Nintendo’s reign continues, this year. The launch of the Switch came with some of the year’s most celebrated titles. Gamers have been having fun with Splatoon 2 and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild got its share of accolades. But ARMS is perhaps the most surprising of the Nintendo Switch’s launches, managing to become an unexpected hit.
Much like Nintendo last major new IP, Splatoon, ARMS stays active with regular DLC updates, all of which are free. Thus players get to return regularly to new content. But one thing ARMS isn’t particularly known for is its captivating narrative. As with most Nintendo games, the story’s fairly straightforward with little bits of hidden lore sprinkled in with their eagle-eyed attention to detail.
So how do we expand upon the universe without relying on an incredibly in-depth campaign? By taking a page from Overwatch‘s book and making a comic, of course. This isn’t exactly a new thing for Nintendo, obviously. In fact, it isn’t even the first time in recent history. Splatoon got a manga published earlier this year, as well as a net anime. And Zelda’s had manga galore. The difference, of course, is that this isn’t a manga. This is an American comic, released by none other than Darkhorse – publishers of such classics as Hellboy.
The comic is being penned by Ian Flynn. Platforming fans might recognize that name. Flynn is well known for his long stint as the writer for an Archie Comic featuring everyone’s favorite blue hedgehog, Sonic. Joining Flynn is Joe Ng, taking care of the art. The name may not be quite as familiar, but I didn’t mention Overwatch earlier for no reason. Ng recently took on the Overwatch world, handling the art for their Bastion one-shot, Binary. Suffice it to say, this comic is in rather good hands.
Darkhorse’s solicitation for the series describes the story as: “A young fighter trains tirelessly to reach the top in the ARMS League Grand Prix—but first, he must defeat 599 other contenders!” It debuts on Free Comic Book Day, alongside a new Legend of Korra comic, coming May 5th.
