TRANSFORMERS #0 - #6

"PRIME DIRECTIVE"*
Written by Chris Sarracini | Pencils by Pat Lee
Inks by Rob Armstrong w/Erik Sander & Ferdinand Poblete
Backgrounds by Edwin Garcia | Letters by Dreamer Design | Flats by Kenny Li
Colors by TheRealT!, Ramil Sunga, Gary Yeung, Alan Wang, Shaun Curtis,
Rob Ruffalo, Stuart Ng, Angelo Tsang, Juan Malera, Matt Cossin, Pat Lee, Talent Pun
Graphic Design: Paul Villafuerte & Kevin Lee | Edits by Matt Moylan

The Plot: Several years after the Transformers' arrival on Earth, the Autobots defeated the Decepticons and attempted to return to Cybertron aboard the Ark II, along with a human expeditionary force. But The Ark II exploded after takeoff and all aboard were presumed destroyed or killed.

Three years after the Ark II's destruction, a mercenary named Lazarus has located a number of Transformers and reprogrammed them, intending to auction them off to the world's mercenaries as weapons. But the U.S. military has a Transformer of their own, Optimus Prime. Enlisting Spike Witwicky's help, the U.S.'s General Hallo awakens Optimus Prime. Prime gathers a small number of Autobots from the Ark II's undersea crash site to fight Lazarus at his arctic base. But instead, Megatron breaks free of the mercenary's control, restores his Decepticon followers, and renews his plans to conquer the Earth, this time by using a virus to transform it into a replica of Cybertron. The Decepticons escape the arctic, leaving the Autobots to face Megatron's virus.

Optimus and a handful of Autobots pursue the Decepticons (whose ranks are bolstered by the traitorous Dinobot Commander Grimlock) to San Francisco while the remaining Autobots stay behind to fight the virus. Spike, meanwhile, is taken away by General Hallo, who it turns out was actually in league with Lazarus at one time. As the Autobots and Decepticons fight it out in the City by the Bay, Hallo orders a nuclear strike against them. Superion sacrifices himself to save the city and Hallo is gunned down by the president's men. In the arctic, Wheeljack also sacrifices himself to stop Megatron's virus. The Decepticons escape San Francisco in the chaos and Grimlock departs as well, choosing to walk his own path away from the Autobots.

STREET FIGHTER ORIGINS: AKUMA

Story: Chris Sarracini | Line Art: Joe Ng
Inks: Robert Armstrong & Kevin Raganit | Colors: Espen Grundetjern
Lettering: Marshall Dillon | Flats Assist: Ludwig Olimba
Project Editor: Matt Moylan | Chief of Operarions: Erik Ko

So -- Akuma. I've never quite got the appeal of this guy. He looks cool, I guess. I believe he was first introduced in one of STREET FIGHTER II's many variant games, as a hidden boss above even M. Bison. And he's appeared in a ton of games since then, to the point that he's considered a main STREET FIGHTER cast member. And, due to his apparent popularity, UDON chose him to headline the first (and so far only) STREET FIGHTER ORIGINS original graphic novel.

Published in 2013, AKUMA fills in the shared backstory of both the title character and his brother, Gouken. It begins with the men as children, living on a rice farm with their parents. In short order the farm is assaulted by a group of assassins who reveal that the boys' father was once a hired killer as well. As their father is murdered by these men, the boys escape with their mother. Gouken believes they should hide, but Akuma favors a bolder approach. He leaves their mountain hideout and is soon taken in by a dojo, where he trains under Goutetsu, the man who taught his father.

Years pass and Akuma grows restless. He leaves for Tokyo and soon after, Gouken arrives at the dojo to train with Goutetsu as well. Eventually Akuma returns and is sent to his final test, several days' meditation in the mountains where, unbeknownst to him, Gouken is undergoing the same trial. Each brother is then separately offered a chance to take revenge on the men who killed their father. Gouken refuses, having attained inner peace, but Akuma takes up the offer and razes the men's village, killing them as well as all the innocents in his path.