Mega Man: Issue 26

Mega Man: Issue 26
Publication Date: June 2013

These inter-title crossovers are fucking confusing some times. “Worlds Collide” played out through “Sonic,” “Sonic Universe,” and “Mega Man” as the books were being published. This meant jumping back and forth between the three titles if you wanted to keep up. Archie did a lot to prevent confusion, putting the numbers of each part on the covers and distributing plenty of check lists. But, inevitably, I skipped ahead one, picked up the next part of the crossover by mistake, and was very confused for several minutes. Jesus, these comic book companies ask for a lot from their readers.

Part seven, “Evening the Odds,” focuses on Sonic and Mega Man as they continue to battle their way through the Egg-Skull Zone. They continue to defeat Eggman and Wily’s Roboticized Masters. After rescuing Shadow, who promptly teleports away, memories of their original worlds begin to filter back into the heroes’ brains. Meanwhile, a new (to this crossover, anyway) face sneaks aboard the Death Egg to rescue Dr. Light.

“Evening the Odds” more-or-less continues the story template set up by the previous installment. Sonic, Mega Man, and their respective sidekicks encounter a Roboticized Master. Using the powers he acquired from his previous victory, Mega Man defeats the new attacker. He then absorbs the new Master’s powers, reverting them to normal. Rinse and repeat, apparently. Flynn seems to think the novelty of Mega Man’s new powers and seeing Sonic’s Sega-approved friends as robots is enough to keep the reader’s interest.

Part seven is also surprisingly incoherent at times as well. I don’t know if this is Flynn’s fault or Tracy Yardley’s fault, whose artwork is fine otherwise. On an early page, Rush swerves in flight, tossing Mega Man off, to catch one of Shadow Man’s giant shurikens. That’s what I think is supposed to happen but, instead, it looks like Rush is shot out of the sky and then catches the projectile responsible. Shadow teleports away in a panel that’s so small, I missed it entirely and was wondering where he went. Am I being slow on the uptake? Or was Flynn/Yardley rushed by the crossover’s release schedule and started to slip?

Having said that, there are a couple funny moments in this issue. While exploring a jungle stage and fighting a large robot snake, Sonic and Mega Man trade some banter that made me chuckle. Later, Robotnik and Dr. Wily criticize Dr. Light’s beard, as both believe mustaches to be the superior facial hair. At the issue’s very end, we see Protoman quietly putting up with Vector’s ignorance, which made me chuckle. Flynn sometimes pushes the humor too far though. The confusion between Shadow Man – the Roboticized version of Shadow – and Shadow Man – Wily’s ninja-themed robot master – made for a funny little gag last time. This time, the comic repeats its enough times that the joke looses its luster.

This issue does bring some of Sonic’s friends into the fold. Some better than others. After Shadow is reverted back to his organic state, he growls, destroys the other Shadow Man, and then teleports away. It seems Flynn is saving the so-called Ultimate Lifeform for a later appearance in the crossover but had no idea what to do with him in the mean time. After Silver and Blaze are rescued, they’re at least polite enough to stick around. More interesting is the sudden appearance of Rouge. She apparently got drawn into the Genesis Zone without being captured and is now looking to save Dr. Light. Though her appearance comes out of nowhere, Rouge always a little life and color to stories every time she shows up.

This is also the first part of the crossover to acknowledge consequences for the characters’ home worlds. Shadow’s teleporting causes memories of the Prime Zone to flood Sonic and Tails’ head. While I think Flynn’s intended affect was to clue the characters into more of what’s happening, he just ends up reminding the reader that they are stuck with shallow, history-less versions of the cast until the crossover is over.

After picking up a bit at the end of its first act, “Worlds Collide” is starting to drag again during its middle portion. It really feels like Flynn is just moving everyone into place for the final act and just spinning his wheels on everything else until he gets there. The result is a somewhat dull comic with some weirdly hard-to-follow moments. [5/10]