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Theory Time: Archie Megaman

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The Great Gonzo:
I am a grand overthinker, which probably contributes to my insomnia--but I digress. We've already seen Dreamwave's 4-issue "series", Mr. Shin's excellent summaries of NAdM, and heard those rumours about a cancelled Marvel series based on Ruby-Spears MM. (It either never existed or was vaporware. I believe Mandi's already taken that rumour down)

I recently relocated my Archie Sonic comics so that I could actually read 'em (a flimsy pile on the corner of a cluttered desk set against the wall? Not terribly conductive to anything), and seeing how there's been no "real" MM comic series (NAdM is interesting, yes, but ye gods...THE PLOT) and that only the .EXE manga was brought to the U.S...you can see where this is going, don't you?

An Archie adaptation of Megaman could go one of several ways:

1.) A straight adaptation of the games--like Ikehara, only super-condensed.

2.) A more...interesting take on Megaman, like what they did with Sonic the Hedgehog.

3.) A continuation of Ruby-Spears Megaman, hopefully utilizing some or all of the points established therein (don't look at me like that).

HOWEVER--as much as I'd like to theorize, I have one major beef with Archie: they're way, WAY too kiddie-oriented. The thing is, I can't name a single mature Archie production. "Mature" meaning "competence in both storytelling and character execution". "Kiddie-oriented" meaning "desperately trying to appeal to the 'tween' audience without realizing that some of 'em have brains".

Look at the rampant character and story derailment present in their Sonic series. Now compound that with Capcom's glorious canon track record, and you've got a horrific mess of a comic that couldn't find its own ass with both hands and a road map. Now, I'm not saying that it would be inevitable, because I do have SOME faith in Archie (I like their Sonic X). But, I've sat through enough Sally the [sonic slicer] and two-second "epic battles" to know that the chances of their MM being good aren't that great.


But stepping away from the Archie bashing...Let's talk about Option 2. The tone and settings of the comic, plus how much the characters look like themselves, all depends on when it was made. 1997 onward, it'd be pretty in-line with the games (and probably with the acid trip settings of MM8). By then, the tone of Classic MM had been firmly established.

1987-1996 is a different story. Archie could have taken far more liberties with MM then, since everyone else short of Capcom of Japan did anyway. I keep imagining elements that children of that era who weren't total shut-ins (like me) would find intimidating and challenging, like junkyards with huge "KEEP OUT" signs (Surely I won't wake up to find half of me in a Doberman's mouth!). Unfortunately, that time period leaves the project vulnerable to massive amounts of TOTALLY RADICAL. Remember the 90s? Remember those brightly-colored posters featuring kids who could easily be the disciples of Flava Flav? Now superimpose Megaman in there. Not so pretty, huh? In mild doses, TR could simply be cheesy and a fond reminder of the 90s. Heavy doses, you get the poor man's Wayne's World. With robots.


I could elaborate on Option 3, but it's getting late and I don't want my computer licensed revoked AGAIN. Anyone care to discuss?

Protoman Blues:
Hmmm, interesting idea Gonzo.  Granted, you are correct in that an Archie MM adaptation could be way too kiddie, but I would be interested in seeing where exactly they went with it.  Personally though, if it was Classic Megaman, then I'd have no problem with the kiddie-ness, provided the stories were somewhat interesting.

Protodude:
Option 2 sounds kind of hard to swallow, though option 3 sounds pretty good. Who knows what crazy adventures the R.S cast would have gotten into...

Rodrigo Shin:
I honestly think that the best way to follow would be a continuation of the games' plots, including new characters from new releases into the plot in the best way possible.

Since the NAdMM's topic was nuked to hell with wherever hiccup happened, I can disclose here this was the route Peixoto was going to follow in a 4-issue Mega Man X mini-series that Rogério Hanata was signed on to draw. It was supposed to follow on X4 (no X5 at the time, kids), and Nástenka would be a recurring character as a survivor of Repliforce that for what I could gather would be bitter towards the Hunters, and also be X's love interest, while Zero dealt with the loss of Iris. Sigma should pop up as the mastermind as not to break the trend.

In the end, the publishing house scheduled to do the series bankrupted before the first issue ever emerged, and that's the last we heard of it.

The Great Gonzo:
Wait, there was going to be a Brazilian X4+ comic? I missed that. :/

Giving the "continue where the games left off" option some thought, Archie could easily fill the gaps between games, seeing how (up to 8 at least) they were self-contained. But there's also a high risk of plot holes that the fans would have to spackle in themselves (if Archie didn't go back and do that themselves--hopefully not through a half-assed retcon).

Option 3...for some reason, their TMNT series springs to mind. That was the same series that turned April O'Neil into a turtle. It could get MUCH worse than lioning eye rays--and that's why I'd want to see it, just to witness the kind of insanity that would ensue. As long as the story doesn't collapse on itself like NAdM's did (and Liefield didn't pencil it), I'd be fine.

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