Price Glitch Affects UDON Books, but Should Be Cleared Up Soon

Last weekend, Amazon and other online book retailers began offering books like Mega Man Official Complete Works for the cutthroat price of $14.99. A pretty good deal, but not a deal that was intended to happen. And while Amazon honored the orders at first, it seems that may not be the case anymore. Staffer Maverick-Jin was e-mailed this morning by Amazon to be told his order for Mega Man Megamix Vol. 1 and Mega Man Official Complete Works was canceled, citing lack of stock and offering him a $25 gift card for the trouble. And sure enough, only stock from Amazon’s third party sellers is available as of now.

We inquired to UDON Entertainment’s Matt Moylan as to the situation, and here is what he tells us. First of all, Matt assures that the books are not out of stock, and they still have a few months supply of both MM and MMX Official Complete Works, as well as Megamix Vol. 1. The source of the problem appears to be with the distributor, Diamond Distributors. Once this glitch had been realized, Amazon put a hold on all products managed by Diamond, which besides UDON includes publishers such as Marvel and Dark Horse. While UDON has no control over the matter, Matt suspects the issue will be worked out in the next couple of days, and asks for the patience of us fans.

Additionally, Matt also offered up some good news. Mega Man Zero Official Complete Works will be going back into print, and should arrive starting the first week of May, so those who may have missed the chance to grab it will get a new one. It sounds like there’s strong demand for Mega Man artbooks and comics!

As always, much thanks to Matt and UDON for the heads up.

Megamix’s Hitoshi Ariga Now Answers Your Questions!

Mega Man mastermind Keiji Inafune has had his chance to answer questions from the fans… twice, even. Now, it’s time for the maestro of Mega Man Megamix to take his turn at bat, courtesy of the Capcom Unity and the Blue Bomber’s 22nd birthday celebration held back in December of last year.

Here is what he had to say, and JGonzo from Capcom notes that #3 will likely thrill our very own resident zippo, Heat Man:

1) Oakie620 asks: What inspired your work on Mega Man Megamix? And do you have any interest in working on manga based on another Mega Man series such as X, Zero, ZX, Legends, Battle Network or Star Force?

Ariga-san:

I was originally a manga artist for a magazine called Comic Bom Bom published by Kodansha in Japan. I mainly worked on one-shot mangas but also worked on 4-panel Mega Man manga at a time. I received many positive reviews for those works, and the publisher asked me to work on the Rockman Tanjo Densetsu (direct translation: Legendary of the Birth of Mega Man). I started to receive more work from Kodansha, and one day they brought me a one-shot Mega Man feature for a Comic Bom Bom extra edition. That was the Mega Man Remix which eventually served the basis for Mega Man Megamix. There had had already been a Mega Man serial manga in the original Comic Bom Bom issues, written by Shigeto Ikehara. His manga was initially created to serve as a game strategy guide. I loved the detailed illustration of his work. His being the original, I thought mine should be somewhat different as a special version. Hence, I paid a special attention the art design to differentiate it from his work. I designed the robots slightly different from the original art including Mega Man himself.

What influenced me most was the Gundam serial manga by Kazuhisa Kondo in Comic Bom Bom. In Kondo’s Gundam manga, Mobile Suit I saw in the TV animation was illustrated in more detail with an additional maintenance hatch. That impressed me quite a bit who was then an elementary school kid. To add details to modify the original forms has become quite common nowadays, like you see in the Gundam figurines. I think that it was Kondo who established the trend of “turning the original art into more elaborate one”. I thought it was a great idea to adapt Kondo’s concept into my art. After discussing the idea with the editor, I worked on Mega Man to add more details along with all the robots created by both Dr. Light and Dr. Wily and submitted them to Capcom for approval. From then on, Inafune-san was in charge of overseeing the character design directly. He gave me feedbacks and we worked together to gradually add more robots.

