Thursday, January 28, 2021

REVIEW: Mega Man: Fully Charged #6: The End?


Finally, after waiting more than a month, the last issue of the Mega Man: Fully Charged comic is here. The final battle between Namagem and Mega Man, Wily's master plan and the never ending family feud await you after the break in our recap and review!

This review contains SPOILERS from beginning to end. Proceed at your own discretion.

The last issue opens with a Fully Charged Mega Man ready to confront Namagem.

 


"How did we end up here? For the second time this year, Silicon City almost fell. Some of us took a stand. On both sides.

First I was a weapon then I got to be a kid... Now I'm ready to be a hero."

 

Mega Mini warns Mega Man that the "Fully Charged mode" won't last long -- the quicker Mega Man dispatches Namagem, the better. The fight begins and Namagem is no match for Silicon City's hero. Namagem tries to play mind games with Mega Man, reminding our hero that he still has the killer instinct he showed during the Hard Age and both are pretty much the same.


All of a sudden, Mega Man's systems start going out of control. Mega Mini tells Mega Man, "If you don't power down yer gonna go supernova.". Another memory bleed occurs and Mega Man sees flashes of the Hard Age again. This time, the memory depicts him and Namagem tearing down an army of robots. They were the same... a long time ago.

With the help of Mega Mini and the memories of the happy times he shared with Dr. Light and Namagem back in the Hard Age, Mega Man manages to power down, reverting back to his default form.

While Mega Man recovers, Dr. Light and Suna try to convince Namagem to redeem himself and return to his family. Suddenly, a flying object appears onthe scene -- its Wily onboard a pod!


With the brothers ready to fight Wily, a big dog-like machine materializes and attaches itself to Wily's pod. Wily manages to capture Dr. Light with one of the machine's hands and tells him how peace has turned him into an hypocrite.

Showing that he actually cares about his family, Namagem then punches Wily's machine, freeing Dr. Light. Together, Mega Man, Namagem and Suna are ready to fight Wily to protect their father.

Mega Man tells Suna that they could use her drone, but Suna says that it was cut in half by Skull Man. However, she has another plan. Suna whistles and Rush appears on the scene to drop her an energy saber.

She charges at Wily's machine and manages to crack the pod. The machine propels itself into the air to counter Suna... but the brothers manage to save her.


Now it's time to end the fight for good. Suna, Mega Man and Namagem join forces to destroy Wily's machine with a powerful energy blast -- a combination of Suna's saber, and Mega Man and Namagem's busters. With the machine badly damaged, Wily tries to escape in his pod but the brothers manage to make crash the ship into a dam.

Dr. Light reunites with them to witness Wily asking for mercy. Namagem denies his plea but Mega Man is willing to give him a second chance... if he uses his mind for good. Wily replies, "what a waste that would be".

Namagem is done with him and blasts Wily's pod, which makes it fall downstream.

Wily emerges from the water stream to escape, leaving a warning: "Mega Man, you think you're the ultimate weapon. But to me, you're just a prototype.".

Mega Man thanks Namagem for helping dealing with Wily. However, Namagem recriminates that he let Wily get away. Namagem flees the scenes declaring that no matter how hard he tries, they will never be brothers. Mega Man, however, suggests that Namagem's actions say otherwise.



Suna, Mega Man and Dr. Light share a bonding moment. Dr. Light gives an ominous warning: "With the data Wily has stolen, it's only a matter of time before he strikes again". Mega Man replies, "and when he does, we'll ready.".

END

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For issue #6, A.J.Marchisello and Marcus Rinehart team-up again as writers. The rest of the creative team remains the same as usual: Stefano Simeone at the pencils, Igor Monti on coloring duties and Ed Dukeshire on lettering.

Coming from the previous issue (which I felt it was a step down from the previous issue), I was expecting #6 to return to the highs of issue #3 and #4 and go out with a bang. Unfortunately, none of that happened. This issue was very by the numbers and predictable in its narrative.

Don't get me wrong; I enjoyed it and, in fact, it's a solid ending to the mini series. To a certain degree, this issue mirrors the simplicity of how some games in the Classic Series end. That in itself gives this final issue a certain charm.

In terms of the comic's technical side, the coloring is as always impeccable. Simeone's art was on point with some beautiful drawings, like the opening scene with Mega Man and Namagem on the streets of Silicon City. The full page artwork when Wily appears in his pod and the moment when Mega Man in Fully Charged mode goes out of control are moments that really shine, to name a few.

After six issues, I can definitely say that Stefano Simeone won me over, but it's easy to understand why some fans aren't too keen on his unique style. At the end of they day, though, one of the goals of this mini series was to create something different. I think the goal has been accomplished.

Score: 8 out of 10

While the ending wasn't particularly exciting, I enjoyed the comic book and I hope it gets a sequel.  Let us know what you think of this last issue and the mini series as a whole in the comments!

