BOOM! Studios 2020
Written by Marcus Rinehart
Illustrated by Stefano Simeone
Coloured by Igor Monti
Lettered by Ed Dukeshire
Mega Man's search for information brings him to Dr. Wily, a scientist who may hold the secrets to the hero's mysterious past. As Mega Man struggles with his newly reawakened memories of a brutal war, he must choose who he can truly trust -- his father Dr. Light or the enigmatic Dr. Wily.
Okay so last issue blew me away with just how awesome and how involved and entangled the story was. This keeps going the way the last one left off and I am super impressed with this book. Not knowing a lot about the character or his history could be a blessing for and anyone else is in the same boat because this is the kind of introduction to a series that makes you an instant fan. It is a smart and intelligently written story with some incredible layering that creates a modern science fiction fantasy epic type of story and we really don’t see a lot of these anymore.
I am a huge fan of the way that this is being told. The story and plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented beautifully. The character development we see is amazing and that and the story & plot development work hand in hand together to show us Aki and his brother Daini and how alike and yet how different they are and what roles in this they seem destined to play. The more we see of them together the more intriguing their encounters become. Plus with Dr. Wily being given a large role in this, seemingly, and how he comes across well oh boy this is going to get crazy. The pacing here is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the story and the twists & turns along the way it’s easy to see how well everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow.
There is something here that really catches the attention and makes the reader think. So that we are engaged in such a way is kind of strangely powerful. I mean the relationship between Aki and Dr. Light is strained to put it nicely and without the fatherly attention what is Aki going to do? The drama, action and intrigue abound here and I think this is why it has such appeal.
The interiors here are fantastic. I mean while the Mega Man humongous arm things are never going to look natural everything else is spot on in appealing to a wider audience. Oddly enough that they inflate as they do and become their power sources is demonstrated beautifully. The linework is fabulous and how we see the detail work come to life through their use is sensational work. The backgrounds we see are sublime and how they present the city is breathtaking. I love how we see depth perception, a sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope of the story being told. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a superbly talented eye for storytelling. I think the colour work we see is utterly spectacular and how the lights of the city or in the use of powers and security systems what we see is so well utilised. The various hues and tones we see within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is extraordinary to see. There are moments you don’t consciously realise it’s in use and it’s that level of work that makes this what it is.
So this needs to be ongoing instead of a six issue run. The level of quality we see throughout this book is much, much too good to remain at six issues. Hopefully with the response it’s been getting we’ll quickly get another arc, so if there are arc after arc in limited series format then I’ll be happy. Regardless are among the few who haven’t read this yet then you need to get the first two issues now while you still can.