Udon Entertainment is kicking off their new line of Mega Man comic books with a special issue for Free Comic Book Day 2025. Mega Man #0, a silver-tier FCBD book, will be available at participating comic book retailers on May 3, 2025. (You can view the full list of FCBD titles here)
The art for this issue is by Jeffrey Cruz (a familiar name from Mega Man Legacy Collection 1, Mega Man Mastermix, and several Udon projects), Kenny Ruiz, Edwin Huang and Andrew Dickman, with the story written by Tavis Maiden.
Details about the story are coming soon, but I can share that this issue is a one-shot with a "silly" vibe that won't be fully reflective of the series' overall tone. Mega Man #1 proper, launching shortly after, promises to bring the "cool."
More updates on Udon's Mega Man soon!
am i dreaming?! i didn’t know there were going to be new comics!!!
ReplyDeleteBetween this cover and LC1, it’s pretty clear which RM’s are Jeffrey’s favorites. :p
ReplyDeleteI know the article says the story will be pretty light-hearted (potentially non-canon to the actual series), and the cover may have unseen characters anyway, but I’m hoping the diverse range of RM’s seen points to this *not* being a verbatim retelling of the game story. That was the biggest downfall of the Archie comics, imo.
I disagree about the Archie point. I always thought the way they adapted the game stories was one of that series biggest strengths. They were clearly inspired by the games, but were greatly remixed and elaborated on and otherwise just creatively reinterpreted in a way that really worked. The way they were handling the introduction to Protoman in particular was absolutely fantastic and it will never not be a sore point to me that the series ended before we got to see that character arc fully fleshed out.
DeleteVerbatim? Where? That is true for most of Ikehara's Rockman series, but Archie had several differences, examples including MM2 having a virus plot and the Light Numbers rescuing Mega Man, Super Adventure Rockman before MM3, new allies and enemies, two crossovers, ...
DeleteArchie Mega Man was great, its downfall was more likely due to Archie suffering several lawsuits and losing several staff members around that time. The worst was probably Ken Penders, who pestered Archie so much that Archie had enough and nuked the Sonic comics (a reboot followed by a cancel), with Mega Man ending up going together as a side effect.
I wonder what direction the new comic will take. Will it start from the very beginning, or will it tell new tales after Mega Man 11, similar to IDW's Sonic comic? Or a brand new universe with no connection to the games, like Fully Charged?
Based Penders.
DeleteI mean the story more in broader strokes. I like Needle Man, but I don’t think it’s necessary to introduce him and 6 casts of Robot Masters before Bass, an actual important character. And the writers probably felt similarly given his anachronistic appearances in some issues.
DeleteAnd I’ll admit, this is largely just my own take regarding adaptations and remakes: if I wanted the original story/experience/content, I’d seek out the original. A recreation will never be the same thing, so I don’t think it should try.
Though yeah, Proto Man was pretty good in Archie. Figures the Americans knew how to use him better. :p
The Archie run was fine. I enjoyed it a lot. It was a lot truer to the characters than most of the manga adaptions I have read.
DeleteI have little to no interest in this new run, UNLESS it is a continuation of the Archie story. What is it, the 4th US comic run, if you count the ridiculous Fully Charged concept? Just for it to go nowhere in the long term.
Ken penders needs to go to jail
DeleteFully Charged comic was nominally better than the actual show, which isn't saying much. Aki sharing a name with an MMX character was ridiculous, though.
DeleteDidn't Penders take an important piece of paper with him when he left, in a way that screwed Archie over when they took him to court? Dude's a whackadoo.
DeleteIf I remember correctly it was actually Archie’s fault on that part they had lost not only his but some of the other writers original contracts as well (unless you believe Ken’s claim that they never existed).
DeleteAs someone who mostly liked the Archie run even if we had the old team behind it and no licensing trouble to worry about. I’d rather there be a fresh take on the series after all this time, even if we’re probably gonna hear the MM1 plot retold again lol.
I think the fully charged comics are kinda funny it had very little to do with the show and ended just as quickly, it’s like an edgy fan AU made it to print.
