Once more, a perfectly good splash page/poster is obscured by the text.  I'd love to stay and discuss developmental psychology with you, Ken (I'm an Eriksonian, myself), but I've got a comic book to read.
     Remember the Chaotix?  They're still around, waiting for word from Knux.  At least Espio is doing something worthwhile, having discovered how to open Windows in his environment.  Vector continues to bad-mouth Julie-Su in her absence.  OK, so she cleaned your clock in Part 1; that any reason to call her a "witch"?  Before he can continue in this vein one of the tremors that have been hitting the Marble Zone FINALLY catches up to them.  This not only serves as a wake-up call but it's also our cue to cut away from the Chaotix and look in on that little hostage drama that wound up the last episode.
     Nice two-page interior of a dingo troop taking prisoners: Lara-Le, the Consort Whomever, and somebody's old lady.  Knuckles and Archimedes materialize in the next room.  A couple dingoes check to see if it's "some jerk who thinks he's a hero."  Tip for you, guys: if his name is on the front of the comic book, he IS the hero!  Knuckles having done most of the work, the consort Wynmacher tidies up around the edges.  "Alma Mata"?  Apparently someone didn't know from the term "alma mater".  Either that or it's the "Sally Elisha Syndrome" all over again.  Archy had apparently made himself scarce during the brawl and only comes back to interrupt a Kodak Moment between Knuckles and his mom to tell them that more dingoes are on their way.  The backup canids come upon their conked brethren only to start fading out.  Back on the ground, Constable Remington and Julie-Su are told to stand down and return to headquarters; so much for the field trip.
     Cut to Hawking conversing with yet another ant, this one wearing a green beret and bearing the first name of "Deo" and (as we subsequently learn) the last name of "Volente".  That's right, "Deo volente," a Latin phrase meaning "God willing."  This managed to get past the suits at Archie AND Sega apparently without setting off any alarms.  It may be an obscure reference, but it's way more literate than the small-caliber punnery practiced by Mike Gallagher in "Let's Get Small" (Sonic #33).  I mean, "French Frirus"?  Hawking then receives an explanation about current events from Locke, liberally spiced with Treknobabble.  Simply put, at the climax of "Endgame" an "omega wave" was released which pretty much compromised the barrier between the echidna and dingo zones.  The end result is that the zones are materializing on top of each other.  Sort of like two cars trying to fit into the same parking space...while traveling at 70 MPH!  You can see where this could get messy.
     Cut back to the EST van where (surprise, surprise!) Knuckles, Lara-Le and Wynmacher have materialized.  Knuckles tells Remington he wasn't able "to get the others to safety" which explains, in part, why the little old lady echidna never figures in the story from this point on.  Remington takes everyone back to his office for a breather.
     Finally, Knuckles and Lara-Le are able to spend a little quality time together.  We learn that Lara-Le got out of the relationship with Locke when it became apparent that, according to the fine print on the Guardian version of a marriage license, Locke pretty much had complete control of Knuckles' upbringing once he was born.  To paraphrase Lara-Le:
     "He wouldn't let me have a say
     So I just up and walked away."
     See how easily this turns into a country-western lyric?
     Remington then arrives with word that Hawking might have the answer.  But before that can be spelled out it's time to fasten our seat belts and prepare for the next quake.  This one manages to shake the dingoes and the echidnas into the same dimension.  This brings a response from General Buzzcut: round up some echidnas and make an example of them...or use them as bait to trap the Guardian.
     Here's an extra credit question: Note the second echidna from the right on page 12, panel 3; is he pleading for his life or praying for deliverance?  Since we've been introduced to a character named "Deo Volente" that's not an idle question.  BTW, has anyone figured out the significance of the dingo logo?  The more I look at the red badge on Buzzcut's shirt (page 12, panel 1) the more it reminds me of a stylized fist.
     And the more I look at Micah Zak's fan art on the Fan Art page, the more I wonder how they let M.Z. get away with drawing a nude Sally.  Don't know if the fact that M.Z. is a Navy brat has anything to do with it.  Patty York's Espio has a misplaced horn; I think it looks better there.  And Green Gibbon! (complete with !) manages to find a spot on the Let's See If I Can Get My Name In Print One More Time Page.
