Magazine Z

MAGAZINE Z

Today, we cover Magazine Z, one of the best Metroid comics, and possibly one of the only Nintendo comics to be considered canon to the games, as several characters and plot points from the comic have been referenced in games since. The comic essentially tells the origin story of Samus, from her young childhood all the way down to the start of Metroid: Zero Mission, with the destruction of her home planet and the death of her parents, her adoption by the Chozo, and her brief stint as part of the Federation.

Major characters include Rodney and Virginia Aran, Samus's parents and miners from the planet K-2L. When Ridley and his pirates attack the planet for the precious resource Afloratite, Rodney sacrifices himself by detonating an entire cargo shipment of the stuff to prevent the pirates from taking it, and Virginia is killed defending Samus after the naive little girl comes across Ridley and tries to befriend him.

After them, we have the major Chozo characters. Old Bird, who we met already, is Samus's first Chozo friend and a wise pacifist who teaches her about life. Gray Voice is more serious and stern with her, but as we come to discover, came to care about her deeply and supplied the genetic material used to enhance her, making him her surrogate father. Gray Voice is especially notable for taking up an ancient suit of armor and taking on Mother Brain alone, wielding a staff that he can fire blasts from. Platinum Chest is also important, but not as ingrained in the story as Old Bird and Gray Voice.

Chairman Keaton and Captain Hardy return from the previous comic as well, as major players in the Federation. Samus also has a pair of partners working with her in the federation, Kreatz and Mauk. Kreatz comes from an alien race responsible for a previous war and Mauk's species was only recently recognized as sapient, and both face discrimination for it. Kreatz shoots energy strings from his fingers and uses them in several creative ways, while Mauk is big and huge, slamming and lifting with his immense strength, and later wields a bazooka and shoulder guns. Samus also has a pet named Pyonchi who follows her around, and a young girl named Damara was saved by Samus early on and she crops up again as a new recruit to the academy.

And that's pretty much it! Here's what we've got so far:

Characters:

Samus

Kreatz: energy strings

Mauk: slam, lift, bazooka, shoulder guns

Armstrong Houston: possible Samus/Federation Marine echo basis

Pyonchi

Damara

Commander Nemo

Chairman Keaton

Captain Hardy

Adam Malkovitch

Rodney and Virginia Aran

Old Bird/Gray Voice/Platinum Chest: float, healing bubble, armor, staff, staff blast

Mother Brain

Ridley

Big Time Brannigan: arm cannon

Stages:

Federation headquarters

K-2L

Next up, a weird concept for a story, but ended up being a really good time all the same.