Mega Man 7: Blackout - The Curse of Ra Moon


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Mega Man Volume 7: Blackout: The Curse of Ra Moon is the seventh Graphic Novel in the Mega Man comic book series from Archie Comics. It contains the stories "Bad Moon Rising", "Phases of Evil", "The Eve of Battle", and "Total Eclipse", which are part of the four part arc based on Super Adventure Rockman.

Part One: Bad Moon Rising
Mega Man awakens inside a tube in Light Labs, where Dr. Light, Pedro Astil, and Plant Man have been working to bring him back online. Mega Man is confused, and Light explains that all technology in the world has shut down two weeks ago because on an electromagnetic wave. Due to this, the damage Roll received from Break Man can't be repaired, and with her condition getting worse, she may shut down permanently. Mega Man asks what is causing the wave and how he can solve it, but they have no clue, except for one guess. Mega Man is introduced to Dr. Pedro Astil and Plant Man, who were vital in creating the liquid coating that is protecting Mega Man from the waves. Pedro tells him about an event that happened four years ago. In the heart of Amazon, an earthquake bringed the Lanfront Ruins to the surface, intact. Knowing it was not natural, the United Nations assembled a research team to investigate the site, with Pedro being part of the team. When approaching the ruins, an electromagnetic wave knocked down their helicopters, injuring several members, some not making it back. Due to the danger, the area was sanctioned off.

Later, Auto is also coated by the liquid, and everyone works to repair the other robots. Rush, Cut Man, and Bomb Man are brought back online, and while Guts Man receives the coating, Dr. Light explains that it was Break Man who gave him the protective coating. In a flashback, Break Man was angered at how far the damage has spread, and he grudingly gave Dr. Light a flash drive with the data needed to create the coating. While thinking how all of them will reach the Amazon, Pedro reminds Dr. Light of an old hobby-project plane he had stored, and it is coated against the wave. Mega Man, alongside Rush and Dr. Light's three Robot Masters, go to the Amazon rainforest to investigate.

Hours later, back at the Temple of the Moon, Break Man has finally returned, having spent the last two weeks on foot with occasional teleports when possible due to unaffected satellites. After being attacked by Ra Moon, he soon finds Dr. Wily, dishevled and deranged from having gone into hiding from Ra Moon. Angry with what happened to the world, Break Man inquired Wily about the EMP, and Wily explains that's not his fault, as Ra Moon used him. Break Man tries to return to fight Ra Moon, but as Wily thinks he doesn't stand a chance alone, he tries to call the other Robot Masters, and Wily says that they can't be trusted as there is a chance that Ra Moon modified their coding. However, Wily has been working on a new robot to destroy Ra Moon, Ra Thor, and asks Break Man to protect him in case Ra Moon decides to go after them.

When Mega Man's plane reached the Amazon, it is attacked and crash landed thanks to four of Dr. Wily's Robot Masters. As they are in disadvantage, Mega Man quickly devises a plan as to how best to handle their foes.

Short Circuits - "Fertilizer": Plant Man reveals his embarrasing back-up system.

Part Two: Phases of Evil
Picking up from the last issue, Mega Man and his crew engage four of Dr. Wily's Robot Masters in combat. Working together, Mega Man is able to recopy the Special Weapons of Wily's robots and defeat them once again, and shows mercy by leaving them alive. Bomb Man's arms are damaged and he becomes unable to use Hyper Bombs. Meanwhile, inside the Temple of the Moon, Break Man returns with food for Dr. Wily and reports this new turn of events, who believes this might mean his robots aren't fully under Ra Moon's control. Wily then orders Break Man out to investigate the situation.

Before long, Mega Man's party reach the ruins and encounters the rest of the Wily's first Robot Masters, while Quick Man and Shadow Man watch from the foliage. As they battle, Mega Man inquires as to why the Robot Masters condone a world-destroying plot. Wood Man says that was not their master's plan, and they call a truce to talk. As Wily didn't contact them for a while, they believe something may be wrong and tell Mega Man and the others to wait while the go check. Quick Man asks if Mega Man is lying, but doubts it as he's so "honest and pure" it almost hurts. At that point, Shadow Man makes his move, first stabbing Quick Man, jumping out from his cover and attacking all parties, Crash Man's arms being cut by him. He dodges all attacks and knocks down Wood Man, Air Man, and Guts Man. When Cut Man and Mega Man try to attack with a Rolling Cutter and Metal Blade, Shadow Man holds them with his bare hands and attacks Mega Man, but Quick Man appears and saves him by holding the Shadow Blade. While the two speedsters fight, Mega Man takes one of Crash Man's arms and copies his Crash Bomber and uses it on Shadow Man, but before that he manages to stab Quick Man in his back. The injured ninja retreats, and the others take shelter.

