Bob and George

Bob and George was a sprite-based webcomic which parodies the fictional universe of Mega Man. It is written by David Anez, a physics instructor who lives in the American Midwest. The comic first appeared on April 1 2000 and ran until July 28 2007. It was updated daily with very few missed comics. There have only been approximately 29 days without a comic.

Initially conceived as a hand-drawn comic, Bob and George became a sprite comic first as filler, and then permanently after two failed attempts at the hand-drawn format.

Most Bob and George strips are still images. The initial strips were mostly done in GIF format (occasionally using JPEG for more graphic-intensive comics) before converting to PNG in May 2004. In addition, occasional comics are animated using either animated GIFs or Macromedia Flash. Some of the Flash comics have the characters speaking, voiced by Anez and others (often forum members). Animated comics are generally used for the annual week-long anniversary parties (usually culminating in a brief flash comic that recaps the events of the past year in a matter of seconds), for especially climactic scenes, and for the Cataclysm videos.

The comic's plot is mostly made up of story arcs of varying lengths. Amongst past story arcs there have been retellings of various Mega Man games which often play out quite differently than the originals, as well as battles against powerful foes. In addition, many of the story arcs involve either time travel or dimensional travel.

History
Bob and George was originally planned to be a hand-drawn webcomic about the college adventures of two brothers named Bob and George. Slated to start on April 1 2000, the plan fell through because Anez didn't have a scanner with which to scan his drawings. He instead released a sequence of filler comics using Mega Man sprites, which he intended to be a temporary measure until he gained access to a scanner, at which point he would implement his initial plan involving the hand drawn comics. He eventually purchased a scanner, and on June 1 he released the hand-drawn comic.

Anez has stated that he hated the hand-drawn comic, and returned to making the sprite comic with Mega Man characters on June 11. The sprite comic continued for several months, until Anez took time off from the comic on September 17 to practice drawing. On October 1, he restarted the hand-drawn comic. Once again, production of the hand-drawn comic didn't last long, and on October 12 he went back to producing the sprite-based comic, which was used until the comic's end. (However, in the storyline "All Good Things" the hand-drawn format is used to represent George's home dimension, though this time drawn by Liss, Dave's wife. Dave stated the reason for this is he realized that he still couldn't draw, and wasn't going to get any better. )

However, this meant that the comic strip was titled "Bob and George", but didn't contain any characters named "Bob" or "George". This was fixed with the introcuction of sprite versions of the two characters into the comic. Bob is depicted as a gray Proto Man recolor while George is a Mega Man recolor with blond hair and no helmet.

David planned to end the comic by April 1, 2007, which is the end of the seventh year of the comic's run. However, the story has run on and the comic ended on his birthday, July 28th, 2007.

Fan Community
Bob and George has an active fan community. As of March 2007, the site's forums have over 10,100 registered users and over 500,000 articles posted. In many ways, the forums have grown to be almost completely disconnected from the main comic, as the community has flourished on its own. In an informal survey conducted of the Bob and George forum members, 82% of survey respondents claimed to read Bob and George on a regular basis, with the remaining 18% either reading it occasionally or not at all.

In addition to the main comic, the Bob and George site hosts a number of comics created by fans of the comic. These comics, which were selected by Anez for inclusion on the site, are known as "fancomics". Fancomics that have been determined by Dave to be of sufficient proven substance are referred to as "subcomics", and are linked to in their own area in the site. Almost all of the fancomics are sprite based. Many fancomics started out on the forums, and forum users often lend sprites to fancomic authors.

Subcomics
Authors are referred to as their website username.

As of August 2007, Bob and George hosts the following titles as subcomics:
 * The Karnak Hates Everything Show by Karnak.
 * Metroid: Third Derivative by Reynard.
 * MS Paint Masterpieces by DisgruntledFerret
 * Universal Voyage by Nameless Wonder

Old Subcomics
A separate section of the subcomics page lists comics no longer featured as major subcomics, in most cases because the authors ceased to continue producing the comics. The comics are as following:
 * Dysfunction by kittykaboom
 * Megami's Art Pages by Megami
 * Randomness by iX
 * Super Ho by Liss.
 * Taco: The Comic by Holly-Beth (aka Chick Bot)
 * Jailhouse Blues by Ramnesis
 * Oddball Fancomics by Rick O'Shay/RickX.
 * Misadventures by Plague.

