Street Fighter 6 # 1 comic review

 By Mark Rodriguez

On a quick comic run looking for Ninja Turtles stuff, I happened to run into the first three issues of the Street Fighter 6 comic mini-series. I thought these comics were mostly sold on Udon's own site, so I was surprised to see them in the comic shop. It's time to check these out.

The issue opens with a young Mel Masters traveling with a secret agent named Carlton Rogers. They both meet up with Luke Sullivan, who has been tasked with escorting Mel to see his father at a big ceremony. Carlton asks Luke about his life in Nayshall, and he mentions it's been busy with the cops being overworked. Carlton says the cops being overworked is what helps keep agents like them employed.

Ken is in his car with his assistant and having a zoom meeting with his investors. They are concerned about the huge costs involved in rebuilding an arena in Nayshall to hold a big tournament. Mel calls his father during the meeting, as he was told to call when he got the airport safely. Ken tells Mel about his progress but he's not that interested. Mel tells his father he knows that he wants him to 'see the world', but he never cares about what he wants. Luke interrupts to tell Ken that he'll bring his son over safely in time for rehearsals the next morning.

Luke sees Mel's in a bad mood and asks if this ruined his plans. Mel says he was supposed to be going camping with his friends. Luke asks if his girlfriend was going to be there and Mel tells him to mind his business. Luke asks him to friend him on his phone app game, he's been catching all sorts of monsters in Nayshall.

At the tournament arena, Ken's secretary Kalima, tells him they're building an emergency passageway from the arena to the infirmary at his request. Ken says it never hurts to be prepared. Ken meets up with his new business partner Johann Petrovich who says the tournament is two days away and it's too soon for the fighters to start showing up. Ken says he's an ex-champion and only fights with paperwork nowadays. 

That sure looks like someone I'd trust doing business with.....

Ken and Johann shake hands as they decide to work together on sponsoring this tournament that should bring eyes to Nayshall on a global scale. Johann says with the spotlight on Nayshall, the powers of the world will not dare to strike against them. He explains the fights will be one long match with a 30-minute time limit. Low blows are forbidden but any other type of attack or holds are allowed. They have special drones designed to film at all angles and keep up with the fighters. 

Ken throws a kick and says a real fight moves much faster and the drones only get in the way. Kalima will take note. Ken says the Masters Foundation will continue to fund the tournament and hope it will bring good to everyone in the country. Just then the young King Shari has arrived. 

The King offers a gift to Ken due to all the support. He gives him a sacred cerulean cloth, a symbol that represents the successor to the throne in ancient times. In the age of legends, there was a young man that protected Nayshall from a dragon. He sacrificed his own heart to slay the beast and fell on the summit of Mount Vashal. The gods were so impressed that they laid a cerulean cloth over his body, which revived him.

Kalima explains this was the legend of the founding father, Nayshall the First. Johann explains the original tournament was only between relatives of the king. They would fight in front of the gods, hoping that one of them would be a successor. They want Ken to wear the sacred cloth and he's invited to join the tournament. Ken is honored but says that he's no longer a fighter. King Shari says he saw his fight in Footube and he was glorious. He asks if he's still a champion.

Meanwhile Luke and Mel are in the mountains, and they can't find any monsters for their phone app game. Luke says they should try again when they get to the city. Mel reminds him that once he gets there he needs to practice for the ceremony and doesn't have to time to waste with lazy security guards.  Luke says he's a private military contractor, not some rent-a-cop. He says he still has to protect Mel from wolves and tries to scare him but doesn't get a reaction. Mel says wolves rarely attack people and he's seen some up close when he was younger when he saw his dad take part in a tournament in Alaska. He says he's seen a lot of things with his father. 

Luke repeats the motto, 'a Masters should see the world', and figures Ken is the champ and needs to keep his guard up. Mel says his father isn't fighting anymore. Mel says nowadays he's the head of the Masters Foundation and just drags him along wherever he goes. He says he still sees him as a little kid. Luke tosses Mel an orange and an odd-looking switchblade. He says if he can master that, he can be a man on any camping trip. Luke says after he's done eating, they'll get going. 

Ken and his assistant, Jackson, walk alongside Johann and Kalima towards the Arena Entrance. Johan explains the King lost his father at a young age and was rushed to become the new king. While the kid puts on a brave face, he must be happy to have seen Ken. Ken says now he has to convince the old men at the board that all of this is a good idea. Kalima asks if they really believe everyone in Nayshall is interested in the tournament. She says Nayshall has been developing quickly, too quickly that their feelings are almost left behind. 

Kalima points to a fire out on the horizon. Johann explains it's caused by political demonstrators; people that have been protesting the new government policies. Johann tells Kalima to contact the security forces to arrange a route around the protests.

Ken tells Jackson he shouldn't have promised the additional funding without consulting someone first and wonders what his father would have done. Jackson said his father would have been as unsure as Ken is. He says once his father made his mind up he never showed signs of hesitation and followed through to the end. Ken repeats the motto 'the Masters Family never quits halfway'. Jackson says he could trust Ken's father but that doesn't mean he knew what he was thinking.

Later on at the Nayshall New City Construction Site, some people are watching the event from a car.  The protestors get to Ken's car and start throwing rocks at it. As they try to back up and leave, Jackson gets shot in the throat. The people in the other car are surprised by the gunfire. Ken's car tried to drive away from the protestors and Ken gets shot in the shoulder. Suddenly the car is hit by a van and overturned. Ken tries to pull Jackson out of the car, but his assistant pushes him away. The people in the other car note that Ken's car is about to explode and they have to help. The car explodes and knocks Ken flying back.

The mysterious woman in the car and a large man named Tsujimoto quickly grab Ken and get him into their car. They drive away as the protestors keeps shooting at them, leaving Ken's cellphone behind. Meanwhile, Mel checks his phone and after not getting a new text, falls asleep, unaware of what's happening to his father.

My Thoughts- 

Serving as a prequel to Street Fighter 6, this issue was mostly a lot of set up as well the original plans for the next big tournament, this time taking place in the reconstructed arena ruins in Nayshall. I'm not completely sure what motivated Ken into investing his money into this, and it seems even he's not sure either. We also saw some of Nayshall in the Free Comic Book Day issue earlier this year. 

Two things stood out mostly in the issue. The first was the weird argument between Ken and his son in the car via zoom meeting. I can only assume Mel was the one who was upset, since it would make the most sense. The art also makes it confusing since Mel looks rather happy on the panel before. He definitely doesn't look like he's about to give his father what-for in the very next sentence.

Mel seems to be feeling the effects of his dad now running the family business and being too busy to hang with him. I'm curious why there is zero mention of Eliza. Apparently Ken drags him everywhere throughout his business ventures... but why doesn't he let him stay with his mom sometimes?

The second thing is, they seemed to have given JP a French accent in the comic (saying 'zey' instead instead of 'they' for example). I thought it might have been a Nayshall accent but he's the only one talking like that. Since a lot of times tie-in material has to be created in advance so they're available in time to coincide with the related product, maybe the comics were made before JP got an American voice actor for the game's English dub. The actual game gave JP the typical 'evil British guy' accent.

The comic series will hopefully give a lot more insight on exactly what happened to Ken within the Street Fighter 6 lore. Here we got the general set up, though I'm curious as to what will happen to Ken in the next issue now that these mysterious people protected him from the protestor attack.

I like Luke's scenes with Mel in this comic. He's trying so hard to get the kid to like him and be a buddy and not just some random security guard. I also love the reference to Pokemon Go, since the game is still being played today and I recently got back into it thanks to a certain someone. Hey, if Mel won't friend Luke, I will.