ROBOTECH: PRELUDE TO THE SHADOW CHRONICLES

"THE ENEMY WITHIN" | "RETRIBUTION | "NECESSARY EVIL"
"GHOSTS OF THE PAST" | "THE CHILDREN OF THE SHADOWS"
Story: Tommy Yune | Script: Jason Waltrip and John Waltrip
Art: Omar Dogan @UDON Studios | Art Assist: Jason & John Waltrip (#4-5)
Letterer: Travis Lanham | Color Assists: Ali Tavaholy (#4) & Miguel Troncoso (#5)
Assistant Editor: Kristy Quinn | Editor: Ben Abernathy

Back when it originally aired, ROBOTECH proved so popular that Harmony Gold began production of a 65-episode sequel series, ROBOTECH II: THE SENTINELS. This would have followed Admirals Rick Hunter and Lisa Hayes as they embarked on an exploratory mission to Tirol, the Robotech Masters' homeworld, to pursue peace. A few episodes of THE SENTINELS were fully animated, then the series lost its main advertiser and the production was canceled. But THE SENTINELS lived on through licensed media -- a series of five novels told the story according to producer Carl Macek's original plans, and an ongoing comic book series adapted the story as well -- however the comic eventually met the same fate as the TV show, ceasing publication mid-storyline in 1996.

Ten years later, Harmony Gold released ROBOTECH: THE SHADOW CHRONICLES, a direct-to-DVD sequel movie to the original ROBOTECH animation. As a lead-in to the film, Wildstorm published PRELUDE THE SHADOW CHRONICLES, a 5-issue miniseries scripted by the original SENTINELS comic writer-artists, Jason and John Waltrip, from a story by Tommy Yune.

ROBOTECH: INVASION

Story: Tommy Yune | Script: Jay Faerber
Art: Takeshi Miyazawa & Omar Dogan w/Alan Tam (#5)
Letterers: Phil Balsman (#1-3) & Rob Leigh (#4-5)
Colorists: Studio XD (#1-2), Long Vo (#3-5) w/Charles Park & Saka (#4-5)
Assistant Editor: Kristy Quinn | Editors: Ben Abernathy & Alex Sinclair
Special Thanks to: Erik Ko & Tom Bateman

Wildstorm's ROBOTECH line continued in 2004 with INVASION, though in retrospect one wonders if the various mini-series were perhaps selling less than originally anticipated. FROM THE STARS debuted in 2002 with a #0 issue followed by a six-issue series, every one of which (except #0) featuring two covers, standard and variant. 2003 saw the release of LOVE AND WAR, six issues also with variants for every one. Now we reach 2004 and INVASION, which is a five-issue mini-series featuring a variant for only the first installment. By the time we get to 2005 and Wildstorm's final ROBOTECH mini-series, PRELUDE TO THE SHADOW CHRONICLES, we'll encounter a five-parter with no variants.

So, over the course of four years Wildstorm would produce a whopping four ROBOTECH mini-series, with the number of variant covers and the number of issues per series decreasing over time. And I should note that it's not the number of mini-series I find odd; Harmony Gold was carefully rebooting their "expanded universe" at the time and all the various tie-ins were masterminded by Tommy Yune, who was also producing the then-upcoming ROBOTECH: THE SHADOW CHRONICLES direct-to-video animation. Yune was certainly busy, and one series a year was probably all he and the company were willing to handle. It's more the decline in series length and variant covers that stands out to me.

At any rate -- ROBOTECH INVASION is set in the "New Generation"/Invid invasion era of the original series, though properly speaking, its placement in the timeline puts it between the "Robotech Masters" saga and "New Generation". It follows Lt. Lance Belmont of Mars Base 10, a fighter pilot in an attempt by the Robotech Expeditionary Force's first attempt to retake Earth from the alien Invid.

