Samus & Joey

Samus and Joey is a manga series of (at least) 3 issues. It has only been released in Japan, and the storyline seems to occur just prior to the events of Metroid Fusion, though one chapter recounts the intro of that story. This series introduces the character Joey to the Metroid universe as well as several others such as Dragüd, Diesel, Doruba, Jealousy, Bomad, and the Megaroid. An unofficial translation is in progress by the Metroid Database.

Comic Bom Bom, a monthly manga magazine, ran Samus & Joey (17 Issues, December 2002 - April 2004) and Metroid EX: Samus & Joey (12 Issues, May 2004 - April 2005) for a total of 29 months. It is unknown whether these are the same stories, or not.

Chapter 1: Legendary Bounty Hunter
The story begins on the frontier planet Liberty with Joey, having run out of other mischievous ideas, antagonizing a Rock Sheep, only for him to end up being chased by it. Later, he stands nearby a tower under construction, complaining that there is nothing to do anymore. He wonders if Space Pirates will invade, saying that he wants to become strong so he can protect his grandfathers. Suddenly, a villager runs in, screaming about invaders.

Joey attacks the Space Pirates, being offered to become a corpse or a slave. He attempts to shoot them, only to find out that the trigger won't move. At that moment, Samus intervenes, saying not to worry if "the kid can't shoot". Samus, called a "he" by the villagers and Space Pirates, (as in the English manual for Metroid and in the 1986 manga) finishes the Pirates off with one shot, much to the villagers' delight. She then notices one Space Pirate just barely alive, and demands to know who his boss is. The Pirate pleads with Samus to spare him, though she refuses. In retaliation, he threatens to kill Joey as well. Samus tricks him into believing that she will allow him, though when he attempts to shoot Joey, Samus quickly grabs the bullet (apparently too fast for him to comprehend) and kills the Pirate.

After Samus is thanked by the villagers and begins to leave, Joey realizes who she is and runs after her, wanting to go with her. He desperately tries to convince Samus to let him join her, calling her awesome. She declines the requests, apparently wanting to work alone. After she tells Joey to have his "old man" train him, he reveals that he had died. Shortly after, they come across Doruba, who threatens Samus as well as Joey. Joey yells at Doruba, telling him not to mess with Samus' "first disciple", and that he shoots like an amateur. This enrages Doruba, but when he tries to shoot Joey, he always misses because of the boy's speed. Samus then attempts to shoot Doruba, but her shots don't damage him. Then, Doruba launches a powerful shot that Samus and Joey manage to dodge. Samus says that if she uses a Super Missile, Joey would be caught in the blast. Joey tells her to shoot Doruba anyway, saying that he doesn't want to be a burden to her. Samus then fires the Super Missile, which destroys Doruba.

Chapter 2: Terrible Bioweapon
Having just defeated Doruba, Samus orders Joey to return to the village immediately. He objects, reminding her that they beat Doruba together (when actually Joey did nothing other than distract him). She then states that those Pirates aren't a problem, but that Dragüd posesses a life form that might be: the Metroids she had been fighting until that moment. She explains them to Joey and tells him what they are, that more exist in the galaxy, much to his dismay. Samus says Dragüd has been bragging that he possesses a power beyond that of the Metroids.

Meanwhile, Dragüd reveals how he lost many of his minions when exploring a planet (possibly SR388) that was inhabited by Metroids. By researching a dead one, he was able to create a Megaroid. Joey then states that it is imperative he comes with Samus, saying that guns were dropped by the Pirates in the village, and that he may be able to use them. In response, Samus aims her own gun at him. She then says that if he knew anything about guns, he would know how easily they could kill someone, and whoever he points his gun at would point one back. Pushing it aside, Joey screams that he isn't afraid to die. Enraged, Samus lifts him into the air and shouts at him, stating that if he wasn't afraid of dying in the future, then he won't fight for his life in the present. Throwing him away, she calls him a burden, before running away with her boosters accelerating.

Joey then begins to whine like a brat, disappointed at Samus' remark. He then decides that he will come with Samus whether she likes it or not. Meanwhile, Samus is seen fighting several of Dragüd's forces. Joey then arrives, fooling the guards with a molted Pirate skin, remarking about the smell. Soon, he is caught by a guard, who hands him a gun, though Joey turns it down, lying that he left it while going to view the Megaroid. Revealing that it has finished hatching, the guard orders Joey to prepare it for release.

The Megaroid escapes, despite its indestructible glass containment. Meanwhile, Joey starts to search for the Megaroid, during which he accidentally loses his Pirate skin. When he realizes this after seeing himself in a mirror, he screams before being caught. The Megaroid then sucks the energy out of several Pirates including Joey's captors. He then screams Samus' name, who comes in and sees Joey running around carrying Dragüd's candle stick, with his rug attached to it as well. Calling Joey an impossible child, Samus decides that she will be responsible for him.

