Bobby I just learned today that we could have had an Archie Mario series done by Ian Flynn and Tracy Yardley, and there was even a proposal created and submitted to Nintendo and NoA loved it!! But it either stalled out or got rejected by Nintendo of Japan and so it never happened, and now I'm incredibly sad 😭
I’m definitely interested in how that series would have turned out, although to be honest I’m not sure how much I would’ve been into it. The approach was very similar to what they did with Mega Man, but as Ian later said himself, the more straightforward action-adventure adaptation of Super Mario Bros. 1 they pitched might’ve taken itself a little too seriously and been a little bland. I think Mario needs a stronger comedy angle, like what you see in the RPGs or Super Mario Adventures
That’s not the only canceled Nintendo comic Archie pitched, though! After the Mario pitch fell through, Nintendo let them pitch for Metroid, Kirby, and Fossil Finders. You can read more about them here, but Ian’s pitch for Metroid was a dramatic post-Fusion series exploring how Samus feels about no longer being fully human, while for Kirby he would’ve liked to adapt the Dark Matter trilogy. I would’ve loved to see either of these, but I guess it just wasn’t meant to be
He was finally allowed to do a Nintendo comic that entered production with the ARMS graphic novel, but uh... we have no idea what happened with that. It never got canceled, and Ian doesn’t know what’s up either, but it’s just. Not out yet? After multiple lengthy delays? I think Ian has some kind of Nintendo curse