Some previous subcomics are not listed on the site, including:
 * Warped Reality by Deccus
 * Author Wars by Deccus
 * Project: Suck by Travis Faust
 * OCWTSIFT by Slashman
 * Suraida-chan's Art Pages by Suraida-Chan
 * Kefka's Comic by Kefka

Dave's Subcomics
Subcomics authored by Dave Anez are also listed in the same category as the "old subcomics". These include:
 * The Cataclysm
 * Helmeted Author Quips
 * Freakadave

Fancomics
As of August 2007, the fancomics hosted on the site are:
 * Super and Jazz by Super Llama.
 * Sakurai Diaries by Azureman.
 * Captain Gamer: OOC by Captain Gamer.
 * Resident Evil by SilentBobX.

Ex-Fancomics
As with the subcomics, there have been many former fancomics. Although some have become subcomics in place of a previous subcomic that ended or left the site, a few fancomics simply ceased to be, usually because the author of the comic stopped producing new comics. They can be downloaded at Bob and George Download Section

These include:
 * The Ninja Bot by Metlord
 * Rock & Roll by Beansdooma
 * The thing of no sense by ThndrShk2k
 * The thing of no sense 2 by ThndrShk2k
 * Theta Radiation by Nick
 * Chew on This by Lightguy
 * High Sea Hijinks by The Cap'n
 * Kurobei by DoctorDiablo
 * Warcraft Idiocies by JnvReno
 * Author Hunters by Myrmadon
 * The Legend of Zelda: That One With the Ocarina by Stobbit
 * Dogaland Adventure Redux by Dogadon
 * Mr. Ganesha by Dogadon
 * Megaband by Six
 * Crash and Bass" by FatSatan''
 * Reploid Hunter Iris: Code Megaman X by CardCaptor Schlueter
 * Delta Atari by Archmage Devin
 * Reality Sucks by 2
 * The Real Live Dead by Travis O.
 * Evil Inc. by Jjkaybomb
 * Laran by DFM
 * House of Cards by Jjkaybomb
 * Over the Fringe by Travis O.
 * Full Fusion Canon by Crimson R.
 * Spies Like Us by CardCaptor Schlueter
 * Junior by Tom
 * Co-Authors by Pete and Mark

Main cast

 * Mega Man - Debatably the main star of the comic, he is a robot created by Dr. Light. His primary mission is to destroy evil robots and stop Dr. Wily; his secondary mission is to be an idiot.
 * Proto Man - Created by Dr. Light, he is the older robotic brother of Mega Man. He is considered a strategic fighter and one of the more mature characters in the comic, though he's often seen jokeing with the other characters.
 * The Author - The (nearly) all-powerful being who made the comic. The Author often appears to see how things are going, but tries not to get directly involved in the story. He appears as a blue/purple palette swap of Mega Man without his helmet. See fourth wall. Dave Anez's real wife Liss has her own sprite and makes occasional, non-canonical appearances in the strip.
 * Bob - The younger, yet more mature, brother of George, he is technically evil personified. His alter-ego is Napalm, a super-powered being with control over the element of fire. He is very adept at programming, although the story reveals that this is only true when he has a template of sorts to start from, essentially, as he puts it, reprogramming code for optimizing. He is a grey palette swap of Proto Man, with red hair underneath his helmet. Dave Anez has stated that Bob is a prime example of a Mary Sue. A running gag in the series is that his alternate self from another dimension is gay, although in a non-stereotypical fashion.
 * George - The "real" star of the series, he is essentially the opposite of his younger brother, Bob. At least half of the story arcs don't revolve around him though, as they will tend to revolve around the various Mega Man games or one of the characters, usually Bob, traveling through time or dimensions. His alter-ego is Blitz, a super hero with control over the element of lightning. He greatly values ice cream. George is a light blue and grey palette swap of helmet-less Mega Man with blonde hair. He is also affected by an unwritten rule that prevents him from dying due to his name being in the title. So far, there has been only one exception to this rule. It was recently revealed that the Shadowy Author who has been manipulating events for the past year or so is actually George in disguise. George is not THE Shadowy Author, however, and it was Bob who exposed George and pointed out the obvious give aways, such as their different eye color and the fact that the real Shadowy Authors text bubbles do not have a track leading to his sprite.