ROBOTECH: MARS BASE ONE

Story: Tommy Yune | Art: Omar Dogan with Simon Yeung
Letterers: Phil Balsman (#1-2), Rob Leigh (#3), Pat Brosseau (#4) & Jared Fletcher (#5)
Assistant Editor: Kristy Quinn | Editors: Ben Abernathy & Alex Sinclair

ROBOTECH: INVASION, which we'll discuss next time, features a human fleet returning to Earth from colonized Mars in the year 2039. As a thematic tie-in to that tale, INVASION's backup serial chronicles the origin of Earth's first Martian base, appropriately titled "Mars Base One".

We begin our story in 2006 with some familiar faces seen previously in FROM THE STARS and LOVE AND WAR; namely Admiral Hayes and Doctor Lang. Lang's assistant, Karl Riber, begins dating Hayes's daughter, Lisa. Meanwhile, Hayes's wife is killed in a bombing by the Anti-Unification league, but this doesn't deter him from his duty to keep Earth safe from alien invasion. While Lisa leaves for the Robotech academy on Macross Island, Karl heads to Mars, where Hayes has commissioned a base devoted to reverse-engineering Robotechnology found aboard the SDF-1.

But the Zentraedi, searching the galaxy for SDF-1, arrive at Mars Base a few years later and attack. Nearly all crew are killed, save Karl and his commanding officer, Colonel Rodriguez. Rodriguez gives his life to fire off a blast from the base's cannon, destroying the Zentraedi ship above, while Karl sends a message to Admiral Hayes informing him of the attack and bidding farewell to Lisa, as he will surely die long before help could arrive from Earth. As the story ends, Hayes realizes the countdown to alien invasion has just been vastly accelerated.

ROBOTECH: LITTLE WHITE DRAGON

Words: Ken Siu-Chong with Tommy Yune | Pencils: Jo Chen
Inks: Alan Tamm | Colors: UDON | Letters: Jenna Garcia (#1), Doctor Layman (#2-3),
Jared Fletcher (#4), Nick J. Napolitano (#5-6) | Assistant Editor: Kristy Quinn
Edits: Ben Abernathy | Special Thanks to: Erik Ko & Tom Bateman

Within the world of ROBOTECH, as the SDF-1 journeyed through the solar system on a two-year trek from Pluto back to Earth, the citizens of Macross City, trapped aboard ship, did their best to adapt and continue with their normal lives. One such diversion was the production of a motion picture, LITTLE WHITE DRAGON, aboard ship. This backup serial (originally printed alongside LOVE AND WAR), reveals the plot of LITTLE WHITE DRAGON for the first time, while interspersing movie scenes with "real world" moments aboard ship.

The film follows a young Shao Long martial artist named Kai-Fun, whose master and fellow monks are all killed when a meteorite falls from the sky in the year 999. Some time later, Kai-Fun returns to the his home island to investigate recent fishing boat raids and travels back to the temple with a guide named Wai-Lin. There they find a Zentraedi battlepod and warrior, which Kai-Fun duels.

In the real world, Wai-Lin is portrayed by Lynn Minmei, Rick Hunter's girlfriend, while the part of Kai-Fun is performed by her cousin, Lynn Kyle. The very brief out-of-movie scenes are both original and adaptations of moments from ROBOTECH, and depict Rick's and Minmei's relationship slowly deteriorating. At the story's conclusion, the Zentraedi watch a pirated broadcast of the film and take it as a historical document, which leads them to believe humans may be stronger than they have previously let on.

ROBOTECH: LOVE AND WAR

Script: Jay Faerber with Tommy Yune | Art: Long Vo, Charles Park & Saka of UDON
Letterers: Jenna Garcia (#1), John Layman (#2-3), Rob Leigh (#4) & Nick Napolitano (#5-6)
Assistant Editor: Kristy Quinn | Editor: Ben Abernathy
Special Thanks to: Erik Ko & Tom Bateman

Wildstorm's second ROBOTECH miniseries begins in the year 2031, at the dawn of the Third Robotech War, with a framing sequence as Dana Sterling, formerly of Earth's Army of the Southern Cross, tells her friend Bowie Grant the story of how her parents met. We then jump back to 2009 and follow young Max Sterling and his best friend, Ben Dixon, as they're caught up in the SDF-1's jump to outer space and battle with the alien Zentraedi.

