Street Fighter 6 # 2 comic review

 Mark Rodriguez

Ken and his new business partner Johann are rebuilding the ruins of a coliseum in the country of Nayshall to host the next big fighting tournament. Not everyone is pleased with the quickly-growing advancement of the country as protestors attacked Ken and his partner Jackson while they drove back to their hotel. Jackson gets shot and Ken gets blown back as the car exploded. Two people, seemingly not involved with the protestors, grabbed Ken and drove off with him.

The issue opens with Johann being informed that there are still no signs of Ken. His secretary Kalima tells him that the same kind of truck that Ken was taken in was seen driving towards the old city. He says he had no idea the protestors had gotten so radicalized. He says they will continue on with the press conference as planned. Afterwards he will see if the security forces can do anything to find Ken. Kalima has a look of suspicion in her eyes.

Meanwhile, Luke and Mel are almost at the arena. Luke says it took them a while but the city is straight ahead. Mel looks at his phone and sees that his father hasn't messaged him since the last time he called him. 

The press conference begins and Kalima welcomes everyone and introduces Johann Petrovich as the head of the NGO Terra Network Partners. Johann says he's also the Policy Advisor for the government of Nayshall, a country he now considers his home. He also announces the re-opening of their arena as the Nayshall National Mixed Martial Arts Tournament, as drones show footage of several matches Ken has had throughout his life as a Street Fighter. He announces that they have invited renowned fighter Ken Masters as their planning advisor. He also helped fund the reconstruction of the arena on Mount Vashal.

Luke and Mel arrive in time to see that the rehearsal will be starting soon. Mel is annoyed that his father hasn't texted him back and decides to do it 'old school' and call him. As the conference continues, all the monitors showing images of Ken suddenly go to static. Johann tries to continue the speech until new images appear.

We see a masked man making a deal with Ken, agreeing that the more chaos they can cause in Nayshall, the more money they will make. Everyone watches this in surprise and Luke asks Mel if that's his dad on the screen. Mel keeps calling but his father doesn't answer. The masked man asks Ken what their reward will be. Ken says he will continue to fund their operation. He says they're doing this all for themselves.

Suddenly a symbol of a mask hits all over the airwaves of Nayshall, introducing themselves as the organization Amnesia. Amnesia says they will expose the truth and they stand for the oppressed. Amnesia states that Ken and the Masters Foundation has been funding and providing weapons to the radicals to cause conflict. Everyone starts asking Johann about Amnesia and if Ken is really funding them. Suddenly all the drones start falling from the sky, making the people scatter. Luke says it's not safe and takes Mel away.

Elsewhere, Ken wakes up in a strange bed and asks for his assistant Jackson. He sees a stranger and tries to get up but he's in pain. Ken tries to get up and sees a woman wearing glasses and formal attire who tells him the bullet went through his arm. Ken recognizes her as Chun Li. He asks her what happened to Jackson, and Chun Li tells him that they couldn't get to him in time. Ken asks what Chun Li is doing in Nayshall and tries to remember the last time they saw each other. Chun Li says it was probably in some tournament.

Chun Li says she's still with Interpol and he's under custody as a material witness. She shows him the same video that was shown earlier concerning 'Ken' and Amnesia. Ken is confused by this. Ken gets up and says he was framed and Chun Li throws him back onto the bed and pulls a gun on him. Chun Li says the only reason he's not in cuffs is because she knows he's an honest man that always fought fair in the ring. Ken asks about Mel and tells her that he's in Nayshall and they were supposed to meet up at the conference. 

Chun Li radios Li Fen and asks what she thinks. Li Fen says the video is clearly a deepfake of Ken, and with enough raw footage people can create any sort of doctored video these days. Li Fen says there's also an increase in crypto and it seems there's betting related to the tournament.

Ken wonders who could have done this. He thinks back to when Johann and Kalima showed him the drones and he mentioned how a real fight moves faster and the drones would get in the way. Kalima, at the time, said she'd take it under advisement. Ken purposely squeezes his wound to make himself bleed. He asks the guy to help stop the bleeding since Chun Li re-opened the wound when she threw him.

Chun Li and Li Fen try to figure out if this is all a money laundering scheme. Chun Li asks Li Fen to also help locate Mel Masters. Li Fen says she can as long as he has a smartphone on him. Chun Li hears some gunshots and rushes back to the room. The man that was watching him is on the ground and Ken is gone.

Luke asks his superiors about the video they saw. His boss says they know Ken's car was attacked the night prior and he hasn't been seen since. Luke can't believe Mel's father is a terrorist. His boss says it could have been a double cross or staged to cover Ken's escape. Either way Ken is in deep trouble and it's too dangerous to stay in Nayshall at the moment. The boss tells Luke to return to HQ immediately. Luke gets back into his jeep and looks at Mel. Mel is watching his phone, replaying the video.

Ken is now in hiding, wearing a dark cloak to cover himself as he walks among the people in Nayshall. As he walks, every TV in sight is telling the world that Ken Masters is a wanted man.

My Thoughts-

Street Fighter has finally made it to modern day. I guess the last thing I was expecting when reading this mini-series would be to run into terms like crypto-currency and deepfakes. It's surprising and a bit scary that after a lifetime of cartoons and movies using shape-shifting fakes, clones, robot duplicates and holograms, we're finally at an age where people can use deepfake technology to frame someone. I mean, they could have said it was a double or whatever, but just having the term deepfake to explain this Geese Howard looking evil Ken kinda snaps you back to reality.

As for the story, while this will mostly deal with Ken and JP, it was nice to also see Chun Li make an appearance. We also get to see Li Fen. Even though she first appeared in Chun Li's story in Street Fighter III, we got to know a bit more about her in Street Fighter V's story mode. Now in Street Fighter 6, she grew up to become a computer hacker. Even though Chun Li wishes she'd focus more on her kung fu, Li Fen is more interested in fighting with the power of the keyboard.

I love the extra references of Ken's different looks throughout the Street Fighter franchise. While Street Fighter 4 and onwards filled the games with DLC costumes, Ken was one of the few characters to have dramatic changes from game to game. I liked the drone showing images of anything from long-ponytail Alpha Ken to Street Fighter V Ken, and you get cameos of characters like Geki and Rolento. 

The story is getting interesting as now Ken is on the run and Chun Li is involved. Luke continues to watch over Mel, and I wonder when he will eventually run into either Ken or JP. I'm also curious about Kalima. She seems to be the only one who truly honestly cares about Nayshall, so she might turn on JP when the time comes.

I have to say, it's kinda funny. Ryu and Ken were the main characters of Street Fighter II, but the actual story was more about Chun Li and Guile and their quest of revenge against Bison. Now in Street Fighter 6, Luke is meant to be the new face of the franchise, but the story is mostly about what happened to Ken and the involvement of JP. I can't wait to see what happens next issue.