COMIC BOOK REVIEW: Mega Man Mastermix vol. 1 #02 (The Fall of Light's Robot Masters and the Rise of Wily's Robot Masters)

The humans had decided to destroy Dr. Light’s Robot Masters. Mega Man is heartbroken to find out about the news. Dr. Wily, however, took this as an advantage and sent out his very own Robot Masters to recruit Light’s Robots for shady reasons. Will Mega Man be able to save his brothers and stop the evil scientist!? The highly anticipated comic adaptation of the beloved Mega Man 2 video game is now remastered with colors!

: Mega Man Mastermix #2 – J. SOMMARIVA Variant

: Mega Man Mastermix #2 – C. Huang Variant

Mega Man Mastermix vol. 1 #02
Writer and Artist: Hitoshi Ariga
Color Artist: Josh Perez
Translation by: M. Kirie Hayashi
Copy Editor: Ash Paulsen
English Series Editor: Matt Moylan
Publisher: Udon Entertainment

??WARNING: This Review Contains Major Spoilers!!??

Previously:

Dr. Light created the Robot Master series to help mankind and make everyone’s lives easier. Unfortunately, his former colleague now rival, Dr. Wily stole his creations and reprogrammed them against the humans.
Due to this unfortunate event, his household helper robot and Son, Rock volunteered to transform into a super fighting robot to stop Dr. Wily.
Dr. Light was not comfortable with the idea but had no choice, he and his other household robot/daughter, Roll helped him upgrade Rock to Mega Man.
Mega Man fought hard battling the six Robot Master, who was also his brothers. Eventually, these robots converted back to good and helped Mega Man stop Dr. Wily. But Dr. Wily already had a backup plan, and it looked like new Robot Master created by him came to help Wily escape.

What You’ll Find Out:

Rock heard the news about his brothers’ fate. Sad that the humans had decided to destroy and dispose of the Robot Masters created by Dr. Light due to the crimes they had committed under Dr. Wily’s control. Rock the decided to go after his brothers despite the strong typhoon that hit the area.
He was then attacked by Wily’s robots, Air Man and Flash Man. Mega Man found it challenging to fight the two Robot Masters due to their skills. Air Man was able to create whirlwinds that cannot be penetrated by Mega Man’s shots and Flash Man was able to stop time. The battle became intense and was broadcasted live via the news. Dr. Light and Roll saw this and got worried.

Meanwhile, another of Wily’s robots, Wood Man infiltrated the place where Light’s robots were kept. He activated each of Light’s robots and attempted to recruit them for Wily’s cause and at the same time be spared from their unfortunate circumstance. Elec Man accepted the invitation which shocked Cut Man and the rest of their brothers. Elec Man told them it was Light who betrayed them for agreeing for the humans to dispose of them.

Outside, Mega Man was surprised to see Elec Man and Ice Man leaving the site with Wood Man inside one of Dr. Wily’s helicopter.
Due to that distraction, Flash Man was able to hit Mega Man with his blasters. Unfortunately for him, Mega Man was able to shoot back at Flash Man, thanks to Guts Man protecting him from harm. At the same time, Cut Man, Bomb Man and Fire Man defeated Air Man’s army of Wily-bots leaving the only Wily Robot Master against Mega Man and his brothers.

At Dr. Light’s Lab, Roll was relieved to see this victory through the news but Dr. Light, who was still worried knew his rival to well. He instructed Roll to deliver an item to Rock that would help through the upcoming battle.

Air Man asked the Light Robot Masters why they had betrayed them after they saved them. Cut Man answered that it was actually Wily’s fault that put them on this disposition. They were then interrupted by another Wily Robot Master, Heat Man. Behind him were another two battle Robot Masters, Metal Man and Crash Man. Dr. Wily himself then had a worldwide broadcast revealing his new evil plans. He had built Skull Satellites that would be released in space to shoot and destroy Earth, killing all living things within the planet. All he asked for was for the whole world to surrender under his mercy.

At the battlefield, Mega Man and his brothers were starting to lose a lot of energy from their battle. Metal Man threw more Metal Blades at Mega Man, but fortunately for our hero, it was blocked by something. Mega Man the heard Roll’s voice nearby. Dr. Light and Roll arrived at the perfect time handing over the supporting technology, Item Number 2. Dr. Light informed Mega Man to use the Item Number 2 to get to Wily’s base. Crash Man tried to stop them but Fire Man was able to destroy his Crash Bombers. Guts Man the lifted Mega Man who was already on the Item Number 2 and threw him at the direction where Elec Man and Ice Man went.
The Wily Robot Master tried again to stop Mega Man but the Light Robot Masters blocked their attempts. Heat Man, however, flew after Mega Man using his flames. The Light Robot tried to stop him, but this time the Wily Robots got ready to stop them. Fire Man told Dr. Light and Roll to step back safely behind them as they prepared to protect them and fight the Wily Robot Masters.

