By Mark Rodriguez
I remember getting this one way back in day over at Bent Wookee. There are so many Street Fighter comics from Udon and it's not just one long on-going series, that it's hard to keep track of them all. This one tried to bridge the gap a bit between Street Fighter 4 and 3, which sounds backwards, but that's how the canon does. Keep in mind that it this time, Street Fighter 5 didn't exist yet and it was also between 4 and 3. Either way, let's check this out.
'Hong Kong Hustle' opens in the Mong Roh district of Hong Kong, Sean is waiting for Ken, who seems to be late. He decides to check out his surroundings and notices a woman covered in a white hooded dress being harassed by several tough looking men. The young fighter steps up and tells them to leave her alone. The woman whispers that she can handle herself. Ken's pupil says he has to do what's right and help out and the guys are surprised he thinks he can take all 3 of them on by himself. Sean punches one of the guys down, and blocks a punch from another one. The third one manages to kick him in the gut, and that leaves him open for the second punk to punch him. He stops as he notices someone behind him.
The woman reveals herself to be Chun Li, and she tosses her bags in the
air as she kicks one of the punks back. She then easily takes down the
other two and then catches her bags perfectly. Sean is surprised and
asks who she is.
Ken shows up and says the woman is Chun Li, possibly the strongest woman
in the world. Ken and Chun Li exchange greetings, leaving Sean
surprised that they already knew each other. After she leaves Ken tells Sean
that this is why he loves Hong Kong, great food, great people and
surprises around every corner/
'Your Enemies Closer' opens with Juri recalling a conversation she had with Seth as she goes on a mission to take down some businessmen. She tells him that she trained her body and joined S.I.N to one day take down Bison herself... but now that Bison died at the end of the tournament, she's left with nothing. Even after Bison's death she discovered that she still loved to fight and cause pain, chaos and mayhem. She'd happily carry out Seth's missions as long as they let her bring chaos and destruction, so she's worried when she found something that might bring it to an end. The businessmen she defeated were wearing necklaces with the Secret Society insignia, and he asks Seth if this is too dangerous for them.
Seth tells Juri that after Balrog and Vega helped cut S.I.N off from
Shadaloo, that left a void that the Society was quick to fill. He plans
to exploit them and destroy them when he's done with them. He will let
them think that S.I.N is working for the Society while he finds out what
their weakness is. He opens the suitcase that Juri got away from the
businessmen and notices that it had a built-in GPS that activated the
moment he opened it. Just then there's a big explosion and Bison arrives
with Necro and several soldiers. Juri is surprised that he's alive.
Seth is fried and falls to the ground. Bison asks Juri where her
loyalties lie since the Society is also interested in her. Juri proves
her loyalty by kicking Seth in the gut, destroying his Tanden Engine.
Juri says if the Society is in charge of everything, she wants in. Bison's men carry off Seth, as he might still prove useful to his plans and they will contact her when she's needed. Juri says wherever Bison is... she'll always have his back... though it's obvious she plans to kill him when the time is right.
'Beyond the Hills' opens in Tokyo, some years ago as a businessman steps into an underground fight circuit. The fight is about to begin as we see a muscular guy with a mohawk about to face Lee. Akuma is hiding under a hood and watches among the audience. They start fighting as Akuma watches and leaves his thoughts, thinking both of them are sloppy fighters. Lee is easily taken down and Akuma walks off unimpressed.
Later on, Lee is paid and walks off as Akuma lies waiting. He steps up and asks Lee if he knows where he can find a fight. Lee gets in his stance and they start to fight. Akuma uses the same kick/two fist follow up that the previous fighter used, but Lee easily blocks them and socks him in the face. Akuma smirks and says Lee has regained his form.
Businessmen discuss how much they earned for the night when Lee is sent smashing through the window. Akuma shows up and the men pull their guns, but the man in charge tells them to stop since he wants to talk to him. Later on Akuma and the man talk in the guy's fancy limo. He notices that Akuma has been watching the fights lately and says his offer to have him fight for him is still on the table. Akuma says his fighters lack honor, and the man says he won't find any in Tokyo and might as well leave. Akuma says Tokyo intrigues him.
The man opens the car window and gives Akuma a view of the city, telling him Japan's honor died the day America bombed them. By the time they woke up, the U.S has already shoved their values down their throats. The only left for them now is power. The man sets thing up so the American tourists that come to watch the fights are paid in counterfeit cash while they keep the real deal. He wants Akuma to help him 'punish their ignorance'.
Retsu receives a letter from Akuma and gives it to Goutetsu. It reads that Akuma is getting used to the city, and learned that power can take a man's honor away, but it also the only way to keep it.
Akuma is now an underground fighter, and he was rigged to go down in the third round of the fight. However, Akuma completely destroys the man and snaps his neck, much to the outrage of everyone.
My Opinions:
A good book and a good read. It's always nice to new stuff from Udon, though I was unaware they started a new Super Street Fighter series in graphic novel format instead of the regular single issue monthly comic book format. The first story was short, sweet and simple. I loved the art and coloring style too. I want to use the word 'pastel' but I'm not quite sure that's what this is called. Good little intro for Sean who shows some skills but still has a lot to learn from Ken. This is also the only story that isn't a 'to be continued' or 'find out more in this upcoming comic series!!!' so I guess it was just for fun.
The second story digs into Juri and where her loyalties lie. Assuming Udon follows the Street Fighter storyline, Akuma showed up at the end of SF2 and killed Bison. Seth is quick to take charge, though I'm not sure how this story works since he is defeated at the end of Super Street Fighter 4 (soon to be renamed Ultra Street Fighter 4 at time the issue was released) since we now see elements of Street Fighter III coming into play. But um.... Bison is with the Secret Society? ....wut? Bison officially died for good in the SFIII storyline leaving Gill as the all-new bad guy of that series. I guess Udon didn't want to get rid of Bison just yet and just had to get him involved, as well as Juri. I guess we can't really blame them. Even though SFIV does take place before SFIII storywise, it was obviously made after SFIII.... so it would be difficult to get rid of all the classic SF2 characters as well as all the new ones appearing in the SFIV series to just feature the SFIII cast. I guess this is a way to keep Juri involved since she was introduced late into the story when they already made comics based on the original SFIV. My main question is... where does this leave Gill? Is Bison 'working' for him?
As for the third story it was an interesting look at Akuma's life when he was younger and more naive. I guess he would be a guy that was just raised in the hills of some small Japanese country, so the lights of the big city garnered his curiosity. I would guess this is before he learned to throw fireballs and such. It's kinda weird seeing Akuma dealing with corrupt businessmen and such. He's as much a wandering traveler as Ryu is, so it's weird seeing him in a city setting and dealing with somewhat regular people.
We also have an appearance from Lee, one of the original fighters from Street Fighter 1. Not sure what I think of him being a lowly underground fighter that's bribed to go down in fights... but it's not like any of the few remaining Street Fighter one characters that never returned had much of a personality, so I can't argue much there.
Overall a good read. This was my favorite of the Free Comic Books from Free Comic Book Day. Maybe I'll track down the Super Street Fighter storyline. One thing that stood out for this one is that the book is 'magazine-sized'. It's cool and you get larger pages for the art to really catch the eye... but it does make it harder to put away with the rest of the comics.
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