Friday, September 25, 2020

REVIEW: Mega Man: Fully Charged #2: Dr. Wily's Masterplan


Riding on the tail of issue #1's success, the second issue of the Mega Man Fully Charged comic is finally here. You can read a recap and my review after the break! Beware, it has SPOILERS!




The story of issue #2 starts in the middle of the night with Aki dreaming and having another flashback from the Hard Age. Aki later confronts Dr. Light seeking answers, but the good doctor only gives him the cold shoulder, just as Suna predicted in the previous issue.

The next day, Aki and Suna attend a lecture about the Hard Age in Silicon City University. The speaker is none other than Dr. Wily (Bert Wily's grandpa). However, the lecture comes to an abrupt halt after a sudden explosion behind the lectern. It's a terrorist attack orchestrated by Skull Man!

Nobody gets hurt but Aki and Suna lose their chance to have a vis-à-vis with Dr. Wily. Aki impatiently ignores Suna's recommendation to postpone the conversation until things calm own. Instead, he decides to do things his way -- the Mega Man way.

Later in the night, Mega Man sneaks into Dr. Wily's backyard but he is stopped by Wily's security system. Due to the absence of Mega Mini -- who was hurt in the fight with Skull Man in the previous issue, currently undergoing repairs -- Mega Man is having a hard time defending himself. He can't dodge nor aim properly at the lasers pointing right at him.


After Mega Man destroys two surveillance turrets, Dr. Wily shows up and invites him inside for a chat.

During the conversation, Dr. Wily reveals that Dr. Light was called "Bot's Bane" during the Hard Age. Wily then offers his services to Mega Man, recognizing that his robot-kind are the superior "species" over mankind, destined to rule the planet.

Dr. Wily's intentions are to manipulate Mega Man and place him in Skull Man's position as the leader of the Robot Revolution. Wily even offers to upgrade his systems, but Mega Man leaves the scene full of doubt. It appears that Dr. Wily seems to believe more in Mega Man than his own father does.




On his way back home, Mega Man bumps into Namagem on the rooftops of Silicon City's skyscrapers. Here, it's revealed that Namagem never chose that name himself and wants to be called "Daini".

Mega Man confronts Namagem as he saw him previously in the crowd that was attending Dr. Wily's lecture. The small skirmish ends with Mega Man losing and having to tell Namagem about his meeting with Dr. Wily and his own doubts.

Namagem agrees with Dr. Wily view. A war is indeed coming and this time, Namagem embarks on his own, recognizing that he chose the wrong side in the past when Lord Obsidian kidnapped, brainwashed and tortured him. The brothers depart but not before Namagem encourages Mega Man to work alone and turn down Dr. Wily's offer.

Back at Dr. Light's lab, in front of a pod where Mega Mini is recovering, Mega Man questions if he is "the one to lead the robots into the future".




We are then transported to Skull Man's army camp were he is rallying the troops to "destabilize the false utopia that is Silicon City... Expose its hollow symbols of harmony between man and machine".

Skull Man and his army are about to march on Silicon City and Mega Man is in their sight.

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The creative team for issue #2 is pretty much the same as in issue #1. Stefano Simeone at the pencils, Igor Monti on coloring duties and Ed Dukeshire doing the lettering. The only difference is that A.J. Marchisello is no longer co-writing the book with Marcus Rinehart. That duty falls solely on Rinehart's hands this time.



I think it's fair to say that the best, or at least the most significant part of this issue is the introduction of Dr. Wily for the first time in the Fully Charged continuity to readers. I think they have done a great job and this version of Dr. Wily is probably the one with the most depth and character yet. He presents himself as a loyal servant of robotkind, but you can see his mind plotting and scheming with every word spoken to Mega Man.

The writing in this issue is excellent and continues the setup for what might be a big confrontation between Aki and Dr. Light in future issues. The book does a fantastic job not only introducing Dr. Wily but fleshing out Aki's struggles and search for identity as well.




Mega Man's brother Namagem has a stellar appearance in this issue. While he continues to play the role of the "rival", he impart wise advice to Aki: don't trust Dr. Wily. Will Aki listen? Probably not... otherwise, where is the drama?

And finally we have Skull Man's army which had a new recruit in this issue: Chaotique. Personally, I felt like this is the weakest part of the comic so far. I really don't care that much for Skull Man and his revolution, but that may change by the next issue when they will be marching on towards Silicon City. We can expect to see them more and, perhaps, get some additional character development.

When it comes to the art, after two issues I think I've come to terms with Stefano Simeone's style. Although his extremely stylized designs are still odd to my eye, I think he has done a great job. This issue has two moments of action, one when Mega Man sneaks into Dr. Wily's backyard and another when Mega Man and Namagem fight on the rooftops. Both scenes are very dynamic, easy to follow and offer some pretty interesting "camera angles". The detailed backgrounds are a nice touch, too.

