Mega Man #40

By Ian Flynn, Jamal Peppers, Ryan Jampole, Gary Martin, Matt Herms

The end is finally here. The epic X crossover that has set Mega Man’s fandom ablaze has ended. So, was the ending worth the hype? Well, yes and no. This issue does a number of things right, but also leaves us scratching our heads.

Mega Man, Pharaoh Man, and Bright Man are finally able to come out victorious in their battle against the Wily Walker. They even receive some unlikely advice from Wily. Seriously, this just mucks up Wily’s characterization even more. Several issues ago, the evil doctor was having a crisis of conscience that was very compelling. Then they decided to just throw that out and he was just evil for evil’s sake again. Now, he’s acting like more of an antihero? What’s this dude’s endgame? It makes no sense.

To make matters worse, the way Mega Man’s victory feels heavy-handed and not thought out. We’re not expecting some Shakespearean ending, just something a little more clever than having the key to victory literally teleported to their location. In the story’s defense, at least all of this is written and presented well.

As far as the X part of the story goes, its ending is a tad better. However, certain conversations raise more questions than answers. We’re not 100% sure about the future of X’s story, but this seems to hint that things are far from over. Let’s just hope that we get some sort of closure soon.

Once again, Peppers and Jampole are sharing art duties. Peppers worked on the pencils, while Jampole did some breakdowns for numerous pages. This issue is certainly improved from last issue, which had a lack of detail not usually seen in Mega Man. The X scenes have more of a Manga influence and it’s those little touches that can make all the difference. Way to rebound, guys.

Part of the finale falls flat, but this is certainly not a bad comic. The next arc sounds interesting, so this series will only get better. It always does.