Devil May Cry has a surprisingly long, somewhat depressing history with print media, i.e.
novels and comics. So, let's look back over this history, just for fun. Insert obligatory
"This party's getting crazy" clip here.
Devil May Cry 1 was accompanied by a light novel in 2003, designed to flesh out the game's
backstory. It follows an amnesiac Dante using the Tony Redgrave alias, as Vergil tries to
spark his memories under the not-so-subtle alias of Gilver. While the novel would appear
to have been excised from canon by the prequel game, the anime, as well as DMC5 and its own
tie-in works, would continue to refer back to elements from this book, such as Dante's
alias, Nell Goldstein and even Dante's partner Enzo. Since I don't think Vergil's identity
is 100% confirmed in the book, it's easy to imagine the book's events still take place,
but that Gilver is, perhaps, a Trish-esque doppelganger of Vergil sent by Mundus.
Devil May Cry 2 also had a light novel prequel in 2003. This one follows Dante working with
a woman named Beryl to stop a demonic artefact from falling into the wrong hands, before
randomly having the two find themselves in an alternate universe where Dante joined Mundus
and Eva convinced demons like Phantom and Griffon, now with human forms, to join the
late Vergil's rebellion against Mundus. Dante leads this alliance through an army of Trishes
and kills this alternate Mundus but I don't think he fights his own alternate self. And
then, it's back to the Beastheads plot after maybe two chapters of this. It's weird that
this alternate universes idea was never revisited, because it's a decent enough way to remove
bad stories from the mainline canon, and could set up a crossover with the reboot, if they
wanted to give that narrative some closure.
In 2004, Capcom teamed up with Dreamwave Productions to produce a four issue comic miniseries adapting
the events of DMC1. Using the logo of DMC2. And set to conclude in the year of DMC3. Huh.
The comic deviates from the game by condensing the plot down to focus on the boss fights,
but with less encounters with each, as well as fully revealing Trish's double agent status
as early as the Phantom fight in Issue 2. Each issue had multiple variant covers, some
using original art and others using promotional renders from the game. Issue 3 ends with Dante
defeating Vergil, who actually speaks in this version, and being knocked out by Trish. Issue
4... was never released as the alleged artist for this comic, Pat Lee, and fellow company
co-founders are alleged to have embezzled much of the company's money and neglected
to pay their staff, even when they allegedly drew art Pat took credit for, leading the
company to file for bankruptcy in January 2005. A few pages of Issue 4 were drawn, depicting
Dante awakening in the demon world and making his way towards, presumably, the Nightmare
fight. Fortunately, we know how the plot would advance from there, so we don't need the comic
to reach completion for closure, even if the cancellation is a sad one. Good job, Pat,
you fucker. Allegedly.
Instead of a novel, DMC3 was given a prequel manga, taking place a year before the game,
depicting the events Dante was referring to with his "nearly a year" line. Yeah, shock
horror, he wasn't talking about the reboot's events as some people still somehow believe.
The idea is that each of the three volumes focuses on a specific character to tell their
backstory.
Volume 1 follows Dante investigating some demons themed around Alice in Wonderland.
Because it worked out so well for that other Capcom franchise that introduced an Alice
in its adaptations... Volume 2 follows Vergil and Arkham's first meeting and the early days
of their plotting. Their first meeting was later adapted for the game's Special Edition.
It also continues Dante's story and introduces the innocent Mary before her mother's death.
So, obviously, Volume 3... was never released. Supposedly, some interviews claim the artist
quit during Volume 3's production. I don't know why they couldn't just hire another artist
to make the book, especially when Lady's backstory is the one we still know the least about.
What could have made for a great prequel story all on its own was left out and never told
elsewhere. Scottish Mother: "Disgustang!"
There was an official English translation by TokyoPop, as with the two novels, but I
cannot stress enough that this is an inferior version and that you're better off with a
fan translation. For some reason, the translation team rewrote Dante to be more edgy, regularly
swearing and kinda hitting on an underage girl. Ironically, they predicted the reboot
Dante's personality about half a decade before he was created.
