Friday, June 14th, 2002	#788
The Cataclysm Flashback	A Mysterious Figure

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		The First Strips The Beginning of the Story Mega Man's Missing! The Introduction of the Author The Author as Mega Man The Return of Mega Man The Hand-drawn Comics I - The Introduction of George The Hand-drawn Comics I - George's Summer Job The Hand-drawn Comics I - The Introduction of Napalm The Hand-drawn Comics I - The Return of Mega Man The Return to the Beginning The Attack of the Yellow Demon The Return of the Author The White Space Why Alcohol is Bad for You The First Megaman Game The Attack on Dr. Wily The Hand-drawn Comics II - Introductions, Version 2.0 The Hand-drawn Comics II - College Orientation Not Again Just Another Day Not Just Another Day The Introduction of George The Introduction of Bob The Attack of Bob The Aftermath of Bob Tales From a Parallel Universe 1 Prelude to a Bad Time A Bad Time Tales From a Parallel Universe 2 Back to the Past The Party The Second Megaman Game - Prologue The Second Megaman Game - The First 4 Robot Masters The Second Megaman Game - The Last 4 Robot Masters The Second Megaman Game - Back at the Lab The Second Megaman Game - Meanwhile The Second Megaman Game - The Attack on Dr. Wily The Second Megaman Game - The Aftermath Back in the Future The Author's Breakdown Tales From a Parallel Universe 3 Something Stupid The Next Generation Another Coffee Break Tales From a Parallel Universe 4 In the Year 21XX The Arrival of Mynd The Attack of Mynd The Third Megaman Game - The Pregame Show The Third Megaman Game - Magnet Man & Hard Man The Third Megaman Game - Top Man & Shadow Man Tales From a Parallel Time The Second Party The Third Megaman Game - Spark Man & SnakeMan The Third Megaman Game - Needle Man & Gemini Man The Third Megaman Game - Doc Robot The Cataclysm Flashback The Third Megaman Game - The Doc Robot Fight The Third Megaman Game - Resolution Something Different The Attack of Mega Man Tales From a Parallel Universe 5 N4T3'5 R3C4P W33K The Fourth Megaman Game - Stalin's Brain The Fourth Megaman Game - Exposition Exposition The Fourth Megaman Game - Fixing Ran Dave's Adventures in Canada The Fourth Megaman Game - Wily's Fortress The Third Party The Fourth Megaman Game - Mega Man The Fourth Megaman Game - Bright Man & Pharaoh Man The Fourth Megaman Game - Ring Man & Dust Man Non Sequitur The Fourth Megaman Game - Skull, Drill, & Dive Man The Fourth Megaman Game - Ran The Fourth Megaman Game - Cossack Bots BnG News Story Time Another Bad Time A Dog's Day George's Bad Day George's Really Bad Day BnG News Exposé Helmeted Preparations Helmeted Attack The Fourth Party The Adventures of Ninja Ned Tales From a Parallel Universe 5½, Part 1 The Fifth Megaman Game - Prologue Tales From a Parallel Universe 5½, Part 2 The Fifth Megaman Game - Star Man Tales From a Parallel Universe 5½, Part 3 The Fifth Megaman Game - Preparations The Fifth Megaman Game - Robot Masters The Fifth Megaman Game - Month of Destruction The Fifth Megaman Game - Darth Volcanus The Fifth Megaman Game - Wave, Stone, & Charge Man The Fifth Megaman Game - Final Battle The Fifth Megaman Game - Resolution The Attack of Non-Alternate Mynd - Preamble The Attack of Non-Alternate Mynd - Flashback The Attack of Non-Alternate Mynd - Protean The Attack of Non-Alternate Mynd - Charge A&E Biography Month The Fifth Party The Introduction of X The Attack of X The Mind of X, Part 1 Megaman 6 The Mind of X, Part 2 The Aftermath of X Prelude to the Worst Time The Worst Time The First Annual Robot Tournament - Introduction The First Annual Robot Tournament - Round One, Part 1 The Sixth Party The First Annual Robot Tournament - Round One, Part 2 The Sixth Megaman Game - Vic The Sixth Megaman Game - Stalling The Sixth Megaman Game - Wily's Fortress All Good Things - The First Cycle All Good Things - The Second Cycle All Good Things - The Third Cycle All Good Things - Flashback All Good Things - The Fourth Cycle All Good Things - Mynd All Good Things - Sigma All Good Things - Captain Kinesis The Seventh Party All Good Things - Captain Kinesis All Good Things - The Last Cycle The Return of Bob - Shields The Return of Bob - Standoff The Last Strips The Epilogue

There was a ton of speculation as to who the Shadowy Author might be. Some people though it was George's mom, but I tried to shoot that down as quickly as possible. Much like the Helmeted Author, when I first introduced the Shadowy Author, I hadn't really given much thought as to his real identity. Leaving it open like that allows me more wiggle room if I think up something better later. Ultimately I ended up deciding that the Shadowy Author is the regular Author post-Cataclysm. This changed slightly when the comic universe diverged from the universe of the Cataclysm movies, so I guess the Shadowy Author is a post-Cataclysm version of an Author very similar to the regular Author. I had planned on having a hidden scene in one of the Cataclysm movies where Ran confronts the Author and demands that the Author intervene and stop Zero. The Author refuses, knowing that intervention will only make things worse. Eventually, Ran convinces the Author to give him a more powerful weapon, which Ran then uses to blast Zero out of the city. Unfortunately, this directly results in Zero inadvertently finding Dr. Light's hidden base and Dr. Light's death, meaning that the Author's actions have only made things worse, exactly as he feared. Upon this realization, he transforms into the Shadowy Author and fades away, and the scene ends. This was supposed to be the official explanation of the Shadowy Author's origin, but since that movie never got made, I added it to the Epilogue instead.

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