George Lucas famously got himself into trouble with STAR WARS fandom when he changed two of most famous moments of the original film, which was retitled A NEW HOPE in the altered version.
Of the two moments that infuriated fandom, Leia kissing Luke on the cheek instead of the lips ranks a distant second to his infamous decision resulting in his most egregious editorial change, resulting in Han not shooting Greedo first, which fandom has yet to forgive him for.
I bring this up because I found the initial reaction to the recoloring of pages from the story THIS ISLAND HEDGEHOG, in which Sonic meets Knuckles for the very first time, to be most fascinating.
Over the decades I’ve followed media franchises as a fan, I thought Gene Roddenberry’s decision to upgrade the look of the Klingons in STAR TREK THE MOTION PICTURE to be one of those “but of course” decisions. He now had the budget and time to present the Klingons as the alien race they were as opposed to some offshoot of humanity. It made sense. And fandom as a whole appreciated it. (Killing Spock, however, proved to be a bridge too far that fandom was not going to tolerate.)
When Paramount upgraded the original classic STAR TREK episodes with new state-of-the-art CGI VFX, this was yet again another decision that was a no-brainer. It made the episodes more accessible for a younger generation while original fans like myself could imagine Gene Roddenberry wishing he had access to the tech that made the FX possible.
So as I read the reactions to the recoloring of THIS ISLAND HEDGEHOG, I found myself thinking about the early days when Mike Kanterovich and I were crafting the story pitches and scripts, when we had no idea there would even be a next issue, or if there was, if we would still be working on the book. Everything looks better in hindsight, but when you’re actually living through events, you have no idea how everything will all play out.
Which brings me to Edmund and Dmitri, the pivotal characters in the formation of the Brotherhood of the Guardians and The Dark Legion.
At the time Mike and I were writing the stories that lead into the SONIC’S FRIENDLY NEMESIS KNUCKLES mini-series, we were working on an issue-by-issue basis. The Dark Legion wouldn’t even exist as a concept until I had to come-up with an idea for a follow-up Knuckles mini-series.
Thus, when we worked out the plot for “A SENSE OF HISTORY Part II” that was published in SONIC issue 35, we saw Edmund and Dmitri as a version of Cain and Abel from the Bible, making the relationship that much more tragic. When it came to naming them, Mike insisted on calling them Edmund and Dmitri. When I asked his reasoning for selecting those names, he replied, “They’re twin brothers on my favorite soap opera ALL MY CHILDREN.”
Considering everything else I had already contributed to the story, I was not about to say no to Mike on this matter. I also never considered what a headache establishing Edmund and Dmitri as brothers would create for me down the road.
Which brings me to the actual purpose of retelling this bit of Knuckles’s history.
I’ve taken a lot of grief over the years about the nature of Knuckles’s relationship with Julie-Su and how some readers consider that it borders on incestuous. If you look up at the page displayed at the beginning of this article, you’ll notice all I need do is change the word “our” at the start of Panel 1 to “my”, and the word “brother” that’s also used in Panel 1 to either “cousin” or “friend”, and suddenly the relationship can not be interpreted incestuous in any way, shape or form.
Two little words creating significant impact.
I’m very much inclined to make this change, but I’d like to hear from the readers before I do.
So what do you say? You can email me your thoughts and I promise to read every one. Thanks and take care.
Ken,
The change you are think about could create inconsistencies in the arc and lore through the comic’s run. I can understand the grief you have received with Julie and Knuckles being cousins, however, seeing how many generations precedes Knuckles, and the the little with Julie-Su’s side, the blood line has been diluted enough it should really never be an issue.
Genesis Khan and how many people 8n that large region he “conquered” comes to mind. Almost everyone there is a cousin…just incredibly distant.
I also liked the story dynamic between Edmund and Dimitri as brothers, particularly when their sons further the tragedy with Menniker and the Legion being tossed in the Twilight Cage by Steppenwolf.
Yeah, that’s the thing.
It’s not a big deal in THEORY if you understand the two families story dynamic and how genetics actually work. But we’re talking about nitpicky comic fans here.
In PRACTICE it becomes the only aspect of their relationship that people ever talk about.
I see how it could go either way honestly. I think Ken is creative enough to make it all work even with no family connection
That’s neat you got inspiration for a bad guy from the Bible. Is that based on some sins of pride or envy?
I always wonder where writers get their inspiration for bad guys especially.
If they have to think evil thoughts or how one gets in the mood to do bad guys.
My comment is here somewhere.
Don’t change it. The familial connection between the Edmund and Dimitri (and their sons) as the rifts are created adds to the tragedy of it all.
It’d be a shame to remove that element just to uncomplicate a connection that takes place generations later.
Honestly, if there hadn’t been a family tree printed in the books, I doubt as many people would have ever been talking about it. Probably would have gone over a lot of people’s heads.
If you had to change Knux/Julie’s connection (I don’t think you do) I’d change it somewhere further down the line by saying that Luger is Rex’s step-son or something.
Ken, Personally, i say change. i feel having THAT connection is unnecesary.
making Edmund and Dimitri not related, while a big retcon, will be for the better, you can always say something like “Edmund and Dimitri were close friends, they had a friendship so strong that they almost considered each others brothers” that sounds so cool, right?
having Edmund and Dimitri’s origins retconned will make things better, i know that takes away the cain and abel metaphor away, but i feel there’s more important things than that.
having two families have a generational hate with each other sounds more compelling to me than just one big family split into two.
Knuckles (or in this case, K’Nox) and Julie-su having someone that they can both call “ancestor” is an unnecesary connection.
that’s just my opinion.
Unrelated Ken, but do you have any plans of listing The Lost Ones comics anywhere for sale? Are there still copies of the preview special?
Keep Edmund and Dimentri as is.
I know the 2023 Tiny Toon Adventures reboot made Buster Bunny and Babs Bunny related, but Edmund and Dimentri not releated may be another story.