Udon Street Fighter # 3

 By Mark Rodriguez

Ryu and Ken are traveling to Japan to seek out Akuma and avenge the death of their master Gouken at his hands. Bison currently has his sights on Ryu and has sent Vega to find him. After having a fight with Honda, Vega just to happens to run into Ken and Eliza.

This one is gonna be the Mexican version of the comic that I bought back in the day. The only thing I'm going to be missing are ads for Invincible and those Cheap Shots comics.

The issue opens with the night before as Ryu is attacking Ken in Gouken's dojo. Ken asks him why he's attacking him and says Gouken was his master too. Ryu says Gouken was like a father to him and no one can ever understand how he feels. He throws Ken across the room and charges up a HaDoKen. Ryu blasts Ken through the wall with his fireball.

Ryu snaps out of it calls out for Ken through the hole in the wall. He remembers that Ken isn't here, he's out with Eliza. He wonder if he's losing his mind.

Elsewhere, Akuma is meditating when he senses Ryu's power. Akuma asks Gouken if he can feel that Ryu posseses the same power that he was too afraid to accept. Akuma says even if Gouken didn't teach him the final lessons, he wasn't counting on Ryu discovering it for himself. He couldn't avoid Ryu discovering his destiny on his own, just like Akuma has. As he ponders this, Akuma puts on his fallen brother's beads. 

In Shibuya Japan, Vega 'accidentally' bumps into Eliza, making her drop her things. He apologizes and says he didn't see her as he helps pick up her things. He picks up a scarf and compliments its beauty as he secretly plants a homing device on it. Vega starts complimenting Eliza's exquisite beauty and gives her a rose, until Ken had enough of this and cuts him. He tells Vega to excuse him and his fiancé as they have things to do. Vega bids them farewell and says he hopes to be graced by Eliza's beauty again sometime.

Ken says he's lucky he's not the jealous type. Eliza asks Ken when was the last time he ever gave her a rose. As they walk off, Vega calls Bison and tells him that he has located the two people Killer Bee saw with Ryu in San Fransisco. He'll be able to use them to get to Ryu.

Meanwhile, Guile and Chun Li are on a flight to Japan. Chun Li says she can feel that following Ryu will be the clue to get them to Bison. Guile says that depends on if Ryu will let them get to Bison. He's not sure they'll be able to take Bison to justice, but he'll settle on revenge. As they talk, the flight attendant gives them a glare.

The flight attendant goes to the bathroom where she contacts Bison. She is agent Juni, another one of the Shadaloo Dolls. She informs Bison that Interpol Agent Chun Li and U.S Special Forces Agent Guile are on a flight to Japan.

Later on, Ken went to get some udon noodles at one of his favorite places from back in his training days. Eliza is on the phone and asks why he went so far if they have room service. Ken tells him how good these noodles are he'll be back to the hotel in about 10 minutes. Eliza says if he gets back quick enough, she might give him a look at some of the intimate things she bought that day. Ken says he can be back in two minutes. 

Just then room services arrives as Eliza ordered some drinks. The room service man is dead, and Vega is the one at the door. Eliza recognizes him and Vega grabs her by the throat, demanding her to take him to see Ryu. Eliza says she doesn't know anything and is frightened by his claws. Vega says she doesn't need to worry about his claws as long as she does what he wants, although he admits his claws haven't tasted the blood of someone as beautiful as her in a while. Vega pins Eliza on the bed and gets his claws near her face as Ken opens the door.

Vega turns to see that Ken has arrives and Eliza slaps him across the face. Vega puts his mask on and is angry that Eliza dared to touch his face. Before he can cut her with his claw,  Ken grabs his arm and tosses him across the room. Vega flips and lands on his feet and says he doesn't know why Bison is so interested in pathetic Shotokan warriors like Ryu and Ken. 

Vega rolls across the floor and lunges his claw out towards Ken, but he leaps over the attack. Ken punches him in the face and says he doesn't know who Bison but if he wants Ryu and him he'll have to send someone better than a masked freak. Vega leaps to the ceiling and bounces off it, lunging towards Ken with his claw. 

Vega socks Ken across the face at the same time that Ken kicks Vega's claw off his wrist. The claw happens to land near Eliza, slicing her across the neck. Ken looks back to her and checks to see if she is alright. Vega says he should be more careful as he plans to attack him from behind. Ken loses it and knees Vega in the midsection, following up with a spinning kick across the face. Vega is dazed and Ken takes to the air to hit him with the Tatsumaki-Senpu-Kyaku. This sends Vega flying through the window of their hotel suite. Vega's mask is broken and he freaks out that his face is bleeding. He leaps off the balcony and lands on the neighboring rooftop and gets away.

The fight is being watched by another Shadaloo agent as Ken rushes back inside to call an ambulance for Eliza. The man reports that Vega has been defeated by Ken and asks if he should engage. Bison says something interesting has come to his attention and it would be appropriate if the agent were to go there and  handle it personally. The agent understands.