As the group recovers from Shadow Man's attack, Quick Man provides information about Ra Moon and the eight new Robot Masters. Quick Man asks why Mega Man fixed him, as he attacked his family and tried to destroy him, and Mega Man says that he saved him from Shadow Man and was destroyed by him, so they are even. Suddenly, Break Man appears to help. Mega Man makes several questions for him, but he says those are not important in the moment. Break Man deduces that as Wily's first eight Robot Masters were replicated from data back-ups, they are loyal to Wily, but the new Robot Masters are fully under Ra Moon's control. He reveals that there is a hidden underground passage that will allow them to bypass Ra Moon's forces. Although reluctant, Mega Man agrees to follow him, leaving Cut Man and Bomb Man behind to repair the other Wily robots while he, Guts Man and Rush go to the passage to finish off Ra Moon. Unbeknownst to them all, a Search Snake has monitored the whole conversation. Snake Man and Needle Man are aware of what is happening, and have doubts of what they should do. Suddenly, they get under Ra Moon's control, going to the passage to intercept Mega Man and the others.

Short Circuits - "Needle Man": Mega Man cannot find Needle Man.

Part Three: The Eve of Battle
Mega Man, Guts Man, and Rush enter the secret passage revealed by Break Man in the previous issue. Guts Man avoids being smashed by a trap, and when Rush detects a small snake robot, they are attacked by a device with needles. Guts Man holds its cable while Mega Man copies the Super Arm to open the trap and leave the device stuck on it. Following its cable, they find one of Dr. Wily's new Robot Masters, Needle Man. He threatens Mega Man, who copies his Needle Cannon and says that he wants to avoid combat and save the world. Needle Man remembers that Ra Moon wants to destroy the world, and gets under Ra Moon's control again. Snake Man appears from the ground and starts attacking, but Mega Man uses the Needle Cannon to stick him to the wall. Finding the new Robot Masters strange, they haste to leave the tunnel.

Outside, they see it is already day and are close to the Temple of the Moon. Mega Man contacts Dr. Light, who is struggling to keep Roll stable with the help of Pedro Astil and Plant Man. Dr. Light says that the situation is getting worse, the electromagnetic field starting to be harmful to humans, and within days all life in the world will be destroyed. He also says that by using vintage radio tech, they managed to spread the immunization coating formula to scientists across the globe to help others. Quake Woman, Centaur Man, Elec Man, and Time Man are briefly shown helping people in need.

The communication is interrupted when Guts Man protects Mega Man from Gemini Man's Gemini Laser. They try to fight the Robot Master, but are unable to find the original among his copies. Mega Man asks him to stop, as humans are dying and robots being destroyed by Ra Moon, confused, Gemini Man lowers his guard and is hit by Guts Man, and he suddenly goes under Ra Moon's control. Strangely, his copy retains his free will and the original tries to attack the hologram, without success. With him distracted, Mega Man easily hits him, and Gemini Man says that it cleared his head. Before teleporting away, Gemini Man asks him to save Dr. Wily and warns about the new Robot Masters rallying to Ra Moon in the heart of the temple. The trio doesn't understand what happened, but they know that Ra Moon must be stopped. Break Man than appears with Cut Man, Bomb Man, and Wily's eight Robot Masters, all repaired and ready to help.

The Robot Masters use their combined powers to create a shortcut, and when they reach Ra Moon's chamber, Mega Man introduces himself and orders it to stop the E.M. field, or else he will be forced to stop it himself. Ra Moon summons the eight new Robot Masters and says that Mega Man is too weak to threaten anyone, ordering the robots to kill them all. The two groups battle each other, and when Break Man and Mega Man try to approach Ra Moon, they are knocked back by it. Dr. Wily appears, his robots being happy to see that he's alive, and he sends Ra Thor to destroy Ra Moon. However, as Ra Thor is made of Ra Moon's technology, it easily gains control over the new robot and orders it to attack Wily. Break Man awakens in time to protect him, and Wily runs for Mega Man, saying "Don't be dead! Reboot! Restart! Get up you lazy good-for-nothing!". Mega Man awakens, and he and Break Man say that Ra Moon turned Wily's robot against them, and it is very strong. Mega Man tells the doctor to get somewhere safe, and the two brother robots advance to fight the new robot.

Short Circuits - "Time Out": Shooting on the eye is cheating.

Part Four: Total Eclipse
Mega Man and Dr. Wily's Robot Masters are continuing their fight with Ra Moon and his Robot Masters, with Mega Man focusing on Ra Thor in particular. During the battle, Ra Moon says that it has been amusing to watch them fight each other, but the time for sports is over, and he removes the EM immunity from the Mega Man 2 's Robot Masters. Cut Man, Guts Man, Bomb Man, and Rush must face Magnet Man, Gemini Man, Hard Man, Top Man, and Spark Man by themselves, as Mega Man and Break Man are busy with Ra Thor. Having the burden to save the world and his friends, Mega Man loses his temper and uses a barrage of Special Weapons on Ra Thor, taking him down.