Secondary cast

 * Bass - Even less intelligent than Mega Man, Bass is a robot created by Dr. Wily and designed to be superior to Mega Man in everything, including stupidity.
 * Roll - A robot created by Dr. Light. Initially created as Dr. Light's former housekeeper, she has since demonstrated an enjoyment of combat.
 * Nate - A yellow demon who once attacked several cast members, Dr. Light turned him into a humanoid-looking Yellow Demon prototype designated N4-T3. This process seems to have rendered him mute, as he now communicates nonverbally with signs, gestures, and the like. Has the ability to merge with other robots. Referred to as Nate, as this is what N4-T3 translates to from leet. Wears large eyeglasses which contain a control jewel.
 * Chadling - A purple demon with Wolverine-like claws from the same dimension as Mynd. He was initially Mynd's minion. When not in demon form, he looks like a purple version of Mega Man 7 Robot Master Slash Man. Like Nate, Chadling can merge with robots, including humans. He has merged with George to create "Charge" and Mynd to create "Mynd Mk II."  He enjoys ice cream as much as George. His serial number is C1-14D, model L1N6. He is referred to as Chadling since that is what "C1-14D L1N6" translates to from leet.
 * X - Dr. Light's most advanced robotic creation, X is a super-advanced robot from 100 years in the future who can think for himself. The star of the Mega Man X games.
 * Zero - X's friend, he is a robot created by Dr. Wily. Went on a rampage that caused the Cataclysm. Was put into a 100-year sleep, and became good sometime after that.
 * Prometheus - Essentially Proto Man in the post-cataclysm world, Prometheus is his own character. He tends to reminisce on the past and how much he misses it, and tends to remind X and the others of how he managed to survive the cataclysm. After everything he's been through, he prefers the freakiness from when the author was around to the dark and more serious nature of the X world.
 * Dr. Light - An alcoholic scientist who created various members of the robotic cast, including Mega Man, X, Proto Man, and Roll.
 * Ran Cossack - A communist robot created by Kalinka, the daughter of Dr. Cossack, who was thought to be the villain of Mega Man 4, but was really being blackmailed by Dr. Wily. Ran is very fragile, and can be destroyed with as little as a poke of a finger. However, upon being destroyed a duplicate body with a copy of his memory is beamed to his previous location. His weapon is the Cossack Buster, an incredibly powerful blaster with similarly powerful recoil. Interestingly enough, his bodies are immune to radiation. He is a well known fan character in the Bob and George community. In fact, the character is so well known that he is often mistaken for a canon Mega Man character.
 * Mike - From the same dimension as Mynd. Mynd's former minion, Mike is a cybernetic ninja. He is a red/dark grey palette swap of Mega Man with Proto Man's shield. Called "Ninja Ned" by Roll, much to his dismay.
 * Alternate Mega Man and Bass - Alternate versions of Mega Man and Bass from an alternate dimension. The two are extremely intelligent and spend much of their time debating scientific issues.
 * The Shadowy Author - The author of the Rockman Universe, the Shadowy Author appears to be neither friend nor foe to the cast. He has interfered in the events of the primary universe on several occasions, though his intentions in doing so remained unknown. Towards the later end of the comic, George took up masquerading as the Shadowy Author to manipulate the events behind the comic, until Bob called him out. It should still be noted that George is not THE Shadowy Author; the comic's final strip revealed that the true Shadowy Author was really The Author the whole time, having blamed himself for the Cataclysm - and working to prevent it.
 * Alternate Bob - A version of Bob from an alternate dimension, he is effeminate, witty, and openly homosexual. The only difference in appearance between him and the primary universe's Bob is that Alternate Bob's scarf is purple.
 * Alternate George - A version of George from an alternate dimension, he is a psychotic killer with a sarcastic humor. He managed to kill Dr. Light, Dr. Wily, and Roll of the alternate dimension, but was unable to kill his universe's Mega Man, Bass, Bob, Proto Man or Beat. When he is first introduced, he is shown attempting to kill Beat, but this results in him becoming blind due to Beat pecking his eyes out.
 * Vic - An evil program designed by Bob in order to ensure that Mega Man turns evil every once in a while. The secondary root control of Mega Man, besides Mega Man himself. Looks exactly like Bob, and sells "pure, concentrated, unending evil" in the form of juice at a stand inside Mega Man's head. Mega Man's eyes appear red when Vic is operating Mega Man during the 16-bit comics.
 * Ted - A new addition to the roster, Ted is a fellow Super-Hero from Georges past, which the Author distinctly keeps drawn by hand instead of using sprites. We mostly see him in the time jumping incident where George is flung between the past, present, and future. He is a dark skinned man wearing a white and Carolina blue uniform with a blue visor. His elemental power is cryogenic ice blast.
 * Bate - Not a true new character, but a merger of Bass and Nate created during "The Attack of Mega Man" story arc where Mega Man became evil, designated B4-T3. He is basically a recolored 16-bit Guts Man sprite with Bass' head on it. Referred to as Bate, since this is what B4-T3 translates to from leet. His name became an immediate pun when Bate demanded that Evil Mega Man refer to him as "Master" before he killed him. Evil Mega Man promptly replied with the question "Master Bate?" making the gag obvious.

