Mega Man Archie Comics

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Offline Psycho Yuffie

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on: August 20, 2011, 11:15:24 PM
I'm actually fairly surprised no one already posted about this. If someone has, I apologize, but I couldn't find a thread anywhere. In May 2011, Archie Comics began publishing Mega Man, just a few months before the Mega Man franchise was killed by Capcom. Strange move by Capcom, but as long as the comics keep coming, I won't complain.


But what kind of quality is the comic? Is it reminiscent of the old Ruby Spears cartoon or does it only pay attention to the Japanese source material? Well, the answer may surprise you: it's a little off both. It primarily focuses on the Japanese source material, when paying homage to the Ruby Spears cartoon in specific characterizations and scenes. Cut Man is definitely the most obvious nod to the cartoon series. Okay, we get it: you're Cut Man!


The general story though follows the most common accepted storyline of the first game: Dr. Light builds his robots for good, but Dr. Wily wants to use them for military applications. This leads to a falling out of the two scientists as Dr. Wily steals the six Robot Masters to suit his own devices. Also, it isn't above taking a few jokes at its own source material, where translation errors--both on the Japanese and American ends.


As you can see from the images, the art direction is definitely heavily based off of the Japanese official art--thank god. You can tell that the lead artist, Patrick "Spaz" Spaziante, did his research into the style prior to this comic. You may known Spaz from his earlier work in creating many of the awesome covers for the Sonic the Hedgehog comics, also published by Archie Comics. He more than proved to be amazing enough to be a lead artist with those covers, but this comics prove how versatile he is as well. Also, Mega Man actually changes color when he equips a new weapon!


Issue #4 harks the end of the first storyline of the comic: "Let the Games Begin." Hah! Get it? Because it's a comic based on a game and it's based off the first game in the...yeah... Anyway, the first storyline was very accurate to the storyline of the game, but I'm not sure if that's going to continue to be the case. Time Man and Oil Man were introduced at the end of Issue #4 as a cliffhanger just when everyone thinks that Dr. Wily's schemes are over. I believe that this is a fairly solid start to a good series. That is, of course, if you ignore the logic trappings of the original story: Dr. Light making robots to help people, but making them in such a way that they can be easily converted over to military purposes, so they become walking weapons of mass destruction. Incidentally, it looks like Archie Comics opted out of Oil Man's racist look by covering up his overly large lips with his bandana. Don't blame them.




Offline The Great Gonzo

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Reply #1 on: August 20, 2011, 11:42:16 PM
Quote
As you can see from the images, the art direction is definitely heavily based off of the Japanese official art--thank god. You can tell that the lead artist, Patrick "Spaz" Spaziante, did his research into the style prior to this comic.

Almost none of the people I see talking about the comic's style seem to like it on its own merits. It's always "Yay, it looks like the games!" or "Boo, Chad Thomas has his own style!" (The latter became the former recently) Urgh.

I mean, I like Spaz's style just fine. But a lot of those comments feel like purist bullshit.



Offline Night

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Reply #2 on: August 21, 2011, 02:41:13 AM
I love how Chad Thomas does oilman; such a great way to solve possible complains oilman might get with his design.
A lot of other people seem to think so too! At least, on the Megaman Network anyway. In fact, some people seem to like him better this way!

I mean, who doesn't love guys with scarfs?

So cool! ^oo^




Offline DarkWaltz

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Reply #3 on: August 21, 2011, 04:50:51 AM
I find it amusing that I just ordered the four back issues from the Archie store earlier today. XD

From what I read, Ian Flynn (Who does the story for Archie Sonic the Hedgehog) is going to maintain as close to the games as possible. Although I would like to see what kind of twists and such they can add to fill out the stories more. He can write some fairly epic sagas (STH's Iron Dominion Saga was awesome) and the art style is really nice I think. I'm actually quite excited to see more of the Mega Man universe through their eyes.


Offline Hypershell

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Reply #4 on: August 21, 2011, 04:01:55 PM
There's already a fairly unexpected and well-fitting twist in issue 4, but I won't spoil.  I'll just say that the fortress battles aren't as redundant as you might expect.  Between that and some solid early characterization of Roll in 2/3 (who is all too easy to shove off-screen, as the NES games did), I'm pretty confident in Ian's writing.