I’ve always liked those independent robots compared to human controlled vehicular robots. Mega Man was my favorite game of all times, so being a young artist, I felt very passionate about drawing Mega Man manga. I poured all the energy into the work. That is how Mega Man Megamix got started.

Well, I would really love to work on other Mega Man series, but there are so many great artists out there already working on some of the Mega Man series so I don’t know if I get a chance to work on another one. No one has created an epic manga based on Mega Man Legend so if would love to work on that.

2) Eduardo asks: I like drawing the character from time to time, so I have a minor problem when looking at the blade in Forte’s helm, in my understanding, the entirety of the yellow (inside) of the blades is one smooth concave shape, and the whole outer side (black) of the blades is convex, some artist draw it angled somewhere atop of the helm, then only the back-half is convex, and the front half is either plane or concave, wich is the accurate one? or is it all just perspective?

Ariga-san:

I, too, have a hard time drawing Forte. I also really like his helm, but I admit that it’s really hard to draw it in a three-dimension form. I think Capcom has the answer for this one, but ultimately, I think it’s the best to draw it however you like it as an artist.

3) Cory asks: Who was your most favorite Mega Man Character to draw in the comics and why?

Ariga-san:

My favorite is Heat Man. Out of all the boss characters, I think he is the best. I must say I like almost everything about the character, namely the tackle action, sound effects, and even the stage music in the game. Whenever I draw Heat Man, it reminds me of the time I was deeply enthralled by the video games. I also like Dr. Wily. He’s evil but somehow lovable and very “humanly” character. Dr. Light, on the other hand, is always well-behaved, but seems too controlled to get loosen up.

4) Koop asks: Ariga-san, when you write your stories for Megamix/Gigamix/etc, where do you get the inspiration for each of the different characters’ personalities?

Ariga-san:

The characters didn’t have much of a personality in the early stage of the development, but they had more of functionalities for robots. (For example, Cut Man was designed for outdoor work so he’s rain resistant etc.) So I imagined each personality based on his moves from the game. I brainstormed the story for the manga while playing the game, fighting each boss character over and over. For instance, I determined Skull Man’s personality based on the fact that he doesn’t move until the player takes the first move. I also got inspirations from the weapons they use. I had conversations in my head, “If this is his weapon, his personality could be like…” and so on. Flash Man must have a mean bone since he stops time and attacks. From mid-dated to later-day Mega Man robots, there had been some personalities officially fixed from the game, so if their characteristics didn’t conflict with the overall Megamix world, I tried to stick to the official settings. There are bosses from Mega Man 5 that are a bit prankish though…

5) Mikael asks: What had specifically inspired you to become an artist/illustrator?

Ariga-san:

One day I just found myself lost in drawing. I’ve always liked to draw since I was little. I was so moved by New World by Osamu Tezuka and inspired to become a manga artist. I had never realized until then that manga artists could tell such great stories. Something so great can come out of manga. I aspired to create a grandeur world and tell my own story through my manga. That desire has led me where I am today.

Hopefully that third question doesn’t give Heat a big head. In any event, we’re not sure if more questions and answers will be forthcoming as they were with Inafune, but if they do, we’ll be sure to let you know here.

Thanks once again to Capcom Unity for hosting these Q&A for us– that is, for the Mega Man fandom– as well as Mr. Ariga and Mr. Inafune for taking the time to provide these answers.

Those whose questions were picked are going to receive a reward of “mega bonus unity points” to be used on the auctions that are exclusive to Capcom Unity members– consider that a good reason to sign up, should something like this come around again.

