By Keigen Rea — Mega Man: Fully Charged #1 is a comic based on a show that I’ve never seen, based on a game that I’ve spent at most 200 seconds playing. It’s not so much that I’m uninterested in Mega Man as a game, or as a character, I’m just more of a Pokémon boy. What is interesting to me is that this is a pretty efficient and good superhero story, if also a bit trope-y.

By efficient, I mean efficient! This issue introduces Mega Man, his (maybe mega) dad, a (bad??) robot king, a Mega Dog, and some siblings. They’re obviously not fleshed out, but most of them have at least some hints of further depths beneath the surface. The issue also makes it clear that a lot’s going on in Silicone City, there’s some robot racism happening, and a revolution is underway. I think there’s plenty to care about here, even it isn’t very fleshed out yet.

I’ll be looking at where the story goes as far as the robot racism is concerned. Honestly, using people and robots as cyphers for very real issues in 2020 is almost anachronistic, but I’ll leave the story some space before I totally write it off. There is a small chance this book does something interesting between Mega(?) Dad and Robot King and their argument, but if not, the story still works as a superhero robot fighting thing.

Yeah, it really works as a superhero robot fighting thing.

I don’t think I’ve seen his art before, but Stefano Simeone is fantastic. There are a lot of different ways to draw action in comics, but Simeone’s art in this issue is friggin cool and I am all about it. The fight scenes are staged in a clear, but energized way. Each character looks like they know how to fight, and their designs are fun in a 90’s kind of way. He draws emotions that are heightened and cartoony without being excessive. He’s doing great work here.

The colors in this book are great too. The blues of the city and reds of the Badlands is a simple indicator of location change, but what I really like is how Mega Man works within both. In the city, he blends in, he looks like he fits there. In the Badlands, though, even with everyone there knowing he’s a robot, he doesn’t belong. He stands out against the earthy and metallic colors present. It’s a simple, but very effective visual cue at what I hope is a theme of the series going forward.

Overall: Mega Man: Fully Charged #1 has great pacing and art, but leans pretty heavily on common superhero tropes. Despite that, it’s still fun and energetic, and I’m excited for the next issue. 7.5/10

 Review: Mega Man - Fully Charged #1

Mega Man: Fully Charged #1
Writer: A.J. Marchisello and Marcus Rineheart
Artist: Stefano Simeone
Colorist: Igor Monti
Letterer: Ed Dukeshire
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Price: $3.99
After Mega Man’s father Dr. Light is kidnapped, a shocking truth rocks Mega Man’s world as it seems the Robot Masters know more about his secret history than he does. But as Dr. Wily’s machinations trigger Mega Man’s forgotten memories of the brutal human/robot war, our hero is left to question just who he is and if he can trust anything or anyone – including the man he calls father.
Release Date: August 26, 2020
Buy It Digitally: Mega Man - Fully Charged #1

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