Mega Man #2 (June 2011)

All the way back in...April 2017 (wow, nearly ten years ago), I took a look at the first issue of Archie Comics' short-lived Mega Man ongoing comic series. I found myself really enjoying the comic, and the series itself was pretty darn good. It deserved to last a lot longer than 55 issues. Looking for a comic to write about this week, I found myself remembering the series, so I figured, why not do another issue of it? This is Mega Man #2!

The cover is a Patrick Spaziante piece. It's pretty neat, but it is a bit basic. It makes me think of a poster, with Mega Man standing front and center. Behind him to his right are three of the Robot Masters he'll fight in this issue, and on his left, there's a pile of Mets. Not much else to say about the cover, really. 

"Let the Games Begin! - Part Two: Weapons Get!"
Writer: Ian Flynn
Penciler: Patrick Spaziante
Inker: Matt Bryant
Colorist: Matt Herms
Letterer: John Workman
Editor: Paul Kaminski

The story begins in a city, with two police officers hiding behind an overturned personnel carrier.

"We don't get paid enough for this!"

I find it amusing these guys are supposed to likely be SWAT-type guys, but one of them has a purple mohawk, which I cannot imagine is a police regulation hairstyle. They see the newly combat-ready Mega Man teleport in, and this gets them scared.

It's understandable. In the last issue, thanks to the machinations of Dr. Wily, Dr. Light's six Robot Masters went evil (or to use a more appropriate term, maverick), and started rampaging. Thankfully, they manage to overhear Rock Light's conversation with his "father", Dr. Thomas Light. Dr. Light advises Rock to go after Bomb Man first. Makes sense. He's arguably the most destructive of the first six Robot Masters, being a walking talking demolition derby with his ability to make bombs.

Rock assures the two SWAT officers, and heads on his way.

However, Rock is naturally not going to have an easy time. He gets attacked by small green "fleas", failed crop-protection robots.

Mega Man is very uncomfortable right now.

Mega Man is saved by a strange new robot, who Dr. Light recognizes to his shock as an old prototype robot of his: Blues. However, he tells Mega Man to get past him, and that it's just a Sniper Joe (a robot enemy from the games). Light's found Bomb Man at a nearby excavation site, and he's the priority. Roll asks who Blues is, and Light tells her that's not important right now. 

Rock arrives at the excavation site, where Bomb Man is waiting for him. Bomb Man likes Rock's new look and praises his entrance, but also gives him a tip: if you want to make an impression, you have to do it with a bang. Bomb Man demonstrates this by, well...hurling his namesake weapon everywhere.

Rock doesn't want to fight Bomb Man but still blasts him. And just like in the games, thanks to Mega Man's Variable Tool System allows him to replicate Bomb Man's Hyper Bomb weapon. Weapon Get!

Thing is, Mega Man can't use the Hyper Bomb and the Mega Buster at the same time. Mega Man laments that having one weapon is too many as it is. Light agrees, but there's no better way right now. At least Bomb Man can be retrieved. From there, he can be repaired and Wily's programming can be undone. 

Mega Man next heads to a quarry, the last known location of Guts Man. Mega Man finds a construction worker's hard hat, hoping that it was just dropped and not on the head of a corpse. But the hat turns out to not be a hard hat at all.

"Hey! I was sleeping, ya jerk!"

The angry Met leaps at Mega Man, and he also gets ambushed by Mettaurs. Mega Man runs for it, blasting his way out.

The Super Fighting Robot sees what he thinks is an oblivious construction worker. He tries to get the worker to get out of there...

...only to find it's another robot. One that tries to give Mega Man a pickaxe to the face.

Light realized Wily must've reprogrammed all the robots in the area when Guts Man took over the quarry. Instant robot army. Mega Man is horrified by this, as he sees these robots as a victim of Wily. Dr. Light assures him that they can be rebuilt. But Rock still sees this as wrong. These robots are victims of Wily and destroying them feels like they're being punished for something that is not their fault. Light points out that these robots will try to destroy Mega Man, and if he doesn't protect himself, then the world is screwed.

