Free Comic Book Day 2025- Mega Man # 0

 By Mark Rodriguez

Similar to Sonic being with IDW, Mega Man's comic book adventures are no longer published under Archie and will now be having adventures under Udon Entertainment. In fact it seems nowadays Archie only makes comics about the Riverdale gang and no long do licensed properties. Anyways, let's see what adventures await the Blue Bomber this time around.

"Almost Had 'Im" opens at Boing-Boing Amusement Park where several Robot Masters have opened up their own food trucks and food stands. Wind Man's Breezy Bowl got great reviews due to his ramen. Cold Man operates the Snow-Cone Zone but he got a mixed review since the last snow cone he made was so good, he ate it himself instead of giving it to the customer. Skull Man runs the Skelicatessen which bad reviews since the food is bad and he only wanted to keep the skull motif.

The day goes on and the Robot Masters serve their patrons. As the day ends, Wind Man ponders that it was a busy day and he was really cooking fast. He says he hasn't moved that fast since his fiercest battle against Mega Man, as we flash back to that day.

Mega Man is spinning through the air, but he manages to catch his footing and land. As he draws his Mega Buster, wind blows around him and Wind Man ambushes him from behind. The Robot Master says he heard that Mega Man was the most popular fighting robot, but doesn't see why. Wind Man turns his fans into a vacuum, trying to suck Mega Man in. Mega Man holds onto a nearby railing but he can't keeps his grip. Mega Man gets sucked towards Wind Man, who takes this chance to sock him across the face.

Mega Man is sent crashing through a restaurant window. As the Blue Bomber stumbles to his feet and some kids say he has to get up. Mega Man gives them a thumbs up. Just then, small spinning propellers are sent towards him. As he tries to dodge them, one of them slices him across the face.

Wind Man says Mega Man's day probably isn't going the way he thought it would, but it's about to get worse. As he uses his vacuum again, Mega Man sees a nearby ramen bowl. The bowl flies towards Wind Man and splats him in the face. As he stumbles and gets the bowl full of noodles off his head, he says this is a minor setback and the fight isn't over yet. As he looks up, Mega Man, now green, leaps towards him as he's fires several shots at him.

 

Back to the present day, Wind Man closes up his shop for the night and says he 'almost had 'im'. 

Elsewhere, Cold Man remembers that he had a pretty cool fight with Mega Man once. Sometime back at a Penguin Habitat, Cold Man tells Mega Man that there isn't enough room for the penguins and he can help. Mega Man comments on the zoo renovations when suddenly Cold Man flings a big chunk of ice at him that smashes into him.

Cold Man gets the idea to just freeze the entire zoo so that the penguins can play everywhere as he releases several Mokumokumos. Mega Man reminds Cold Man about the other animals, as the little bird robots swarm all around him. Cold Man tosses another slab of ice into the Blue Bomber that sends him flying back and crashing into a souvenir stand. Mega Man tells the people in the area to get to safety as he thinks Cold Man is just confused. Cold Man shows up and is surprised that Mega Man didn't even crack. He remarks that he's tougher than an ice cube but a good pounding will help him chill out.

Mega Man tells Cold Man not to freeze the zoo, which reminds him that that's what he was doing. As Cold Man unleases more Mokumokumos, Mega Man blows up the already trashed souvenir shop. As balloons and toys fly everywhere, the robot birds are too distracted playing with the balloons instead of messing with Mega Man. 

Cold Man once again forgets what he was doing and only remembers it was something to do with something frozen. He then sees a baobing ice cream stand that catches his attention. The vendor asks Mega Man for help. Mega Man rushes in and buys two orders, treating Cold Man to one. Both robots enjoy the Taiwanese shaved ice treat and abandon the fight. Cold Man says he'll never forget this.

Cold Man closes shop and says that was the time he had some baobing at the zoo. Wind Man asks if he got distracted and stopped fighting. Cold Man realizes he's out of ice cream and laments that the dessert truck is closed, completely forgetting that he just closed it himself. Wind Man now believes Cold Man's story.

Skull Man arrives and calls Cold Man for help in putting out the fire, as his food truck is in flames. He says as they put out the fire, he'll tell both of them a real bone-chilling tale.

We flashback to a party for Mega Man that was trashed and a spotlight is shining on the robot hero's face. Skull Man's voice calls out that if Mega Man wants to save Roll, they'll see how well he Rocks, as several Skeleton Joes  using band instruments rush in. One of them nearly clobbers Mega Man with a mic stand and the Blue Bomber responds with a Mega Buster blast.

One of the robots hits Mega Man from behind and they all dog pile him. Skull Man's voice can be heard, introducing Meg Man to the band, which are all named Joe. With his Mega Buster pointing downwards, Mega Man fires off a blast big enough to shoot through the floor, sending the Skeleton Joes falling before. Mega Man hangs on to the edge and fires off another blast to finish the robots off. As he climbs out of the hole, Mega Man is completely exhausted.