Villains

 * Dr. Wily - An evil scientist plotting the downfall of Mega Man and Dr. Light. Often explains his plans in overheard soliloquy. The primary villain from the Mega Man games.
 * Mynd - A Sigma-lookalike from another dimension and godmoder extraordinaire.
 * Mega Man - Mega Man has played the villain on a few occasions, usually turned evil through foreign programing. It has been revealed that Bob has programed an evil personality, known as Vic, in Mega Man.
 * Helmeted Author - Also known as "Helmut" and Fistandantilus. An Author from another dimension who wears a helmet which restrains his powers. He looks like the author wearing a helmet, underneath which he has dark gray Sephiroth-style hair. Main character of Helmeted Author Quips, a subcomic which is displayed in the space beneath the main comic on the website.
 * Evil Overlord Mike/Ninja Ned and Non-Alternate Mynd - The versions of Mike and Mynd from the same dimension as most of the main cast. Evil Overlord Mike is a villainous version of Mike with an army of ninjas, and Non-Alternate Mynd is his minion.
 * X - The most advanced robotic creation of Dr. Light. At one point, he assimilated everyone in the comic because he wanted friends.  He was subsequently reprogrammed and deactivated.  Was reactivated 100 years later, preceding the events of the Mega Man X video game.

Locations in the comic

 * The Mega Man universe - The comic's main setting is in a highly-parodied version of the Mega Man universe. Notable locations include:
 * Dr. Light's lab - The lab of Dr. Light, and home of most of the comic's heroes. The lab is complete with an area for the creation of new robots, as well as a holographic training simulator in which members of the cast hone their fighting skills.
 * Dr. Wily's fortress - The fortress was home to both Dr. Wily and Bass before being destroyed later in the comic. Dr. Wily has had a different fortress in each of the Mega Man games which inevitably end up being destroyed by the end of the game.
 * Dr. Cossack's castle - Located in Russia, the castle is home to Dr. Cossack, his daughter Kalinka, and Ran.
 * The Alternate Mega Man universe - A parallel dimension, home to alternate versions of the cast who have dramatically different personalities than those of the standard universe. Examples include extremely intelligent versions of Mega Man and Bass, a homosexual Bob, and a homicidally violent George.
 * Mynd's universe - Another universe, this is the home dimension of Mynd, and his henchmen Mike and Chadling.
 * The Rockman Universe - A universe controlled by the Shadowy Author, this universe is based on the universe of the Japanese Rockman games. A more serious universe in which Rock is competent, Roll is subservient, and Forte and Dr. Wily are actually evil. This universe has recently suffered its Cataclysm due to actions of future versions of the Mega Man and Bass from the Alternate Mega Man Universe.
 * The White Space - An all white dimension which is revealed to be a demiplane which interacts with all comic universes. Helmut was banished to here when trying to destroy the comic.
 * Mega Man's Mind - This is where Vic and Mega Man's actual Mind live. There is nothing but a TV with a giant keyboard, and a lemonade stand, which sells glasses of pure concentrated unending evil. There appears to be another room in a picture with the stand, but that might be where the TV is. It is also apparently possible to access other parts of Mega Man's body from here, such as his Mega-Buster as seen in the 6th Mega Man Game storyline.
 * X's Mind - Seen when X assimilated George's mind. Is the only place that uses graphics from the Battle Network series.

Terminology

 * Cataclysm - The event in the Bob and George future where Zero kills most of the Mega Man characters.
 * Helmeted Author Quips - Helmeted Author Quips are random pictures or animations that depict the Helmeted Author doing something generally unrelated to the Bob and George story. Also refers to or pictures/animations that are displayed below the comic that have nothing to do with the Helmeted Author. On Friday, October 28 2005, it was revealed that Helmeted Author escaped this area to help Bob out in the final storylines.
 * Quirky Personalities - The Robot Masters within the Bob and George universe are plagued with personalities that render them extremely stereotypical in relation to their name.
 * Plot Hole - The end result of a logical paradox, such as a character being in two places at the exact same time. Believed to cause a catastrophic event of universal reach that would completely obliterate all universes that ever have or ever will exist. However, the Author continually insists that there are none, usually by way of the Jedi mind trick. Apparent plot holes in Bob and George are often resolved through convoluted plot, often involving time travel.