If it's a different writer, it might be interesting to see how they do compared to Flynn.
DeleteI don't disagree with you on the comic.
It says Tavis Maiden is writing this issue at least but I’m not certain if he’s just writing this one or will be working on the series as a whole.
DeleteCute art. Nice to see robot masters from the later NES games represented.
ReplyDeleteCold Man? Quite the deep cut! Any word on who the writers are?
ReplyDeleteThe art style of this comic looks so good! 🤩
ReplyDeleteChamba is PERFECT for the art! Any word on the writer?? I hope they have someone that hasn't worked with Udon before. The only one I could think of writing Megaman would be Jim Zub, maybe?
ReplyDeleteSo Psyched that Andrew Dickman got on this issue. Absolute legend
ReplyDeleteCool! Looking forward to it.
ReplyDeleteI know the linked article stated that the Battle Network and Star Force series rights were tied up elsewhere, but I can't help but wonder what they'll eventually do for that side of the equation.
I'm hyped for this!
ReplyDeleteI will get my grubby little hands on this so fast when it's time
ReplyDeleteOooooooooooo imma get that.
ReplyDeleteWell that's nice to see. I really like the artwork for this cover, it has a nice vibe to it.
ReplyDeleteSo long as they keep Ian Flynn away from it! I cancelled my subscription to the Archie book because of that hack. And please, no Sonic The Hedgehog crossovers! The fans have earned a decent, authentic Mega Man comic written and drawn by professionals who know and respect the source material.
ReplyDeleteI, for one, have been waiting since Valiant Comics teased one in the letter column of their Super Mario Bros. comics back in 1990. Keeping my fingers crossed on this one!
I'm not a fan of Ian's writing either.
DeleteWhat's so bad about Ian Flynn? The Archie series was fantastic, and he's been doing a great job with the IDW Sonic comic too. I see a lot of people bandwagon hating the guy but nothing actually giving the hate substance.
DeleteIan's writing for the Sonic games has been extremely cringe inducing.
Delete@12:05 PM Yeah nah, I don't see it. Frontiers was a blast, had the most interesting story in forever, and was the most fun and hype I've had with a Sonic fan since Generations over a decade ago, and Shadow Generations felt like a return to form to the types of games we were getting between 2001 and 2008 and was even more fun to me than Frontiers from a gameplay perspective. Still don't actually see any substance to the hate other than it just being a weird bandwagon.
DeleteReturn to form to the cringe era? Yeah that isn't something to be proud of for Sonic.
DeleteI don't know anything about Ian Flynn and I'm not going to talk bad about his craft or whatever, but clearly the guy's passion is Sonic. He's like a Sonic mega fan. He should stay far away from Mega Man. I mean, he simply doesn't have the proper faculties to handle it professionally and objectively. He should stick to what he loves and got him into the industry in the first place.
Delete@11:37 PM That's the thing though, you calling it cringe doesn't mean anything objective. This was the era that shaped the Sonic fanbase as we know it today, it was incredibly popular, and continues to be incredibly popular. This is why Shadow Generations is making SEGA the fat stacks of green right now. As far as SEGA is concerned, Flynn's writing is good enough to be making them the big bucks and that's all they care about. Large sections of the fanbase would agree, which is why the money is coming in. Call it cringe all you want, but he's got to be doing something right for so many people to be enjoying his work.
Delete@7:52 AM I'd disagree. While Sonic is certainly one of his passions, his passion for Mega Man shines through as well with his work on the old Archie series. This makes sense as well, as the two franchises have a lot of overlap when it comes to fans. There's absolutely no way that he could have written what he did for the Archie series and not have a strong love for Mega Man like he does for Sonic.
I don’t think the commercial success of Front Ears or Shadow Gens has anything to do with Flynn. Besides, no one had complaints with Pontaff in their first two games.
DeleteAnd Shadow Gens is just normal Gens with different shapes. It’s fine to like those shapes, but there’s not much deeper there.