Along the way we see several familiar faces from the "Macross Saga", including Rick Hunter, Roy Fokker, Lisa Hayes, Claudia, Grant, and Captain Gloval. Roy dies battling the Zentraedi and Ben soon follows, and eventually a Zentraedi warrior named Mirya Parina infiltrates the SDF-1 as a spy, meets Max, falls in love with him, and renounces her people to fight alongside the humans.

In 2031 once more, Dana and Bowie board a ship under the command of Colonel Jonathan Wolfe and leave Earth to join Admiral Rick Hunter and his Robotech Expeditionary Force in deep space.

If you're a ROBOTECH fan, most of this may sound familiar to you, and not without cause. For some inexplicable reason, Tommy Yune and Jay Faerber (now credited as co-writers rather than "plot" and "script" as on the previous mini-series) have chosen to retell several scenes from the TV show, usually adapting dialogue verbatim, while interspersing those scenes with bits of their own devising.

ROBOTECH: FROM THE STARS

Though originally published under the simple title of ROBOTECH, this mini-series was retroactively named FROM THE STARS with the release of the trade paperback edition.

"PROMISE" | "FROM THE STARS" | "CALL TO DUTY" | "THE PROGRAM"
"CONFLICT OF INTEREST" | "THE GATHERING STORM" | "COMMITMENT"
Story: Tommy Yune | Script: Jay Faerber
Art: Long Vo, Charles Park & Saka of UDON* | Letterer: Jenna Garcia
Assistant Editor: Kristy Quinn | Editor: Ben Abernathy
Special Thanks to: Tom Bateman, Erik Ko, and Sandra Hofman

Wildstorm's inaugural ROBOTECH mini-series, masterminded by the franchise's creative director, Tommy Yune of Harmony Gold, functions as a prequel to the 1985 animated series, filling in a great deal of backstory for one of the show's major characters and his world.

The story begins in the year 2015, not long after the conclusion of ROBOTECH's first segment, "The Macross Saga". Captain Rick Hunter, Veritech fighter squadron leader, takes some time to reminisce about his late friend, mentor, and surrogate "big brother", Roy Fokker. We then jump back in time to the year 1999 as Roy leaves the flying circus run by Rick's father to enlist in the armed forces as a pilot in the ongoing global war. Six months later, Roy witnesses the arrival of a UFO on Earth in the South Pacific.

There's another time jump and six years later, in 2005, Roy returns to the circus but is quickly convinced by his former commanding officer, Admiral Hayes, to come back to the service as a test pilot. Roy arrives on Macross Island, where the UFO crashed, to find the new United Earth Government developing all manner of hi-tech vehicles and equipment. Under the command of a former mercenary named T.R. Edwards, Roy becomes the lead test pilot for Project: Valkyrie.

THE SUMMER OF ROBOTECH

Once upon a time, I was a ROBOTECH fanatic -- though not so long ago as you might think. Even though I was a child of the eighties, I missed ROBOTECH the first time around, when it debuted in 1985. It wasn't until thirteen years later, in 1998, that I tried the show out when it joined the Toonami lineup on Cartoon Network. I fell for it hard, and within a year or two I'd picked up and read all the novels and many of the comic books, which stretched back to the mid-eighties across multiple licensees.

Mostly, this ROBOTECH "expanded universe" was consistent across all platforms, notwithstanding some awful deviations by Antarctic Press's comics in 1998 or so. But when Wildstorm acquired the license in 2002, it was decided by ROBOTECH licensor Harmony Gold to reboot the franchise, and the company's creative director, Tommy Yune, took on this duty.

In 2002, I was a bit miffed to learn that all the stuff I'd just finished reading "didn't count" anymore, but it didn't take too long to buy into Yune's new vision for ROBOTECH. In truth, he kept a lot of what had come before while dumping some of the more questionable aspects presented by previous writers. I eventually came to really enjoy Wildstorm's ROBOTECH comics, and was disappointed when the license lapsed into inactivity only a couple years after the relaunch.

