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Street
Fighter
Stage 01
1/SEP/2003
Publisher: Image Comics/Udon Entertainment
Writer: Ken Siu-Chong
Artists: Alvin Lee, Arnold Tsang, Andrew Hou &
Rey
Special Guest Artist: Joe Madureira
Letters: Cyber Graphix
Price: $2.95 US/R35.00SA
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Probably the most loved fighting video game franchise
of all time comes jumping off the screen and into the world of comics.
A US agent is ruthlessly murdered while investigating the Shadaloo.
Ryu arrives in San Francisco to track down his
friend Ken after he finds his master slain at the
hands of a mystery assailant and Guile goes looking
for answers in search of the missing US agent.
The quality of story will probably surprise a lot
of people as many of you wouldn’t have expected much of a
storyline at all. What we get is a nice intro to some of the major
players in this issue and at least a little bit of reasoning behind
the big fight scenes that dominate these kinds of comics. This issue
even manages to finish off with a nice hook to get us ready for
issue #2.
The real highlight of this comic is the visuals.
This has got to be the best artwork I’ve seen to come out
of Udon Studios in a long while. The pencils are dynamic and larger
than life and catch the kinetic feel of the major characters and
fight scenes perfectly.
The major unexpected bonus was the digitally painted backgrounds.
The brush style used to colour these backgrounds provides a rich
and realistic setting and helps to make the lead characters leap
of the page.
And just when you think this comic can’t get any more visually
stunning you turn the page and are bowled over by a backup story
with art by the legendary Joe Madureira [Battle
Chasers, Uncanny X-Men]. This four pager
is the icing on an already fat cake and you’ll be drooling
as you read this one.
My only gripe on the artistic side of things would have to be with
the lettering. In some places it is out of resolution and its line
edges are pixelated and unclear. At other times it just doesn’t
seem on par with the rest of the art and definitely brings the book
down.
A highly successful start to what could have been a very bad comic.
Glorious visuals mixed together with a solid enough story to make
it all seem feasible.
Score 8/10
Reviewed By:Iain Duncan
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Comic Reviews