@Jark Spore The success of Frontiers and Shadow Generations has a lot to do with Flynn. If you pay attention to the Sonic community, you'll find a lot of people citing the better storytelling in these two games compared to everything from Colors to Forces as a big part of the reason why they are feeling optimistic and supportive of the franchise again. "We are so back" is getting spread around a lot regarding Shadow Generations in particular.
DeleteThe positive sentiments around his work in Frontiers are also very likely why SEGA decided to let him rewrite the script for Sonic Generations in the SXSG remaster, as the original game is also often touted as having a very bare bones and unfinished feeling story with oblivious characters and little to nothing actually happening. The rewrite isn't a drastic overhaul and does have some small problems of its own, but it does make the characters less oblivious and makes the story feel just a little bit more fleshed out even without adding any new scenes.
What the self-titled fans think have little bearing on sales, because the bulk of sales (at least for works that are popular) are from normies. And I don’t think normies went out and bought SXSG because Flynn doesn’t know what Time Stones do.
DeleteAnd rewriting Gens in particular is, frankly, asinine. To reel things back in, it’s equivalent to rewriting the dialogue of Rockboard to have it better match canon: sure, you can try, but the game is inherently disinterested in canon on a conceptual level.
I want to add: I have nothing against Flynn. I just feel that him and the recent games’ success and deeper stories are a correlation more than a causation. The actual content of Sonic Team games comes from Sonic Team themselves and their story. It was Sonic Team’s idea to make Colors the way it was, not Pontaff’s. No one ever praises or curses the localizers pre-Pontaff, so them having this cult-of-personality now eludes me.
DeleteThe art Style🤩🤩
ReplyDeleteThankfully the writer is different other than Ian
ReplyDeleteikr
ReplyDeleteWhat's up with all the Ian hate? I've never read his other works, but I thought his work on the Archie comics was great. Genuinely wondering here
ReplyDeleteI agree. If it were not for him doing the writing for Archie's Mega Man, we would never have gotten a well-written comic book series.
DeleteJust my opinion, but the amount of references to other media was kind of annoying. It got bad enough that management told him to tone it down, though other people ate it up like gangbusters.
DeleteI may or may not be bitter that he ripped on Ruby-Spears.
That being said, the beginning of the comics seemed to be legitimately good, and not too much on the "The Protomen, right guys? Emerald-Spears, right? Ruby-Spears was anime-riffic, riiiight?"
DeleteDon't see any substance to liking Flynn.
ReplyDeleteDon't see any substance to hating on him.
DeleteSeems to depend on your sense of humor. :X
DeleteThis just reminds me when Ian Flynn begged Udon to hire him and even linked Protodude, haha:
ReplyDeletehttps://twitter.com/IanFlynnBKC/status/1817357077662089261
You aren't getting that contract, man. Deal with it!
Look I’m not the biggest Ian Flynn fan but he ain’t even writing for this like calm down Archie MM is dead it can’t hurt you anymore
DeleteFlynn's "great writing:"
ReplyDelete"Oh, but I suppose that doesn't concern someone like you, who can't do anything but roll around at the speed of sound."
"Ugh. Please, no tedious speeches about the 'super power of teamwork.'"
Yeah, that's the kind of ham-fisted stuff that makes me groan.
DeleteWhat do you mean? Sonic's always had writing like this. You could take almost any scene out of context from SA1 or SA2 or Heroes or especially even Shadow 05 and say the same kind of "it's cringe" nonsense, but this is the writing style that many fans of the series are nostalgic towards, which is why it's what sells now. Do you really expect a series about a speedy blue talking hedgehog to be 100% serious and not get cheesy from time to time?
DeleteHe does that for Mega Man, too.
DeleteThere's a line between completely hamfisted and grimdark. The execution isn't very good - even "would rather roll around" would be better than "can't do anything but", in my opinion.
DeleteCan’t say I’m super familiar with Tavis Maiden so I’m curious to give this a read
ReplyDeleteI liked Ian Flynn's writing. I thought his commitment to continuity was something Mega Man sorely needed. If this Udon series isn't going to bother with something like that, it's just another in a long line of half-hearted "throw stuff at the wall" attempts from Capcom to do something with the IP.
ReplyDelete