Luke Owen reviews Mega Man #25, the fourth part of Archie Comic’s Worlds Collide series…
It’s Sonic versus Mega Man – Round Two! Celebrate 25 issues of Mega Man with the throwdown brawl to end all throwdown brawls! The Blue Bomber has the home field advantage this time – can Sonic keep up in this unfamiliar city? Meanwhile, Drs. Eggman and Wily make their boldest move yet in their master plan! This milestone issue marks the dramatic conclusion to the first act in the biggest crossover story of 2013!
My previous reviews of this pretty epic crossover have been nothing but praise and adoration. However, Mega Man #25 is the first issue where I would only call, “alright”. It’s not bad, it’s not horrendous, it’s just “alright”.
With Sonic now in Mega Man’s world, The Blue Bomber has home field advantage as his attack team come in to aid his battle. However through some witty banter, the pair discover that they’ve been fooled by Wily and Eggman and decide to team up to save innocent people while Tails Man attacks them. With Tails now rescued, it’s Dr Light’s turn to be captured as Sonic, Mega Man, Protoman and Tails head into a strange zone on a rescue mission…
For starters, the battle between Sonic and Mega Man just isn’t as fun as it was in Sonic The Hedgehog #247. Perhaps it’s because Flynn felt that Mega Man needed a lot of back-up to even stand a chance of beating Sonic or because last week’s fight was so good, but something about this fight just didn’t work for me. The artwork from Jamal Peppers is still great and the action leaps off the page, but it’s not quite as good as previously seen.
Mega Man #25 also serves as the Basil Exposition episode where we get a fair few pages of the characters standing around while they work out how they’ve been done over by the bad guys. Granted a lot of the dialogue is fun and well written, but it does slow down the story somewhat. I get that it was needed and I understand why it’s there, but it does help the averageness of the issue.
Plus, there was only a couple of panels of Eggman and Wily being best buds. The variant cover shows them off as the Evil Friends Forever – why can’t we see more of that?
I’m not trying to say that Mega Man #25 has put a damper on the Worlds Collide series at all, it’s just not as good as the previous three issues. The tease for the next issue wasn’t quite as exciting as I’d hoped, but I’m still intrigued as the first act of this crossover comes to an end.
For what it’s worth though, the gatefold cover is pretty epic.
Luke Owen is one of Flickering Myth’s co-editors and the host of the Month in Review show for Flickering Myth’s Podcast Network. You can follow him on Twitter @LukeWritesStuff.
Originally published May 8, 2013. Updated November 6, 2019.
