It’s not often that I read all-ages comics. It’s even more rare for me to pick up anything published from Archie Comics. In fact, the last ongoing comic series I read from Archie Comics was the kid-friendly Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from the early 90s. I had pretty much written off the company, but then 20 years later they go and release the first “Mega Man” ongoing comic ever. Being a huge fan of the blue bomber, I had to at least check it out and I’m happy to say it didn’t disappoint.

With Mega Man, the first issue’s greatest strength is that it appeals to long-time gamers as well as new readers to the Mega Man franchise. The plot is pretty standard Mega Man fare. Dr. Light and the sinister Dr. Wily create six Robot Masters to assist humans with different production task and research (The Robot Masters are the six from the original Mega Man from 1987, including Cut Man, Elec Man, Ice Man, Fire Man, Bomb Man, and my personal favorite Guts Man). Of course, Dr. Wily secretly reprograms the robot masters and they begin to terrorize the city. Against Dr. Lights best wishes, he reprograms his android assistant Rock (Named after Rock music!) and turns him into the warrior Mega Man to combat the renegade robot masters. Equipped with his newly installed Megabuster, Rock must defeat the robot master and gain their powers to defeat Dr. Wily. The story is streamlined from pretty much every Mega Man installment from the original NES series. It’s easy for kids to follow, and artist Patrick ‘Spaz’ Spaziante’s (worked on the Dreamwave Mega Man comic series that was canceled) hyperkinetic illustrations should be able to keep the attention of a new generation of readers raised on modern video games.

[Who is this guy? Oh... It's Mega Man.]

What’s more, “Mega Man” will also appeal to long time fans of the popular video games, in large part to writer Ian Flynn’s understanding of the series. There are all kinds of in-reference that will catch the eyes of dedicated fans. From 8-Bit images of Dr. Light hidden in panels, to obscure characters like Neige from “Mega Man Zero 4″ making cameo appearances, “Mega Man” #1 is definitely fan service. My favorite part of the issue is the final joke strip on the last page that references the atrocious, non-representative box cover art from the first Mega Man game. That’s been a long running joke about the series and gives me faith that the creative team knows what they’re doing with the comic adaptation.

I’m excited for the next issue and can’t wait to see what little in-jokes might pop up (I’m hoping for a reference to Proto Man aka Blues). It’s also exciting to think this comic might introduce new fans to the blue bomber. Great job, Archie Comics!

-Jon

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