The original F-Zero is special for a whole host of reasons, but one of the most unique things about its Japanese release is that it bucked a trend by including cover artwork created not in Japan but in North America.
Valiant Comics, founded in 1989 by former Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Jim Shooter and businessman Steven Massarsky, was responsible for the cover image, which was drawn by Arthur Nichols and inked by Bob Layton.
A short comic was also created for the game by Nichols, Layton and Shooter, and was included in the instruction manual in all regions.
Shooter had this to say about the process a few years ago:
The most impressive custom job we ever did at VALIANT was for Nintendo of Japan for their F-ZERO game. We did an in-pack custom comic book for the game.
Why is this impressive? Because this work was done for a product to be sold only in Japan.
The Japanese were and are very proud of their comics industry. As a rule, at least at that time, they didn’t think American comics were anywhere near as good as theirs. The consensus opinion was that they were the pros and we were quirky, amateurish second-stringers.
But, on the basis of our licensed Nintendo comics for America, Nintendo of Japan picked us, Americans, to do their custom comic in-pack and box cover art. An honor.
I wrote it, Art Nichols penciled it and Bob Layton inked it.
We're sad to report that Arthur Nichols, whose skill with the pen made the cover so memorable, has passed away after a long battle with cancer. He was 63 years old.
According to Bleeding Cool, during his career, Nichols would work on comic book properties such as Star Wars, Sleepwalker, Leonard Nimoy's Primortals, The Ray, Mecha, Conan, Justice League Of America, Night Thrasher, Team Titans, Magnus Robot Fighter, Deathstroke Neil Gaiman's Mr Hero, Punisher, Spider-Man, X-Men, New Mutants and Robocop III.
He would also work in other fields, such as storyboarding, and worked on the 2012 Oscar-winning animated short film The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore; other credits include Ultimate Spider-Man and Transformers Prime. He was also a character designer on the 1998 Dreamworks movie Small Soldiers.
Takaya Imamura, who co-created the game with Shigeru Miyamoto, paid tribute to Nichols:
Arthur Nichols, who was involved in the production of the F-ZERO box art, has passed away.
He has beautifully elevated the worldview created by a young man in his second year at the company, and transformed it into a wonderful piece of art. At that time, there was no e-mail and most communication was by fax, so it felt like I was working with people in faraway countries.
Thank you very much. We sincerely pray for the repose of your soul.