to some of these characters
I mean, I guess that’s one way to handle the problem of Penders making way too many echidnas. Yeesh
While we still have three issues left featuring stories written by Karl Bollers, we’ve pretty much come to the end of his run as lead writer on Archie Sonic. As I’ve said many times, his work certainly had flaws, and there were stories of his that bored me. (I definitely could’ve done with less stories where Sally’s parents prevent her from joining the action.) But there were also many I quite enjoyed, and on average I’d say his stories were usually pretty okay. He definitely went out on a high note with Return to Angel Island, though. That’s for sure
In this post, I’d like to look over the list of scrapped story ideas listed on Bollers’ wiki page, and give some thoughts. Had he continued writing Sonic, this is what he would have done
Sonic and Amy becoming a couple after being stranded at sea together and keeping it a secret from Princess Sally.
Ehh... I’d have to see how this really played out. Sega was pushing SonAmy super hard at the time with Sonic X, though, and the Archie comics had barely even acknowledged Amy’s crush on Sonic, so I guess something like this had to happen eventually. I’m also sure it wouldn’t have lasted long, since it was obvious Bollers would have Sonic and Sally reconcile eventually
Tails reuniting with his parents by traveling into space on a modified Tornado.
This would’ve been pretty neat, honestly! I’d just hope that Tails wouldn’t stay out in space for too long
Amy's origins being explored in a fuller adaptation of Sonic CD.
Very cool! Definitely would’ve liked to see this. But Ian ended up doing more with Amy and incorporating the stories of the Genesis era games into the comics later on, so I guess we didn’t really lose much by not getting this story from Bollers
Knuckles departing Angel Island after learning that his presence exposes the location of the Master Emerald, going on a global pilgrimage to learn martial arts, and battling a Dr. Eggman controlled-Monkey Khan while under the control of the Iron Queen before discovering the Master Geode.
Now THIS sounds cool. While I’m not exactly a fan of Monkey Khan, I think sending Knuckles off on a big adventure and having him learn more fighting skills would be a great use of his character. Way better than having him sit around on Angel Island all day, that’s for sure. And after how great Return to Angel Island was, I would’ve loved to see more Knuckles stories from Bollers
Mammoth Mogul beginning to age rapidly due to his original Chaos Emerald running out of energy, forcing him to seek out alternative sources through illicit archaeological expeditions and hiring mercenaries like Nack the Weasel. The Master Geode, a powerful gemstone that would fulfill Mogul's needs, would be contested by him, the Iron Queen, Robotnik, and Rouge the Bat.
Also pretty cool. I’m assuming this is all part of the same overarching story as Knuckles’ martial arts training. It’d be fun to see this combination of new and old game characters as well as old Archie characters vying for power. I also love that all these forces would be vying for control of this powerful gem, but then Rouge is also there because... she just wants it. All of these characters would have their time to shine in Ian’s run, though
Sally being a pawn in a villainous plot by the corrupted Source of All and Ixis Naugus to prevent the future first previewed in Sonic In Your Face.
Antoine gaining his scar due to an accident with a knife and becoming a villain after allowing himself to be possessed by a corrupted Source of All in hopes of winning Bunnie back.
The Source of All surviving Robotropolis' destruction and reconstituting itself in a remote mountain range, beginning to exert control over King Max, brainwashing the Arachne and another group of Spiders known as the Strand, and possessing Antoine while under the control of Ixis Naugus.
We’ve already talked about this canceled subplot before, but oh man, I would’ve loved this. I always hated the concept of the Source of All, and the idea that Max’s actions were all justified by some sort of omniscient future vision. The Acorn family rituals surrounding the Source were also already extremely creepy, so turning their bonding with the Source into a bad thing would’ve been an incredibly easy pill to swallow
Bunnie and Antoine breaking up due to a change in Antoine's personality, with Bunnie's origins later being explored and her true name being revealed as Scarlette O'Hare
I mean, Bunnie’s last name being Rabbot (pronounced Rab-OH) was always silly, but I don’t know if we really needed this. Y’all know I’m down for more Bunnie, though
Rotor retiring from field duty in order to pursue a role analogous to that played by "Q" of James Bond fame.
They’d already been leaving him out of missions for years. I guess this makes sense, and at least turning him into the guy who makes the gadgets for everyone would give him a more clearly defined role
Locke and Lara-Le putting aside their previous disputes to help raise Knecapeon "Kneecaps" Mace after his father Wynmacher ends up in the Egg Grape Chamber.