Simeone's take on Dr. Wily's design is also very fitting for this universe and I wholeheartedly approve it!

As for the coloring done by Igor Manti, it's pretty much impeccable, special mention to the few pages where Mega Man and Namagem fight and the attention to detail coloring the buildings.


SCORE: 8 out of 10

If you had the chance to read this issue, let us know your opinion in the comments!

13 comments:

  1. I keep getting distracted by the complete lack of world building in this comic. What the heck is a robot even supposed to be in this continuity? Why does Aki, a robot, need sleep? Heck, why does he even have dreams? Why does he have HUMAN FEET when out of his armor? Why is he the only robot that requires a smaller robot inside him that never does anything useful in the first place? Why is he still trying to maintain a secret identity when he's only ever cared about Dr. Light not knowing he's Mega Man? If Aki doesn't need Mini to transform into Mega Man, why does he need him to use copied schematics? (Most readers probably won't even know what "schematics" Wily is talking about anyway.) If free-willed robots were an attempt to create a species superior to humans, does that mean purely mechanical robots can give live birth?

    You just can't take a dramatic story seriously when it refuses to answer basic questions. All of this could have been fixed if the comic had been a reboot instead of a continuation.

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    1. 'Why does Aki, a robot, need sleep? Heck, why does he even have dreams?'
      -X and Zero sleep and have dreams and they are robots.

      'Why is he the only robot that requires a smaller robot inside him that never does anything useful in the first place?'
      -Because Megaman is special war-robot and needs constant repairs.

      'Why is he still trying to maintain a secret identity when he's only ever cared about Dr. Light not knowing he's Mega Man?'
      -Because the rest of the city/world doesn't that Megaman even has a secret identity; and just like most superheroes, they can't afford to like people know where they live.

      ' If free-willed robots were an attempt to create a species superior to humans, does that mean purely mechanical robots can give live birth?'
      -If the X, Zero and ZX series aren't going to explain that; why should FC?

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    2. X and Zero are established from the outset as being free-willed robots that launched a new age in robotics. Fully Charged haphazardly treats robots as identical to humans, right down to being able to eat human food and have nuclear families, so I don't buy it.

      Mega Man being a special war robot would be a good explanation for why Mega Mini exists, but Mini has never been a good mechanic. He's only ever been a wisecracker helplessly along for the ride. There was one cartoon episode, called "Minus Mini", that was supposed to explain why he's important, but instead it just convinced me he's definitely not a mechanic, despite this continuity claiming otherwise.

      The superhero angle has always seemed lazy and thoughtless to me as well. Rush should have given away Aki's secret identity away long ago on prime time news because he's Aki's pet, not Mega Man's, so he can't even be seen with Mega Man, and he's also probably the only robot dog in Silicon City anyway.

      And the X, Zero, and ZX series did explain this with their world building. In X and Zero, new robots are manufactured in factories. In ZX, humans and robots have merged into a single species, so they reproduce like humans.

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    3. Because Fully Charged's team has absolutely no idea what they're doing.

      X and Zero dreamed and were free willed.

      Sleep is probably just the phrase they use for shutting down for recharging and defragmenting. After all, several real life mechanical devices have a sleep mode.

      I have no idea about Mega Mini aside from the fact that he's just a bad idea all around.

      The secret super hero identity thing was a dumb idea, period the end.

      Uhh...what does robo-birth have to do with any of this? That's veering into fanfic territory.

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  2. Kinda funny how they are changing style and names to remove it from the kids show vibe. It looks like it's actually getting pretty interesting and I might read it sometime.

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    1. I agree. It has a completely different feel from the kids show. It’s a lot darker and feels like they might make the series veer into something that resembles a mix between classic mega man/ mega man X. I’m glad his brother ditched that STUPID “Namagem” name. I’m hoping he’ll shape into a variation of “Proto man” at some point even if his name isn’t “Blues”

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  3. I felt like the pacing was kinda off and like we never actually established where we were when we were somewhere.
    Otherwise... it's alright.

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  4. Replies
    1. Are you five years old or something?

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  5. The bit about Namagem immediately renaming himself when first addressed by Mega Man really sells that, despite this comic being beholden to the original cartoon's continuity, this comic wants to try and distance itself from the cartoon in terms of tone. Part of me wonders if some of the sillier details from the cartoon (like robots eating food and being able to have families) will go completely ignored or even be subtly retconned to preserve the new tone.

    "Daini" apparently is Japanese for "second", btw.

    It is a bit frustrating that the comic doesn't explain the things from the cartoon that it references.

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