Skull Man asks him if he never gets tired of the never-ending battles and what kind of brother he is for subjecting his sister to such constant worry. Skull Man finally appears and starts blasting Mega Man from behind. He tells Mega Man to lie there and surrender, as Roll is hanging from a rope above him. Skull Man says it's still Roll's birthday and the faster he's gone the sooner she will no longer have to worry. Mega Man fires off a few shots, one of them shooting through the rope holding Roll. 

Skull Man blocks the shots with his Skull Shield and leaps off the stage. He grabs Mega Man by the face and tells him to rest in pieces. Suddenly a hand taps his shoulder. Skull Man turns to see Roll using one of the broken Skeleton Joe arms to distract him. She says that Mega Man will never stop fighting for his friends and tells him to 'rest in pizza' as she jams a pizza slice into his face. Skull Man stumbles back, yelling over how spicy the pizza is and falls into the ball pit. Roll helps Mega Man walk as they both leave the pizzeria. Skull Man is trapped in the ball pit.

Back to the present, Skull Man says it's hard to believe he used to be such a scary guy. Cold Man says he put out the fire... by freezing Skull Man's food truck. Skull Man says it won't defrost for a week. Wind Man says he wonder if Mega Man knows how their fight changed the course of his life, and if he were here he'd treat him to a bowl of his best ramen.

Just then Mega Man is sent flying and crashing into Wind Man's food truck. Wind Man, Skull Man and Cold Man wonder who did this to him as an evil voice laughs behind them. Bounce Man appears and  says 'let's play'. Wind Man says that when they fought Mega Man, he was fighting to protect people, like his family and friends. They didn't yet know that they would be his friends too. Wind Man, Skull Man and Cold Man leap in to take Bounce Man down as Mega Man sits back and smiles.

My Thoughts-

Pretty fun story for the Udon version of the Mega Man series. Similar to the IDW Sonic, the series starts after the hero has had several adventures, rather than re-telling the origin story. We get a varied mix of Robot Masters in this one. Skull Man is from Mega Man 4, Wind Man is from Mega Man 6, Cold Man is from Mega Man and Bass (also known as Rock Man and Forte for the Super Famicom) and Bounce Man is from Mega Man 11. It's also worth noting that Skull Man was also in a fan game called Megaman: Rock N Roll, and the comic had the Robot Master use a variation of the phrase 'rock and roll' when facing Mega Man. Clever.

I like the concept of the Robot Masters reforming and doing other things in their lives rather than cause trouble or work for Wily. It's a great way to keep them around rather than just Mega Man destroying them and leaving them forgotten. I do wonder why Bounce Man is still evil though. Or maybe Mega Man helped reform all the older guys and the Robot Masters from (as of right now) the last and most recent game, Mega Man 11, have yet to be fought.

I do have to say, Mega Man really gets put through the ringer in this one. In almost every fight he's sent flying off where he would smash into things. He's also shown to be badly beaten down or exhausted to the point he can barely stand, but he presses on. There's also Wind Man landing a solid punch on Mega Man, and Skull Man grabbing him by the face. Not counting the weapons that are actually specialized punches and kicks like the Hard Knuckle and the Charge Kick, most of the time Mega Man's fights involve both Robots using energy blasts and special weapons. I'm not used to seeing Mega Man taking a full force punch to the face, or nearly getting killed by Skull Man's bare hands rather than one of his weapons. In this story, Mega Man is definitely the underdog that keeps getting up no matter what.

The art is cool, the action is dynamic, and while we don't get to see Light or Wily, at least Roll makes an appearance. It's a fun story with a few deep cuts here and there, especially referencing fan games. Since time marches on, Udon takes advantage of the newer games that came out after the Archie run. Mega Man's Archie run ended in 2015 and Mega Man 11 came out in 2018.

Of course it's worth mentioning he story is very similar to 'Almost Got Him', that classic episode of Batman the Animated Series where Joker, Penguin, Two-Face and Poison Ivy trade stories on how each of them almost got Batman. Um.. Killer Croc was there too... sort of. I like the little contrast here where rather than the villains still being villains and still wanting to kill Batman, while in this one the Robot Masters are former villains looking back and realizing how Mega Man actually changed their lives for the better. I can't remember any other examples but I'm sure this type of story centering around villains trading stories about their run-ins against their heroic nemesis has been used before in other mediums before Batman did it.

The action continues as Udon will be releasing Mega Man Timelines, a series of one shots, each one taking place i a different era of Mega Man, such as Mega Max X, Mega Man Legends and Mega Man Battle Network. The first issue will start off in the era of the original. See ya then.