Though Mega Man has been a gaming icon since the mid-80s, going through various incarnations and soft reboots since the original, he’s not had the same success with comics as some of his peers, and even some of his Capcom stablemates such as Street Fighter.

His most notable run came in 2011-2015, with 55 issues published by Archie Comics; this run, perhaps strangely, crossed over with Sonic the Hedgehog, whose own Archie run was of a record breaking duration for a licensed character.

After other short lived runs with different publishers, the Blue Bomber, as he’s sometimes referred to, has found what is likely to be a more comfortable home, at UDON Entertainment.

UDON have been custodians of other Capcom properties for decades, and have most notably had success with their superb Street Fighter saga. UDON’s creators really know their stuff when it comes to video games, and Capcom games in particular, so it seems like they’ll be a great fit for Mega Man’s adventures.

That much is clear from this Free Comic Book Day issue, in which three of Mega Man’s Robot Master enemies recall past battles with him.

It’s all very cute, lightweight and inoffensive fun, with absolutely gorgeous artwork; the latter of which can always be expected of UDON.

I know it’s all very inconsequential, but as a Mega Man fan, UDON’s knack for striking the right tone with their comics, hewing closely to the game series lore and of course, that aforementioned beautiful illustration style, is something I really appreciate.

Licensed comics aren’t always that reliable in terms of quality, consistency or faithfulness to the source material (The Adventures of Bayou Billy immediately springs to mind, though Archie admittedly had much less to work with in 1989), but UDON always seem to get the balance right.

As an owner of a Mega Man Evercade Alpha bartop arcade (pictured above; glorious, isn’t it?), I’m definitely looking forward to their upcoming Mega Man series, which this #0 issue also sets up.

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