#launch octopus

Already on the first page, three Maverick bosses get defeated. It not only reeks of terrible pacing, but makes X's journey look too easy. Not to mention, excluding Kuwanger was a stupid choice since he and X were once friends (at least in MHX). He was definitely one of my favorite Maverick bosses in that game along with Sting Chameleon, Storm Eagle, and Armored Armadillo. Seeing him wasted like this is disappointing, but not at all that surprising, given what we've seen with Spark Mandrill in the previous issue.

Oh, and what do you know? Luna and Minerva are actually drawn normally for once. I wasn't expecting that since this is Udon we're talking about. But I'm not going to give credit or cookies to Hanzo Steinbeck for doing the bare minimum of representing women respectfully in a comic book. This should be the norm, not the exception.

I really dislike how Zero was inserted into this issue as tagging along with X. How are you gonna doubt the guy who took on seven Mavericks solo, especially the more difficult ones like Storm Eagle and Boomerang Kuwanger? And with upgrades no less. I thought this was supposed to be X's story, but I guess the chuds at Udon couldn't resist some Zero glazing. As if we needed more of it.

Oh, and I really hate how he talks here. In the Timelines and first issues, he speaks normally. Now suddenly he talks like he's a Southerner in the US? Why? What was the thought process behind this choice? It doesn't make sense and makes Zero seem incredibly out of character.

Dr. Light's "this world of man" really irritated me. It's archaic and doesn't make sense for a future setting like Megaman X where even now in 2026, people are using "humans" or "humanity" to describe homo sapiens. Male comic book writers not referring to humankind as man challenge: IMPOSSIBLE.

Oh, and there's supposed to be some kind of Transformers joke in this page, but since I'm not big on that franchise (I grew up with Beast Wars and watched the Armada anime series), I definitely missed it. Don't understand the reasoning for this except that Dan Arseneault worked on the Transformers comics before writing for the X series. Not saying there isn't an overlap between X and Transformers fans, but I don't think that overlap is common. I dunno. Seems like a weird choice to include when you're trying to market your comics towards hardcore and casual fans alike.

This is actually a decent page. X knowing that he can easily destroy this robot but actively chooses not to is great storytelling for his character. It makes me wish we had more moments like these where X shows restraint and doesn't resort to killing to get the job done.

Oh, boy! Another typo! I get that Udon is not on the same level as Marvel or DC, but come on. There's no excuse not to have this stuff proofread before finalizing it.

This actually seems on brand for Sting Chameleon. Dude was not well-liked in his unit which prevented opportunities for a potential promotion, so I wouldn't put it past him to use his stealth abilities to ambush the entire 9th Special Rangers Unit.

I dunno, but Zero incapacitating a Maverick boss with one stab feels like glazing when you consider that the fights X had took more effort. However, the next page...

I like X saving Zero this time around and finishing the job. This page was peak aura farming for X.

This page is my favorite. Zero gassing up X as he makes his grand entrance in the fully assembled First/Light Armor. He looks adorable.

That's it for now. Definitely an improvement from issue #2, but the comics still struggles with pacing, typos, weird dialogue choices, expanded lore that is immediately forgotten and goes nowhere, and bringing absolutely nothing new to the plot of X1.