DARKSTALKERS

Story: Ken Siu-Chong
Line Art: Alvin Lee, Arnold Tsang, Kevin Lau, Joe Vriens, Scott Hepburn, Eric Vedder
Colors: Gary Yeung, Espen Grundetjern, Susan Luo,
Christine Choi, Shane Law, Omar Dogan, Kevin Yan, Arnold Tsang
Inks: Crystal Reid | Lettering: Simon Yeung, Marshall Dillon
Bonus Stories: Mark Brooks, Danimation, Alan Wang, Lesean Thomas,
C.P. & Patara, Joe Ng, Skottie Young
Managing Editor: Matt Moylan | Project Manager: Jim Zubkavich
Chief of Operations: Erik Ko

And then there's DARKSTALKERS. Another Capcom property whose rights are held by UDON, and to my knowledge, the only other such property to receive a serialized comic from the publisher, this series is set on a modern-but-gothic Earth, where demons and monsters are making a comeback after millennia in hiding. DARKSTALKERS received two mini-series from UDON, one circa 2005 and another from 2010, but both told one continuous story.

Unfortunately, that story is a bit muddled. We have, more or less, two protagonists: Morrigan, a succubus and princess of the demon realm called Makai, and Donovan, a warrior monk from Earth. Both are "Darkstalkers", beings of supernatural, and apparently evil, origins, though Donovan has harnessed his power for good as a "Night Warrior", one of the people who hunt and kill Darkstalkers. Morrigan spends the majority of the story searching for Demitri Maximoff, a Makai exiled to Earth with plans to return to the demon realm and depose her father, while Donovan travels the world in search of a suit of demonic samurai armor called Bishamon, which killed the family of his young ward, Anita.

STREET FIGHTER V: THE LIFE AND DEATH(S) OF CHARLIE NASH

Story: Chris Sarracini
Art: Jeffrey "Chamba" Cruz, Hanzo Steinbach, Edwin Huang, Rob "Robaato" Porter, Long Vo
Colors: Jeffrey "Chamba" Cruz, Josh Perez, Espen Grundetjern, Rob "Robaato" Porter
Lettering: Marshall Dillon | Flats: Ludwig Olimba
Cover Art: Steve Mack w/Espen Grundetjern | UDON Chief: Erik Ko
Director of Publishing: Matt Moylan | Senior Editor: Ash Paulsen

UDON's first tie-in with the upcoming STREET FIGHTER V videogame is an original graphic novel released as a San Diego Comic-Con 2015 exclusive. UDON claims this book will not be rereleased elsewhere, but I wouldn't be surprised to see the story pop up somehow, in some other larger collection. In the meantime, however, since I was on a STREET FIGHTER binge over the summer of 2015, I opted to pick up the exclusive book and cover it here.

Apparently Capcom decided to bring back the long-dead Charlie Nash as a playable character in STREET FIGHTER V, leading to some consternation among fans. The guy had been killed off chronologically prior to the original STREET FIGHTER II, in the STREET FIGHTER ALPHA prequel series, and his death was a major part of the backstories of both Guile and Chun-Li. But with the character returning to life in the game's canon, that meant UDON would need to resurrect him as well for their ongoing stories. And, rather than regular STREET FIGHTER writer Ken Siu-Chong, this task fell to STREET FIGHTER ORIGINS: AKUMA scribe Chris Sarracini. Probably a good idea. As noted previously, Sarracini seems a much more adept writer than Siu-Chong, and a certain level of skill is required here to pull off Charlie's return.

