This year’s Street Fighter tournament couldn’t afford fireworks for the pre-game party.
FCBD 2014 Street Fighter #0
Udon Studios (May, 2014; as posted to comiXology)
LETTERER: Marshall Dillon (someone’s parents was a Gunsmoke fan)
“Hong Kong Hustle”
WRITER: Jim Zub
ARTIST: Hanzo Steinbech
“Your Enemies Closer”
WRITER: Ken Siu-Chiong
LINE ART: Takeshi Miyazawa
COLORIST: Espen Grundetjern
“Beyond The Hills”
WRITER: Chris Saraccini
PENCILER: Joe Ng
INKER: Rob Armstrong
COLORIST: Espen Grundetjern
Our first story has one of Ken’s students trying to help a woman being accosted by some rough customers. He fights well but is overwhelmed. Good thing the woman is Chun-Li. I liked this story. It shows Ken passing his teachings to the next generation and teaching them to use their skills to help others AND we get to see Chun-Li kick butt.
In the second story Seth uses Juri to explore more of his new masters after the fall of Shadoloo and the death of Bison. Except Bison isn’t dead and is now working with the Illuminati-style society. Juri decides to join up after Seth is beaten…but her goal remains being the one to kill Bison. This one loses me a bit because I don’t know if this is the game’s story or Udon’s continuity at the time. The art is good though and it’s well told if you know what’s going on…I think.
The final story is a preview to Street Fighter Origins: Akuma. With a rage in him Akuma leaves his sensei and travels to Tokyo in search of honor, but finds a fixed underground fight ring. The owner of the ring wants Akuma to join his group, but while the owner believes in power over honor Akuma has other ideas. I kind of like this story. The fight owner’s motivation isn’t vilified or condoned. This is what he believes and this how Akuma responds. Considering this is the tale of the fall of one of the game’s villains (at least in extended media) not tied to Bison it tells the story well and the whole book has great artwork, as typical for Udon.
Overall this was a really enjoyable read. If you’re a fan of the games and have considered checking out the comic this is a good one to test out if you find it.
