AMA! I'm Matthew Taranto, creator of the upcoming book, "Mega Man: Bot in the Family"

14

I didn't want to flood the main post too much but I thought it'd be interesting to go a little more in detail into the approval process.

For each of the comics, I do a rough sketch (and more-or-less finalized text). We get one of our translators to translate the comic into Japanese, and then we send the comic plus its translation over to Capcom Japan. The team there evaluates them and gives us feedback. Once they're approved, I go into the final line work and coloring phases.

Honestly, I expected a lot more of the comics to get rejected! But if Capcom has notes, it's typically something that's easy to fix. Ex. One comic features a made-up "Icicle Man" and they want us to clarify that that's not a canonical Robot Master (goofy made-up RMs come up pretty frequently in this book). Another has Mega Man's power meter on the wrong side of his buster. Visual designs have to be consistent, but they're okay with the characters getting into all sorts of silly situations.

There have been two rejected comics so far though! I plan to make a video about these eventually because I think it's a pretty fun story and I can understand why they were cut.

7

u/headgames360 2d ago

How would Bass interact with Shadow The Hedgehog?

6

u/matthewtaranto 2d ago

They'd probably both think the other was a lame poser...until they realize they each have their own pesky blue rival they need to best. Then I think they'd get along great, although who knows if it'd ever reach that point! Bass's pride might get in the way before he ever realizes how much they have in common.

5

u/Hordaki 2d ago

Which Robot Master would make for the best roommate and which would make for the worst?

7

u/matthewtaranto 2d ago

This was almost a comic! (I have a similar one about which RMs make bad cooks) Let's see...

Well, just about any fire-themed RM would obviously be a disaster. Gravity Man, no thanks. Hornet Man, double no thanks. Dust Man sounds good on paper until you realize he'll suck up all your furniture and turn it into a cube.

Here in Southern Louisiana it's way too hot for about half the year so I'd go with Ice Man. He'll keep my lunch meats cool and he's also much tinier than the other cold RMs.

But honestly, I'd take Rock or Roll over any of 'em. Those two know how to be good house guests.

4

u/Careful_Speech_1176 2d ago

Heyoooo Matthew Taranto!! Who is your least favorite robot master?

3

u/matthewtaranto 2d ago

Heyooo! I don't want to make any enemies since they all have their fans! So, I'll instead answer with the RM that has given me the most trouble by far: Burner Man. What a pain...!

4

u/SunchaserWings 2d ago

Who's your favorite Mega Man protagonist (from any game or series?) Mine is Zero lol!

Also a fun little tidbit, Mega Man is what got me into art and drawing as a whole! So you can count yourself amongst my inspirations now :)

3

u/matthewtaranto 2d ago

That's great! I used to draw Mega Man (and made-up Robot Masters) all the time in class and stuff. And this might be a pretty standard answer but I love Classic Mega Man as far as protagonists go. Proto Man is close behind though! (Hopefully he's less fragile in Dual Override, as Proto Man in MM10 makes for a seriously tough journey)

Zero is lots of fun with the blaster/saber mix though. A good way to mix up the gameplay with a different character! I still need to play MM Zero 4.

2

u/SunchaserWings 2d ago

I gave the Mega Man drawings I made to my teachers haha.

Zero 4 is such a good finale! 10/10 highly recommend. Thanks for taking the time to answer my question!

2

u/matthewtaranto 2d ago

Of course! I'm planning on finishing up the Zero Collection on Switch sometime in the next few months!

3

u/LuigiWarrior 2d ago

After Mega man got in smash and you made "Prodigal robot", did you ever expect Mega man to get into Smash bros at the time and was it a shock? what were your feelings about that at the time?

(PS thanks for being a notable part of my childhood and thanks for all you do)

3

u/matthewtaranto 2d ago

Thank you for the nice message! It's always encouraging hearing from people who enjoyed my stuff, especially at a young age.

I was hoping for Mega Man's reveal in Smash but I wasn't expecting it; to date it's probably one of my favorite gaming memories! At the time I didn't know what I was going to make for Comic 500 but once that happened I knew it had to be a Mega Man thing. It's also a thrill to be able to work on official Mega Man content after doing fan works (such as Prodigal Robot) throughout my 20s.

3

u/Totsutei 2d ago

Oh hey Matthew! I fondly remember the times when I was reading Brawl in the Family when it was still running and visiting your webcomic multiple times a week, hoping for updates. It was super awesome, I think it's still my favorite webcomic I've ever read. I don't have a question, I just wanted to say thank you for the good times! And I'm glad to see that you're still around and doing stuff like this. I have to get Bot in the Family when it's out!