Almost none of the people I see talking about the comic's style seem to like it on its own merits. It's always "Yay, it looks like the games!" or "Boo, Chad Thomas has his own style!" (The latter became the former recently) Urgh.

I mean, I like Spaz's style just fine. But a lot of those comments feel like purist bullshit.
You know, when you consider the number of artists who have worked on Mega Man games, and the differences between NES art, Super NES art, PS1 art, MMPU's art, and MMU's art, I think we can safely say that "like the games" is an extremely ambiguous term.

Yes I disliked Chad's early lineart, but it was less because it was its own style and more because it somehow reminded me of Universe.  Seeings how he is now changing things up, I am certainly curious as to what a full comic by him will look like (and I can't really not love his Rush in #4's Short Circuits; that expression is priceless).

That being said, I've been a fan of Spaz ever since 1996, long before he ever started work on MegaMan.  Yes, I'm glad that he chose a style similar to "the games" (by which I mean Hideki Ishikawa), but it's not as if his own flair doesn't show through.

The "purist bullshit" refers less to current MegaMan and more to the PS1-era.  But considering the radically different art directions that Japan has taken MegaMan over the last few years, I really can't say that I blame the fans for wanting a little consistency.

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Offline The Great Gonzo

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Reply #5 on: August 21, 2011, 08:12:21 PM
Quote
You know, when you consider the number of artists who have worked on Mega Man games, and the differences between NES art, Super NES art, PS1 art, MMPU's art, and MMU's art, I think we can safely say that "like the games" is an extremely ambiguous term.

Durr, should've specified. >.>

Quote
But considering the radically different art directions that Japan has taken MegaMan over the last few years, I really can't say that I blame the fans for wanting a little consistency.

Maybe if someone had actually said that over at TMMN (though they might have, and I just forgot), I'd be less bitter.


About the comic itself: I like what I'm reading here, but I hope they take care of this pacing issue soon. Four issues is not enough space for a game adaptation, at least not with that number of pages. Also (issue 4 spoilers):

[spoiler]Why give Copy-Mega a prominent spot on the cover when he's just going to fire at Rock for two pages and then get gang-banged by Set 1, without even a single line of dialogue? Nice to see Archie's false advertising problem hasn't gone away...[/spoiler]



Offline Hypershell

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Reply #6 on: August 21, 2011, 08:45:57 PM
Coby Robot is where you have a problem with false expectations on the cover?  I'm considerably more concerned with Rush being on the cover of #1.

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Offline RetroRespecter

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Reply #7 on: August 21, 2011, 08:54:39 PM
Looks like they played a lot of Mega Man to be able to do this!



Offline The Great Gonzo

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Reply #8 on: August 21, 2011, 10:06:28 PM
Coby Robot is where you have a problem with false expectations on the cover?  I'm considerably more concerned with Rush being on the cover of #1.

I thought Rush being on #1's cover was weird too. But I figured, maybe Copy-Mega would have a larger role than he ended up with.

In retrospect, his image isn't as opaque as Wily's machine or the MM1 guys, but it's still taking up a good portion of the cover.



Offline Hiryu

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Reply #9 on: August 21, 2011, 10:18:23 PM
Yea, I let oilman borrow one of my scarves for the comics. Thought it suited him well.



Offline Karasai♪

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Reply #10 on: August 21, 2011, 10:21:42 PM
Time Man - Why is your scarf over your lips

Oil Man - Bitches dig the scarfs.



Offline Solar

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Reply #11 on: August 22, 2011, 12:44:15 AM
The pace of the story is kinda fast, but I like what the comic has been doing. Mostly the [spoiler]Rock getting drunk with power thing in issue 3, I don't think that's something we see often, do we? It was interesting to see. Also, the way they handled the robot masters' betrayal of Wily was extremely amusing XD [/spoiler]

Only thing I really don't like so far is Time Man and Oil Man being chibis =/


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Offline Rin

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Reply #12 on: August 22, 2011, 03:47:11 AM
Yeah, the pacing really does suck.
But it's not THAT bad. Besides, it probably will get better once they'll start doing more of their own thing, instead of just relying on plot of the games.
Besides... you people (meaning, those who complain about the story/pacing) should be thankful Penders is not working on Archie anymore.
I can't [tornado fang]ing imagine what a horrible mess this would be.



