Mega Man Timelines # 1

 By Mark Rodriguez

The Timelines mini-series deals with a different Mega Man series in each issue, anything from Megaman X to Mega Man Battle Network. What better place than to start with the original Blue Bomber? Let's see what adventures await the Super Fighting Robot, Mega Man!

The issue opens in the future, the year 20XX as a crowd is surprised by an explosion coming from the top floors of a nearby building. Rock and Roll are watching the news on TV as several explosions rock Symphony City. As police helped people evacuate, the reporter says that he sees Mega Man. Rock gets up and says he has to go. Roll says this has to be a trap and he can't just go rushing in, Rock grabs his helmet and says it's not a trap, but an invitation. One he can't refuse. Mega Man hops on Rush and tells Roll and Tango not to worry since he doesn't break easily. They fly off.

Elsewhere, two cloaked figures standing on the rooftops are the ones causing all of the explosions. One tells the other that all of this is excessive and a true warrior doesn't need to be this noisy. The second one says he needs to learn how to ignite his heart and let it go off. He grabs a Hard Hat Mac and ignites it. He leaps out of the way as the little robot causes a big explosion. The second figure notices that Mega Man and Rush have arrived and says he will learn how to burn even brighter once he tests himself in combat against him. The more energetic robot says the Doc only cares about getting his Double-Gear prototype back. He activates all his explosions as Mega Man and Rush dodge all the blasts.

The Robot Master, Blast Man, tells Mega Man that the Doc's gotten very cranky one he got his upgrade. He asks to just let him rip it out of his chest so they can call it a day. Mega Man starts shooting at him. The other robot tells Blast Man to stand down so he can face Mega Man in one-on-one combat like a true warrior. Blast Man says this is more fun.

The other Robot Master ignites and burns off his cloak. As Mega Man turns to look, Blast Man rushes in and starts firing several explosive blasts at him. He asks if he likes his bombastic performance, and Mega Man says it's a little flashy.

The other Robot Master tells Blast Man to stand down since he's in charge of the team. Blast Man tells Mega Man that he intends to kill him but at least he won't have that blowhard yelling in his ear. Blast Man uses his explosions to propel himself towards Mega Man and socks him in the face. He starts to choke Mega Man, who is still riding on Rush. Mega Man tells Rush to flip over, which sends all three of them spinning. Blast Man points at Mega Man and says 'go big or go home'.

 

Mega Man and Rush turn to see a giant-sized bomb that explodes before Mega Man can react. The blast sent Mega Man, Rush and Blast Man crashing to the ground in opposite directions. Blast Man tells his partner that he can play with Mega Man for a while. The Robot Master asks why the Doctor paired them up and this is not how a warrior should act. All he sees is senseless carnage. 

Just then a half-melted Hard Hat Mac is seen walking away from the blast, and the Robot Master is shocked to see that Blast Man turned them into living bombs. Blast Man took pride into turning the robots into something more spectacular. The Robot Master says humans will find any pathetic reason to destroy themselves and they were supposed to be built better. He's appalled that Blast Man would sacrifice innocent robots for spectacle. 

Blast Man says he thought they would form a bond, but he has no sizzle at all. As he downplays his partner's warrior code, a Hard Hat Mac sneaking walks up the ledge he is on. Blast Man says he might need a close up look at the details of his explosive expression. The Hard Hat Mac explodes, catching not just the Robot Master but Rush in the blast. Mega Man runs over and lifts the debris off his robot dog. He holds onto him telling him to hang on onto he could get him home and fixed up. 

Mega Man sees another Hard Hat Mac walking towards him and blasts him. He shields Rush from the resulting explosion. Blast Man is glad to see that Mega Man was still alive so he wouldn't miss the encore. Blast Man says he's rigged Symphony City for a huge explosion. He tells Mega Man to run, hide and cower as he intends to crack the very soul of he city. Mega-Man activates his Power Gear and starts to shoot him. The blast shoots through Blast Man's bombs which explode into his face and send him flying back from the blast.

 

As the smoke clears, Mega Man tends to Rush. One of the Hard Hat Macs falls upside down. Mega Man prepares to blast him. The Robot Master tells Mega Man to stop. He is stuck in the debris with several steel girders poking through him. He tells Mega Man that the Hard Hat Mac isn't a warrior like they are. Mega Man laments all the destruction and what happened to Rush. The robot tells Mega Man that he is his enemy and didn't do anything to stop Blast Man's rampage. He wanted to test his mettle against him, but he laments the condition of the Hard Hat Mac. Mega Man keeps his Mega Buster aimed at the little robot until a bird flies on his arm and then flies over to the Mac. Mega Man lowers his weapon and looks over to the other Robot Master.

Mega Man tries to get the debris off of the robot, but he can't move it without damaging him further. The robot says he's not getting out of this. He says it was a folly to think they needed to snuff out Mega Man's light for theirs to shine. Rush comes along to help get the debris off the robot as well, showing he still has some life left. The robot asks Mega Man why he fights and what dream he was protecting. The robot shuts down. 

Mega Man looks over at the Hard Hat Mac and sees that the explosive has been diffused. He breaks a part of his already busted helmet to patch up a missing chunk of the robot's head. The Hard Hat Mac walks away properly. Suddenly an explosion knocks the little robot back. Mega Man and Rush turn to see that Blast Man is still alive and ready to kick things into second gear!!

 My Thoughts-

So I'm a bit confused by this cliffhanger, or the fact that there is a cliffhanger at all. The Mega Man Timelines series are supposed to be a series of one shots, each one about a different iteration of the Blue Bomber, like Mega Man X and Mega Man Legends. The ad shows that the adventure continues in the next issue which will be about Mega Man X. I mean... are Mega Man and Blast Man gonna blast themselves into the future?

As for the story itself it's a very fast-paced action-packed issue as Blast Man is insane and out of control. This was an intense fight for our hero, where similar to the Free Comic Book Day issue, he got his robot butt kicked all over the place.

One thing about the story is how they never named the Robot Master working with Blast Man. I had to check the wikis and found out his name is Torch Man. Both are from Mega Man 11, a game I haven't played yet, but having Blast Man say 'shut up Torch Man' at least once would have made it easier to me who this guy was. While it's cool seeing the newer Robot Masters, since as of now Mega Man 11 is the newest game in the series, if this Timelines is going to be a mini series, I would have loved to have seen some of the classic NES Robot Masters.

 

It was kind of cool to see Torch Man portrayed as the honor bound warrior. While he might wonder why Wily teamed him up with someone as crazy as Blast Man... I wonder why Wily would team Blast Man up with someone as honorable as Torch Man. I assume Dr Wily would want Mega Man taken down by any means necessary and not have his Robot Masters lose because they refused to fight dirty. Torch Man was out to test his skills against Mega Man, but not destroy the city and take out innocents to win a battle. 

The art style is pretty cool. I can't tell which one I like more between this and the art from the Free Comic, but this one definitely has more fast paced frenzied energy due to how intense a fight with Blast Man can be.

I can't wait to get the next issue though again, I'm curious how we're going to see how this story plays out if the next issue is supposed to be about Mega Man X.