Later at the hospital, the doctors say she will have to stay overnight to be she'll be ok. Ken feels horrible that this is the second time he almost lost her due to fighting. Eliza says she would have been killed if he hasn't arrived. She says she loves him because he's a fighter and not to chicken out now. She tells him that he has to go and tell Ryu about these Shadaloo guys that are after him. Ken says he can't leave her alone and Eliza says he'll have to. She says whatever Bison wants with Ryu, they know they're willing to kill to get it.

Elsewhere, Guile and Chun Li arrive at the closest they can to Gouken's dojo by vehicle. Their intel tells them that Ryu used to train in a dojo North from there. Chun Li says there's a path for sightseeing that will take them to the mountains. She says it's a good place to start the following day, for now they should get some rest for the night. Guile says it's been a long day and asks if there's any place to eat in the general area this late at night. Chun Li says Guile hasn't tasted the wonders of Japanese vending machines and asks if he wants soup. Guile says soup is fine as he sees someone in the shadows watching over them.

The person ducks into an alley and Guile gives chase. Guile says 'it's impossible' as Chun Li tells him to wait. As Chun Li follows him, she can hear Guile say 'You? But how?'. Suddenly an energy blasts sends Chun Li flying back and crashing against a wall. As she gets up she is shocked to see Charlie holding onto an unconscious Guile. The man corrects her and says he's the Shadaloo Agent- Shadow.

Back up Story-

A year before, at the U.S Martial Arts Tournament, Ken is facing off against Zangief. All Ken can think about is how Eliza had left and won't be coming back. Zangief grabs onto Ken, telling him this is how they fight in Mother Russia, as he slams him with a suplex. Zamgief poses for the crowd and tells Ken to get up and fight.

Ken flashes back to Eliza telling him she can't stand by and do nothing, wondering if he's going to die the next time he gets hit. Ken says he's a fighter and asks if she expects him to leave it all behind because she says so. Eliza says she expect him to care. Ken says he doesn't care when it comes to his job. Eliza reminds him that this was part of the package when they got engaged. Eliza takes off the engagement ring and leaves it on the table, walking off. Ken asks himself what he was thinking, letting the thing that matters most to him walk out that door.

Back to reality, Zangief picks up Ken and tells him that nobody can challenge the Red Cyclone. Zangief tosses him across the ring, making his back hit the ring post. As Ken lays there, he hears a voice telling him to get back up. He looks up and sees Eliza in the crowd.

Zangief charges towards Ken, ready to finish the fight. Ken says he won't lose in front of his girl and hits him with a ShoRyuKen followed by the Tatsumak-Senpu-Kyaku. Zangief drops to the mat unconscious and Ken is declared the winner of the U.S Martial Arts Tournament.

As the crowd cheers, Ken sees Eliza and she says she was passing through. Ken apologizes and she cuts him off saying that she realizes that she fell in love with a fighter, and doesn't want him to be something he's not. She tells him to promise that he'll always try to win and they kiss. As they hold each other, we see that both Eliza and Ken are wearing their engagement rings.

My thoughts- 

Things are getting interesting as now Ryu and Ken have to contend with Shadaloo agents as well as their quest to find Akuma. As usual, the art is pretty awesome and the fights do a great job of portraying all the special moves in dramatic angles. 

We got to see Ken outclass Vega, a cameo from Juni, and of course the biggest thing to surprise me, Shadow Charlie. Shadow was introduced as a secret character in Marvel Super Heroes VS Street Fighter. Unfortunately, as a secret character his ending was nothing more than a screen saying "Congratulations! You've defeated the game with a secret character!" just like all the other hidden characters. At that point one can only assume that Bison brainwashed him, but maybe Apocalypse did, since he also had Cyber Akuma working for him.

The Marvel VS Capcom games aren't canon to the regular Street Fighter games, so it was a cool surprise to see Charlie make a comeback as Shadow in the comic. However, later on Charlie would once again be brought back to life, this time by Kolin in Street Fighter V, so I wonder how the comic handled that since he's already been brought back once before in the same continuity.

The back up story was cool as we're also introduced to Zangief. The art style was also pretty cool and didn't have the overly stylized style that some of the other back up stories have. Sadly, I don't have the American version of this issue, so I'll be missing out the 'Cheap Shots' gag page. 

Also kudos to Eliza for being brave and standing by her man and her friend. Ken told her last issue that the flight to Japan would be dangerous and she offered to come along away. Vega was about to kill her and she still refused to give up Ryu's location. She might not be a fighter, but she's tough in her own way. I always say, it's easier for the experienced fighters to be brave enough to stand up to threats, it takes a lot more courage for a non-fighter to do so.

One thing to note though, is that the Mexican comic did advertise an upcoming section for letters and art, or even cosplay pics for fans to submit. If I see any interesting drawings, pics or topics brought up in the letter column, I'll be sure to showcase them. It's always cool to see how other countries also show their love for Street Fighter.