STREET FIGHTER # 1

IMAGE
WRITER: Ken Siu-Chong
PENCILS: Alvin Lee/Joe Madureira
INKS/COLORS: Arnold Tsang, Andrew Hou, and Rey

For the record, I only bought this comic because of my undying love and eternal devotion to the fantastic artist, Joe Madureira. I was fully prepared to dismiss Street Fighter #1, an Image/Udon/Capcom joint, as yet another trashy nostalgia and video game-based comic. I, however, must admit to being delightfully surprised by the entertaining lead story.

I don't know much about the Street Fighter game, nor am I interested. I can't, however, imagine that the comic will disappoint fans of the game, unless they might want to nitpick any little difference between the two. Ken Siu-Chong writes the kind of vapid, but fun comic the original Image gang should have produced a decade ago - a simple straightforward, coherent story about super-powered combatants beating the crap out of each other, however with a script written in such a way that the artists can draw page after page of great, big old fight scenes. Read this once and it's clear that this book is not only a labor of love, but also a work where the creators were putting the proverbial best foot forward.

The art is certainly manga and anime influenced, and the coloring makes each panel look as it's a single shot from an anime film. Looking at all those purty drawings summons both the fan and the boy in me. Of course, Joe Mad's contribution (for a four-page prequel to the main story) is slamming. What did you expect? Well, more Mad would have been nice. GRADE B+