Australian Ninja has mastered the Hurricane Kick
Mon, 4 July 2005
by: Australian Ninja
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Capcom has a dirty secret. Street Fighter has a real storyline. A storyline that has been laying dormant, until now.
The story elements and characters are drawn from the Street fighter world warrior video game series, the Zero / Alpha series and the first animated movie into a cohesive whole that will impress fans old and new.
How does the artwork look? Truthfully, it looks jaw-droppingly gorgeous. You'll have to do your best not to drool on the pages, thus ruining them for future reading. The quality of the artwork is comparable only to the first animated movie. It looks and reads like a high budget animated manga movie. The professional movie-like quality of the artwork including colouring, lighting, and 'camera' shots (panels) is deliciously stylish and polished to perfection.
Rich, vibrant colours bring to life the world of Street Fighter. You'll find conspiracies, plots for revenge, mysterious characters with hidden agendas, and intense rivalry between warriors all contained in this collection. Did I forget to mention tons of satisfying kick-ass fighting action in the grand Street Fighter tradition?
This comic is undeniably for the fans and won't be winning any 'best writer; comic awards. This is 'popcorn' entertainment at its best. There's nothing pretentious about this story. It's big budget action, intense hardcore fighting, beautiful - crazy - and ugly skilled warriors whose personalities dominate the story.
The set-up is Ryu hooks up with his old sparring partner and friend Ken. Ryu informs Ken that their old master has been murdered, nobody knows who did it or why. Strangely, Ryu is also haunted by vivid dreams of an evil presence within his own mind. Ryu and Ken travel to Japan together to investigate the murder. Unknown to them, they are constantly spied on by M. Bison and the Shadaloo network.
Shadaloo is the secret criminal organization created and run by Bison. M. Bison also organizes the Street Fighter tournament. Behind the scenes his Shadaloo organization profit from illegal drugs, arms dealing and general mayhem.
Bisons pet project seems to be globally monitoring fighters and looking for the most powerful fighters in the world. His reasons remain known only to himself.
Meanwhile agent Chun-Li runs into Guile while investigating Bison's crime network. Inevitably they meet with Ryu and Ken, but really the characters events run in parallel, rather than all together.
Along the way Ryu and Ken encounter various fighters and have wacky adventures when Boss Hog stashes illegal moonshine in their car, the General Lee. No, they get into fights for no particular reason of course. Stupid punk tries to rob the restaurant while they eat? No problem, a friendly ha-do-ken sends him packing. Never get between an elite martial artist and his Ramen (Japanese noodles). Especially one with the ability to throw psychokinetic blue fire balls at you.
The characters contained in this volume are rich and varied, such as;
Ryu: the brooding lone warrior on a quest.
Sakura: the teen schoolgirl who wants to train under Ryu and become a great fighter. Blanka: the bizarre beast man.
Akuma: the warrior of seething rage and dark arts. His Gi (martial art uniform) displays the kanji for Heaven on his back, suggesting this is where any opponent foolish enough to challenge him will go.
M. Bison: the megalomaniacal bad guy who plans to rule the world in archetypal Bond villain fashion. He certainly has the network, influence and power to give it a shot.
A host of other characters feature. Some constructed with creative originality, others with painfully stereotypical qualities, but all great personalities and larger than life. Plus they all get to layeth, or receivith, the smackdown at some point. And what more could you want from a comic based on a video-game about fighting?
This comic really does expand exponentially on the vague (often lame) scraps that have passed for 'story' for years in the games. It's satisfying to find out why Guile is searching for Charlie. Why, of all colours, Ryu wears a red headband. Just how powerful are Akuma and M. Bison really? It is also nice to see how sexy Chun-Li can be, when she's more than just jaggy pixels.
Street Fighter the comic is recommended for fans of the video-game series, fans of martial arts manga movies, and general action-movie and/or comic fans.
"Street Fighter Round One: FIGHT!" is officially licensed by Capcom to Devils Due Publishing and created by UDON studios. Volume one collects the six-issue mini-series in TPB digest, colour format.
by: Australian Ninja
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