Still less violent than social media.
Virtua Fighter
Marvel Comics, though I suspect this was a Malibu leftover based on writing and art style (August, 1995)
WRITER: Mark Paniccia
COLORING (different titles for both stories): Moose Baumann & ‘Bu Tones
LETTERER: Teresa Davidson
EDITORS: Dan Shaheen & Mark Paniccia
[untitled first story]
LAYOUTS: Patrick Rolo
FINISHES: Scott Reed, Moose Baumann, & Abraham Madison
CO-LETTERER: Patrick Owsley
“The Painful Past”
PENCILER: Vinton T. Heuck
INKER: John Miller
In the untitled main story the various fighters of this year’s Virtua Fighter tournament gather in a dojo in Virtua City to spar. Among them are pro wrestler and Australian martial artist Wolf Hawkfield and Jeffry McWild, who decide to step out to check out a club, only to find some of the locals are against anyone else showing up. They learn not to block the entrance of a public club. Back at the dojo their friend and fellow competitor Akira Yuki, a martial arts instructor, fails to make a good first impression on actress Pai Chan, who has some issues with her father, Lau Chan, who is also taking part in the tournament. Meanwhile, Sarah Bryant has come here searching for her brother…to defeat him on behalf of a mysterious organization.
This is a good introduction to most of the cast of the first game. I should note that Virtua Fighter is my favorite fighting game. It has combos I can figure out but aren’t too easy, I like the brighter colors, which this comic has in the dojo but for some reason tries to treat the city as some dark secret place, Gotham City Lite perhaps. Considering the various fighting locations in the game that seems a bit off but not a deal breaker. They also make the mistake of dark purple for the caption boxes, which makes the black text harder to read. Choose your caption box colors wisely, letterers. As an introduction to the characters and their motivations it works quite well. However, we’re missing a few competitors.
That’s where story two comes in. The back-up has Jacky Bryant reaching Border Town, the outskirts of Virtua City. Stopping to rest in a diner, Jacky is met by a man in a trenchcoat who wants to know his story. Jacky was a champion racer until an accident nearly killed him. Sarah went looking for the saboteurs but they kidnapped and brainwashed her into the girl we met in the first story. The stranger, a ninja going by Kage-Maru, is convinced he’s not telling the full story because the organization behind the Bryants’ woes also attacked his village and took his mother. He attempts to beat the info out of them but the fight is interrupted by the arrival of the police. Jacky wants the prize money to help find his sister, not knowing she’s waiting for him in the Virtua Fighter tournament!
The organization and the story surrounding the Bryants and Kage-Maru are from the game’s backstory, but being a fighting game they’ve never really had a chance to explore it. This story promises a chance to go into the organization, not named here but I just checked the Virtua Fighter fandom wiki. They’re called Judgement 6, and unlike Shadowloo in the Street Fighter series are not tied to the tournament itself, though it apparently has a grudge against Jackie, plus whatever reason they had for raiding Kage-Maru’s village. I really want to read more of this story, but sadly this is the only issue.
Virtua Fighter never got the big media push than it’s more successful cousin Street Fighter has. Outside of this comic there was a short anime series nobody talks about which was fun but also made some odd changes. Chief among them is focusing on Akira and Pan’s issues with her father’s own criminal organization, but turned Akira into Goku essentially and giving them a “will they/won’t they” connection because Akira accidentally fell into her face, a typical anime trope at the time. Also he has a strange obsession with dumplings and she hates them so guess what was on his breath at the time. Though from the episodes I managed to get on home video did a good job introducing Jacky and Sarah’s backstory as we got to live it with the two, forming a good foursome paring. I’d do a review but reviewing anime is a total pain thanks to Japan’s rights issues. I enjoy it but it doesn’t completely line up with the games. This comic does and I wish it had continued. I still think that Marvel grabbed this with Malibu (the ads are for Ultraverse titles rather than regular Marvel Universe titles) and didn’t continue it. Maybe it’s some licensing issue but while Udon has done a fantastic job with Street Fighter nobody has touched this series and it’s really a shame. If this comic is any indication I would have loved this series.
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