Super Adventure Rockman Redux
Well between my villains month reviews (found exclusively at RT Gomer Productions) and my ongoing review of Secret Invasion, it's been a while since I've just kicked back and reviewed something out of my standard wheelhouse. So while I'm catching my breath, let's go back to our old pal Mega Man.
A lot has happened since we last checked in on the Blue Bomber. The last issue we covered, we had just wrapped up the events of Mega Man 1. Now, we're up to the events of Mega Man 3 with elements of the lesser known title, Super Adventure Rock Man thrown in. Last time, Mega Man fought against the mysterious Break Man, who in reality is his brother Blues. In the heat of battle, their sister, Roll, was critically damaged. Meanwhile, Ra Moon, the ancient alien super computer that Doctor Wily had aligned with turns on his partner and initiates his plan of a global blackout, causing every robot that does not serve him to shut down.
We open this comic proper with Mega Man waking up in a tank of goop. He emerges from the tank to find Dr. Light, a one armed hispanic scientist named Pedro, and for some reason... Plant Man. Oh joy, Plant Man survived the blackout. We can rest easy knowing that screwattack.com's number one ranked lamest robot master of all time, Plant Man is on the case. Well anywho, turns out Mega Man has been offline for the past two weeks but has been revived by the goop in the tank... somehow, the explanation contains enough techno-babble to make Geordi LaForge throw up his hands in resignation. Mega Man and the others get to work reviving Cut Man Guts Man and Bomb Man in order to aid Mega Man in his assault on Ra Moon. Unfortunately, the damage to Roll was so severe that no amount of techno-goop can revive her and if the Blackout persists, then she will surely die. When Mega Man enquires about what happened to Blues, it is revealed that it was him that gave Dr. Light the plans for the techno-goop before vanishing.
Back at Dr. Wily's hideout, Break Man returns, only to be attacked by Ra Moon. He makes his way into a secret Chamber where Dr. Wily awaits. Dr. Wily plans on biding his time while he builds his own ultimate Robot Master, Ra Thor, to deal with the threat of Ra Moon.
Meanwhile, Mega Man and the others, minus Plant Man, make their way towards the Lanfront ruins where Ra Moon resides only to be confronted by Flash Man, Bubble Man, Heat Man and Metal Man. Dr. Light's robots square off with Doctor Wily's sinister machines but it's clear that their outclassed. And so our comic ends with Mega Man coming up with a plan to defeat his opponents.
What Works:
I make jokes, but I'm actually glad to see Plant Man in this issue. One of the things I love most about this series is how it gives the Robot Masters a bigger role beyond that of bad guy of the week. I'm hoping that we see the same with the rest of the Robot Masters from Mega Man 6 (My favorite game in the series by the way) sometime soon.
What Doesn't:
My only complaint is a confusion regarding continuity, which I'm sure will sort itself out in the long run.
Overall:
4/5
The story arc entitled Blackout: The Curse of Ra Moon is off to a solid start here.