Street Fighter Prime #0 from Udon Entertainment recently hit comic shops, and inside, you'll find a two-page preview of all five Mega Man Timelines one-shots, from Classic to Mega Man Legends.
I can't share the cover art previews from the second page, but I do have the complete list of writers and artists for each issue:
- Mega Man Timelines #1 (May 28th) - Tavis Madien (story), Kenny Ruiz (art)
- Mega Man X Timelines #1 (June) - Daniel Arseneault (story), Edwin Huang (art)
- Mega Man Zero Timelines #1 (July) - Ian Flynn (story), Hanzo Steinbach (art)
- Mega Man ZX Timelines #1 (August) - Matt Moylan (story), Dax Gordine (art)
- Mega Man Legends Timelines #1 (September) - David Oxford (story), Mic Fong (art)
There's a few familiar faces here! Ian Flynn, known for his work on Archie's Mega Man, is back to script Mega Man Zero, while the venerable David Oxford aka LBD Nytetrayn—longtime Mega Man fan, writer, and all-around great guy—is tackling Mega Man Legends. He’s teaming up with Mic Fong, whose past work on Dreamwave’s Mega Man comics might ring a bell.
More updates on Mega Man Timelines soon!
This is actually a solid list of writers and artists for these comics. I can't wait to see these for myself!
ReplyDeleteAwesome, Ian Flynn writing the comic for the games with the best stories. Can't wait for him to completely fuck them up!
ReplyDeleteZero intercepting the bomber in Z2: “Wow, this is just like that time me and Axl took down Wind Crowrang during the Red Alert Incident!”
DeleteNever really understood the hate that Ian Flynn got. The Archie comics ran through MM1-3 (barely), games with nearly zero dialogue and we have some who claim to be an authority on how the story should be told.
DeleteSo what if the comic's expounded storyline included some Easter eggs and pop-culture shout outs? It doesn't impact canon anymore than Ariga's manga did. I have a feeling some "fans" just hate to see anything touched by western artists/writers/developers for some weird reason.
The references are ham-fisted, is all. I never paid attention to Ariga's work because some of his designs put me off.
DeleteI'm just some jackdaw on the internet, really. Don't pay attention to my seething.
@MatureMMFan
DeleteThat's not a fair assessment in my opinion, since I don't like Ian Flynn writing (for Mega Man at least) but I love Ben Bates art, far more than Ariga's actually. And no, I know I have the RS Mega Man as a profile pic, but I am in no way related to RS Proto Man. Also, there isn't much western Mega Man official work, but I love many many western fan music among other things.
Hah, yeah I'm not One. I don't even know who most of these guys are because I'm a filthy casual.
DeleteOh yeah, I've seen people complain that Ian Flynn made Metal Man into a joke by running with the "weak to his own weapon" thing. I could see that being kind of obnoxious.
DeleteNeedle Man was a bit much too. “‘Old ship’ doesn’t fit thematically with ‘needles’? Well, too bad!”
Delete"The references are ham-fisted, is all."
DeleteIndeed, the cliffhanger of this week's DC X Sonic #1 written by Flynn is DC's Darkseid deadass quoting the Sonic Adventure 2 script. If freaking DARKSEID of all DC characters isn't safe from his ram-rodded references, then it's safe to presume Mega Man Zero isn't neither!
@Mika Jeez. Is he gonna make Robotnik say he pissed on the moon, next?
DeleteVery excited for these! Hoping they do well and we get more in the future!
ReplyDeleteAww yay! Glad Ian Flynn is getting to do more of these; I'm sure he was disappointed the series ended before he got to tell the full story. And holy cow LBD must be stoked!!
ReplyDeleteMatt Moylan's writing the ZX issue? Hard pass.
ReplyDeleteEh.
ReplyDeleteLBD getting to write an official Mega Man Legends story feels almost poetic.
ReplyDeleteWait, so Timelines is technically 5 different books now? Will we get 20XX Timelines #2 after Legends Timeline #1, and so on? I thought this would be more of a limited series…
ReplyDeleteIt is a limited series. Each issue is a #1. Like Giant Size X-Men was a #1.
ReplyDeleteI'll be honest… I didn't know LBD Nytetrayn was still around. That makes me very happy because he really is simply the best! We fell out of contact a while back, but I have plenty of fond memories geeking out about Mega Man X with him, back in the early days of the web…
ReplyDeleteGod, we're old.
My only fear about this series is that they're going to try and shoehorn some kind of "connectivity" between eras and forge an actual timeline without any solid proof or credibility, like so many fans have tried to do. I do like that they're going backward, though — from the Halcyon Days of Legends… to back in the year 200X (or probably 20XX) of Mega Man. That's kind of charming.
They *definitely* aren’t going backwards. May is 20XX, June is X, etc. And we’ve had several covers for 20XX #1 and nothing for any other issue. Not sure why the image from the Street Fighter comic is arranged like that.
DeleteLBD is a good guy. I'm old too, was a big fan of MM Outpost and Network and even was on the staff there back in the early 2000s for a couple years. Although that site is a shell of its former self, it's good to see it still around and at least one member of the original community trying to keep it alive.
DeleteI guess Legends "fits" at the end. But personally, I am not a fan of it being part of any timeline but its own.
Delete@Jack Spore
DeleteBut… but the cover order…! I was tricked…!!
(I swear, the dates were backward, too.)
Love the Archie comic, love the Zero series. What could go wrong by combining them…?
ReplyDeleteWell for one thing, the timeline and universe. (I kid, I know what you meant)
Delete“Tom likes the Mega Man Archie comics, and Jim likes the Mega Man Zero games. To make a truly great comic, I was thinking you could combine them.”
Delete“Ehh?”
“I meant combine the best qualities of both, not the actual worlds and stories!”
IYKYK
I guess it depends on the tone. I think I've heard the Zero manga isn't as super-serious as the games are.
DeleteThe Zero manga is goofy nightmare fuel.
DeleteA Zero comic needs to be gritty. I don't think it would work in the Archie art style, to say the least.
Yeahhhh. If Ian Flynn can reign in his impulse to get silly, -maybe- he can do okay.
DeleteWell it wouldn’t be in the Archie art style, it’ll be in Hanzo Steinbach’s art style. Which, apparently he did the cover of MMPR Rita’s Rewind… It could work.
DeleteHis art style looks ok. Just saying what could go wrong, that's a hypothetical wrong. Not that it's what's gonna happen with this particular comic.
DeleteI never had an issue with the Archie run's writing. Hamfisted references are the entire point of such a comic. My only issues are it just stopped and GN's were cancelled and never released. I also didn't care for the Sonic crossovers. That was just stupid (as my avatar suggests).
Entire point? I feel like I'm missing something. :B
DeleteYes. It's marketing material. That was the entire point.
DeleteSo whenever there's some goofy "Emerald Spears" type thing or a reference to The Protomen, that's a marketing thing?
Delete:B Guess it's not for me, then.
Official fanfics. Okay then.
ReplyDeleteWhy can't they make something similar with mega man battle network and mega man star force, i like that timeline as much i like the main one.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who prefers any “robot timeline” series to the “program timeline,” I can’t help but feel the inclusion of Zero and especially ZX is excessively… nerdy. Unless they manage something to meaningfully connect all 5 stories, I’m hesitant that the “commitment to the bit” will be worth it.
Delete