Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead
Well, due to some moral issues, I am no longer affiliated with RT Gomer Productions. However, as Freddie Mercury once said, the show must go on, and as such, my reviews will continue. It feels good to return to Comicvine.com where I started. And what better way to celebrate my triumphant return to comic book reviewing than by reviewing the comic I look forward to most every month: Mega Man.
Those of you who have been following along because you’re loyal to a person and not a website will know who the blue bomber is and what he’s been up to lately, but for any newcomers we may have, here’s the run-down. Mega Man, one of the most popular and enduring video game characters today, is a robot from far in the future originally built as a lab assistant for his creator, Dr. Thomas Light. However, when the world is under attack by his nemesis, Dr. Albert Wily, Mega Man becomes a powerful battle Robot with the ability to copy the abilities of other robots. Recently, Mega Man defeated the evil alien super computer Ra Moon who had aligned itself with Dr. Wily. Dr. Wily claimed innocence to the whole thing, claiming that he’d been under mind control. Despite being completely full of sh*t, Wily was cleared of all charges and is now under house arrest at Dr. Light’s lab.
However, that’s only half the story, as this issue kicks off a crossover with the spinoff series, Mega Man X. One thousand years after Mega Man’s time, a scientist named Dr. Cain discovers X, the final creation of Dr. Light, and through him, a new series of more advanced robots is born. However, this advancement comes with unforeseen consequences. The new robots, called reploids, had a tendency to go “maverick” which essentially means to become evil. Thus X and Cain formed the Maverick Hunters, a group of robots dedicated to taking down Maverick reploids. And this my dear friends is where our story begins.
Our comic opens in X’s timeline. X is getting attacked on the streets by humans, something very unusual. X, sworn not to harm humans, takes subdues the attackers without causing physical harm. Aiding him is Zero, one of the elite Maverick Hunters and main characters of the X series. Zero has a very complicated history, but there’s way too much to go into here, so we’ll get into that as it becomes relevant in later issues. The attackers are part of what Zero refers to as an ancient cult of anti-robot terrorists called the Emerald Spears. As the bad guys are taken to prison, wonders what could have happened all those years ago to make people hate robots for so many generations.
Cut to the present… or rather, the past… which is also still the future and...
Anywho, in regular Mega Man’s timeline, the Blue Bomber and his two allies Bright Man and Pharoah Man, creations of Dr. Mikhail Cossack, a friend of Dr. Light. At present, they’re exploring some ancient ruins that Dr. Wily once used as a head quarters. Back at Light Labs, Drs. Light, Cossack and Wily are coordinating the mission. While Wily has assured everyone that the base’s defenses have been disabled, secretly, he knows that they’re still active and hopes they’ll destroy Mega Man and the others.
Meanwhile, in another part of the city, FBI agents Roslyan Krantz and Gil Stern have tracked down Xander Payne, the leader of the Emerald Spears whom Mega Man had defeated in a previous issue, to the Chronos institute, a facility for time travel research. Unfortunately, the feds have arrived to late and Payne escapes via time machine.
Meanwhile, our heroes have located one of Wily’s most powerful weapons, the Wily Walker, which is, of course, a giant, mechanical, spider. Dr. Wily must be a descendant of Dr. Loveless. Without warning, the giant machine activates and quickly overwhelms our heroes, Mega Man apparently sacrificing himself to save Bright Man.
Back in X’s time, Dr. Cain has unearthed the ancient remains of the Wily Walker, and a crushed Mega Man helmet beneath one of its legs.
What Works:
The Shakespeare reference with the names of the federal agents was pretty cool. Also, I like the way Dr. Cossack and Dr. Wily play off each other, possibly foreshadowing the events of Mega Man 4.
What Doesn’t:
For a first chapter of a major crossover event, there really isn’t much happening in this issue and it just doesn’t feel very interesting. Also, you can call me cynical if you like, but we all know they’re not going to kill off Mega Man, so they’re attempt to build tension doesn’t really work.
Overall:
3/5
The Crossover is off to a slow start, but I’m hoping it gets better from here. I'm really happy to be reviewing again, and all of you who have stuck with me, thank you for reading my reviews, it means the world to me. Unfortunately, with my new job, the reviews will be a lot less frequent, but the point is, I'm back and I'm here to stay.