Yet another round of bad news for Archie comic fans.
Usually this site doesn’t cover Mega Man outside of the crossover shenanigans, but this piece of news is pretty urgent for anyone who follows the blue bomber. Earlier today, comicbook.com released the solicit for September’s issue of Mega Man, Mega Man #53. On top of that, they stated that this arc would Archie would be ending the series in November’s Mega Man #55. Below is the solicit for September’s issue;
MEGA MAN #53
The BLUE BOMBER is BACK from the events of “Worlds Unite” and is ready to fight for justice! That’s all well and good, if there was actually someone to fight! In “Blue Shift,” peace has finally come to Mega Man’s life—but is that a bad thing? Could it be possible that our super fighting robot has come to actually love the battles he was once so opposed to? Meanwhile, Dr. Wily plots something sinister from the shadows, reaching an even newer low for the mad doctor! It’s an extended curtain call as we come to the end of the Mega Man series! Featuring cover art from Jason Piperberg and a BOT UNDER FIRE variant from superstar Thomas Pitilli!
Script: Ian Flynn
Art: Ryan Jampole, Gary Martin, John Workman and Elaina Unger
CVR A Reg: Jason Piperberg
CVR B Variant: Thomas Pitilli
On Sale Date: 9/16
32-page, full color comic
$3.99 U.S
Archie’s Twitter later clarified the news as being a hiatus, not a full on cancellation;
MEGA MAN series to go on hiatus after #55 via @ComicBookdotcom @IanFlynnBKC
http://bit.ly/1GcmUWt
Either way, this isn’t exactly great for those who follow the Mega Man comic. At least there’s still a continuation on the cards, so watch this space to see if Mega Man returns to take on more of Dr Wily’s nefarious plans.
Sources: comicbook.com, Archie’s Twitter
Holy shit! First Boom, now Mega Man!
WTF Paul Kaminski?! I thought this stupid crossover and the stupid crossover before that was supposed to raise interest in MegaMan, but because this bullshit keeps interrupting the pacing of the MegaMan comic, the events are actually hurting the book. So much that the intent of this crossover (raise interest for an X book) is not even a pipe dream, it just won’t happen. And those Battle Books, did they really think people would spend money for side-stories?
What I fear though is that this may be a case of corporate bullshit. With Archie restructuring their company so they can appeal to YA and hipsters as the critical “indie” darlings that they are and SEGA playing clean up for their own fallacies, I’m actually fearful for the future of the Sonic comic.
YES, I know it’s Archie’s most successful long running comic with the most subscribers and it brought them tons of money, but it also cost Archie a lot both financially and mentally to keep the license on top for SEGA’s approval. However the numbers on MegaMan never indicated that he was in danger of hiatus for at least another 2-3 years, so this must be some type of conflict between Capcom and Archie. I often wonder with all of this boardroom shuffling and shenanigans, that maybe the Sonic comic is in danger too. How long does Universe have until it’s deemed “Too costly to keep”.
I don’t want to be hysterical or anything, but it has always been a dream of mine to one day get good enough to draw on the comic books. But this is scaring me into really being serious with my comic and art skills. Because if SEGA and Archie keeps making these fucked-up decisions based on nothing but profit, by the time I do get good enough to draw on the comic, there won’t BE any comic left. I pray that never happens.
Chill, the hiatus is probably only to give them time to rework the structure of the world and future story lines to match those of the upcoming cartoon and game.
…and how the fuck is that a good thing?
I mean, maybe in the long run and maybe for my chances of living my personal dreams, but you’re essentially telling me that all of Ian Flynn’s long term plans, as well as adapting the entire Mega Man chronology, could get tossed out like a baby into the bath water….for a ANOTHER cartoon tie-in.
Why would Archie do this, I ask you, when the last time they made adjustments in their publishing plans to accommodate a multimedia tie-in, IT LASTED ONLY 11 ISSUES. And it was a spin-off of their most profitable title. You’d think they would learn?
Ok, say Capcom, for some ridiculous reason( maybe finally hitting the final nail of the coffin of their beloved mascot because they want to erase all evidence of Infaune-san), decides to retool the comic to fit the new cartoon. Why would Capcom want to get rid of a product with an established fanbase, immediate appeal and a recognizable brand for what is essentially an unknown quantity?
Because going back to Boom, SEGA was betting their prize horse on that franchises and they came back barely limping (the show is doing ok, but everything else going to shit). Wouldn’t it be smarter to see the reaction to the pilot of the show before making all these crazy plans for merchandise?
