Luke Owen reviews Mega Man #26, part 7 of the Worlds Collide story…
The historic Sonic the Hedgehog and Mega Man crossover event rolls on! The hunt for the Roboticized Masters continues as Sonic and Mega Man face down Shadow Man and – Shadow Man? Meanwhile, Drs. Eggman and Wily gloat over the captive Dr. Light. But what is the brilliant, bearded scientist preparing to do?
I’ve really enjoyed Worlds Collide due to the very light hearted writing from Ian Flynn. When his writing, for both fans and non-fans, is on point the series works wonderfully. Mega Man #26 is a classic example of this. It may not be a ‘ground breaking’ issue, but it’s so much fun.
What makes this even better is that Flynn never sacrifices the plot moving forward just to make some simple jokes. He gets the balance of humour and story progression perfectly – which is important at this stage of the game as we near the final act. In fact, I would say that Mega Man #26 has done more for the plot of Worlds Collide than anything that has come before it (there is also a wonderful joke about platforms for 8-bit Mega Man fans).
Tails has altered Mega Man’s Buster so defeating the Roboticized Masters is now a much easier task. But that doesn’t mean our heroes have an easy time against the wall as they take on Shadow Man (both the Sonic and Mega Man versions), Silver Man and Blaze Woman in a couple of really well paced fights. We also get to see, albeit momentarily, the sub story with Proto Man and the Chaotix as they near the Wily Egg.
There really haven’t been many duff issues within this series and Mega Man #26 certainly isn’t one of them. I would argue that it’s not as exciting as Sonic The Hedgehog #249 and probably not as funny as Mega Man #24, but it’s still a really great comic. The dialogue between Sonic and Mega Man can often be a bit cheesy “bestest friend” fluff, but it’s more than made up for with the interactions between Wily and Eggman – who continue to be my favourite part of the series (“can’t you see we’re gloating?!”).
I remember way back during my reviews of Mega Man #24 and Sonic Universe #51 that I was concerned Flynn and his team were skirting over the issues of how the Genesis Wave really worked (and unless you read Sonic The Hedgehog #226-229, you could be in the dark) but they do seem to be slowly working some explanation. It may not be much, but it’s a sign that some things will be resolved. I really hope that Flynn isn’t planning on pulling a Damon Lindelof…
I once again cannot recommend this series enough. Worlds Collide has been a whole lot of fun and I am really interested to see where it’s going next. Flynn has crafted this story perfectly and has paced the action so well that it never feels overwhelming or too slow. Mega Man #26 may not be the best of the bunch, but it’s still worth picking up.
Originally published June 11, 2013. Updated November 7, 2019.