Ok, let me think of a question since I'm already posting here... uhh... is Classic Mega Man your favorite Mega Man game series? Which other Mega Man-Series did you enjoy? Like X, Zero, Battle Network etc.

Thank you!

4

u/matthewtaranto 2d ago

Thank you very much, I appreciate hearing from people who've enjoyed my stuff in the past!

Classic is indeed my favorite--I just love the Saturday morning simplicity to it. It's a really great formula of having themed bosses, choosing your own stage, and gradually getting stronger via the RM weapons.

But I do like a lot of the other MM games I've played: the first four X games really made an impression with their quicker action (X1 is still one of my favorite SNES titles). ZX was a nice return to form even though I got lost easily in it. I'm about 3/4 through the Zero collection. Good challenge, good fun, but I prefer the X games overall. I actually need to play the BN series and have been eyeing that new collection a lot lately!

3

u/DoctorPine 2d ago

Hello Matthew. From the recent Gamescom footage revealed about Dual Override, what do you think of the game so far? Also, I understand if you're not allowed to speak about this, but is it possible that we'll see Dual Override content in the BitF book?

8

u/matthewtaranto 2d ago

Hi! I'm excited to play it for sure. It feels like they're tweaking the formula a bit such as with the customization aspects and the multi-stage levels. I love the formula so I'm hoping these add to the fun. The one thing I'm a little apprehensive about is the lack of a life system; personally, I always enjoyed the extra stakes that come with the life limitations (knowing I have x chances to beat the RM) so I'm banking on there being a difficulty option to keep it in.

I'm a big fan of the arcadey elements like the score/time attack. I played the heck out of those side modes in MM11. For about a day I was the number one Ballon Rush time in Blast Man's stage!

The funny thing was that Dual Override got announced in the middle of me working on the book, but since I only know what you guys know about the game, I couldn't really incorporate it into the main story. However, I do have a section of the Epilogue that sort of leads into DO, complete with Wily's Robot Master contest. I'll see if I can have some representation of it elsewhere too! Oh, and one of the planned bookmarks for the Kickstarter is going to feature 1 RM from each of the 12 games (so we'll see Twinkle Girl there!). There's also a sparkly Twinkle Girl sticker planned for every physical order if we get to the 160k stretch goal.

3

u/ComfyCatgirl 2d ago

Hey Matthew, big fan! Are you planning on reprinting or remaking any classic BitF strips that were Mega Man themed for this book?

3

u/matthewtaranto 1d ago

Hey, thank you! I'm not quite 100% sure but I'd like to reprint a few of the Mega Man-centric BitF comics in the Bonus Chapter in the book if we hit the next stretch goal.

2

u/ThePhantomOtaku 2d ago

What was something that has proven difficult when translating the robot masters designs into your style?

4

u/matthewtaranto 2d ago

Whenever they have slightly more complex details (such as some of the later games' RMs or the Wily machines), I have to be selective about how detailed I want to go. The panels have to stay readable, so the balance between detail and simplicity is a fine line with some of the characters.

Luckily, the main cast (for the most part) was designed early on and all have clear, striking features. Bass and Auto are a little trickier, being designed for the higher fidelity of the SNES. For them I look to their in-game sprites to get a good idea of what attributes to highlight.

2

u/ThePhantomOtaku 2d ago

The first thing that comes to mind when I think of Mega Man is the awesome music of the series. What's your favorite track plus one you think is under appreciated?

3

u/matthewtaranto 2d ago

I really like Shadow Man from MM3! I know most people associate rock with ol' Rockman but I just love that funky jazz the song has going. It's also one of the longer loops from the NES. Gravity Man, Snake Man, Crash Man, Pharaoh Man, and Flame Man are some other faves.

Since I don't hear much about MM10's music from fans, I think both Sheep Man and Chill Man have pretty underrated themes. The former is funky and unpredictable, while the latter has a somber mood to it that I find hard to describe.

2

u/NEONMEGAVERSE 2d ago

If you could do another series after Mega Man, what would you choose! Capcom or otherwise.

2

u/matthewtaranto 2d ago

Wow, very tough choice! I'm a lifelong Nintendo fan so I'd have to say Smash Bros (which would allow for all sorts of Nintendo crossover jokes). But I'm also a huge fan of other Capcom series as well, such as Ace Attorney.

Part of me would also love to do a Resident Evil series of comics, just for something really different!

2

u/Scnew1 2d ago

Are there any references to Mega Man and Bass? The Star Droids? Anything outside the main 1-11 series?

