Welcome to a new edition of Gaming Entertainment and we return to the world of Captain N. However, unlike the poorly produced cartoon we are going over the comic series’ first volume. Just like with Zelda and Mario, Nintendo during the early 90s would also license their IPs to Valiant Comics. DIC would produce the cartoons while Valiant wrote the volumes at the same time. Keep this in mind; both versions are not linked and follow their own separate canon. The late George Caragonne returns as the writer for this series once again. Upon hearing his name getting highlighted I knew his version of Captain N would come off more interesting than DIC’s efforts. The volume’s format is in two stories and a two-page short. The first story has Kevin, and Kid Icarus go to a floating Island on Mount Olympus called Cornucopia where a war has started. The second one had the N-Team and Samus try to stop Mother Brain from transporting energy to her fortress on Zebes. Yes, you heard that correct Samus one of the elite Nintendo heroes is featured in the plot. That alone should interest you more then the dollar store versions of Simon Belmont and Mega Man. Let’s begin with the characters as they once again include Kevin Keene, Princess Lana, Duke and Kid Icarus (Pit). All of them have nearly the same personality as their show’s counterparts. I’m sure some have noticed Simon Belmont and Mega Man’s absence from the comic. The N-Team is how it's presented, but I see that as a net positive for a couple of reasons. First, we don't need poorly designed imitations and second, the overall comic felt better without them being there. There’s no point in adding characters that they will screw up and write them the same as the show. However, the difference comes down to the writing, and Caragonne wrote their personalities in a better way. Even though no character development happens with the N-Team, I found their dynamic enjoyable. My only problem stems from Kid Icarus still using that same dumb suffix at the end of his sentences. It still sounds ridiculous because no character I have seen or read about who talks like that. Like I said, when characters are not held back by corny and terrible writing can even make them fun to watch. Unfortunately, Kid Icarus’ dialogue got written in the same manner with his usual icus suffix and pun riddled comments. Samus' introduction was short but simple and they showed her entering the scene in the best way possible. I do find it kind of odd that Kevin who we all know played Metroid and probably did a speed run as well however, didn't he know Samus was a woman? These scenes were my favorite due to the short drama Lana showed in the second image when she cuts into their conversation. My favorite dynamic came from the interaction between Lana and Samus who seem to both have interest in Kevin. The roles have reversed with Kevin and Simon who fought for Lana's affection as who could have thought Samus would get romantically involved. Since we are on the subject, Valiant Comics picked the right character to replace Simon Belmont (not the real one) and Mega Man. I already explained the issues both guys had in the cartoon with their terrible personalities. I know that isn’t the reason they weren’t added as this had more to do with licensing issues from Capcom and Konami. Samus being in the story only made Valiant's version of Captain N better. She acts the way we all expected with a strong will, a fighting spirit and being a badass to boot. As mentioned already, the bounty hunter shows a bit of a romantic side something I never expected. Samus seemed to have fallen for Kevin due to going out of his way to save her before the suit exploded when she knew he didn’t have to. I also love Lana’s reactions through the second story with how much it annoyed her that there was another woman involved. Let’s be truthful, and Samus is just a better character all around compared to Lana. The Princess of Video Land always felt like she got added because the story needed one as the main cast. I mean Nintendo wasn’t letting DIC or Valiant Comics use Peach or Zelda all the time in the same role. Yes, Zelda appeared in the cartoon every now and then, but she never was a prominent figure in that series. At least three villains show their presence and they are Eggplant Wizard, Mother Brain and Uranos. It's not surprising to see these two get feature especially from Mother Brain who was the main antagonist in the show. Surprisingly, their plans weren’t stupid at all and made complete sense. Caragonne presented Eggplant Wizard with some intelligence and managed to set up a war between the fruits and vegetables of Cornucopia. Not only did he manage to set up a war but even got Kevin and Kid Icarus to face each other as a perfect distraction. Mother Brain still has her personality from the cartoon but the fact this is in the comic makes her dialogue tolerable without that voice. Just as it was in the show, Mother Brain also plays the ringleader in assembling the other game villains. Unfortunately, the intro included DIC’s King Hippo and Donkey Kong for some stupid reason. I thought the artists would take Ruby-Spear Production’s example to use a better DK. However, this tells me the artists were being lazy a little as they could’ve used a better design to really stick it to Jeffery Scott. DK isn't included in this volume, but I can't help and look at that as a glaring issue when Valiant got it so right in Zelda. The next one I’m sure most of you are unfamiliar with and his name is Uranos. He was one of the antagonists in Kid Icarus: Myth and Monsters for Game Boy. Uranos was the Lord of the Sky, and Pit faced his forces in that game after Medusa’s defeat in the first title. There isn’t much to him aside from being featured in the intro and during the mid short with Duke and his skeleton soldiers. Uranos obviously comes off overconfident when he insured Mother Brain they would succeed. As you can tell Valiant reused the designs and personalities from DIC's cartoon as a base for their version. The difference came down to execution which both George