Year 1
The origins of Mega Man and Proto Man are shown in a flashback to the first Mega Man game. The Author is introduced. George, Blitz, and Napalm are introduced in the hand-drawn comics. In the sprite comic, the Author is apparently killed by Dr. Wily, leading to the second instance of the hand-drawn comics. The story returns to the sprite comic, where the Author is apparently fine. Bob, George, and Nate are introduced. Bob is sent to another dimension by the Author, and ends up travelling through various dimensions.

Bass travels back through time to the period of the Mega Man II and alters the past. X travels back to the present from the future, and X and Mega Man travel back in time to fix the timeline.

Year 2
The past version of Mega Man is damaged, so the present-day Mega Man fights the 8 Robot Masters and defeats Dr. Wily. X and the both versions of Mega Man return to the present. Mega Man of the past is repaired, and he and X are returned to their own times.

Meanwhile, Bob ends up traveling to Mynd's dimension. Bob is defeated by Mynd and Mike. Mynd, Chadling, and Mike return with Bob to the Mega Man universe. Mynd attempts to take over the Mega Man universe, but is defeated by the combined powers of Bob and George.

George awakens from the fight to find himself in the past, in the time period of Mega Man III. George is kidnapped by Dr. Wily. Mega Man defeats several Robot Masters and Bob wakes up in the future.

Year 3
Bob travels to the time period of Mega Man III and agrees to help Dr. Wily. Mega Man defeats the rest of the Robot Masters, and Dr. Wily is defeated. Bob and George return to their own time.

Mega Man appears to turn evil, and is defeated. Bob ends up in the Rockman Universe, and kills that universe's Dr. Wily. Ran begins the story of the events of Mega Man IV.

Year 4
In Ran's story, Mega Man fights the Robot Masters, and Dr. Wily is defeated.

George is sent back in time by Dr. Light, and discovers why he survived the events of Mega Man turning evil. It is revealed that Mega Man had not turned evil, but instead the Helmeted Author had been disguised as him. George heads to a tropical beach to wait for his timeline to catch up.

In the present, the Helmeted Author attacks. The Author and Helmeted Author fight, and appear to destroy the comic.

Year 5
It is revealed that the comic was not destroyed. Roll and Mike save the president from Evil Overlord Mike's ninjas.

The Future Alternates inadvertently cause the Cataclysm in the Rockman Universe, which later turns out to be an alternate Rockman Universe. Bob wakes up in the standard universe's past just prior to Mega Man V, and teams up with Dr. Wily to take over the world, whom Bob later betrays. The Present Alternates and the Future Alternates arrive in this time period and team up to stop Bob. Bob upgrades the Robot Masters' files to create an army of Robot Masters. The Past Alternates go after Bob; while the future Alternates, Mega Man, and Ran try to stop the Robot Master army with tactics such as using Ran as a bomb, turning Megaman into Mega-Hulk, and taking Ran's Cossack Busters. Meanwhile, the Present Alternates stop Bob by dropping an asteroid on him.

Back in the present, Evil Overlord Mike sends non-alternate Mynd to attack Dr. Light's lab. He is defeated and locked up.

Year 6
Dr. Light activates X, who assimilates most of the cast, as well as most of the world. George defeats X, freeing those who were assimilated.

Dr. Wily pulls Bob out of the subspace rift and coerces Bob to program Zero for him. Dr. Wily then sends Bob back in time, where he appears just prior to the events of Mega Man VI. George travels back in time to get his brother. The Mega Man VI robot tournament begins.

Year 7
The tournament continues, with Bob and George manipulating events behind the scenes so that the timeline remains unchanged.

Shortly after the first round of the First Annual Robot Tournament ended, a "Temporal Burp" appeared within the comic, which seems to have been caused by Bob and George's actions in the Mega Man 6 storyline. The Strips at that time were in a distortion wave, with earlier strips unviewable or distorted in some way.

Bob steals George's time-suit off of George and programs the evil personality Vic into Mega Man, setting Mega Man up to cause havoc in the tournament. George zaps Bob, causing the time-suit to malfunction and send Bob through time. The evil Mega Man starts to hunt the other robots. Meanwhile, the Author continues to block the distortion wave with difficulty.

