EvilDan
Mega Man issue #1.
Review by EvilDan.
As I’m writing this review for this website, you probably already know that I love retro games. But what you probably don’t know is that I work in a comic book store and I also love comics. So when issue #1 of Mega Man came in I can assure you I was stoked!
Brought out by Archie Comics in collaboration with Capcom, Mega Man was first announced at the New York Comic-con in 2010. It was originally solicited for an American 2011 Spring release but ran late and came out in May 2011.
It’s the story of the first Mega Man game on the Nintendo Entertainment System. Dr Light, with the help of his robot ‘children’ Rock and Roll, is unveiling his new creations the Robot Masters- twelve robots that will help humanity. The next day Dr Light discovers that the Robot Masters have been reprogrammed by his science partner Dr Wily, and are wreaking havoc in the city. Rock volunteers to be upgraded so he can stop the Twelve Robot Masters. Rock gets a mega blaster attached to his arm so he decides that he will call himself Mega Man from then on.
The artwork is done by Patrick “Spaz” Spaziante who worked on the Sonic the Hedgehog comics that Archie Comics also published. His artwork is really tight and smooth and reflects the source material. His panelling and pacing are effective, and his characters are never stiff and hold themselves well. Matt Herme’s colouring works amazingly well with Patrick’s inks. Matt’s shadowing and highlights actually adds to the overall art instead of making it look like bad deviant art like so many comic companies are doing these days.
The are a lot of good references to the original game:
– Using enemies from the game.
– Dr Light’s podium has the pixel art of himself from the original game.
– The panelling introducing the Robot Masters is layed out the same as the level select from the original game.
– Each issue has a variant cover called the ‘Villian Varinet’ which features a corner graphic of the original pixel art of one of the bad guys from the original game.
In conclusion, if you are a fan of the original Mega Man game you will get more out of this. It tells the story of characters that I knew little about but have spent so much time with. I can tell that the writer must have loved the game as well. If you have not played the game You may feel that its a bit shallow. This is definitely one for the fans.