Mega Man: Fully Charged #1 is of course based on the video game series, but also on a TV show, offering a take on the character many in the comic book realm may be unfamiliar with. Seeing as it’s a new series, and drawn awesomely by Stefano Simeone, I imagine many will be introduced to a brand new way of enjoying Mega Man. The first issue is out this week and it’s awesomely rendered, but is the story any good?
Written by A.J. Marchisello and Marcus Rinehart, this first issue does a good enough job establishing the world and its characters. It drops us into the deep end with a quick, newsreel-style catch-up and immediately dives into danger with Mega Man’s father attempting to broker a deal with the supervillain. Shockingly, Mega Man does not show up until 12 pages into the book, which makes the book feel like an interesting science fiction story rather than a hero’s tale. That’s okay for the most part — maybe this is more about the world, but it’s a cold open of sorts that takes some time to get into. By the end of the book, I was interested in the world and Mega Man’s various conflicts to tackle.
These environments remind me of Star Wars.
Credit: BOOM! Studios
A large selling point of this book is Stefano Simeone’s art with colors by Igor Monti. The book has an energy about it that is cartoonish yet futuristic. Characters are elongated, the landscapes and designs intensely unique and futuristic, and the colors bright but moving. The world feels rich right off the bat. Mega Man looks cool and realistic in his own way, too. The video game was never very believable, but here he has an elongated form that makes him look athletic. We get to see him without the armor which further makes him less robotic and more humanistic. There’s also a cool mini Mega Man sidekick I didn’t expect, which adds another layer to the character. Overall, he looks slick and I’m game for more stories with the character.
Speaking of that sidekick, the character of Mega Man feels fully formed due to details like the sidekick or his relationship with his father. Part of me wonders if I needed to brush up on the cartoon or other adaptions since this comic seems to drop us into Mega Man’s life quite a bit into his tenure as a hero. This is no origin story, which is fine and actually gets us into the thick of things faster, but it did feel like there was some catching up to do. That said, the world is so rich I was ready to stick around and learn more, and I’ve only ever dabbled in the video games.
Mega Man: Fully Charged is a comic that feels fully realized as soon as you open it. The world and its characters are rendered well and you’ll immediately believe it’s all real and working. That left me feeling like I had to catch up — especially since Mega Man doesn’t appear till halfway through the book — but I’m game to read more about this interesting, futuristic sci-fi adventure.
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