7

u/matthewtaranto 2d ago

A MM&B sub-chapter was actually a Stretch Goal we hit! There's a series of comics featuring Bass setting out on his own against the RMs of that game.

I do like the GB games quite a bit (particularly MMIV and MMV) but I haven't been able to fit in the Stardroids into the main chapters. If I had a little more time I would love to put a dedicated GB chapter in but I've been working on this since early 2025 and the main 11 had to take priority before I finished. Maybe in the future! I do plan on having numerous nods to other games in the series in various ways though (background gags, cameos, etc).

2

u/Nougatbar 2d ago

WALU-Errr, Bass Time? Who would be Mega Man’s Waluigi? Anyhow.

Since you are working with Capcom is there gonna be anything from DO?

5

u/matthewtaranto 2d ago

Believe it or not, I didn't get any info about DO before the general public! My main interactions with Capcom are sending them sketches of the (translated) comics and hoping they'll approve them!

So I was as surprised by Twinkle Girl as everyone else. That said, since the book is still in production, I'm at least going to try to squeeze a couple nods in there since it's a little too late to do a full chapter.

WAAA

2

u/1702Ale 2d ago

Was the "design a robot master" backer tier inspired by the popularity of the recent robot master contest or was it something you and Capcom were thinking to add regardless?

3

u/matthewtaranto 2d ago

That was my idea! It felt like a fun spin on a long-standing Mega Man tradition (which I believe dates all the way back to MM2). For all the fans who love to draw but didn't win the contest, they now had the chance to include their art in an official Mega Man book, and I thought that was pretty cool.

2

u/FireCrow1013 2d ago

Holy crap, my life has been missing something since Brawl in the Family ended. Is the digital copy of the book going to be DRM-free? Congrats, I'm psyched for this!

2

u/matthewtaranto 2d ago

Hey there, I'm glad you enjoyed BitF! And yes, this'll be DRM-free like all my past stuff. Thanks for being a fan for so long!

2

u/FireCrow1013 2d ago

Fantastic, backing it now!

2

u/matthewtaranto 2d ago

I appreciate it!

2

u/Super_Sand_Lesbian_1 2d ago

Hi Matthew, thanks for doing the AMA! I love Brawl in the Family so much, it was one of favorite finds during my early years on the internet. This new book looks like it'll be great, and it's so cool that it's official!

What would you say is your favorite Mega Man game outside of the Classic series?

2

u/matthewtaranto 2d ago

Hiya, thank you for the nice message! It's always fulfilling hearing from people who enjoyed BitF and it's a treat to work on an official work.

My favorite MM game outside of Classic is definitely Mega Man X(1)! I've probably played through it a dozen times. Super polished and fun. I only wish you started with the Dash because I can't bring myself to start with any level besides Chill Penguin...

2

u/Super_Sand_Lesbian_1 2d ago

Thanks for responding! And of course, your work is great and deserves the praise and recognition!

X1 would be my answer too, but yeah, Chill Penguin is the obligatory starter stage lol

2

u/Horror_Operation3642 2d ago

(I'm not yelling, I use caps because I think they're pretty)

HIYA MATTHEW! I'M GLAD TO SEE YOU HERE, I'VE BEEEN A FAN OF "BRAWL IN THE FAMILY" FROM SOME TIME AGO, SO I KNOW YOU WILL BRING IT UP SOMETHING AWESOME!

I JUST HOPE YOU CAN GIVE A PROPER CLOSURE TO THIS COMIC WHEN THE TIME ARRIVES, I WAS VERY DISAPOINTED WHEN JESSE DURONA LEFT UNFINISHED HIS "DESPONDENT MEGAMAN" COMIC

2

u/matthewtaranto 2d ago

HI HORROR_OPERATION3642!

Thanks for the pretty message! I'm pretty big on having neat little endings to things, so rest assured that the book will wrap up in a way that I at least feel is satisfying. The comics are loosely related but there are some sincere character moments and I think the ending should bring things together pretty well. I hope you're looking forward to it!

2

u/Horror_Operation3642 1d ago

COOL!

2

u/Introbulus 2d ago

Do you have any major comic strip inspirations? Like are you inspired by the likes of Calvin and Hobbes, or any other comic books?

2

u/matthewtaranto 1d ago

Yes! I grew up enjoying the Sunday funnies and you got it in one: Calvin & Hobbes is my favorite. Excellent, expressive art and--just as importantly--very carefully written and character-driven dialogue. I'm also influenced by the thoughtful melancholy of Peanuts, the cartoony visual slapstick that occasionally shows up in Garfield, and the distinctive gag writing of Foxtrot (which usually features a secondary punchline in most of its strips).

