Hot Air: Inked

The Blue Bomber is getting his own book!

By Aaron Roberts. Posted 01/20/2011 13:00 Comment on this     ShareThis

Hot Air Masthead

I’m excited because Mega Man is finally getting his own comic book.

That’s A Joke, Right?  Mega Man Must Have Been In Multiple Comics By Now

To an extent, it is a joke, as Mega Man is often one of comic book-doms mightiest and most regular heroes.  In Japan, that is.  Outside of the nation of his origin, however, the blue bomber does not see a whole bunch of page time.  And no, we are not including the Worlds of Power novelization of Mega Man 2.

Just to be clear, here, we’re talking about “classic” Mega Man, not X or Legends or Star Force, which have all also been subject to their own comic serializations on occasion as well.  Again, there have not been many, if any, adaptations of these game series in the American or European markets, so Mega Man is in no way close to threatening Donald Duck as the world’s most popular comic book character.  And just so we’re clear, here, I’m not including web-based non-licensed content like Bob and George.

I’d Bet He Didn’t Wear Pants In Any Of ‘Em

Now, despite what you’ve read above, Mega Man in fact has appeared on the American newsstands before, not just in the form of Mega Man Megamix, MegaMan NT Warrior, or other collections, but in his own classic series book, published by Dreamwave Productions.  The series lasted a total of four issues and was quickly canceled without comment.  A short Mega Man series was also published in Brazil by Magnum Publishing but was canceled just as quickly (ironically, possibly due to the aforementioned popularity of Donald Duck, as he is one of Brazil’s most popular comic heroes).  The literally dozens of volumes of Japanese visual content that have not yet reached our shores notwithstanding, most of MegaMan’s comic adventures in the Western world have been limited, to say the least.

Now, we have this new comic, which is slated to come out in May (though it’s unclear whether that means it will be the May 2011 issue or that it will hit newsstands in May — one does not necessarily imply the other), published by Archie Comics.  Now, don’t worry — this doesn’t mean that Mega Man will be hanging out with Jughead, Veronica, and Mr. Weatherbee instead of his usual cast.

Yes, But Will He Schedule A Date With Roll and Splash Woman On The Same Night At The Same Time AGAIN?!

Archie Comics actually has a pretty good pedigree when it comes to game-based comics.  In fact, they have the longest game-related running comic book in the United States with Sonic the Hedgehog.  Think about this –the main Sonic title has been running monthly without fail since 1993.  Some of you haven’t even been alive that long, although if you want to be cool, you’ve been around since at least the 1980s.  Depending on who you ask, the comic has been more faithful to the Sonic mythos than some of the games have been, although that’s a discussion best saved for another time.

Now, a Mega Man comic isn’t going to necessarily have the same timbre or focus as one about Sonic the Hedgehog, but this does bode well for the possibilities, especially looking at the art and pages that we’ve seen so far.  Fight, Mega Man!  For everlasting peace!

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