Mega Man Megamix Vol. 1 in Review

The first of many Mega Man manga brought to you by UDON – Mega Man Megamix Vol. 1 – has released in comic book stores and should be hitting other book stores soon if not already. Chances are if you read this site, you’re probably not sitting on the fence about getting a copy. But who knows, maybe you need a little insight. Well AWD! who runs Starfield Creations (and is a close pal of mine) has such a review that may entice you. Aside from going over the comic in a general stance, AWD! also makes comparisons of the book to previous editions that sold in Japan. Here’s a little snippet to give you the bottom-line:

What can I say? The book is a fantastic take on the series as a whole. At first, All I could really think to myself was: finally! We “non-linguist” types can appreciate the story along with the pretty pictures. The story is given a much darker and action-packed take, as we are more akin to the younger audience target featured in the games. But let’s face it, we WANTED it to be taken more seriously, and Ariga certainly delivered.

Mega Man Megamix is sounding pretty cool. If not available in your local book store, you can always try Amazon.

Mega Man Megamix Arrives Wednesday; Final Preview Page Emerges

Now that this battle station is fully-armed and operational once again, we can now bring you the final preview page of UDON’s Mega Man Megamix Volume 1, which will be available in comic shops everywhere this Wednesday.

This last preview page gives us details of a fan-favorite Robot Master whose past is more mysterious than many of us at first thought:

Click to enlarge.

UDON Managing Editor Matt Moylan informs us that while comic shops will have the book, other retailers such as Amazon should be shipping the book “any time” as well.

And for those skeptical that this is really it, Mr. Moylan offers the following image as proof of the finished book’s existence:

Click to enlarge.

You might notice that Megamix does not sit alone here; in fact, arriving at comic shops this Wednesday will also be the first issue of UDON’s Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors, and I’m sure they would love it if you all would give that a shot as well. After all, you never know when some of the artists might decide to sneak in something of interest.

Your Latest Mega Man Megamix Robot Master Profile

The first volume of UDON’s Mega Man Megamix is only one week away from release, and as promised, they have passed along another preview page from the book’s profile section:

Click to enlarge.

Did any of you guess correctly?

Dr. Wily: Shadaloo Scientist

Yesterday, I managed to get out to my local comic book store and pick up some of my usual fare: Archie’s Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic Universe (seriously, if you used to be a fan of the book and put it down, it may now be worth your time to give it another try), Transformers from IDW, and Street Fighter II by UDON.

In fact, I had two issues of Street Fighter II waiting for me, and I read them when I got home. Going through issue number nine, I came upon a discovery that made me laugh my head off:

As it turns out, however, that wasn’t his only appearance:

Indeed, it looks like Dr. Wily has made a cameo as a Shadaloo scientist. And Matt Moylan, who was kind enough to provide me with these images, made sure to point out “the brown hair indicating a younger ‘current times’ Wily.”

While I don’t believe that Capcom will take this as an actual in-continuity factoid, it still makes for a great Easter Egg, and perhaps a nifty piece of trivia somewhere down the road.

UDON Providing New Endings for Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars

Some interesting news has come out of UDON Entertainment today.

As we all likely know by now, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom is being bulked up for its worldwide release, and a major part of that is the addition of new characters. So naturally, just slapping the same endings the original version had into this one just won’t cut it– something new has to be done for the guys who were not in the original game.

As such, new endings are being created, from top to bottom, by the fine folks at UDON Entertainment. This may please some fans, who might recall that the cover of the 2006 release Mega Man X Collection (seen at right) was illustrated by the folks at UDON.

By following this link, you can view Capcom’s USTREAM video of the game in action from the Consumer Electronics Show, which even reveals one character’s ending at about six minutes into the hour-long video feed. Unfortunately, however, the endings are not fully-animated, but are instead still-frames with text captions.

Personally speaking, I don’t think this is necessarily a bad thing, as this provides us with some nice new artwork, rather than some short off-model animations, such as this one for MegaMan Volnutt:

Of course, that’s not to say that those are bad; some appear to be rather funny, despite the Japanese language barrier. Perhaps Capcom can sneak those in as a sort of unlockable bonus of some kind?