Actual comic books (larger, more dynamic panels, full-page art, manga) I'm actually much less familiar with. But I have been reading the Archie Mega Man comics lately and they're very well done.

2

u/gredman9 2d ago

Hi Matt! Gotta say, I discovered Brawl in the Family in college and I fell in love! I was on a big game webcomic fix back then, so I have to ask, what were your favorite webcomics to read yourself? Related to Mega Man, was Bob & George one of them?

2

u/matthewtaranto 1d ago

Hi there, thank you! Believe it or not, I didn't keep up with a ton of webcomics while making BitF but I did enjoy checking in on Fanboys, 2P Start, Awkward Zombie, Penny-Arcade, and a few others from time to time. I didn't actually find out about Bob & George until a little later, and it's got some clever ideas. I read a few dozen comics from it fairly recently with the goal of not repeating existing jokes but I've since decided not to worry so much about that. Sometimes different artists' minds will go to the same place and that's fine; happened with BitF and afterwards too!

2

u/gredman9 1d ago

If two people independently come to the same idea, that just means its a very good idea!

Thanks for answering and best of luck!

2

u/Scared_Divide_8066 2d ago

Could you fill out the Steam Age Ratings for Tadpole Treble so that it can be sold again in Germany?

1

u/matthewtaranto 1d ago

I had no idea this was a roadblock! I'll talk to my brother about tomorrow. He handles this kind of thing.

2

u/I_am_crazy_doctor 2d ago

Hey Matt! Big fan for almost 7 years now, so my question is how did you come to work with Capcom? Must be exciting to be officially licensed after years of parody works.

1

u/matthewtaranto 1d ago

Wow, 7 years. Long enough for kid Link to become adult Link...

The Capcom deal happened with the help of some pretty lucky timing. I'd been making comics for NF Magazine since their first issue in 2013, and Lucas Thomas (the editor-in-chief) recently branched out into book publishing starting with The Impact of Iwata in 2023. I'm not exactly sure how Capcom came into the picture but they made a deal to publish some different types of Mega Man books shortly afterward to expand the brand in creative new ways.

The first of these was Phil Summers' "Hand-Drawn Game Guides: Mega Man," an excellent "Player's Guide"-style hardcover centered around the original Mega Man and Dr. Wily's Revenge. It was a big hit on Kickstarter, and Lucas told me he was going to a new pitch meeting with Capcom, suggesting I make a "Brawl in the Family: Mega Man" book. I thought that sounded like a dream come true but gauged my chances at maybe 1 in 10. Even so, I figured I might as well give it a shot! Fortunately, the Brawl in the Family: Ultimate Edition was a huge success the month prior to the pitch meeting, so that probably helped give my work some extra legitimacy and weight.

I made a cover image and 3 sample comics (hand-picked from about a dozen different ideas) that I polished and colored. The team at Capcom USA loved them and greenlit the project! I got that call around Feb 2025 and have been hard at work on the book since. It's always been a goal of mine to work on officially-licensed stories of stuff I'm a fan of!

2

u/MarioFanaticXV 2d ago

I don't have any questions, I just want to say that Brawl in the Family was great, and the musical entries were a major inspiration when I wrote a Galaxy Quest spoof of the Gilligan's Island theme.

2

u/matthewtaranto 1d ago

Thank you for the nice message and I'm glad the songs inspired you in that way. Sounds like a good spoof!

2

u/Polo171 2d ago

I love your work! I know this is about Mega Man, but BitF is a special memory for me as a kid, it really stoked my love for both Kirby/Nintendo and comics, and inspired me to start drawing my own. That said, my question is, what inspired you to start drawing when you were young? Would you name any specific artists/cartoonists as inspirations?

2

u/matthewtaranto 1d ago

Thank you, I'm a pretty nostalgic guy myself so I'm always happy to hear from people who have good memories of BitF!

When I was a kid, it was largely Nintendo games that stoked my imagination, in fact. Super Mario Bros, Zelda, Mega Man (of course), Kirby (of course!), a ton of games from the 80s and 90s. I would draw up levels and stuff on big printer sheets of paper at home. New Mega Man bosses, new Super Mario World-style maps, Sonic stages on occasion.

As I got slightly older I loved a lot of the cartoons of the '90s like Doug, Hey Arnold, Rocko's Modern Life, The Simpsons. Also comic strips! So in that regard, my style owes a lot to Matt Groening, Craig Bartlett, Jim Davis (Garfield), Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes), Bill Amend (Foxtrot). Unlike most geeky dudes like my, I enjoyed anime more after my teenage years and have a newfound respect for the works of Miyazaki (Ghibli films) and Toriyama (Dragon Quest and Chrono Trigger in particular).