SUPER STREET FIGHTER VOLUME TWO

"HYPER FIGHTING"
Featuring the Work of: Jo Chen, Julian Choy, Jeffrey "Chamba" Cruz, Marshall Dillon,
James Ghio, Espen Grundetjern, Edwin Huang, Takeshi Miyazawa, Joe Ng, Ludwig Olimba,
Gonzalo "Genzoman" Ondonez Arias, Rob "Robaato" Porter, Kevin Raganit,
Arnold Tsang, Ken Siu-Chong, Hanzo Steinbach, Long Vo, Jim Zub
Chief of Operations: Erik Ko | Managing Editor: Matt Moylan
Project Manager: Jim Zubkavich

SUPER STREET FIGHTER volume 2 leads off with a really weird short story in which Akuma and Gouken duel as they discuss Ryu's recent challenges, and Akuma reveals his plans to use Sakura to unlock Ryu's dark potential. Buuut... isn't Gouken dead? Is this fight occurring in the afterlife or something? If so, does Akuma have the ability to teleport back and forth between the realms of the living and dead, a la DRAGONBALL Z's Son Goku? It's maddeningly unclear, and never gets explained in the rest of the book.

The second leadoff story, chronicling the Secret Society's absorption of STREET FIGHTER IV's S.I.N. organization, is at least a bit more satisfying from a continuity standpoint, as it reveals that in the years since Bison's tournament (remember, SFII TURBO and SFIV took place concurrently), with Shadaloo dissolved, S.I.N. has been operating autonomously -- until Bison, the Secret Society's envoy, arrives to take back the organization he founded for the Society's leader, Gill. I enjoy when these STREET FIGHTER comics acknowledge their own continuity trails, so I like to point out when it happens.

The majority of the remaining backup stories are inconsequential filler, chronicling a meeting between Ken, his apprentice Sean, and Chun-Li in Hong Kong; a goofy tale of Dan Hibiki's daily life, and a wrestling Match between Rainbow Mika and Hugo's manager, Poison. Then the final backup gives us a bit of backstory on the Secret Society and explains how Gill became their leader, taking his rival, Urien, as his second-in-command.

SUPER STREET FIGHTER VOLUME ONE

"NEW GENERATION"
Featuring the work of: Rob Armstrong, Andres S. Blanco, Jeffrey Cruz,
Steven Cummings, Marshall Dillon, Omar Dogan, Sean Galloway,
Espen Grundetjern, Andrew Hou, Edwin Huang, Joe Ng, Gonzalo Ordonez Arias,
Chad Porter, Rob Porter, Chris Sims, Ken Siu-Chong, Arnold Tsang,
Eric Vedder, Long Vo, Jim Zub
Managing Editor: Matt Moylan | Project Manager: Jim Zubkavich
Chief of Operations: Erik Ko

Note: Though it was published prior to STREET FIGHTER ORIGINS: AKUMA, I elected to cover SUPER STREET FIGHTER volume one after, in order to keep it together with volume 2.

UDON's first original graphic novel in the STREET FIGHTER world is a real mixed bag. But before we get to a critique of the content, a quick rundown of the story:

It's four years since Bison's Street Fighter tournament ended (putting this book's publication in something resembling real time, as STREET FIGHTER II TURBO began in late 2008 and SUPER STREET FIGHTER volume one was released in early 2013). The "World Warriors" have moved on with their lives, many leaving their adventuresome careers behind.

But Guile is the first fighter drawn back into the world of martial arts intrigue when he learns a group called the Secret Society, led by the mysterious Gill, is making a play to kidnap the world's greatest martial artists as part of their plan to inherit the Earth when mankind's time passes. Guile learns from Tom, his man inside Gill's organization, that Ryu tops the list of targets, and heads for Japan. There he finds a distraught Sakura and chats with E. Honda and Dan Hibiki in search of clues. Along for the trip is Alex, Tom's foster son. Guile learns where Ryu is being held and prepares to go save him, while Sakura works to harness the power of the Dark Hadou to go after her master herself, but her interest in that art draws the attention of Akuma.

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.

