Licensing Tragedies: The Brazilian Mega Man Comic
The other day, I looked at Dreamwave’s halfhearted attempt to bring a Mega Man comic to a deserving world. Though the comic was indeed impotent, it wasn’t necessarily bad; it simply filled up shelf space and delivered an all-inclusive story that was never in danger of engaging or exciting anyone.
But that wasn’t Mega Man’s only foray into a non-Japanese comic. Brazil published a Mega Man comic as well. The Brazilian Mega Man comic was, as the kids say, batshit insane.
I’ve never met any of the staff at Capcom’s licensing department, but I have a mental picture of how this particular proposal went down. Some key member was sprawled on the couch like Homer Simpson, heavy-lidded in front of the television, gut dusted with chip crumbs. A hopeful Brazilian artist timidly approached the bloated figure and asked, “Capcom, can I–” and Capcom dismissively mumbled “Yeah, yeah.”
It’s likely Capcom still scrambles to hide ”That comic” from Keiji Inafune—unless someone on staff thought up a good defence for Roll’s origin in the comic, which involved a child sex slave ring.
The “Novas Aventuras De Mega Man” had all the traits of a fan project gone completely mad, but it was technically as official as the Dreamwave comic, the Ruby-Spears cartoon (from which the Novas Aventuras De Mega Man drew liberally), and the wonderful Megamix manga put together by Hitoshi Ariga. The series’ large stable of writers and artists had no qualms about stripping Roll naked at the drop of a hat, or breaking the fourth wall in order to make excuses whenever their work became indisputably half-assed. They even brought in a female character, “Princess,” to look the “gringos” in the eye and tell them that the golden age of Brazilian comics had finally begun (uh, well, “Cybersix” was a pretty cool start if you ask me). But all that was downright normal next to certain story events.
For instance, the Mega Man and Mega Man X timelines crossed over, a favoured plot device for twelve-year-olds digesting a pound of cotton candy. But even fanboys usually have the sense to use the names Inafune gave his characters. Sure, there’s a lot of squalling over whether or not Wily’s robot should be “Bass” or “Forte,” but no one decides to change Bass’ name to “Slasher” just because it sounds cooler. No one except for the Novas Aventuras De Mega Man, of course.
The comic even featured its own line of Reploid precursors, which was named “Neo-Mavericks.” Chronologically, this line was created long before Sigma’s development and descent into the cuckoo’s nest, but the comic’s creators just thought the term “Maverick” sounded really cool, and to hell with its definition. Imagine building and naming a line of robots called “Mavericks.” I know humans are good at unconsciously asking for trouble, but dang.
The mostly-unexplained timeline crossover meant Mega Man and Roll often fought alongside X and Zero. X had a thing for Roll. No, he really, really wanted to bang her and was not shy with the “plug and play” metaphors. We’re not even going to start up about whether or not robots can have sex; the thought of X committing acts of incest with his (way) older sister is plenty to make me slit my eyes in disapproval.
Maybe poor X just couldn’t deny his darker urges because Roll’s clothes seemed incapable of staying on for more than one panel at a time. My comic history is a little spotty, but I can’t think of another instance of a female character whose nakedness is rampant enough to make a newborn baby blush. Going back to robots and sex (because I know you totally want to go there), the first issue of the Novas Aventuras De Mega Man contained an author’s note that hints Roll has the technology, so to speak, to get pregnant—and Mega Man has the goods to do the deed.
I’m not doing the comic justice by just jawing about it, so I cordially invite you to check out every issue, scanned and summarised in English for your…enjoyment. Come one, come all, and see what happens when oversexed writers and artists are allowed to apply every one of their fantasies to a property meant for children.
Tags: brazil, comics, dreamwave, manga, mega man, mega man comic, nadia oxford, novas aventuras de mega man, rockman
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Oh my god. This is fantastic. I need to download and read every single issue of this.
I love you forever for exposing me to this.
Oh dear, I’ll never be able to think about Roll the same way. Protoman is a bastard!
What I really like about this comic is Roll’s development as a character. Before these came out she was only known as “Mega Man’s sister”. Her scientist-like personality near the end of the comic is very awesome, that’s when she reminds me of Alia. And yes, I’m a proud Brazilian! ( ;