Comic Review: Worlds Unite #4

This episode of the Worlds Unite crossover saga picks up in the milestone 50th issue of the Mega Man comic series. Unfortunately there's no time for the Mega Man cast to celebrate, but then again that wouldn't make for much of a comic would it? Once again if you haven't had a chance to read this issue I would urge you to return here later to avoid spoilers.

In the opening act we're treated to a 2-page spread that makes it abundantly clear that Sigma's plan to unite Sonic and Mega Man's worlds has succeeded. Once the worlds are united, Sonic Man and M'egga Man catch sight of one another and a secondary directive, unbeknownst to Sigma, forces them to do battle with one another. Fortunately for the characters caught in the cross fire, the battle between the corrupted heroes affords them some time to regroup and begin to form an understanding of the situation.

During the fight they cut briefly to show Sticks, Mega Man X and friends arive (I guess Orbot and Cubot weren't trying to betray them after all). Princess Sally quickly steps up to introduce herself and catch them up on the situation.

Meanwhile across Mega City (or whatever it may be called now that the worlds are combined) we catch up with Xander Payne, an anti-robot terrorist, in Federal prison where we see Sonic themed platforms and mega mack sprouting throughout the prison. He finds amidst the chaos that his cybernetic eye is able to somehow produce Genesis portals thanks to his exposure to some tachyon particles in issue 37 of the Mega Man comic. This scene felt a little too random and out of place in my opinion, then again I'm sure they have an idea behind reintroducing Payne to the story.

We return to the Sonic Man vs. M'egga Man to see they've just about exhausted their weapon arsenals on each other. As luck would have it, the Doctor's left a weakness to a specific weapon per robot master tradition. The use of "Egg Laser" and "Spin Dasher" end up freeing them from their roboticized master forms as Eggman and Wily had intended. The heroes return and Sigma knows he has been betrayed. The fate of Wily and Eggman is anyone's guess as they are chased into the darkness by members of the Deadly Six.

Sonic learns that, like Wily, he too had his memory restored to the events prior to the original Worlds Collide event. A flash back starts, showing us the final moments of the Worlds Collide event as Sonic catches Mega Man up (as well as any readers that haven't read Worlds Collide).

In the aftermath, the forces of both worlds rally behind Mega Man and identify Sigma as the enemy behind this whole mess. Sigma, who has surveillance on the heroes, only seems amused by their rally and reveals his own army. If you've played any of the Mega Man X games you'll have to agree Sigma's army is quite formidable judging from the castle bosses revealed.

Once again the action and artwork are consistently awesome and I'm still digging the story. This issue did a great job of assembling the heroes and setting the stage for what will likely be a war of worlds.

Since this was the 50th issue of the Mega Man comic it's not without some extras. We get a 2 page spread showing all 50 of the main variant A covers of the comic as well as an extra story. In it Mega Man and Mega Man X meet in a sort of training room reminiscent of the shoot the target stages from Super Smash Bros. The two "brothers" use this training room time to reveal their original stories to one another, which I thought was an excellent way to wrap up the 50th issue.

Click here to go back to Issue 3

Click here for issue 5

Thanks for reading!