11 comments:

  1. I feel kind of bad for Reploid21XX. He clearly enjoys these comics while the rest of us fans come here to gripe about how we haven't seen anything so thoughtlessly corporate since Rockman X-Over.

    I can say nice things about them though. I didn't notice until now, but these comics handle fights better than the cartoon ever did. There’s no distinct plainness in the art style, no cheap special effects; it's all rather exciting, actually. Mega Mini was also surprisingly helpful in a way I've been waiting to see since episode 1 of the cartoon, though he's still not really a mechanic. He's more like the navigators from Mega Man X8.

    Unfortunately, as usual, I see a whole lot of problems in this issue, and the biggest of those... is Wily himself. After the comic spent all its time building up this iteration of Wily into something different and unique, this issue flushes all of that down the toilet. He was becoming the kind of subtle manipulator Sgt. Night wished he could be, but here he shows up in a Wily Machine to be a typical final boss battle, complete with gloating, begging for mercy, and last-second escape. None of what he says or does makes any sense or is consistent with his character. If Bert Wily really has admired him his entire life, that ought to be because Dr. Wily is a lot better at keeping his mask on than he is here. It’s like the writers finally conceded that there's no Mega Man better than the original, so why did they waste our time making Fully Charged in the first place?

    Oh, and “Wily always wins!” is a boast ripped directly from Mega Man 11, so thank you, Fully Charged, for reminding me that this spinoff is also at its worst when it’s providing empty fanservice. Thanks, I hate it.

    It's fitting that Suna got to pull one last power-up out of her keister though. Thanks, I also hate that. Jusdie Zello.

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    1. For reals. We've been taking Mega Man content for granted. Now that this Mega Man comic seems to be over, all we have to look forward to besides Dive are the movie, the game in development, and the Battle Network mobile game which I'm convinced was just a rumor. And another thing, I don't hate Xover. If it came to the states, I would have given it a chance.

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    2. There's gonna be more to look forward to, especially once the pandemic is over. Capcom's goal is to have Mega Man be a front-and-center mascot again. The classic series in particular is still known for consistent mid-to-high quality, which has the side effect of making its bad parts stand out and more easily attract scorn.

      That's just the pedigree this franchise boasts. If only the New Super Mario Bros. franchise had eight new themed bosses and eight new weapons each game, maybe it wouldn’t be accused of stagnating far more easily than Mega Man ever has. And frankly, in this modern era of microtransactions, live services, and glitch-infested launches, Mega Man 12 is one of the few things left in the world that’s safe to get excited about. It’ll either be great or it won’t come out at all.

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    3. Suna is easily the worst Zero iteration, imo.

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    4. Thank you CK20XX. I needed to read that. Just about every other video game franchise is more popular than Mega Man these days and I was loosing hope in Mega Man. And you got a point. I'm glad Mega Man 11 exists and I thought 2.5D was a step in the right direction, but with the standard of todays video games where there's always something to do after you beat he game, I thought it offered too little. But like you said, with microtransactions and rushed releases, we can use games that take us back to the old days. Thank you for showing me a light at the end of the tunnel.

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  2. It's been a strong series and one I definitely wasn't expecting. I like their take on Dr. Wily, even if he became too much like his OG version by the end. I do think the last two issues fell flat, especially how overdone the conflict with Nanagem was. Also, a nitpick, but I would've liked it more if Wily's mech looked more like patchwork, to emphasize that it's made of Robot Masters parts.

    I hope there is more on the way, though. There's much they could do with these series now that they're not restricted by Cartoon Network and other companies.

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  3. I feel like the entire comic was rushed and didn't really have room to breathe; #5 was my favorite just because it took its time. but I guess that means this one had to cram every single idea it had in.

    I still hope one day it's not entirely off the table for the Season 2 story to be properly produced into a season. But I don't see it happening anyways.

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  4. Now that this is over, I'm more curious what (if any) future plans Capcom have with MM comics.

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    1. I don't think CAPCOM is in the business of planning things like this; I think publishers, writers, and/or artists take initiative to reach out to CAPCOM for licensing. I could be wrong, but I don't think CAPCOM spent time courting comic publishers to do a limited-run comic series based upon a cancelled TV series.

      CAPCOM would definitely know if other comic publishers have Mega Man plans, but I'm almost certain CAPCOM does not originate those plans. CAPCOM makes video games and licenses their IP to companies which make other things, like toys and books, and approve or disapprove the products before their release according to the terms of their licensing agreement.

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    2. UDON at the very least could easily do something for a potential new MM comic series. They have a long history with Capcom and their IPs, possibly more then any other comic publishers. Assuming Boom don't have any more ideas for new, non-Fully Charged-related, series after this issue, I wouldn't be surprised to see Udon going for license rights of original MM comics in the future.

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    3. I'd rather see Udon license out and finish the Archie run. Still salty about that one.
      Though I wouldn't mind a Legends adaption or a take on the Elf Wars in comic form.

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