Offline The Great Gonzo

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Reply #13 on: August 22, 2011, 03:48:25 AM
I forgot about Penders. :/



Offline Psycho Yuffie

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Reply #14 on: August 22, 2011, 04:04:17 AM
Who is this Penders person?



Offline Rin

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Reply #15 on: August 22, 2011, 04:16:51 AM
Who is this Penders person?
A pathetic, selfish hack of a writer who played a huge part in ruining the entire Sonic the Hedgehog comic.
http://www.sonicstadium.org/2010/02/ken-penders-speaks-his-mind-on-ian-flynns-performance-on-the-sonic-comic/
Read this... read it whole. DO YOU SEE IT? DO YOU SEE WHAT KIND OF DICK HE IS?!

There's also that court case... google "Ken Penders court case".
I don't want to talk about this filth.



Offline The Great Gonzo

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Reply #16 on: August 22, 2011, 04:30:26 AM
I also forgot about that court case. But I DO remember that he wasn't too nice to the critics during his run.

If Penders were involved with this comic, I'd imagine it'd quickly degrade into soap opera-esque melodrama, with some uncomfortable harem under/overtones (unless that was another writer's doing).



Offline Psycho Yuffie

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Reply #17 on: August 22, 2011, 04:38:06 AM
He was the one responsible for the crappy romantic subplots? I hated those.

He seems very arrogant. That whole court case doesn't make any sense. If you write stories for a company, that company owns the IP, not that writer. It's like the writer for Mass Effect demanding that BioWare can't use Commander Shepard anymore if he left.



Offline RetroRespecter

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Reply #18 on: August 22, 2011, 10:04:21 PM
What does this have to do with Archie Comics' run on Mega Man, hmmm?



Offline Karasai♪

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Reply #19 on: August 23, 2011, 11:23:13 PM
Forgive me for being stupid, but I noticed the title of the second arc

Time keeps Slipping

Probably a coincedence, because slipping could mean something else besides Oil Man



Offline Hypershell

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Reply #20 on: August 24, 2011, 12:53:47 AM
Well, titles often have more than one meaning.  But it may just be one of those things that's so simple that it's easily missed.

A pathetic, selfish hack of a writer who played a huge part in ruining the entire Sonic the Hedgehog comic.
http://www.sonicstadium.org/2010/02/ken-penders-speaks-his-mind-on-ian-flynns-performance-on-the-sonic-comic/
Read this... read it whole. DO YOU SEE IT? DO YOU SEE WHAT KIND OF DICK HE IS?!
I find it funny that Ken criticizes his successors for being unoriginal when his own litmus tests for their alleged failure are well over 100 issues prior to his leaving.  In other words, his last eight years on the comic didn't measure up to his own standards.

"They stole my idea when Bunny and Antoine got married".  Priceless.  They were an item (from out of nowhere) since #46.  Taking a long-established relationship to the logical next step is not the property of any individual.

Quote
There's also that court case... google "Ken Penders court case".
I don't want to talk about this filth.
Anyone besides me find it disturbing that Ken is in court trying to do exactly what many fans wished Inafune would do?

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Offline DarkWaltz

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Reply #21 on: September 05, 2011, 06:40:42 AM
So. Finally got the four issues. I like what I am reading so far although the pacing seems a little quick. One moment Mega Man is fighting Ice Man and the next page he's going after Fire Man.

[spoiler]Although Mega Man getting on a power trip is an interesting thing to see.[/spoiler]

Also, issue three, they quoted the chorus from the song 'A Message from Dr. Light" by The Megas. XD I had to laugh. I think I'm going to snag a subscription to this comic  once the bills are out of the way.


Offline Reaperoid

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Reply #22 on: September 05, 2011, 08:03:30 AM
I was interested in it too, but I'm waiting for my local store to bring in the first Trade Paperback for me at the moment.

I guess all I can really say is it isn't exactly what I'd expect out of a $4.4M game

It doesn't even have mouth animations


Offline Rockara

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Reply #23 on: September 06, 2011, 07:13:32 AM
ah yes, i'm actually trying to collect them all so i could get big money from them in about a decade or so, i got issue #1, 2, and 4, i have yet to get #3 but i might be able to get it once #5 comes in

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Offline Solar

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Reply #24 on: September 09, 2011, 05:31:21 AM
So who has the latest issue already?

I lol'd at the little comic at the end, poor Proto. Don't worry, your time will come soon XD


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