Sojourner: He's red, wears a green vest, and for some reason he has a 3.5 inch floppy disc stuck to his forehead.
     Thunderhawk: He's purple and looks like he's turning into a bird.  He's easily got the second most pretentious name of the bunch.
     Tobor: He's brown, wears a green medieval-style tunic and a metallic visor.
     Spectre: Now THIS is a one pretentious echidna.  He's got a black cloak to match both his complexion and his mood, red eyes, and he wears a metallic helmet.  As this group of echidna comic book geeks gathers...
     We cut back to Knuckles and Lara-Le.  When she questions her son about opening up the wormhole (which she calls "an energy tunnel"), he admits to being clueless as to how it happened.   "You'll have to ask your father," Lara-Le replies, conveniently sliding over the information that he's still alive.  Remember, Knux still hasn't been given the grand tour of Haven: what Hawking showed him in the course of the "Lost Paradise" arc (#4-6) was (we can assume) what he CHOSE to show him.  Anyway, this sets up some flashbacks to Knuckles's early days.  Locke's heavy-handedness (heavy-MITTENedness?) came to the fore early on when he had Knux spirited away before he hatched and given to a "Dr. Jakk."  Personally, I think Locke's explanation about the doctor running "tests" on the pre-hatchling is a load of streaking pasha poop.  The fact that Knuckles was hatched two days earlier than usual didn't seem to register with Lara-Le at the time, overcome as she was with maternal affection.
     Her next recollection shows her witnessing something "different" about Knuckles: that even though he was still an infant he was using blocks to spell...well, we can't see the sides of the blocks facing her on page 8 so we don't know WHAT he spelled out.  Could have been "Get bent" for all I know; it would certainly explain the look on Lara-Le's face.  The side of the blocks facing the READER, however, shows that even at that tender age Knuckles understood the concept of product placement.
     When Knuckles turned three Locke started calling the shots on the subject of child rearing, and that apparently began to push the marriage on the rocks.  Locke justifies his daddy dictatorship by saying that's how he was brought up as were those before him.  Before he can break into a rendition of "Tradition" from "Fiddler On The Roof," Lara-Le walks out.  The Floating Island may once have been a leftover chunk of the planet Mobius, but it looks like echidnas can be divided into Venusians and Martians.  So Lara-Le seeks out Jenna-Su, Sabre's wife.  Jenna's homespun advice is OK as far as it goes, but...
     Observation: At this point, Knuckles is 3 years old.  It must have been shortly thereafter that Locke, having gained "custody" of his son in whatever fashion, left the zone in which they were residing to take up residence on the Floating Island.  Remember, according to the "Lost Paradise" arc, the two zones (plus the dingo zone) had yet to be integrated.  Sorry for the interruption.
     Meanwhile we cut back to the Brotherhood.  Being basically a bunch of old farts, they do what old farts do best: sit around and complain.  First, Tobor of "The Dragon Kingdom" complains about Sonic and Tails showing up in "Arsenal of the Iron King" (#60).  What's his problem: he wanted the mountain to keep burning?  Then Thunderhawk whines about having to clean up after Sonic and Tails in "Outback Gut Check" (#61).  Guess they haven't liked the recent solo stories, either.
     Basically, though, they complain that their "mission" has become "more complicated" since Robotnik was written out of the series.  That mission, as defined by the "Council of Advisors"   the fire ants Archimedes, Deo Volente, and an Indiana Jones-wannabe named Semper Fidelis - involves "looking after echidna interests on a global scale."  Apparently it was in echidna interests to have Wombat Stu being controlled by CrocBot, to hear Thunderhawk griping about it.  Yet Semper Fi states that the way things are going "the echidnas [will] become an irrelevant force on Mobius" if they stick to business as usual.  It's news to me that these old goats even HAVE a mission.  The last time they intervened in any meaningful way was during "Immortality is Eternal..." (Sonic #56) when they...well, it's not very clear who did what, and whether Athair (who doesn't seem to have been invited to this coffee klatch having abandoned the Guardianship as explained in Knuckles #11) had anything to do with Mammoth Mogul's ending up inside a Chaos emerald.
     Let's get back to Knuckles, who's just sitting down to dinner with Lara-Le and Wynmacher.  It's during dinner that Lara-Le drops the bomb: she's going to marry Wyn.
     A word about Knuckles's reaction might be in order.  Back when I first met Ken Penders at the 1997 Motor City Comic Con, he told me that a sizable number of the fans who write to him come from what used to be called "broken homes."  This was the inspiration for having Knuckles's parents separate.  While there are children of divorce who actually enjoy a better homelife with one parent out of the picture (I speak from personal experience), there are also kids who somehow want things to be as they were.  They thus get all weird at the prospect of the custodial parent even dating again, never mind considering marrying someone else.  Knuckles, despite being 15 years old (according to Sega and Archie) and despite the fact that he hasn't yet tumbled to the fact that Locke is still alive and well in Haven and ducking his parental responsibilities, can't seem to handle Lara-Le's renunciation (which must be what it feels like) of his father.  Which is why he literally tries to run away from his problem.  Not a thermonuclear family meltdown, but not exactly a Norman Rockwell painting, either.
     Knuckles dashes past the Chaotix, who only get a one-page appearance after their major performance in the last story arc.  Julie-Su volunteers to go after him, Vector objects (no surprise) and is overruled.
     Now back to Haven, where they've started complaining about the New Guardian On The Block, Knuckles.  Sojourner and Thunderhawk wonder what the big deal is, but Spectre recognizes this as his chance to ham it up.  He confronts Locke about "tampering with the natural order" in a way that makes me wonder whether Dr. Jakk hadn't been allowed/ordered to do a little genetic engineering with Knuckles- hence, his early hatching.  Whatever the case, Locke and Spectre appear on the verge of coming to blows over it before Sojourner states that meddling in the life of Knuckles just might be Job One for the old busybodies.
     Meanwhile, sitting on the dock of the bay, Knuckles is working on his Otis Redding impression when Julie-Su comes up to him in an echo of the opening of Knuckles #7.  Apparently she's only read the first version of Sonic #50 and believes that the only acceptable way to kiss someone is to give them a peck on the cheek.  I don't think this is what one Julie-Su fan had in mind when she talked about Julie-Su and Knuckles getting "h-o-t-t HOTT!!" but despite Knuckles's spoken objection there's the revealing thought balloon that maybe he's been backwards about this boy-girl business.
     It's almost too bad that it will be "back to business as usual" with Knuckles #17.  There was a lot of set-up here and I can only hope that Ken follows up on it sooner rather than later: Knuckles and his mom, Knuckles and Julie-Su, and the business with the retired Guardians.  The artwork is as good as always.
     Fistful of Letters: Plugs for Knuckles #17, Sonic #63 and NiGHTS #5.  Fan art: despite designating them "Super Sonic and Hyper Knuckles," the characters in Justin Koo's drawing get standard colors.  Katie Moody of Alaska contributes a drawing of Julie-Su...I've heard from several Julie-Su fans in Alaska; don't know if there's a connection.  Letters: "Kat" Najera is brought up to speed on events of half a year ago, and someone claims to be Kragok which shows that even echidna superheroes have to put up with spoofers.