…oooooorrrrr, Ian Flynn is just getting exhausted from having to write for 4 FREAKING COMIC SERIES AT THE SAME TIME, and just needs a break. He’s fine with leaving Sonic Boom, as that could always become part of Sonic Universe every other few months. Mega Man he clearly wants to keep working on, but he needs a break from that too. Sonic is still Archie’s number one action money maker, so Ian can keep writing for the two Sonic series with no problem, just like he’s done before. Mega Man will likely come back after a year or two when Flynn feels more invigorated. Yeah, maybe they might have some plans to integrate with the upcoming cartoon (is there a game coming out? Other than Mighty Number 9, the “not” Mega Man?) but they aren’t going to just throw everything they had planned out the window. If anything, maybe they might be planning to make room for two Mega Man comics, the current one AND a cartoon comic tie in. If that’s the case, maybe Flynn requested a period of rest from the main Mega Man comic so that he’s not being overworked. That wouldn’t be too bad. In any case I’m going to stay optimistic about this until I’m given reason to worry. Mega Man will live on.
LOL, I never said it was a good thing.
I think you read too much on such simple statements, why don’t you just wait and see what happens?
“WTF Paul Kaminski?!”
Erm…
https://twitter.com/Paul_Kaminski/status/590520485881884672
Probably not his doing.
Actually Megamans selling as well as Sonic Universe. Archie’s having financial trouble as well as new management so they have to make some cuts (one of them we saw a few months ago when the new trade paperbacks started using newsprint instead of glossy paper) in order to promote their own original comics that are getting rebooted and the writers and artists for those get paid WAY more than the ones for Sonic and Megaman. Originally Archie had a Kickstarter to help fund their new reboots but they were met with such a huge backlash from fans (because they’re such a big publisher) they had to pull it down.I do think they’re being sincere about it just being a hiatus and I don’t think Megamans going away forever(Boom on the other hand probably won’t come back which most people probably won’t mind considering there isn’t much of a plot and it exists only to create memes). Seriously dude, I’m mad to but you need to do some research before ranting on the internet about stuff. Know your enemy and all that.
It’s probably just a stop gap to recalibrate (reboot?) the comic for the new cartoon and game coming in 2017.
Guys, calm down! As Hero said, Ian’s probably just exhausted from writing 4 comics at once all the time and needs to lighten his workload for a bit. After all, he IS a human being with, y’know, needs and a life. He’s not a freakin’ machine that has to make your precious comics 24/7. Bet those of you who are fussing wouldn’t last a week making one comic 24/7, nevermind 4.
4 comics*
Uh, from what I’ve read of Ian, he was far from exhausted, he was raring for even more content to work with. If anything, he wasn’t relieved about this, he was devastated.
The blame may not lie at Capcom’s feet, but it’s not like it isn’t likely to be executive either.
And this isn’t first time Ian lost a comic. He was New Crusaders for Red Circle before Archie rebooted the thing as Dark Circle. I still think he didn’t finish Vol 2. Dark Legacy.
Ironically, I’ve often told Ian to chill out on writing more comics before he burns out and he always stated that he wanted to do more.
If it’s not Capcom’s fault, then someone at Archie is getting too bold for his britches. I only hope it’s a creative issue and not anything about “Reducing cost” because if that happens…
….um…I made a comic in a week. It was a crap, but that’s not the point isn’t it. There are people who can make comics in a day, and some of them bitch even worse than I do. Some of them don’t.
But guess what? when a comic book writer needs to take a break or can’t meet deadline, you know what companies do?
First you make sure that writer did as much work as he possibly could and then…you get another writer! You always need 2 or 3 writers on backup in case the main dude cannot make it for some reason. Especially in an ongoing title that ships monthly or weekly, it’s almost intolerable. There are the rare cases when a comic is tied directly to the writer, but they are mostly creator owned.
Unfortunately, Archie never understood this: they have a billion artists at their beck and call but not many writers. However, in the case that Ian is incapacitated they need to have someone who can hop on for a while. Tracey Yardley can probably do it and now they’re bringing in Evan Stanley on the fold, so there is no need for such drastic measures as delaying a comic or outright cancelling it. But Archie needs more writers
While Ian is not a freakin machine, but the comic book industry is, and it cannot miss a beat or else, like Matt Fraction and David Aja’s Hawkeye and their 1 yr hiatus, people will stop caring.
Dude Ian writes his own Patreon funded stories on top of what he does for Archie. This has more to do with Archie having financial trouble (Trade Paperbacks constantly delayed, the paper quality of their trades going down significantlym, the Kickstarter they had to stop because people were angry that such a big company was using Kickstarter, the upcoming reboots of their own original comics, they’re in some deep shit right now).