Today’s Comic> Mega Man Megamix

Hey, you could put someone's eye out with that!

Mega Man Megamix Volume 1

A combination of originally published Mega Man manga for a magazine, and some especially created for this compilation (or at least the Japanese version, not necessarily Udon’s translation), Mega Man Megamix features the original Blue Bomber rather than his decedent, “X”, or any of the “Mega Man in Name Only” games of recent times (not counting the recent 8-bit throwbacks available for console download–we PC owners are ignored again). Three stories, plus a bunch of character profiles fill out this book. Personally, I’m glad to see the original Mega Man back in comics (American publisher Dreamwave made a mini-series before it went under) or any medium.

The first story is a rough adaptation of the first game, and although I doubt anyone has the vision for such a story as the one I have in my head, I thought this one was well done. The second story is the aftermath. Although Dr. Light’s old Robot Masters have been restored to their true personalities after Wily’s reprogramming, they have been ordered to be destroyed. When Mega Man tries to go see them, he is attacked by Wily’s new robots while others attempt to convince Dr. Light’s robots to join them. Thankfully, Light’s robots realize that it was Wily’s fault and not Dr. Light’s that they’re going to be destroyed and fight back. This means that the Light bots are forgiven and the destruction order is lifted. I love a happy ending.

The third story starts with a one page overview of the third Mega Man game in order to introduce Rush into the story. Since no explanation at all is given for Auto, Beat, Eddie, or Tango, robots who weren’t introduced in the comic (and in Auto, Beat, and Tango’s case, not even in the third game, as they came from other games–not sure when Eddie debuted), I would much rather have seen a story with their introduction. Protoman’s place in this series deserved a better introduction than a throw-away explanation page.

After the stories are a series of profile of various characters in the Mega Man series. This is a nice bonus and I hope there are more like it in the next two volumes.

Overall, if your a fan of the original Blue Bomber, this is the perfect comic for you. Just remember that this is an unflipped manga, which means if you can’t get yourself to read right to left (as is done in Japan), your going to have a tough time following the story.

Up Next: Best Scene of the Week (and last week, because of Site Maintenance) in the Weekly Wrap-Up.

Monday’s Comic: Transformers: Ironhide #1, which isn’t in alphabetical order for the comics I picked up this week, but I’m really curious about this one, and it’s already getting play in my search results, so try and strike while the fire’s hot, I guess.