Ra Moon then calls back his minions, saying that he will do to Dr. Wily the same he did to him, and brings out one of Wily's designs, perfected by his power, the Ra Devil. Break Man engages the five remaining Robot Masters while Mega Man uses a charge shot on its control eye, which proves to be ineffective. Mega Man is throw near Dr. Wily by Ra Devil's beam, and Wily says he realized Ra Moon must be directly powering Ra Devil, leaving his energy divided and his defenses down. Attacking Ra Moon is the solution, however, Wily warn that if he miss, Ra Moon will adapt or Ra Devil will crush him. With this new information, Mega Man forms two Mega Busters and begins charging energy on both of them. Wily warns him that his body can't support that kind of output and he will destroy himself to save everyone, but Mega Man refuses to run away and lose after having come this far. With a final request to Wily to take his body back to Dr. Light, Mega Man fires at Ra Moon, obliterating him. Ra Moon's destruction ends the electromagnetic wave around the world, the Robot Masters under his control return to their senses, and Ra Devil dissolves.

Several days pass and Robot Masters around the world are reconstructing the world to the way it was and making rescues. In Light Labs, Auto is mowing the grass and Roll, now repaired, cleans the lab while a tired Dr. Light sleeps on a chair. Someone rings the doorbell, and for the surprise of Roll and Dr. Light, it's Dr. Wily and Light's damaged robots, with Guts Man holding a dying Mega Man. Unknown to all, Ra Moon uses his remaining power to send out a final transmission to his children in a space station.

Short Circuits - "Sweet Dreams": Ice Man dreams about fairy tales.

Game Differences

 * In the comic, Wily discovers Ra Moon after the events of Mega Man 2 but before the events of Mega Man 3.
 * The Mega Man 3 Robot Masters are built the first time by Ra Moon-with the exception of Shadow Man-not recreated by it like the Mega Man 2 Robot Masters. Shadow Man is restored and upgraded by Ra Moon, and he and the other Mega Man 3 Robot Masters all fall under Ra Moon's control.
 * Due to the placement of the arc, Proto Man remains loyal to Dr. Wily during the events of the adaptation and goes by the alias of Break Man. However, he is also the one who provides Dr. Light with the formula for the protective coating that allows Mega Man and his teammates to function in the EM field.
 * Mega Man's party consists only of himself, Guts Man, Cut Man, Bomb Man, and Rush in the comic, whereas the game also included Beat, Fire Man, Ice Man (who didn't actually contribute), and Elec Man.
 * Ra Moon betrays Dr. Wily prior to spreading its EM Field across the planet, instead of during the final battle as in the game.
 * In addition, Ra Thor was created by Dr. Wily alone specifically to stop Ra Moon after the aforementioned betrayal, instead of it being a joint project between himself and Ra Moon.
 * Ra Moon's spreading of his EM Field in the original game only affected Roll due to her being the only female Robot Master, while in the Archie Comics series, all Robot Masters and machinery were affected by the EM Field except for those revived by/under the control of Ra Moon and Break Man. Roll still required a special capsule as she did in the game, due to the damage from Break Man's attack preventing repair work on her.
 * The ruins where the defunct Shadow Man was found in Mega Man 3 are identified as the Lanfront Ruins in the comic, and Shadow Man is the only Robot Master to actually be loyal to Ra Moon. Due to the need for him to appear in Mega Man 3, he does not suffer the fatal defeat in the comics that he does in the Super Adventure Rockman game.
 * Likewise, Wood Man, unlike in Super Adventure Rockman, does not strike up a friendship with Shadow Man in the comic. Ironically, Wood Man is also one of the Robot Masters responsible for taking Shadow Man down for the count while he was pinned down by Flash Man's Time Stopper (the others being Bomb Man and Air Man).
 * Quick Man ends up backstabbed twice by Shadow Man in the comic instead of only once like in the game. Likewise, Quick Man, unlike in the game, does not actually fight Mega Man at all (although he did briefly consider doing so when conflicted on what he should do). In addition, unlike in the game, Quick Man does not actually die from being stabbed in the back.
 * Plant Man appears in this and was revealed to be created by the Archie Comics-exclusive character Pedro Astil, something that wasn't the case in the games.
 * The Mega Man 2 Robot Masters, after initially battling Mega Man's party, team up with them to battle the Mega Man 3 Masters and Ra Thor.
 * Ra Moon is revealed to be affiliated with the Stardroids and Sunstar of the Game Boy title Mega Man V.
 * Although the game commented on the risks of using the Double Mega Buster regularly, it otherwise had Mega Man surviving relatively unscathed after using it to defeat Ra Moon, while in the Archie Comics adaptation, Mega Man using the Double Mega Buster left him near-death, requiring that Dr. Wily and Dr. Light repair Mega Man and restore his functions in the aftermath.

Trivia

 * Beside the reprint of issues 29-32 and Short Circuits (with their titles revealed), the graphic novel also includes: a text about adapting Super Adventure Rockman game into comic, and some script and pencil selections.

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