Udon Entertainment 2017
Written by Matt Moylan
Illustrated by Hanzo Steinbach
Lettered by Marshall Dillon
Well after that arc in Street Fighter Unlimited we kind of saw what happened with Gill I mean he went to a bad place and met someone. So this is the story that stems from that encounter and I have to say I like the fact that his coincides with the Unlimited series and yet even if you haven’t read it you can still pick this up with no worries, completely new reader friendly.
The opening here is well done and brings us up to date on what’s happening, sort of. Jedah and Gill return to Jedah’s home to reclaim his spot and thus sets the stage for the next part of their story. What that is we don’t know but we do learn a few things and chief among them is why he needs Gill right now. I will say I like this a lot and gives us this potential for something interesting and duplicitous to happen and visually speaking it really felt like it was on level with some Cardcaptor Sakura or a like minded series.
Then we’re off to Egypt as a man and his man servant are chasing down a legendary tomb of a lost Pharaoh. Again this has all the feel, mood and tone of one those incredibly fun and interesting animated series. I’d watch this in a heartbeat as it mixes the Street Fighter action with some Tomb Raider and even aspects of Yu Gi Oh.
Azam and his Master have some great high tech equipment to help them find the burial chamber of Anakaris, the Resurrection Pharaoh. The writing here is fantastic, the way the story unfolds for us wonderful, the characterisation is delightful and we really get drawn into this and want to see these two with their own spin-off story. It also makes us wonder what’s so special about these two that we are focusing so intently upon them?
So this was a full length sneak peek at the what we have to look forward to for this story arc. There’s fun, excitement, danger and that whole aspect of the franchise that makes it what it is--fight sequences! Actually I am pretty impressed with how Matt is able to create a story that has all these elements and still can feature some great fight scenes. The franchise was created around fighting and to be able to keep that front and center while still telling an intricate and involved story is something to be admired.
I’ve already mentioned that the interiors rival anything we’ve seen in animated series and it does and I love that about it. The use of page layouts with their angles and perspective really do wonders in bringing this to life. I love the attention to detail in the work we see as well since it elevates the work and shows off the creativity and imagination beautifully. From the Pharaoh to Jedah’s coat to the blood statue we see the work has this oomph to it that hits just right.
Udon is doing some absolutely amazing things with this franchise and if you want to have some “after school” fun again you need this in your life!