Re:BomBom is a comics label in Japan known for their high quality reprints of out-of-print Comic BomBom manga. According to a Rakuten listing, Shigeto Ikehara's beloved Rockman manga series is next in line to be dusted off for redistribution.
Tentatively titled Rockman Rockman 1&2, the book is speculated to compile Ikehara's Rockman 1 and Rockman 2 adaptations, originally serialized between 1992 and 1994. It's due out on December 22nd for 1,598 Yen (roughly $14.66 US). No cover art at the moment, but I'm hopeful Ikehara will deliver something new.
And who knows, this could definitely become more fodder for UDON to release later. We're well overdue for Ikehara's works!
Credit: CapKobun
If UDON starts now we'll be lucky to have for the 30th anniversary.
ReplyDeleteThe art style might be something that may not prove popular with westerners (especially given the reception Powered Up got), but personally I would love Ikehara's Rockman manga to be brought over, if UDON ever decides to. The art reminds me of Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy, and I'm a fan of his works. But I'm not really counting it. Wasn't one of the Ikehara's Rockman manga reprinted not too long ago?
ReplyDelete- Dr. Jerk.
"The art reminds me of Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy?"
DeleteYou kidding? It's straight up Astro in Rockman's suit with a slight nose job.
Shigeto was one of Osamu's pupils, thus the similar art style.
DeleteI have all these books. Though I can't read Japanese, they are visually fascinating. Moreso than the Megamix manga or those Archie things.
ReplyDeleteIt would be great if Udon localized them. They should also publish a Ikehara art book to compliment the release.
They might be visually fascinating, but storywise they suck balls. They're boring and extremely formulaic. I don't think that's entirely Ikehara's fault, but out of all the manga artists who have worked on the Rockman manga the only one I'd put below him is whoever worked on that horrible RMZ series that gave Zero a split personality (one of which was a complete wuss).
DeleteI actually own original copies of these books. I managed to get them way back in the late 90s from a Japanese bookstore in Seattle that does special orders.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I don't care much for Ikehara's early Rockman stuff. If you think the Archie stuff is too juvenile or predictable, you're going to be REALLY disappointed with these. Way back when M Sipher described the storylines something like "Rock fights his way to Robot Master. Rock fights Robot Master. Rock nearly dies. We snore. Wash, rinse, repeat."
Supposedly Ikehara wasn't given much leeway for interpretation, so up until RM5 or so the books follow the games very closely, to the point where you can recognize many game areas. There wasn't much effort to flesh out the narrative, and since the NES games had very little actual plot that really hurts the manga.
I'd rather see Yoshihiro Iwamoto's X manga get the English translation treatment instead.