Mega Man #1 will be out from Archie Comics this May. To build anticipation, they’ve released a minimally animated trailer.
Mega Man is a successful video game franchise, for which games are still being produced. It has invaded other media before, including a short-lived animated series.
Now it’s going to be an ongoing comicbook series from Archie Comics, a publisher known for mostly children’s and young adult comicbooks including Josie & the Pussycats, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and Sonic the Hedgehog.
Mega Man is the story of a young man named Rock who works for the genius roboticist Dr. Light. When Light’s new prototype ‘Robot Masters’ are stolen by his nemesis, Dr. Wily, Rock puts on a suit of robotic armor, and wields Dr. Lights great Buster Canon, as he goes against Dr. Wily, and the Robot Masters under his control.
As he defeats each Robot Master, he incorporated their weapons into his own suit and canon, becoming slowly more powerful as the conflict escalates.
“Since 1987, the enormously successful Mega Man franchise has conquered media from video games to television to manga,” said Paul Kaminski, the franchise’s editor, when the series was first announced last year, “Archie Comics is ready to carry on this tradition of success, holding true to the spirit of the old school with a fresh eye on Mega Man‘s strong potential in the world of American comics. Readers can expect non-stop action, as well as an exploration of the themes of family, choice and loyalty that make the Mega Man franchise a property that connects on a very personal level.”
Kaminski also hinted that if the franchise is suceessful, Archie may branch out into other Mega Man series, as they did with their Sonic the Hedgehog property, which now has two spin-offs: Sonic Universe and Sonic X.
In this the final run up to the release of the first issue, Archie released this animated trailer:
Fortunately, the comicbook does not require voice actors.
