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Have I at any point mentioned how much I love Samus’s character?

My brothers and I were just talking about the origins and heart of the Metroid story the other day, and we proposed that most things about Samus as a person (originally) came directly from game utility. The Metroid games are deep, cavernous, atmospheric and scary, so the protagonist has to be brave and quiet and strong. The games are dark, and require inhumanely jumping, speed, and armament, so the protagonist had to be wearing brightly colored power armor. The games are lonely, so she couldn’t be a soldier in an army, but had to be a lone bounty hunter. She needed to be a badass, and she has always been a badass, and this has never been news. But they could have left it there forever; she could have been just another silent, faceless player-stand-in, another blank-slate Mario Doomguy Bomberman, a hero on a mission, a soldier following orders to kill.

But as the games went on, she proved she was more. In the second game she was sent on a mission to exterminate the Metroid species, not a happy bombastic fun adventure, but rather a dismal and horrid genocide. It was done in the name of galactic peace, so for all the right reasons, she did this wretched thing. But then! If you have not heard this legend before, I get to be the first to tell you: that after she had slaughtered all the Metroids and gutted their egg-laying queen, she approached the last egg, and the last larva, and she spared its life. That was perhaps her first and most powerful character moment, not only because of the humanity and hope and warmth showing through in a horrible situation, but because the decision was made by Samus, not the player. By making it, she showed that she was distinct, and more than just distinct, that she was kind.

The games continued, and she continued proving this of herself.

She does not fire her weapon until threatened.

She is willing to sacrifice herself to stop great evils.

She does not demand a wage for doing good deeds.

She mourns departed friends.

She goes out of her way to save innocent lives.

I like that very much. I think it’s very special.

The original script for this comic was much different and much shorter. After her fight with the 6 xenos in the connex, things would get even more intense. The story would have her fighting her way out of the mines with no helmet, there would be endless numbers of aliens swarming from one direction and forcing her to go directly through the hive, it would be pitch dark in the queen’s chamber and lit only by the plasma beam, she would get her nose broken by one of their extendo-mouths, and the kid, who was wearing the helmet, would scan and find the place where the wall was thinnest, and then they would blast their way through into the main shaft, and the ship would drop a nuke. Basically a super intense, high-octane action adventure sort of sequence.

But as I actually wrote it out, and as the comic arrived at the point where all that noise would have to start, I got second thoughts and doubts and lost my inspiration for a long while (almost two years?), because that sort of rushrushrushexplodeaction story had already been told many times before in both franchises, and done better than I could ever do it. It wasn’t bringing anything new to the table.

But then an alternative presented itself. Within both franchises, within the inherent mercy and peacefulness of Samus’s character, and within the learning and intelligence of the xenomorph character (I never liked their portrayal as mindless monsters in later movies) there existed an opportunity to bring them to a place neither of them had quite gone before.

There was a story to be told where the hive mother learns to fear, and perhaps learns the faintest hint of empathy as she sees herself where her prey once stood, and, in the vain hope that the monster hunting her is at all less monstrous than herself, unconditionally surrenders. There was a story to be told where the hunter has compassion on violent creatures that do not deserve anything of the sort, and offers them mercy. So I don’t know how this story compares with the more exciting one I never drew, and I don’t know if I told it very well, but at the end of the day, it says some things about these characters I’m glad to have said.

And since you’re reading this anyway, thank you. The comments and support on this comic slowly but surely pile up, and they always make me so happy. I’m glad you took time out of your day to read what I wrote, and I sincerely hope that you enjoyed it. Cheers

Description
<== First | <= Prev | Next =>

Have I at any point mentioned how much I love Samus’s character?

My brothers and I were just talking about the origins and heart of the Metroid story the other day, and we proposed that most things about Samus as a person (originally) came directly from game utility. The Metroid games are deep, cavernous, atmospheric and scary, so the protagonist has to be brave and quiet and strong. The games are dark, and require inhumanely jumping, speed, and armament, so the protagonist had to be wearing brightly colored power armor. The games are lonely, so she couldn’t be a soldier in an army, but had to be a lone bounty hunter. She needed to be a badass, and she has always been a badass, and this has never been news. But they could have left it there forever; she could have been just another silent, faceless player-stand-in, another blank-slate Mario Doomguy Bomberman, a hero on a mission, a soldier following orders to kill.

But as the games went on, she proved she was more. In the second game she was sent on a mission to exterminate the Metroid species, not a happy bombastic fun adventure, but rather a dismal and horrid genocide. It was done in the name of galactic peace, so for all the right reasons, she did this wretched thing. But then! If you have not heard this legend before, I get to be the first to tell you: that after she had slaughtered all the Metroids and gutted their egg-laying queen, she approached the last egg, and the last larva, and she spared its life. That was perhaps her first and most powerful character moment, not only because of the humanity and hope and warmth showing through in a horrible situation, but because the decision was made by Samus, not the player. By making it, she showed that she was distinct, and more than just distinct, that she was kind.

The games continued, and she continued proving this of herself.

She does not fire her weapon until threatened.

She is willing to sacrifice herself to stop great evils.

She does not demand a wage for doing good deeds.

She mourns departed friends.

She goes out of her way to save innocent lives.

I like that very much. I think it’s very special.

The original script for this comic was much different and much shorter. After her fight with the 6 xenos in the connex, things would get even more intense. The story would have her fighting her way out of the mines with no helmet, there would be endless numbers of aliens swarming from one direction and forcing her to go directly through the hive, it would be pitch dark in the queen’s chamber and lit only by the plasma beam, she would get her nose broken by one of their extendo-mouths, and the kid, who was wearing the helmet, would scan and find the place where the wall was thinnest, and then they would blast their way through into the main shaft, and the ship would drop a nuke. Basically a super intense, high-octane action adventure sort of sequence.

But as I actually wrote it out, and as the comic arrived at the point where all that noise would have to start, I got second thoughts and doubts and lost my inspiration for a long while (almost two years?), because that sort of rushrushrushexplodeaction story had already been told many times before in both franchises, and done better than I could ever do it. It wasn’t bringing anything new to the table.

But then an alternative presented itself. Within both franchises, within the inherent mercy and peacefulness of Samus’s character, and within the learning and intelligence of the xenomorph character (I never liked their portrayal as mindless monsters in later movies) there existed an opportunity to bring them to a place neither of them had quite gone before.

There was a story to be told where the hive mother learns to fear, and perhaps learns the faintest hint of empathy as she sees herself where her prey once stood, and, in the vain hope that the monster hunting her is at all less monstrous than herself, unconditionally surrenders. There was a story to be told where the hunter has compassion on violent creatures that do not deserve anything of the sort, and offers them mercy. So I don’t know how this story compares with the more exciting one I never drew, and I don’t know if I told it very well, but at the end of the day, it says some things about these characters I’m glad to have said.

And since you’re reading this anyway, thank you. The comments and support on this comic slowly but surely pile up, and they always make me so happy. I’m glad you took time out of your day to read what I wrote, and I sincerely hope that you enjoyed it. Cheers