AsNintendofans await the next release of the company’s most famous franchises, a breathtaking piece of art is going to have many wishing for their beloved heroes to return in comic form, as well as video games.
Given the success of Nintendo’s core brands across the entertainment industry (like the blockbuster success ofThe Super Mario Bros. Movie), it’s strange that games remain the sole form in which fans can engage with most of them. But comic book writer and artist Sean Murphy (Tokyo Ghost,Batman: White Knight) has justcreated our next must-haveStar Foxproduct.
It’s impossible to behold the cast ofStar Foxrendered in cover-ready artwork by Murphy viaInstagram(and colored by Simon Gough) and not immediately ask the question: why hasn’t Nintendo made aStar Foxcomic a reality? It’s a question even harder to answer when you dig into the company’s largely forgotten history with the comic book medium.
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While Murphy’s art is a self-contained pitch for aStar Foxcomic expansion to the mythology, the idea ofcomic book entries for several of Nintendo’s prized propertiesshouldn’t be a new one. While mostly unknown by modern gamers, Nintendo attempted the feat in 1990,with the release ofNintendo Comics Systemfrom Valiant Comics.
The series was shortlived, but its adaptations of properties likeSuper Mario Bros.,The Legend of Zelda, andMetroidare remembered fondly by fans lucky enough to have enjoyed them firsthand. And the adoring fanbases of all these properties (like the ranks of comic writers and artists who grew up on these games) have only grown since then.
Longtime fans of the largerStar Foxlore known that it’s a universe filled with heroes, villains, alien races, and planets prime for exploration, especially if tackled with the kind of top-tier talent Murphy displays. Not only would it be a simpler way of keepingStar Foxin the public consciousness without a major game release, but it would also bring theStar Foxfranchise full circle for fans in the West.
While the release ofStar Foxfor the original NES took place in early 1993, Nintendo fans outside of Japan had to wait a few extra weeks. In that time, the arrival ofNintendo PowerVol. 47 introduced the masses to Fox McCloud, Slippy, Peppy, and more through a 132-page comicby Benimaru Itoh. Told across 11 issues of the magazine, the story adapted the main events of the first game (with some changes).
Is it fate thatStar Foxwould be introduced to the West in comic book form, and now seem a prime candidate for Nintendo to leap back into the medium? Only time will tell, but as usual,Star Foxfans can only wait and hope.