Dr. Wily, still disguised as Mr. X, sends the remaining tournament robots after Mega Man as a stalling tactic, so he can retreat to his fortress. Mega Man manages to defeat each robot sent after him. Mega Man's real programming apparently is accidentally destroyed, leaving Vic the only personality in Mega Man. Meanwhile, Dr. Wily and the surviving robots made it to his fortress. Dr. Wily activates Gamma in an attempt to defeat Mega Man, who goes out of control and destroys Wily's fortress and defeats Mega Man. However, just as Wily is about to deliver the coup de grace on Mega Man, Ball Man strikes him like a bowling ball and leaves him stunned and disoriented. Dr. Light then arrives and asks what happened, being oblivious to Mega Man's rampage, to which Mega Man claims that everything was Wily's doing, thus resulting in Wily's incarceration and the end the 6th Mega Man game.

Afterwards, the comic goes back to the presumable present, with George coming through the doors and complaining about being thrown through time from the past to the present to the future. After a few comics, he is sent to the future and talks with Prometheus (Proto Man in disguise), and it is revealed that he is 137 years old and that he is a demigod. He then is sent to the hand-drawn universe, where he zaps Scrooge McDuck and a new character, Ted, is introduced. It becomes readily apparent that the Shadowy Author is behind George's time travel, in what Dave has said is mostly a parody of the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "All Good Things...".

Next, George wakes up to find himself in a drawn world much like what Dave imagined when he intended the strip to originally be hand-drawn, where Bob is his friend and he's a college kid. When he inquired where Mega Man and everyone was, his so-called friends were confused. After attempting to call the Author and nothing happened, he was shut up for Breaking the Fourth Wall. Realizing "Nate" has Telekenesis, he was able to stop what turned out to be an illusion by Captain Kinesis.

After returning to normal, George finds himself in the Present, where Mynd reveals Bob's plan: to kill the Author. (This appears to be Dave's Plot Device for the comic's end, which he has talked about since November of 2006.) After a long battle against nearly everyone in the comic and a large number of characters from alternate universes, Bob then commences to go Supernova to end it all, but is stopped by the Shadowy Author. Ripping off his mask, Bob reveals the Shadowy Author to be none other than George! At the same time, the Author begins to awaken.

It is explained that George is merely an impersonator who has been posing as the Shadowy Author for two years now. Bob goes on to explain how he knew; the real Shadowy Author has red eyes with floating text bubbles, but when George posed as him he had blue eyes and connected text bubbles. George then explains that he had met the real Shadowy Author, who loaned him some of his Author Power to help him stop Bob, which is how he was able to send his past self through time, stop the Supernova, and summon all those alternate universe characters.

George threatens to shoot Bob with his blaster, but Bob doubts he would be willing to kill his brother. George does pull the trigger, but the gun doesn't work. Then, the Helmeted Author comes out of Bob and the Author comes out of the tank. They tell them that the Helmeted Author has been possessing Bob for the last few years over a bet to see if George would be willing to kill Bob and the Author won.

We find out that everything before the Helmeted Author possessed Bob happened, why Bob and George ended up in the Megaman universe, and ultimately the reason for that last two years of events in the comic was all a plan by Bob and George's mother. She wanted George to become tough and to be willing to kill Bob if necessary and for Bob to know so that he'd be less likely be evil, so the Author offered use of his universe for it and so they sent them there during the first year of the comic. Bob and George then go home with the knowledge they have largely wasted the last seven years of their lives.

In the epilogue, David Anez explains that the Author decided to quit interfering with the storyline, allowing it to follow the plot of the game. He explains that everyone will die in the Cataclysm after Dr. Wily prematurely releases Zero. It is then hinted that, blaming himself for the deaths of the cast, the Author becomes the Shadowy Author, and goes back in time to create the Rockman universe and show his past self the Cataclysm, which the Shadowy Author did in the 'Cataclysm Flashback' storyline, hoping to prevent it.

However, since Zero revealed the events of the cataclysm during the final storyline, Dr. Wily doesn't release Zero, so the cataclysm never happens. To avoid causing a time paradox since they are suppose to be dead, they all fake their deaths and move to Acapulco, where they live happily ever after.

Additional info

 * Due to what many users believe is a temporal flux in the comic, the first comics up to April 29, 2000 were being slowly scrambled and then dissipating. The Author was on the strip for the 29th, holding the burp off. It was still being debated on what's causing the burp. But on August 29, 2006, every comic up until October 18, 2000 was wiped. They were also made inaccessible. These comics have since been restored, but only likely due to an error in the archival code, which has misplaced parts of the layout, made various comics disappear, and disabled commentary from the first two years.