     We come upon a bunch of dingoes playing a round of "Psych!" with a group of captive echidnas.  Knuckles arrives to even things up; once again, he gets the Iron Man Award for climbing down barbed wire instead of rope.  Julie-Su is along for this ride, and demonstrates why she'll never get a job as a back- walker in a geisha house any time soon.  The echidnas are making their way to Dingo Central while the two realities are being folded together like egg whites into a souffle.  Archy gets a signal from Hawking via D.V. to take cover.  As for General Buzzcut, he's slipping on a "power glove" but before his aide de camp can ask why he wants to play video games at a time like this, Knux and the gang show up.
     Knuckles then does what would have been unthinkable not so long ago: he first tries to REASON with Buzzcut, who's apparently only interested in duking it out.  The two of them apparently are set to go mano-a-mano while everyone else heads for shelter, Hawking having given said instructions to Remington.  "P.I.P.", picture-in-picture.  I got it.  Cute.
     Hawking once again appears to be firing up what Knuckles refers to as "that hyper-zone doohickey".  At the same time he starts moaning about the "responsibility" he has of saving echidna lives; hey Gramps, retire and move to Florida if you've got that kind of attitude!  While Buzzcut proves to be no match for Knux and Julie-Su, we find that the point of their little rumble (as opposed to the Big Rumbles going on outside) was to get Buzzcut to get his people out of harm's way as the two realities cross paths.  In the midst of all the earthquaking, Knuckles insists that cooler heads prevail.
     Knux and Buzzcut emerge to face a new reality; Echidnaopolis is still standing, and...OK, I must have missed something: what's with the cockatiel named "Catweazle"?  We also learn from D.V. that Hawking has met some kind of fate or other...maybe he decided to pack it in and move to Florida after all.  So why is it that it's Knuckles who's handed his hat?  Even if, in this case, it's the snazzy anime model.  The cast takes a two-month vacation.
     You can't say that Ken doesn't keep the story moving.  Trouble is, there are spots where the reader doesn't know much more of what's going on than Knuckles.  Things happen...or don't happen...or are only suggested.  After fretting so much about his son, Locke is dropped from this issue except to supply some scientific exposition.  After their opening routine, the Chaotix are also left out of account.  We're presented with a cataclysmic scenario...and the end-result is an existential visit to a haberdashery.  I suppose it's another example of loose continuity in action.  Not that it hasn't been a great story arc with superb new characters and situations, and a clear demonstration that Manny Galan has become to Knuckles what Art Mawhinney is to Sonic in terms of defining the look of the characters.  But the ending left me feeling like a kid in the back seat on a cross-country drive: "Are we there yet?"  Let's just hope that we're reminded of what the "there" is from time to time...or have comic books at this point in the 20th century abandoned even THAT amount of story structure?
     Postcards: Like the dog that didn't bark in the Sherlock Holmes story, I've come to be intrigued by the lack of hype over "Brave New World", next month's special issue in lieu of a Knuckles issue.  Maybe Paul Castiglia's Hype-O-Matic simply burned itself out after the "Endgame" debacle.  Still, I just can't get over the cover art for BNW, particularly the almost forlorn expression on Sally's face, as if to belie all that partying on the cover of #51.  This definitely looks like The Morning After.
     Repent: Sonic #52 is at hand!
     Sonic #53: WHY the freaking out over the possibility that Sonic & Knuckles have patched it up?  Didn't they do that back at the end of "Battle Royal"?  And if you've got the BIG guns working on the story (Penders writing and Mawhinney drawing), what business does Dr. Quack have being on the cover?
     Letters: one from Australia, to go along with the Neapolitan fan art.  We're dealing with an international phenomenon here, people.  (He leans back in his seat, smiling broadly at the seemingly innocuous statement on the letter page which is a clue to a major story arc on the horizon, the details of which are known only to a handful of trusted...I'm sorry, where was I?).  As Deo Volente might have said to Knuckles: "Here's your hat; what's your hurry?"