STREET FIGHTER IV

"WAGES OF SIN"
Story: Ken Siu-Chong* | Pencils: Joe Ng* | Inks: Crystal Reid
Colors: Espen Grunderjern | Lettering: Marshall Dillon
Chief of Operations: Erik Ko | Managing Editor Matt Moylan

I don't know if it's Capcom's "canon" that STREET FIGHTER IV takes place concurrently with STREET FIGHTER II, but that's the route Ken Siu-Chong has gone here, and it works pretty well. It seems that while the world's eyes are focused on Bison's tournament on Shadaloo Island, as covered a few weeks ago in STREET FIGHTER II TURBO, Shadaloo's R&D division, S.I.N. (the Shadaloo Intimidation Network) is conducting its own secret operation.

S.I.N. is headed by Fifteen, another aspect of M. Bison's plan to live beyond his mortal span. Killer Bee was the first, a girl infused with Bison's DNA, awaiting the day he could transfer his consciousness into her body. Fifteen is also a spawn of the mad dictator, in this case one of several such numbered clones. He craves free will, but was programmed to serve Shadaloo unquestioningly. And here he serves by kidnapping several powerful fighters in order to drain them of any traces of the Dark Hadou in order to harness that power for Bison.

Carrying out the kidnappings is Crimson Viper, a renowned spy-for-hire. I seem to recall that at the time STREET FIGHTER IV was released, Viper seemed positioned to be the breakout character. Certainly she was all over Capcom's marketing for the game. Here she's more or less the co-headliner of the series, as we quickly learn that she's infiltrating S.I.N. on behalf of some (hopefully) more benevolent force.

STREET FIGHTER LEGENDS: IBUKI

"AMBUSH!" | "WAY OF THE NINJA" | "INTERLUDE: MAKOTO"
"FIGHTING WORDS" | "INTERLUDE: ORO" | "THE CHOSEN PATH"
"CLASH OF NINJAS"
Story: Jim Zubkavich w/Ken Siu Chong (Interludes)
Artwork: Omar Dogan w/Alan Wang & Gary Yeung (Interlude 2)
Lettering: Marshall Dillon | Chief of Operations: Erik Ko
Managing Editor: Matt Moylan

Let's start by saying that I know absolutely nothing about STREET FIGHTER 3. I think I played it once in my life, at a casino arcade at Lake Tahoe. I'm unfamiliar with the plot and the characters. Its probably the STREET FIGHTER area where I have the very least amount of knowledge. And since this mini-series focuses entirely on SF3 characters, I have to admit to being a bit lost among these pages.

Which isn't to say Jim Zubkavich isn't a good writer -- in fact I would rate him higher than Ken Siu-Chong in terms of grammar and exposition (this is especially evident when the first "interlude" crops up and Siu-Chong guest scripts a few panels of painfully constructed exposition).

But I'm getting ahead of myself. The story here follows a girl named Ibuki, a Japanese high school student who also happens to be a ninja trainee, living among a group of ninjas in a hidden glade. Ibuki and her classmate Sarai befriend a new student named Makoto who is also the heir to a karate dojo. The group is rounded out when African exchange student Elena, also a powerful fighter, arrives as well.

STREET FIGHTER LEGENDS: CHUN-LI

"EASY CATCH" | "MEAN STREETS" | "EYE FOR AN EYE"
"DEADLY ACQUAINTANCES" | "HARSH LESSONS"
Story: Ken Siu-Chong | Artwork: Omar Dogan | Lettering: Marshall Dillon
Chief of Operations: Erik Ko | Managing Editor: Matt Moylan

(Not to be confused with the beloved motion picture, STREET FIGHTER: THE LEGEND OF CHUN-LI.)

The first STREET FIGHTER LEGENDS mini-series was lighthearted and went for broad comedy across the board. But CHUN-LI takes a different route, playing pretty much entirely straight and reading like an action movie. The story is a prequel to everything we've covered thus far. We meet Chun-Li and her partner, Po Lin, as rookies on the Hong Kong police force. They stumble onto a plot by Shadaloo to steal several Terracotta Warrior statues on display at the local museum and, working with Chun-Li's father, Officer Dorai, thwart the plan.

