Mega Man Issue 27
Comic Review
Part of "Worlds Collide"
With Sonic the Hedgehog
(Part 10 of 12)
Archie Comics
Reading through this issue I can put as evidence that anything Archie touches slowly withers and turns into a big pile of manure, ready to be processed for more crappy written waste of trees that the company passes as comics.
In this "epic awesome" event that Archie self-proclaims, is not exactly a Marvel vs Capcom crossover by any means. What can be put as a dream match up for fans of both mascots from competitive videogame companies is watered down to something readable and comprehensive to 12 year olds.
This comes to no surprise, Archie has always been boasting on how they make the "right stuff" ever since they got their hands on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles back then. While there were some memorable characters and storylines, and the art was actually decent, most of the time one would open the pages to their issues to wonder just what the hell were they were reading.
That is one of Archie's most prominent faults, the writing and dialogue provided for their "number one comics" lacks so much potential and is forced into making you believe they are the best thing ever. I have read Fanfiction that had better dialogue between characters many times over any of what Archie ever out on paper since Sonic The Hedgehog.
Are the writers rejects from DC Comics and/or Marvel? Are these men/women actually making fun by writing parodies of what comic book writing supposed to be?
In any case, on to the "awesome epic comic" content.
In this issue, the gloves are down, Wily had enough of Robotnik* after learning that Ivo attempted to murder Dr. Light, all the while Robotnik sneers at the fact that he now thinks Wily was not what he had hoped to be in order to conquer both worlds. Bass breaks up their slapfest to each other by announcing that Sonic and Megaman are already on board the WiIlyEgg (stay with me on this one), and quite possibly to kick their mad genius behinds. Meanwhile, Light gets rescued by Shadow The Hedgehog and friends, which include Omega and Rouge, while Protoman assists them fending off against seemingly a slewth of Robot Masters but only showing Gemini Man along with his decoy reflection. While Protoman AND Rouge struggle so hard to bring Gemini Man down, Dr. Light shoots him up by using a custom assembled megablaster jointed up together from fallen robotmasters. Light then radios Roll for reinforcements using Protoman's helmet, revealing in this reality that he sports a hideous Elvis-like do.
While the fight goes on, Sonic and Megaman trasverse through the WIllyEgg arguing whether or not the area described is more like Robotnik or Wily's style, which comes out with the notion of them comparing who has the biggest penis. All this as Tails and Rush look at each other in disdain, obviously getting tired of that shit for over three damn pages worth of panels about said argument. They finally confront the Megaman Killers, a trio of selected robotmasters by Wily to deal with them. Megaman has a brief nostalgic exchange with one of them, about how he gave up his life to save him at some point before blowing him up. Tails suffers an aftermath after spindashing into a bomb and blown away into a stretcher that came out of nowhere. That or it may have been Rush in Rush Jet form, I could not have noticed enough in that panel. After mentioning that he has been preceded worse, he is left behind while Sonic and Megaman continue to get the genius duo.
Back at Dr. Light's lab, Roll informs that Duo is on his way to lend a (huge) hand. After she opens a portal to the merged chaotic world, Duo suddenly transforms into a Pokemon uttering the word EVIL throughout his appearance from this point on. Maybe he should've been catapulted inside a pokeball to make said reference much simpler. At any rate, while Megaman and Sonic are dealing with an actually cool-looking midboss character in the form of Chaos merged with the Yellow Devil, Duo appears to help them out so they may continue into their mission. Yes, Duo's last words to the creature contain the word EVIL in them.
I may add that before he spits said word at the creature, he actually heals Megaman and Sonic. This may had been a chance for them to mention a certain cute two-tailed fox left behind writhing in agony.
Moving on.
The last pages of the comic show Bass, Trebble, and Metal Sonic in a nice perspective splash page coming at Sonic and Megaman, Bass announcing how greatly he's been longing to deal with them for the first time.
Throughout the comic, there are countless references to past issues as any character within the issue states something about past events, which come from certain videogames the main characters took part on. As nostalgic as this could be, it is very tiring to see it in any other panel, along with having the name of every single character that makes its first appearance within said comic, as if to tell the reader he is too stupid to notice who the hell ANNYONE could be in it. This comes to no surprise, as Archie comics always has set this sort of annoying tidbits in their Sonic the Hedgehog comic book line unnecessarily.
Although various cameos by the Sonic videogame series are present, curiously enough there is a definite lack of SatAM characters such as Sally Acorn or Bunnie Rabbot, leaving the reader wondering what world was actually merged with that of Megaman but at the same time, giving it this surprising breath of fresh air as not to merge it with stuff that was never featured (officially) in said Sonic games anyway, keeping it a semi-nice continuity. Amy Rose curiously enough, is not seen in here, but the likes of Silver and even Vector are. Most of the Megaman cameos besides the small amount of protagonists are mostly robotmasters, most of which are drawn quite crudely and given little detail to show who they are other than a name tag and number posted by the writers. I have also noticed that while Sonic is given a whole lot of detail on his design, Megaman is blatantly drawn in a way that makes me believe it was rushed just to add him alongside the hedgehog.
Of every downside to the issue itself, the writing is where it hurts the most to read. Sonic is annoyingly cocky, but this may not come to a surprise given his attitude already set from videogames and shows, but to see Megaman behave the same way is something utterly blatant and repulsive. I believe even Rainbow Dash would actually be rolling her eyes far inside her head if she were to see this.
All in all, if you choose to oversee the God-awful writing, and some of the equally awful artwork which is an eyesore on its own, Worlds Collide Part Ten is a bit decent on its own, but like many other projects, including the main Sonic the Hedgehog line in Archie comics, I would expect a far better work, one that at least doesn't make me feel my intelligence is being questioned.
C-
*- I refuse to call him by that OTHER name and you cannot make me do so.
