Mega Man (Archie Comics)

Mega Man is a comic series produced by Archie Comics which was announced at New York Comic Con 2010. The series began publication in April 2011 with Ian Flynn, who has written many stories for Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog series, involved with the production. The series has proved highly successful, and in 2013 a crossover took place between the Mega Man and Sonic series, under the title "Worlds Collide." The series does not follow the events of the games in exact order, including an adaptation of the Japanese exclusive game Super Adventure Rockman between those of Mega Man 2 and Mega Man 3. The series later included a few stories set in the time of the Mega Man X series. The popularity of Worlds Collide subsequently led to a second crossover with the Sonic series, Worlds Unite.

The series is also notable for the artistic liberties taken with various characters. Shadow Man of Mega Man 3 and the Stardroids of Mega Man V are both featured as creations of Ra Moon, the primary antagonist from Super Adventure Rockman, and all are featured as foes of a group of robots based on Mega Man 8 character Duo. Mega Man and Proto Man's Japanese names-Rock and Blues-are adapted as the names for their civilian forms. Several Robot Masters also appear in the series earlier than they did in the games.

Synopsis

Premise

As in the Mega Man games, the not so distant future of the planet Earth-identified as the year 20XX in the series-includes advanced robots capable of independent thought and decisions making.

Issues #1-23

Issues #1-4 serve as an adaptation of the first Mega Man, while #5-8 are a loose adaptation of Mega Man Powered Up, mainly serving to incorporate the characters of Time Man and Oil Man. #9-12 adapt of Mega Man 2, while #13-#16 serve introduce the Emerald Spears, an anti-technology extremist group. #17-18 adapt the backstory for Proto Man discussed in various games, most notably Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters. The following issues provide build-up for the then-upcoming Super Adventure Rockman story arc before being interrupted by the events of Worlds Collide at the end of Issue #23.

Worlds Collide

Worlds Collide is a crossover between the universes of Mega Man and Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog comic series. The 12-part miniseries takes place across Mega Man issues #24-27, Sonic Universe issues #51-54, and Sonic the Hedgehog issues #248-251.

Issues #28-48

Following the conclusion of Worlds Collide, an adaptation of Super Adventure Rockman takes place during issues #28-32. Issues #33-36 address the fallout from these events and set the stage for the events of Mega Man 3, while also adapting the origin story of Mega Man X and the Reploids from the Mega Man X series. #37-40 feature an original storyline split between the two time periods, during which Mega Man and his team must defeat a rogue Wily robot while the Maverick Hunters encounter the same robot a century later. Issues #41-48 serve as an adaptation of Mega Man 3, while #49 acts as a prelude to the events of Worlds Unite.

Worlds Unite

Worlds Unite is the second crossover between the Mega Man and Sonic the Hedgehog comics, beginning in Mega Man issue #50. In addition to the casts of the main Mega Man and Sonic books, Worlds Unite will also feature characters from the Mega Man X and Sonic Boom universes.

Exclusive Characters/Concepts

Heroes/Allies

• Gilbert D. Stern and Roslyn Krantz-a detective duo who become involved in the effort to bring Dr. Wily to justice after his initial takeover attempt. Stern is a middle-aged man with little taste for modern technology, while Krantz is a younger woman who appears more open to the idea of sentient machines. Despite their clear differences, the two make an effective team, and have enough regard for Mega Man that they refrained from arresting Dr. Wily while he helped with Mega Man's repairs following the defeat of Ra Moon. The pair are named for the characters Guildenstern and Rosencrantz from William Shakespeare's Hamlet.
• Dr. Noele Lalinde-a Robot Master developer and old colleague of Drs. Cossack and Light, who also serves as Dr. Light's love interest. Like Dr. Light, Noele Lalinde regarded her first Robot Master as a child, but briefly deemed this a mistake after going through the emotional trauma of nearly losing her in an accident. However, she eventually determined that she had been in error, and endeavored to restore her relationship with her "daughter."
• Quake Woman, aka Tempo-a female Robot Master created by Dr. Lalinde and equipped with digging powers. She had her emotions removed by Dr. Lalinde after an accident, as Dr. Lalinde hoped it would help her grow detached, resulting in her being very shy and timid around others. However, upon realizing that she still cared for her "daughter," and that her lack of emotions prevented her from spending time with her friends, Lalinde restored Quake Woman's emotions. An attempt to set her and Mega Man up as a couple was made by Roll, but the two voted to remain only friends at the time.
• Dr. Pedro Astil-another old colleague of Dr. Light's and the creator of Plant Man from Mega Man 6. An amputee missing his right arm, Dr. Astil is depicted having been part of a team that investigated the ancient ruins that contained the alien computer Ra Moon. Dr. Astil lost his arm as a result of this ill-fated expedition, and later joined in the relief efforts when Ra Moon's electromagnetic field spread over the planet. He also joined an expedition led by Mega Man into Ra Moon's temple in order to verify Dr. Wily's claims and make certain that Ra Moon was permanently offline.
• Star Marshals-a group based on Duo from Mega Man 8 who fought against Ra Moon's forces. In addition to Duo, its members included a robot named Quartet who nearly destroyed Ra Moon. However, Quartet was destroyed by former comrade Trio (Duo's unnamed opponent from the prologue of Mega Man 8).
• Samantha-a female Reploid introduced in the first Mega Man X based story in the comics, and a member of Dr. Cain's archaeological team.

Villains

• Emerald Spears-an anti-robot terrorist group initially led by Harvey Greenleaf but then taken over by the more radical Xander Payne, whose hagroup tred for robotics is derived from losing an eye to the attack made by Elec Man while the Robot Master was under Dr. Wily's control. The debuted attacking a robotics expo attended by Mega Man and his family, rigging the event with explosives and hoping to win support to their cause. However, most of the group was arrested and while some bombs went off, Mega Man and his fellow Robot Masters were able to minimize the damage. Xander, his younger brother Theo Payne, and Theo's girlfriend Simone Miller-who apparently has some history with Roslyn Krantz-managed to escape and staged a suicide attack at a New Year's celebration only to be captured. Xander eventually escaped and went on a brief journey into the future, where he witnessed the future depicted in Mega Man X and learned that the Emerald Spears continued to exist in that time. The group is named in reference to Ruby-Spears, the production company that created the 1994 Mega Man animated series.
• Kuiper Droids-a group of robots loyal to Ra Moon and his Stardroids, with one member eventually becoming Shadow Man.
• Wily Walker-a giant robot built by Dr. Wily for the government; he was subsequently forbidden from experimenting with robotics for equipping it with chemical weapons. Years later, a supposedly reformed Wily directed Mega Man and two of Dr. Cossack's Robot Master here in search of eight "renegade" Robot Masters (the bosses from Mega Man 3) and tricked them into activating the Walker in the hopes that it would destroy them. They managed to subdue it but were forced to leave it buried in the ruins of Wily's lab with an information capsule in case it was ever activated again. It would later rise again in the Mega Man X time period, going on a rampage before being stopped by X and the Maverick Hunters.