The story is rife with guest stars from the STREET FIGHTER universe. Besides the obvious ones for a tale set in Hong Kong -- Fei Long and Gen -- we also see Sagat as the leader of the Shadaloo task force, as well as M. Bison and, on the story's final page, "Killer Bee" in cameo appearances.

STREET FIGHTER II TURBO #8 - #12

Story: Ken Siu-Chong | Artwork & Color: Jeffrey "Chamba" Cruz
Guest Artists: Arnold Tsang, Skottie Young, Chris Stevens, Kevin Yan, Mark Lee, Sven
Lettering: Marshall Dillon | Project Manager: Jim Zubkavich
Managing Editor: Marshall Dillon | UDON Chief: Erik Ko

The time has finally come for the Street Fighter Tournament, the event to which Ken Siu-Chong has been building since the first issue of the first STREET FIGHTER series. This tournament is based upon the original, beloved STREET FIGHTER II video game, and features all the same contestants (plus the additions from SUPER STREET FIGHTER II): Thunder Hawk, Cammy, Guile, Blanka, Dhalsim, Dee Jay, Ken, Zangief, Chun-Li, Fei Long, Ryu, and E. Honda, as well as the "bosses", Balrog, Vega, Sagat, and M. Bison.

Siu Chong groups the fighters into brackets and, after an opening speech from Bison, the action begins. T. Hawk is the first to go, defeated by Cammy. In short order, Blanka loses to Guile and Dhalsim defeats Dee Jay, freeing him from Bison's control (Dee Jay was captured by Shadaloo way back in the first series, rescued by Delta Red near its end, recaptured in the second series, and brainwashed in the third). Ken then defeats Zangief as the tournament's first day comes to an end.

But there's more happening on Shadaloo Island besides the Street Fighter Tournament. Cammy reveals to Guile and Chun-Li that she's only pretending to serve Bison, and helps the two concoct a plan to free Delta Red from captivity and take out Bison's protective force field. Meanwhile, Bison is troubled by Dhalsim's abilities and attempts to assassinate him between rounds, but Dhalsim defeats Bison's Dolls and withdraws from the tournament.

STREET FIGHTER II TURBO #0 - #7

Story: Ken Siu-Chong | Artwork & Color: Jeffrey "Chamba" Cruz | Lettering: Marshall Dillon
Guest Artists: Arnold Tsang, Skottie Young, Chris Stevens, Kevin Yan, Mark Lee, Sven
Project Manager: Jim Zubkavich | Managing Editor: Marshall Dillon | UDON Chief: Erik Ko

At last it's time for the Street Fighter Tournament. STREET FIGHTER II TURBO presents UDON's take on the storyline of the classic STREET FIGHTER II video game. In that game, a mysterious organization called Shadaloo organized a tournament of "World Warriors" and set them against each other in single elimination format. At this point in UDON's storyline we already know plenty about Shadaloo, so there's no real mystery this time: Bison is holding the tournament so he can gauge the world's greatest fighters and eventually brainwash the best of them to serve him.

The volume's initial issues provide quick check-ins with the cast, and let us know just how long it's been since this whole thing started. According to Chun-Li, six months have passed since the start of UDON's first STREET FIGHTER volume. I'm not sure if I think that's too short or not. I generally like ultra-compressed timelines, but in this case a whole lot has happened, including Ryu traveling the world, and six months feels a bit short. But it doesn't not work, so I'm okay with it.

STREET FIGHTER LEGENDS: SAKURA

"TARGET: SAKURA" | "SCHOOL DAYS" | "TAG TEAM!"
"THE HOT DOG EATING CHAMPIONSHIP" | "SAKURA VS. DAN"
Story: Ken Siu-Chong | Artwork: Omar Dogan | Lettering: Marshall Dillon
Chief of Operations: Erik Ko | Managing Editor: Matt Moylan

Note that I've made a slight change to my originally advertised order. I was unaware at the time I planned this all out that STREET FIGHTER LEGENDS: SAKURA was published more or less concurrently with STREET FIGHTER II and ties loosely into its events. Now, with that disclaimer out of the way...