Comic Book Resources Interviews UDON’s Matt Moylan for Mega Man Megamix

UDON Entertainment Editor Matt Moylan wanted us to let you know that he has a new interview with Comic Book Resources, in which he talks about the upcoming Mega Man Megamix manga, which will at long last see its first volume released in North America to an English-reading audience on the 27th of January, 2010. Subsequently, volumes two and three will be released in April and July, respectively.

In the article, Moylan discusses (among other things) Ariga’s work and the stories within, the process of bringing it over, and why it had not happened sooner. If that wasn’t enough, CBR also has several exclusive preview pages available for your perusal.

On top of all that, he gives us a clue of what to expect from UDON on the manga front in the future: “if these first two Mega Man series do well, there are several other Mega Man manga titles we have our eye on. At the top of our list would be ‘Mega Man Gigamix,’ Hitoshi Ariga’s long-awaited follow up to ‘Megamix.’ This series has just begun in Japan, and fans are already singing ‘Gigamix’s’ praises.”

Without further ado, go check it out. And, if you’ve gotten your hands on either the Mega Man Official Complete Works or the Mega Man X Official Complete Works, be sure to tell him what you think of them in this thread of our forum!

Oh, and you heard it here (well, in the interview) first: Heat Man is officially “just-plain-nuts.”

Both Mega Man and Mega Man X Official Complete Works due Dec. 23rd; sample images

Our very good friend from UDON, Matt Moylan, has let us know that both Mega Man Official Complete Works and Mega Man X Official Complete Works (as seen recently on the Mega Man 22nd birthday live stream) will be available next week, just in time for Christmas. Here is the official statement from Matt:

Just wanted to let you know that we can finally say both Mega Man Official Complete Works, and Mega Man X Official Complete Works will be arriving in comic book stores next Wednesday Dec 23! Just barely in time for X-mas(or Mega Man X-mas if you prefer heh). As for regular book stores, and online vendors line Amazon, that is less precise. Could be a few days earlier, could be a few days later, but all book have shipped to retailers. If you want them for sure on Wednesday, head to a comic book shop.

Of course I know what you really came here for, the sample pages! Let this be your final sweet temptation (warning, large sized images).

Thanks for the lovely images, Matt! We look forward to the books!

Mega Man Megamix Vol. 1 press release, preview

Despite some concerns about the release dates of the Mega Man Official Complete Works books, UDON is still pushing ahead with releases, now announcing the release of volume one of Hitoshi Ariga’s Mega Man Megamix in this press release. And there are some previews too! Click the thumbnails for full size.

THE ORIGINAL BLUE BOMBER IS BACK IN MEGA MAN™ MEGAMIX!

UDON brings classic Mega Man™ Manga to English readers

Toronto, ON – Dec 1, 2009 –  Of all the characters in CAPCOM®’s vast videogame library, arguably none is more recognizable worldwide than Mega Man™. With more than 100 video games to his name, Mega Man is among  the most iconic figures of gaming, but despite this, the original blue bomber’s Japanese manga adventures have never been available to English readers. UDON has decided to rectify that, with the release of Mega Man™ Megamix Vol. 1 in January 2010.

Written and drawn by mangaka Hitoshi Ariga, the Megamix manga is a 3-volume series beloved for its stupendous artwork and exciting stories. Outside of Japan, Mega Man fans have dreamed of one day being able to enjoy these adventures… and now they finally can!

The series features appearances by all the franchise regulars like Proto Man, Dr. Wily, Dr. Light, Bass & Treble, Rush, Roll, and tons of villainous Robot Masters! UDON has gone directly to Megamix creator Hitoshi Ariga to obtain the original artwork files for the series, and ensure the best localization possible. Each volume of Megamix is also packed with character profiles, sketches, gag strips, and creator interviews. This is a series no Mega Man fan would dare miss out on!

Mega Man Megamix Vol.1 arrives January 27^th, 2010 everywhere manga is sold. For more updates stay tuned to www.UDONentertainment.com.

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