Last month, Archie writer Ken Penders revealed in a chat that his Knuckles storyline might be curtailed as he was told to take the echidna back to his “pre-series appearance” and canon. That seems to have ruffled a few feathers in the US Archie fanbase, so Sonic editor Justin Gabrie has taken a few minutes to respond to the feedback.
On Penders’ Message Board, Gabrie wrote that he has no intention of wiping the long Knuckles canon that Archie has built up over the years. His requests to Ken, he explained, is a simple case of wrapping up the current story arc in a way that makes sense, as it has been going on for quite a while now.
When Ken approached me way back in 1999 about his plan for Knuckles’ Chaos-infused storyline thread, I was all in favor of it. But as storyline after storyline went on without resolving the thread of his emerald complexion, I felt it had gone on way too long.
Let’s be honest, Knuckles hasn’t been the Knuckles we started reading for over twenty issues or so (that’s over a year and a half in real time). I know it’s not easy being green but he needed to go back to his Rad Red self.
Therefore I asked Ken that I wanted him to wrap-up ‘Chaos Emerald Knuckles’ quickly so we can move on to another Knuckles storyline where he’s back in red. I asked Ken that during these stories, he should take the Knuckles stories “back to basics” (ala John Byrne’s run on ‘Fantastic Four’), which means going back to what makes Knuckles Knuckles in spirit… all this while he deals with the after-effects of his chaos-infused adventures.
This did not mean “rewriting history” or “flushing down years of story as if they never happened” (ala Jim Lee ‘Fantastic Four’).
That would not only destroy the years of building Knuckles from a two-dimensional character to a very three-dimensional echidna with a huge supporting cast, but would also insult the intelligence of all the fans who have stuck by Knuckles’ side through spin-off and cancellation. I, too, hate cop-out endings in movies that declare “it was all a dream.” I was not about to have that done to Knuckles.
Therefore, all Knuckles fans should rest assured that you have not spent the last couple of years investing in Knuckles stories for nothing. He has a good future ahead of him that is grounded on a very rich past and present.
Looks like it was all just a case of misunderstanding. Although Gabrie pointedly adds, as part of an apology, “I apologize on Ken’s behalf for jumping the gun before he understood what I was asking for.” Oof.
Anyway, all’s well that ends well, right?
via Sonic HQ