UDON/Capcom 2016
Written by Matt Moylan, Jim Zub & Ken Siu-Chong
Illustrated by Omar Dogan & Takeshi Miyazawa
Coloured by Espen Grundetjern
Lettered by Marshall Dillon
Featuring four short stories! Juri faces off against the deadly doll Decapre! Ibuki battles the mysterious Q! Sakura and Dan get down to some serious training, and Chun-li tangles with the Mad Gear Gang! It's a truly legendary gathering of rare tales in Street Fighter's first Annual 1-shot!
I have to say that the more adventures that I read in the Street Fighter universe the more i’m coming really enjoy them. Yes i’m familiar with this as a video game and in my youth remember trying to play them at the arcade but I never thought enough about it to think it would be something worthy of further exploration. I’m glad that these creators have done so much to prove me wrong.
One of the things that I really enjoy about these stories is that while they may have been originally been published in hardcover graphic novels they don’t feel dated. They hold up extremely well and actually introduce readers to characters we may not have heard of before and get us to want to see more of them.
Each set of interiors are wonderfully done. The use of page layouts through angles, perspective and backgrounds really do wonders in telling the stories visually. I love that they have this animated feel to them that are expressive and show off the action skills the characters possess. With what the characters are capable of doing their slightly exaggerated bodies look wonderful and feel natural.
I could’ve gone through and told you specifically about each vignette but why do that and spoil the fun. Each one is short and succinct and is utilised extremely well to tell a good solid story in short amount of space. I can’t stress enough how good each of these are as stand alone stories are and how they somehow manage to not only explore this universe but make you want to see more.
This is also a great opportunity for people to explore the Street Fighter universe without feeling lost or intimidated because they aren’t familiar with it. These four stories give you a great glimpse into the kind of things you’ll see in the ongoing monthly series as well as the plethora of graphic novels that are in print.
So if you’ve ever wanted to give the franchise a try and see what it’s like this is the perfect place to do it. Grab one and enjoy seeing all the circumstances where the characters can cut loose and show off their personalities!