Ian Flynn recently revealed that he’d been part of a pitch by Archie Comics to bring Super Mario Bros. to the publisher’s video game comic book imprint. Flynn was so pleased with the fan response to his initial idea that he’s gone to Twitter once more to reveal that Mario wasn’t the only property that Archie took a stab at. Apparently, the publisher was asked to give proposals for Kirby, Metroid, and “Fossil Finders” (which might have been Fossil Fighters under a different name?).
Below, we’ve again condensed Flynn’s Tweets into more readable paragraphs. The actual content has not been altered. Here we go:
“So y’all seemed to dig the defunct Mario pitch, so let’s talk about the other Nintendo books that never were! After Mario fizzled, Archie was invited to pitch for three other IPs: Metroid, Kirby and…Fossil Finders. Didn’t even know that was one of theirs, but ok. I did a bit of research on the series, but I don’t think any formal pitch was made. I wasn’t tapped for the Kirby pitch, but I know I was on the short list to write it. What I would’ve loved to have done was the Dark Matter Trilogy, but that’s neither here nor there.
I did work on the Metroid pitch, tho. I was aiming for post-Fusion with over-arching themes of humanity, self-identity, and loneliness. I really wanted to get into Samus’s head and how she viewed herself; very human in appearance, but very alien in reality. By now she was a human/chozo/metroid/x hybrid having staved off full Phazon corruption. Her culture was a dead race and the military. She spent most of her life killing things or trying not to be killed by all sorts of space horrors. How does she WORK with normal folks?
The first pitch was a stand-alone & had her infiltrate a high society event on a contract to take out a weapons dealer. She used her normal appearance as a smoke-screen – just some human in a dress (Zero Suit). Thoughts of predators using natural camo. The dealer is a Shadow Broker type of alien with a thing for humans. One of his bodyguards gets tipped off it’s Samus and they open fire. Samus activates the Power Suit and wipes the floor with them while the dealer runs for it.
Sames gives chase. The dealer has escaped to his personal gunship and tries to blast Samus, collateral damage be damned.Samus, being the walking arsenal she is, eventually takes down the gunship and bring the deal in. I thought that one had a nice balance of character, intrigue, world building and bombastic action. It was flatly passed on. Sooooo we move on to pitch #2.
This one was a mini-series that had Samus called in to investigate unusually hostile mega-fauna on a G.F. research world. Turns out the scientists were doing something sketchy to the wild life, Man’s Hubris, yadda yadda, Samus fights man and beast alike. I was aiming for the same themes here, but to also incorporate the trademark exploration, One Girl Against the World scenario. Lots of moments to dwell on the art and location. It was deemed ‘too complicated.’
I started on a third attempt that was just a straight adaptation of the first game, but the entire initiative seemed to fizzle out by then. I think either scenario could still work: mission-based adventures or slower paced, scenery-driven stories punctuated with action. And I’d still love to explore Samus herself: ruthless but compassionate; a survivor with no real ‘home’ to return to. Alone, but still driven.”
Very fascinating stuff. Of course, had this come to pass, it wouldn’t have been the first time Samus had appeared in comics (the images in this article come from her adventures in Nintendo Power). While Archie stopped running Sonic the Hedgehog and Mega Man comics years ago, there’s really nothing stopping Nintendo from making the publisher home to its various properties. Might Flynn’s Tweets stir up interest in such a collaboration coming to pass? One can only hope! In the interim, hit us up in the comments and on social media to give us your take!
Source: Ian Flynn Twitter Account