I’ve talked about all this a bit before. Really not sure what to think of it. My gut instinct is that I don’t like the idea of Locke reuniting with Lara-Le at all. He hasn’t earned her forgiveness. But I’d have to see how Bollers wrote it, I guess
Robotnik kidnapping Hope Kintobor under the pretense that he is the only correct choice to be her legal guardian, while genuinely using her as bait to lure in Shadow the Hedgehog.
Not sure how I feel about Hope getting kidnapped, but the mental image of literal tyrant Dr. Eggman going to child protective services and pretending he’d be a good guardian for Hope as part of a scheme to get Shadow is really funny to me
Ixis Naugus attempting to return by transforming Max's body into a duplicate of his own, only to be thwarted by the destruction of the Crown of Acorns
I would’ve liked to see Naugus explored more, but hey! Ian sure used him a lot. So this is another case where we aren’t missing out on much
Nate Morgan surviving the destruction of Robotropolis, being De-Roboticized by the Bem, and returning as Coconuts' amnesia-addled ally, who creates a new Metal Sonic, Metal Amy, Metal Knuckles, and Tails Doll that are mistaken for Robian versions of the heroes.
This would’ve been a REALLY interesting development. Bollers was very open about how he hated the direction Nate Morgan had gone in and had some interesting plans to bring him back. And, well, this is it. Kind of reminds me of a certain subplot with Eggman in the IDW comics, except in reverse
I also love how this would’ve brought in Metal Knuckles, Tails Doll, and a new Metal Amy. Bollers really seemed to be enjoy bringing in elements from the older games in his later years at Archie, with much of the action in Return to Angel Island taking place in actual zones from S3&K. Getting Coconuts involved is also wild. This would’ve been a really fun story
Snively taking up a fifteen foot-tall mechanical battlesuit and the alias "Skarkus" in pursuit of revenge against Robotnik for leaving him alone against the Xorda, leading to an alliance between him and Shadow.
Yeah, this one sure is. Something. Honestly I have no idea how it would turn out. It’d be all about the execution
A.D.A.M. and NICOLE becoming romantically involved, leading to A.D.A.M. seizing control of the Shadowbot army and leading them from New Megaopolis to Knothole.
Okay I hate this one lol. But to be fair, I mostly hate it because the other writers ended up taking Nicole in a completely different direction and giving her her lynx form (and eventually pairing her with Sally). Bollers had no way of knowing that Nicole would become such a central character, so I can’t really blame him for having an idea like this, I guess
A new Dingo Regime leader named Colonel Mange being introduced, with Croctobot, Jack Rabbit, and Gala-Na being reintroduced as Robotnik Sub-Bosses over Downunda, the Great Desert, and Albion. This would have led to the disappearance of the Downunda Freedom Fighters and a confrontation involving the Mercian Freedom Fighters.
Ah, the beginnings of Eggman having Mobian sub-bosses working for him. I guess Kage in Return to Angel Island was really the start of this, but still. Gala-Na becoming a subordinate of Eggman actually makes a lot of sense to me. She was already an antagonist in the Chaos Knuckles arc, and it’s painfully obvious that the Albion echidnas are selfish pricks who only look out for themselves. If she thought that siding with Eggman would protect Albion, I totally think she’d sell out
Anti-Sonic coming to enjoy impersonating Sonic and enjoying the love of his parents and adulation of his people, leading him to plan to eliminate Sonic and permanently take his place.
This one’s also kinda interesting I suppose, although we definitely got no shortage of Anti-Sonic impersonating Sonic in the last year of Penders stories. Can’t say I’m dying to see this story told
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So, all in all, definitely some interesting ideas! If there’s two major throughlines I see in this plans, it’s 1) bringing back forgotten elements from both the games and earlier comics and 2) reinventing Penders characters and concepts. Which makes a lot of sense, because that’s exactly what he was doing with Return to Angel Island
Part of me is sad that these stories were never told. The Source of All being evil and Knuckles’ martial arts training stand out to me in particular. But there are other ideas that are pretty similar to things Ian would do in his run, like Eggman having Mobian sub-bosses or Naugus coming back, so it’s hard to feel too sad. It’s also hard to know how good the execution would’ve been on these pitches
Of course, if there’s one thing I’m certain of, it’s that these stories probably would’ve been better than the ones we actually got from Penders and Chacon over the next year and a half
