In 2011, Archie Comics began publishing a graphic novel series based on the hit video game franchise, Mega Man. Perhaps you’ve heard of it? Features a little blue robot who fights for justice? Has a handful of games across a few different platforms?
So anyway, this Mega Man comic, it’s better than it has any right to be. The Mega Man games have very little in the way of story, so it was impressive that writer Ian Flynn was able to really flesh out a plot and dialogue interesting enough to keep you reading. Even more so since it also felt true to the spirit of the games.
But this is not the brightest timeline, and as such, we are not allowed to have nice things. Archie pulled the plug on the Mega Man comic series in 2015, despite it being rather popular and well-received by both critics and everyday schlubs like me. It lasted a mere 55 issues. We will never forget.
Cancelling the series is not actually my point of contention, though. Everything ends, and some things end before their time. It happens, and you have to learn to live with it. That’s not to say I’m happy about it, but I have bigger fish to fry.
See, I don’t collect comics in the traditional “floppy” form. I wait until a number of comics are collected together in trade paperbacks, since their added thickness and rigidity allows them to be stored in a bookshelf. So I was gleefully buying these TPBs of the Mega Man comics as soon as each new volume was released. Life was good.
But then Archie canned the series, printed out the final few issues, and proceeded to act as though it had never existed. The trade paperbacks were always a little bit behind due to their nature, but all seemed to be moving along nicely. The future installments were listed on digital storefronts with finished-looking covers and release dates, so no problem. Just keep on collecting until the end.
Some time later, the release date for TPB volume 9 passed, but the actual book was not released. Then 10. Then 11. Eventually it became clear that Archie had no intent of ever releasing issues 37-55 in TPB form, and all of us who were waiting on (especially me) were left with incomplete collections. It’s an unfortunate turn of events, and I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’ll just never read those issues. I’d still like to, though. But you can be damn sure that I won’t be subscribing to the stupid Archie Comics app!