Mega Man goes deeper into the quarry, and he loses contact with Dr. Light, being under a hill blocking the signal. He finds Guts Man. True to a robot with the name of Guts Man, he compliments Mega Man's, well...guts. Despite this, he thinks he can easily trash our hero. After all, he's bigger. He's stronger. He's tougher. He also presumably talks like Arnold Schwarzenegger. Nobody's tougher than him, right?

Wise men say, no matter how strong you are, there's always someone who can beat you. Mega Man shows that. He does have some trouble at first. After all, Guts Man is a powerhouse, and Mega Man's signature Mega Buster can't really make a dent in him. Rock thinks even if he hits him with a fully-charged Mega Buster blast, it will only make Guts Man mad. He's going to need a heavier weapon. Something like...a Hyper Bomb, perhaps?

Luckily, thanks to fighting Bomb Man earlier, our robo-hero has a Hyper Bomb.

"...where do these things come from?!"

Thanks to the Hyper Bomb, Mega Man is able to make quick work of Guts Man, blowing him right out of the quarry. Mega Man emerges, and Dr. Light is able to re-establish contact. 

Mega Man reports that he's alright. Not only alright, but he also has got Guts Man's Super Arm weapon. Dr. Light tells him he found Cut Man. Mega Man is willing to take him on, but he sounds flat, numb. He sounds, well...robotic. Dr. Light asks if he needs to be recharged or anything like that. Makes sense he'd worry. Mega Man just fought two Robot Masters. Wouldn't hurt to make sure that our hero's batteries are fully charged and he gets a quick lookover for maintenance purposes. However, our man would just rather get this over with. 

Our hero arrives at an old factory. Dr. Light tries to warn him about the potential dangers, but Mega Man isn't hearing it. He simply says that he is Mega Man, and he blows up other robots. Roll wonders what is going on. Why does he sound like this? Dr. Light feared something like this would happen. You see, Rock was originally programmed with Light's peaceful values. At heart, Rock is a gentle, kind soul. He did willingly choose to be modified into a combat robot to fight Wily, but it's causing him to have a bit of a mental crisis. He feels he's betraying his own nature by doing this. 

Roll points out that this whole thing is not Rock's fault. It's Wily's. Wily reprogrammed the Robot Masters as well as the various civilian robots to become threats. If Wily never did that, then Rock would never have had to become Mega Man. She grabs Dr. Light's headset so she can talk to Rock, who has managed to reach Cut Man. 

She assures Rock that he is not a bad robot by helping stop Wily and the reprogrammed Robot Masters. He's doing this because he cares. He's not a bad robot at all for wanting to stop Wily. In fact, he's the best robot. Which is true. Mega Man is a pretty darn good robot. The T-800 approves.

She encourages Mega Man to win and come home. It seems to help a bit. Mega Man and Cut Man fight. Presumably as an homage to the 90s cartoon, Cut Man makes a lot of puns about cutting. Mega Man tries the Hyper Bombs, but Cut Man's Rolling Cutter is able to reduce the bombs to ribbons. Luckily, Rock has a second weapon: Guts Man's Super Arm. Just like in the first game, it's super-effective against Cut Man. 

Brick beats Scissors.

Rock makes a bad pun, which he admits is bad. Don't feel bad about it, man. After all, you're the Super Fighting Robot, not the Super Comedy Robot. That's Joke Man's gig. With Cut Man defeated, Rock obtains his Rolling Cutter. Dr. Wily observes this from an unknown location. He orders the retrieval of Bomb Man, Guts Man, and Cut Man's bodies. He taunts Mega Man, promising to reduce our hero to a pile of burnt microchips and scrap metal personally. With a nice dollop of evil laughter, of course.

I enjoyed this issue. It was a fun adaptation of part of the first Mega Man game.  

If you want to read this for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2011 trade paperback Mega Man Vol. 1: Let the Games Begin. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! See you next time!