Heat Man took a couple of energy-boosting capsules that helped him go after Mega Man in the air. Meanwhile, at Wily’s base, Elec Man double crossed Wood Man and fought him damaging the base from within. Dr. Wily commanded Wood Man to stop but his robot was already defeated by Elec Man while Ice Man froze the army of supporting Wily-bots. Elec Man then approached Wily asking him to give up but Wily answered calmly and told Elec Man that he is the one that will be giving up soon. All of a sudden another Wily Robot Master appeared undetected by Elec Man and attacked him.

Nearby, Mega Man was struggling to get away from Heat Man when all of a sudden another Robot Master, Bubble Man came out from the ocean and started attacking him at the same time. Wily noticed that Mega Man was getting closer to the base and started launching one Skull Satellite. Mega Man was able to kick off Heat Man who fell on top of Bubble Man causing the water around them to boil and shut them down in the process. Mega Man then focused on the satellite and destroyed it. But Wily didn’t stop there and kept launching more satellites. Mega Man managed to destroy them except for one that managed to slip away. Mega Man changed his course and went after the Satellite. Wily, on the other hand, was halted by both Ice Man and Elec Man, stopping him from launching more Skull Satellites. Dr. Wily the tried to call Quick Man, but Elec Man told him that his robot was no longer with them. The three of them then watched Quick Man ride on a Mecha Dragon following Mega Man and the Skull Satellite behind.

Almost worn out, the Light Robot Masters and Wily Robot Master watched the Mecha-Dragon flew after Mega Man and the Satellite. Air Man points out that the Satellite plan is about to fail and they no longer have a purpose to fight. Crash Man then decided that they should retreat. The Light Robot Masters were relieved that the battle was over, however, Roll who was still worried reminded them about the last satellite. But Cut Man and the rest of Light’s Robot Masters had faith in their brother, Rock.

Mega Man was able to reach the satellite before Item number 2’s engine failed. Quick Man also reached the satellite at the same time. Quick Man was about to do a one hit blow on Mega Man when all of a sudden Flash Man blocked the attack sparing Mega Man. Flash Man man told Quick Man that he will be the one to finish Mega Man. Quick Man, however, did not like being interrupted and sliced off Flash Man’s Buster from his arm. The fight was now between Quick Man and Megaman. Quick Man challenged Mega Man if he could stop both him and the satellite. The two then charged at each other and did one final blow which caused the satellite to also explode.

Everyone was shocked and sad at the same time seeing Mega Man and Quick Man explode from their very eyes. Dr. Wily arrived and commanded his Robots to retrieve surviving comrades and retreat. This made Elec Man and Ice Man realized that the evil doctor managed to escape from their grasps. Dr. Light and Dr. Wily then had an intense look at each other before the mad scientist escaped.

The group then noticed something coming down from the sky. Surprised, they happily saw Mega Man who survived the explosion. Wondering how it happened, Mega Man told them that he was able to copy Flash Man’s power and stopped time to help him escape. Nearby, coming out from the rubble of the destroyed satellite, Quick man also survived leaving a barely working Flash Man behind.

Rock and his family then celebrated their success for saving the world while the plans of disposing of the Light Robot Masters were dropped.

What Just Happened:

This wonderfully remastered the original manga, titled: R Destruction Order released back in 1995. The story was loosely based from the iconic video game sequel of all time, Mega Man 2. Josh Perez definitely did his magic, working his way throughout Hitoshi Ariga’s by preserving it while adding more life to it through his coloring. Josh was even able to color the sound effects on pages making everything so vibrant and visually satisfying.
Just like the first issue released earlier this year, Udon managed to really put their heart into this. It’s also great to see that Hitoshi Ariga’s works still manages to capture us up to this day. His art exudes a lot of emotions and life, especially when he was producing a story about a game focused on a robot hero who was built with a heart.
It really goes to show that Ariga-san wanted to add personalities to the heroes and villains rather than making them flat. Every Robot Masters shown here had unique personalities that matched perfectly to their name. Some great examples were Flash Man who was very flashy and full of himself; Heat Man who was firey and overly energetic.
I think the only downside was how Udon Entertainment didn’t really market this book so much compared to the first issue. It was kind of hard to find a copy and aside from that it never really got exposed to any comic book site at all. I would appreciate it more if they invest in promoting the rest of the upcoming issues for this series since it really deserved the love and support from the fans.

Pros:

Beautifully remastered like issue 1
Story from the manga is intact
Perez skill in coloring is superb especially for keeping the original source material intact

Cons:

The price
Since the comic is thick, the binding felt like it could easily break
Udon should promote their comics more not make their stocks too limited or hard to find

Rating: 9.5/10

Final Thought:
A worthy adaptation of one of the most iconic video game sequels. Like the 1st issue, Udon manages to keep remastering the series beautifully while keeping everything intact from Ariga-san’s original manga thanks to the talented Josh Perez.

Follow us on Twitter and Like us on Facebook!