STREET FIGHTER LEGENDS: SAKURA is the first in a trio of LEGENDS mini-series, all spotlighting female characters and drawn by Omar Dogan. It's interesting to me that UDON chooses to lead off with a mini spotlighting Sakura rather than the higher profile Chun-Li or Cammy. But Cammy's story is one of the major threads in the ongoing STREET FIGHTER comics, so it's likely there wasn't much that could've been done with her here that wouldn't have stepped on the ongoings' toes. And Chun-Li will spotlight the next mini-series, so her time isn't far off

But the question remains, if you're going to do a Chun-Li story, why not start with it? My best guess is that Sakura is completely sidelined from the main action in STREET FIGHTER II and UDON wanted to keep the character in circulation. Which works out fine, because this is a fun little series that never takes itself too seriously; something nice to see when compared with the STREET FIGHTER ongoings, where, for the most part, melodrama is the order of the day.

STREET FIGHTER II #0 - #6

Story: Ken Siu-Chong | Artwork: Alvin Lee | Inks: Crystal Reid
Colors: Espen Grundetjern | Lettering: Simon Yeung
Guest Artists: Arnold Tsang, Skottie Young, Chris Stevens, Kevin Yan, Mark Lee, Sven
Project Manager: Jim Zubkavich | Managing Editor: Marshall Dillon | UDON Chief: Erik Ko

After a break of a year or so, UDON's ongoing STREET FIGHTER comics returned with a six-issue STREET FIGHTER II series. Though named for the classic video game, STREET FIGHTER II does not, in fact, feature the tournament which comprised that game's storyline. Instead, the series is more of a direct continuation of the previous volume, laying additional groundwork toward the tournament. If anything, both this series and the last seem to be more like the STREET FIGHTER ALPHA videogames, which served as prequels to the original installments.

Right off the bat we get an issue 0 which provides possibly the best look inside Ryu's head that we've seen thus far. Through first person narration, he clarifies the purpose of his trek around the world. He's seeking strong fighters to test his abilities, but more than that, he's looking to master the darkness within him -- the "Dark Hadou" -- so that when he fights Akuma he will be able to keep that darkness in check and win their battle on his own terms. Given that, until this point, Ryu's motivations (other than simply avenging his master Gouken) were a bit unclear, this explanation makes a lot of sense and is greatly appreciated.

STREET FIGHTER #7 - #14

Writer: Ken Siu-Chong | Art & Color: UDON Studios*
Assistant Script Editor: Marina Siu-Chong | Project Manager: Jim Zubkavich
Managing Editor: Marshall Dillon | UDON Chief: Erik Ko

STREET FIGHTER's second story arc delves a little deeper into the series' mythology and characterizations, presenting what I would consider to be a much more enjoyable whole than the previous set of issues. Interestingly, the main thrust of this arc focuses on the two distaff members of the STREET FIGHTER II cast, Chun-Li and Cammy, to nice effect. Where previously Chun-Li's role in the story was as a liaison and partner to Guile, here she strikes out on her own, investigating Shadaloo activity in Hong Kong. She works alongside action movie star Fei Long and her former teacher, an assassin named Gen who was close with her father, to thwart a Shadaloo plot to control the Triad gangs. This puts her onto a new lead which sends her to Brazil to investigate Shadaloo activity there.

But Chun-Li isn't the only fighter bound for South America. Cammy, the girl known previously as Shadaloo's Killer Bee, has joined a British special forces organization called Delta Red. Delta Red also crosses paths with Shadaloo and captures one of their "doll" agents, the same female warriors previously led by Killer Bee. The amnesiac Cammy unexpectedly gains the girl's trust and learns that Shadaloo is developing a new weapon in Brazil. In short order, Delta Red arrives in South America to pool their resources with Interpol. There they encounter Chun-Li, who recognizes Cammy as her father's assassin and the two get into a fight.