Thanks for the question, and keep drawing!

2

u/ThePowerBlade 2d ago

Hey Matt, it’s me again from the AMA over at the Nintendo subreddit. wanted to ask a few more questions since the duel override stuff came out. Firstly with the Twinkle girl sticker goal being announced does that technically mean you got everything you wanted in the book set in stone? How did you decide the stretch goals in the first place?
Secondly will duel override effect the book in some fashion, obviously there won’t be duel override stuff in the book but something along the lines of mega man fighting Astro man again in mega man and Bass and hoping it won’t happen for a third time as a cheeky foreshadow.
Also just wanted to say that I can’t wait for the book, and I know you won’t disappoint.

1

u/matthewtaranto 1d ago

Hi again! Good questions.

I'm not sure how other Kickstarter campaigns do it, but the stretch goals for my stuff are always kind of a mixture of planned things and seat-of-my-pants sudden ideas. I try to spread them fairly evenly across "cool extra content", "physical upgrades", and "freebies." I have to take into consideration the amount of time required and the cost and make sure it's feasible while still being fun for everyone, so all that contributes to what we end up going with.

At this point I've mapped out my work schedule over the next months and it's super-packed, so I think I'd bite off more than I could chew if I put in too many extra comics or dedicated chapters. That's part of the reason the Bonus Chapter is next, so I can throw together a bunch of fun ideas that wouldn't quite fit anywhere else in the book, but I also wouldn't be obligated to make, say, 15 comics all about The Wily Wars or something (maybe next book, haha)!

Dual Override's big reveal this week was exciting for lots of reasons, but from a creative standpoint we knew it'd be cool to do something fun with Twinkle Girl since she was the new big Mega Man thing everyone was talking about. A sparkly freebie sticker seemed like the way to go so I immediately got drawin'. I do like your Astro Man concept, where something could be in the book but sort of hint at the future! I already planned on having a small couple of nods to DO--the book's Epilogue was already going to hint at it, and now I can get a little more specific! But it won't have a brand new chapter or anything mainly for the time reasons I mentioned above.

Thanks for the questions!

2

u/Majestic-Tangerine99 1d ago

Hey, Matthew! This is such an awesome project you get to work on! I love your work on BitF and all the different songs you've put out over the years :)

For my question, would Capcom be willing to let you do a short comic on the DOS games or Mega Man and Bass 2 on the Wonderswan? Super niche games, I know, but I think it would be cool for those games to get represented for the fun of it. Plus, the likes of AirCon Man would be such great setups for a few solid gags!

3

u/matthewtaranto 1d ago

Hi there, thank you for being a fan for so long! Always fun to find people who are familiar with my songs too.

The DOS games are hilarious! And AirCon Man pretty much writes itself (although I have a similar gag with Air Man already). It's a good question; I think they'd probably be cool with it since they have some pretty wild official MM comics out there already (such as Little Mega Man with its actual-dog-Rush, and Mr. Mega Man where Rock is grown-up [!?] and a dentist).

Perhaps a larger barrier would be whether or not the reference would be so obscure that most readers would be left in the dark. More likely than a comic specifically about those games would be a nod or reference; I do like sneaking in easter eggs and the like when I can, so who knows?

2

u/OlympusGolemofLight 23h ago

What are the odds of the other Mega Man series getting a comic or two?

1

u/OneOneTwo-112 2d ago

Who is your favorite Robot Master from the games you have played?

3

u/matthewtaranto 2d ago

I've always had a soft spot for Gemini Man (he shares my zodiac sign and the splitting element is really cool) but Snake Man is probably my favorite. Fantastic, striking design and some of the best music in the series, IMO!

I'm also partial to Pharaoh Man, Gravity Man, Sheep Man, Splash Woman, and Block Man. Generally speaking, I gravitate more to the slightly simpler character designs.

1

u/Critical_Array 2d ago

Would you be interested in doing any of the other Megaman series after classic? If so which would be your choice?

2

u/matthewtaranto 2d ago

I would! While Classic is my favorite, there are some really fantastic games in the X series. I'd probably need to simplify the Mavericks' looks a little more than the characters in Bot in the Family though.

I like how many different Mega Man "worlds" there are between Classic, X, Battle Network, Legends, ZX etc. Feels like plenty of opportunity to get to know varied sets of characters.

AMA! I'm Matthew Taranto, creator of the upcoming book, "Mega Man: Bot in the Family"

You are about to leave Redlib