In 2009, DMC4 received a two volume novelisation called Devil May Cry 4: Deadly Fortune. Written
by DMC3 and 4 scenario writer, Bingo Morihashi, Deadly Fortune is a direct adaptation of the
game with a number of scenes that didn't make the final cut being included to help clarify
certain things, such as Nero's connection to Vergil and that he was raised by Kyrie's
family. There is no English release of this one, sadly.
Around this time, Capcom and DC's Wildstorm imprint announced a comic series, similar
to their Resident Evil collaboration. Nothing else was ever said about it. I can only assume
the project was scrapped because Capcom decided to reboot the series and didn't want to conflict
with the new direction by revisiting an older continuity. Virgin Capcom, Chad Crystal Dynamics.
In 2013, the series would finally receive a complete comic tie-in in the form of...
DmC: Devil May Cry: The Chronicles of Vergil. Of all the injustices this franchise has suffered,
the fucking reboot getting a completed comic project before the mainline series is definitely
up there. I guess this one reached the finish line because it was only two issues long.
Set the bar low enough... And it's even more frustrating because the comic isn't even about
Vergil. It's about Kat with Vergil in a supporting role, but they slapped on Vergil's name to
market it because they knew no one gave a shit about Kat. Yeah, market it with a popular
character from the old continuity, rather than trusting in your own original work to
see you through. Fucking cowards. It's about Kat meeting Vergil, the two falling in love,
and Vergil erasing both their memories of their love so they can better focus on the
mission, thereby invalidating their entire dynamic that built up over the course of the
comic. Good job.
Fortunately, amidst Itsuno-san and team swooping in like a swashbuckling hero to save the doomed
franchise from the villains that held it hostage, two more works were released in Japan, and
only Japan, to tie into DMC5.
The first was Devil May Cry 5: Before the Nightmare, a light novel that delves into
Nero's first meeting with Nico, Dante revisiting Lucia from DMC2, the timespan between the
prologue and first mission, and some confirmation that at least some of the first novel's events
are definitely still considered canonical; specifically, the massacre in Bobby's Cellar.
The other is the currently ongoing manga series, Devil May Cry 5: Visions of V, which tells
the story of V between his creation and recruitment of Dante, as he attempts to recruit his three
familiars. Hopefully, someone will pick up the publishing rights for an English release
once the series is finished.
And, as of this video's production, that's everything. I guess I could talk about the
anime and drama CDs, but what is there to say, other than Episode 1 has the best action,
Episode 4 is about Lady and Trish's first meeting, and the rest of the series is utterly
skippable? And the drama CDs are only in Japanese, so good luck with that one. I could talk about
those two stage plays, but those are also in Japanese only. Luckily, if Adi Shankar's
Castlevania show is anything to go by, then his upcoming Devil May Cry series should be
better than the Hollywood movie I read was planned using the reboot plot with Dante's
classic look. Help us, Adi-Wan Kenobi. You're our only hope.
It follows an amnesiac Dante using the Tony Redgrave alias, as Vergil tries to sp-
Oh, my God. "Spark his memories." I almost read that as "Spank his memories" and that-
that's a whole other thing.
That sounds like something our featured artist might have, for like
"Hey, Leon, I hear you've got amnesia. I'm going to spank your memories back."
"Ada, no!"
Christ.
If you liked this video, why not subscribe and support me on Patreon like these fine
people here? If not, then make sure to share it with your enemies so they can suffer along
with you.
Today's recommended content is DangerousBride and their wonderful little comedy comics,
primarily following either Ada Wong and an oblivious, innocent Leon, or Dante and Lady
taking in a young Nero and raising him themselves to keep him away from Vergil. It's super wholesome
and stands as the best DMC comic so far. Links are in the description.
Also their Patreon has por-