Caragonne and the artists did in spades. The only downside is using DIC's Donkey Kong and King Hippo and I can't understand why this studio had to include them. The art style saw an improvement compared to DIC’s show and it’s a tie between goofy and believable. On top of that the art isn’t crude as the environments and character designs are above the average most comics usually had. The goofy aspect of it comes from the first story titled “The Fruit and Vegetable War”. My thoughts haven’t change on the goofy art from the show because it makes the design look cheap. However, the artist did a decent job presenting the lighter side of Captain N as the fruits and vegetables do have funny appearances. The problem with the show when using this concept is DIC took it too far with designing ridiculous characters. Here the fruits and vegetables didn’t look as stupid, but the designs came off decent to their appearance in a funny way. The human characters of Kevin, Lana, Samus and the people of Olympus had similar concepts to the DIC. The art so far is on par with the Zelda comics as none of the humans looked awkward or out of place. Even most of the environments weren’t crudely drawn in unlike the artist from DIC. I found Cornucopia believable, despite its theme even for Mount Olympus. The best designs obviously come from the planet Zebes as the drawers did an excellent job replicating the environments as seen from Norfair. Valiant Comics uses the two-part format for this comic series as their usual standard. The plot is a mixed of both misadventures and a serious quest as the N Team faces off against Eggplant Wizard, Uranos and Mother Brain. The first part as mentioned before is about the fruits and vegetables of Cornucopia going through a war. It turns out that Eggplant Wizard convinced King Pumpkin of Vegatania that the Tomatoes of Fruitopia where being held against their will. Eggplant also spreads a lie that tomatoes are not fruits but vegetables which was enough to cause this invasion. I must give it to this version of Eggplant Wizard as he did a decent job causing a conflict by using his status among the vegetables. He even managed to set Kid Icarus and Kevin up to keep them busy so to steal the Royal Raspberry in the Temple of Fruit. For once the guy didn’t act like Melvin and succeeded in keeping the heroes distracted. Perhaps not pairing him with King Hippo was a smart idea from George as it makes him less of a comedy act. I also like bringing this up as the pun use was out of control. Usually this writing style becomes repetitive quickly, but that’s understandable and it was for using lighthearted humor. I don’t prefer puns in writing (unless done right) but that’s better than a stupid fart joke nobody wanted. I still can't get over the fact Samus showed a side we never expected her to have for a guy. What I like about this is it wasn't written in a contrived way that we see so often. Even though according to the recent Metroid canon, Samus is about looking for her next bounty and of course serving justice. However, seeing a selfish side does make this version a little interesting. The second story titled “Money Changes Everything” features the N-Team as they join forces with Samus. We all must give it to Caragonne as he has done fantastic work bringing even the most silent of Nintendo’s villains and hero to life. He brilliantly wrote Samus with her starting out acting selfish and a loner when retaining to her mission. It’s true that she came in to help just as the creatures of Zebes swarmed the N-Team however, that changes later in the chapter. After getting severely damaged Kevin tries to retrieve an Item tank in Norfair thanks to his knowledge of Metroid. That later changes her thoughts about handling missions after Mother Brain offered her ten million credits in exchange for the N-Team. However, Samus tricks her would-be arch nemesis by double-crossing and taking the shipment for herself while helping the N-Team. Another quality feature is the author got the worlds of Kid Icarus and Metroid completely right. At the time, this was the best depiction of both worlds as the drawers captured their designs the way it’s shown in the games. George even got the names of the places correct as Zebes and Mount Olympus (even though the place is called Angel Land) have the same titles too. Yeah Mr. Jeffery Scott this small comic studio sure isn't making you look good right now. You see kiddies this is what happens when one researches the source material and puts effort into a project. The comic felt like a breath of fresh air compared to its counterpart thanks to a solid art style and decent writing. The comic’s separate narrative was a smart idea to use as why would they want any association with DIC’s own. The characters weren’t written with unbelievable personalities and for once acted normal. Aside Kid Icarus’s pun use and suffixes, most of them had solid dialogue with no stupid moments. The villains acted superior in their plans and didn’t resort to cheesy and contrived comedy that a five-year-old would produce. The most crucial one is featuring Samus who was a perfect replacement for Simon and Mega Man. It's even better when she got development and so far, had the best dialogue in just the first volume alone. Even though this isn’t George’s finest work compared to Zelda however, it's still miles ahead of DIC’s interpretation. The artist did well in producing both the characters and the environments. There weren’t any drawing mistakes like a lacking background or awkward and crude designs for the people. It's amazing what people can accomplish when they research the source material and put effort into something. Valiant Comics’ first volume was a massive improvement for the series and a trend the small studio would continue. Rating: 7.7/10 Good
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Retro Gamer has over 25 years of gaming experience and played many classics since the Golden Age. She has been an avid fan since the day the NES graced her life and changed it forever.
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