Street Fighter: Menat #1
UDON Entertainment/Capcom 2019
Written by Ken Siu-Chong
Illustrated by Hanzo Steinbach
Lettered by Marshall Dillon
The first in a series of new Street Fighter one-shot comics! Meet Menat, the enigmatic Egyptian fortune teller on a quest to avenge her master's death. But it's not just any villain Menat is seeking... it's the Dark Lord of Shadaloo himself--M.Bison!
Growing up I remember the hype around the video game, in the Arcade long before there were home gaming systems. I played a few times but they were never my thing. Then sometime in the not so distant past I discovered the comics from UDON and suddenly I found that the franchise took on a whole new life and meaning for me. It is kind of like G.I. Joe, it wasn’t until they were published by Devil’s Due that I really got into them and now I am a die-hard fan. So for me I marvel at what Ken does with the storytelling here and how he’s able to incorporate interesting, meaningful stories and yet fill them with epic battles at the same time. Trust me when I say this if you think this is a silly kids book then you’ve never read one and you are doing yourself a disservice by not reading it.
Just about everyone knows the main characters in the franchise with Ken, Ryu, Chun-Li and Cammy heck even Sagat and M. Bison. So it is nice to see that we are getting a chance to get to know some of the other, later additions, to the Street Fighter family. I have no idea who Menat and Maggio are but after reading this I have some idea and it’s more than enough to make want to see more of them. That is the really important part isn’t it? To have the characters be likeable and relatable to so that the audience has that innate desire to come back time and time again so more of the characters in action.
I also am enjoying the characterisation and the lesson involved with the story. I love how we see the characters react to an event and as per usual, more so nowadays, it’s time to jump to conclusions without knowing all the facts. Patience may be a virtue, but not one I possess, but even that has it’s limits when folks can do what they do here. Regardless I really appreciate how that is worked into the story as an abject lesson.
The interiors from Hanzo have this very blended feel of Anime/Manga and western cartoons. While I would like to believe that this is hand drawn I am leaning toward computer generated art instead. It seems to be the current hip thing to use. So either way I will say one thing, learn to utilise backgrounds more! Backgrounds are what make scenes come alive, expand the moment and bring us a size and scope to the world and story don’t leave them out and be lazy. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a decent eye for storytelling. The colour work too could stand with some colour gradation instead of solid to shadowed but I do like the way we see light sources being utilised.
Ken knows this world like the back of his hand and it shows when he’s writing these stories. That he cares so much is evident in the work he produces and by extension we get to feel this as well and it really is truly something that we get to see first hand. From the story & plot development, the pacing and the characterisation we are treated to a first class story and yes I am most assuredly counting the interior artwork in this as well. Fun, entertaining and completely surprising this is what we want to see in comics.
UDON Entertainment/Capcom 2019
Written by Ken Siu-Chong
Illustrated by Hanzo Steinbach
Lettered by Marshall Dillon
The first in a series of new Street Fighter one-shot comics! Meet Menat, the enigmatic Egyptian fortune teller on a quest to avenge her master's death. But it's not just any villain Menat is seeking... it's the Dark Lord of Shadaloo himself--M.Bison!
Growing up I remember the hype around the video game, in the Arcade long before there were home gaming systems. I played a few times but they were never my thing. Then sometime in the not so distant past I discovered the comics from UDON and suddenly I found that the franchise took on a whole new life and meaning for me. It is kind of like G.I. Joe, it wasn’t until they were published by Devil’s Due that I really got into them and now I am a die-hard fan. So for me I marvel at what Ken does with the storytelling here and how he’s able to incorporate interesting, meaningful stories and yet fill them with epic battles at the same time. Trust me when I say this if you think this is a silly kids book then you’ve never read one and you are doing yourself a disservice by not reading it.
Just about everyone knows the main characters in the franchise with Ken, Ryu, Chun-Li and Cammy heck even Sagat and M. Bison. So it is nice to see that we are getting a chance to get to know some of the other, later additions, to the Street Fighter family. I have no idea who Menat and Maggio are but after reading this I have some idea and it’s more than enough to make want to see more of them. That is the really important part isn’t it? To have the characters be likeable and relatable to so that the audience has that innate desire to come back time and time again so more of the characters in action.
I also am enjoying the characterisation and the lesson involved with the story. I love how we see the characters react to an event and as per usual, more so nowadays, it’s time to jump to conclusions without knowing all the facts. Patience may be a virtue, but not one I possess, but even that has it’s limits when folks can do what they do here. Regardless I really appreciate how that is worked into the story as an abject lesson.
The interiors from Hanzo have this very blended feel of Anime/Manga and western cartoons. While I would like to believe that this is hand drawn I am leaning toward computer generated art instead. It seems to be the current hip thing to use. So either way I will say one thing, learn to utilise backgrounds more! Backgrounds are what make scenes come alive, expand the moment and bring us a size and scope to the world and story don’t leave them out and be lazy. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a decent eye for storytelling. The colour work too could stand with some colour gradation instead of solid to shadowed but I do like the way we see light sources being utilised.
Ken knows this world like the back of his hand and it shows when he’s writing these stories. That he cares so much is evident in the work he produces and by extension we get to feel this as well and it really is truly something that we get to see first hand. From the story & plot development, the pacing and the characterisation we are treated to a first class story and yes I am most assuredly counting the interior artwork in this as well. Fun, entertaining and completely surprising this is what we want to see in comics.
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