Chapter 3: Multiply! Megaroid
Joey attempts to bait Dragüd's soldiers using his own bear-skin rug, which protects him from gunfire as the Pirates refuse to shoot at the risk of damaging the rug. Soon, a giant beast comes and attacks the Pirates. It is revealed that this was the Megaroid, having absorbed enough of the energy from Dragüd's ship to grow to its gigantic size. Samus soon discovers that her weapons are ineffective against it. When Joey begins to despair, she reveals that she has one last "special move" up her sleeve. She performs what appears to be the Shinespark before taking out the cloned mutant Metroid with the preferred Ice Beam/Missile method for dispatching Metroids. It shatters into billions of crystals which multiply and create armies of Megaroids. They engulf Samus, draining her Energy, and then threaten the village. Joey, remembering his promise to become a man, uses a nearby Space Torch and reaches the village. He then fights the threat in honor of his father's legacy.

Chapter 4: Joey's Secret Plan
The terror-stricken villagers demand that Joey stop his seemingly useless attempt to repel the Megaroids, though he ignores them as he has thought of a plan (hence the chapter's title). Joey uses the flares of his Space Torches to distract the Megaroids and draw them away from the village, to a volcano called Mount Pagos. On the way there, Joey becomes distracted when looking at his father's grave and desperately races from the Megaroids. Meanwhile, Samus destroys the Megaroids trapping her using her Plasma Beam and Ice Beam, via thermal shock.

Joey manages to reach and climb Pagos, and tumbles down into the center. He finds that he is both fortunate in that he is not burning in lava, but also unfortunate as there is no lava to commence his plan with, and the Megaroids are soon to surround him. As they close in on him, Samus comes to the rescue while stating that Joey is her partner, and as she jumps while grabbing him, she fires a Power Bomb from her Arm Cannon into the center of Pagos, which succeeds in awakening it. From midair, Samus fires a Super Missile at the Power Bomb, which succeeds in destroying all Megaroids.

While standing atop a cliff, a stammering Joey explains that he believed he had a good plan, but was far too reckless, until Samus tells him he did well. The pair returns to the cheering village, while Samus informs Joey that she is returning to space. While sitting at his father's grave, Joey realizes that he lost sight of his goal once more, having a flashback where Samus refuses to bring Joey with her into space, since it is far too dangerous. He then notices a glint in the grave, and digs up a parcel addressed to him, which contains a letter from Joey's father, encouraging him to shoot out into space by his own power. This causes Joey to realize why it was so impossible for him to follow Samus on her adventures: he wasn't safe with her. He openly calls Samus a cheapskate, unaware that she had not left Liberty and had heard his remark. She states that though he has discovered his readiness, the dangers of space have not changed.

Samus promises Joey that she will take him as far as a refueling station she plans to visit, which she says is inhabited by an "acquaintance".

Chapter 5: Father's Memento: Field Knuckle
In space, Joey complains about his seating on Samus' ship; because it's a single-seater, she was forced to fasten him in on the ceiling. Joey takes the time in space to open the parcel his father left for him, and while accidentally dropping the lid on Samus' head, he finds his father's old battle gloves in the parcel. At this time, Samus pulls up to the massive space station and informs Joey that she'll be leaving him in the care of a friend of hers, Diesel, and that she often stops by to resupply and retune her ship, so Joey won't need to fear of never seeing Samus again. Samus finds that a signal jammer is preventing her from talking to Diesel.

Samus takes Joey to Diesel's junk shop, but finds Jealousy inside, with Diesel in captivity, Jealousy having stolen his inventory. The Pirates quickly realize that they are speaking to Samus, and shout to Bomad, Jealousy's bodyguard. Bomad proposes to Samus that she not use any of her weapons in combat, which she accepts silently, as she will not use it when a hostage is in the room. He then begins to attack her, quickly finding that she has poor counter attacks. All the while, Joey climbs up to Diesel's location and rescues him, questioning whether what is really Diesel himself is actually Diesel's pet. Diesel attempts to insult him, but finds that Joey cannot hear what he says through his container.

Joey is quickly ambushed by Pirates, and he uses Diesel's container as a shield, before bringing out his father's technology: the Field Knuckle, a body of armor that protects even exposed skin. He beats back several Pirates, until one points a gun at him, at which point he equips a field wall and informs Samus that she can now use her firearms. Samus does so and knocks Bomad onto his back, though she is shot by a gravity bomb, which annihilates everything in the room using extreme gravity. However, Samus survived using her Morph Ball, and she annihilates Bomad.

Both Joey and Diesel survived the explosion as well using Joey's magnetic knuckles, and Joey explains to Samus that Diesel's "pet" was the hostage. Samus laughs as she explains that the hostage was indeed Diesel himself, causing Joey to drop Diesel, thus allowing him to torture Joey.

Trivia

 * The Ghalmanian from Metroid: Other M strongly resemble the draconian Space Pirates depicted in this manga.
 * In Chapter 3, Joey's father's grave is seen marked with a cross. It is unknown if this is merely a grave marker or if it implies Christianity.
 * Volume 1 contains an eight page manga based on Metroid Fusion, titled Metroid Fusion Special Edition: Rebirth of Samus.
 * Flashbacks to Samus's past depict Metroids, Mother Brain, and Ridley. In another chapter, they depict Old Bird, Chief Rodney Aran, and Virginia Aran.

Links

 * English scan and scanlation of the first eight chapters.
 * Japanese Wikipedia article (Google Translation)