Final Fight # 1

 By Mark Rodriguez

I originally bought the first 1 issues of this 4-part mini series directly from the Udon website. I got the third one from a Third Eye blind box out of sheer luck, and I got issue 4 from Stories. Somehow all four (as well as some other comics) were lost in the move from our apartment to our new house. I eventually bit the bullet and re-purchased all four from Hipcomic. So now that I got the full set again, let's look into Udon's story based on the popular 1989 beat-em-up that still lives in our hearts so many years later.

 

"Nowhere Fast" opens at an arcade as kids play games like Street Fighter and Bio Hazard. One of them puts a quarter into Final Fight. 

We go to Metro City in 1989, or rather the city feels like it's always 1989. Mike Haggar returns from the lunch on his first day as mayor. His secretary Sharon asks if it's easier than pro wrestling. Haggar says it's not and finds a videotape on his desk. Sharon says the person that left it looks scruffy even for that town. He suddenly gets a phone call.

The guy on the phone says he has a business proposition for him, his daughter for his cooperation. Haggar asks what happened to Jessica. The man tells Haggar to play the tape. The tape shows Jessica tied up, which shocks Haggar. The man says to let the Mad Gear do as they please and he'll get his daughter back. He says they'll even throw in the same monthly bonus to his salary like they did with the previous mayor. Haggar angrily crushes the phone in his hand.

Later on, at the Metro City Gym, Cody gets called and told about the situation. His friend, Guy, asks what happened. Cody said the Mad Gear has kidnapped his sweetheart since high school. Guy says she is also his friend, so he'll help out. Cody angrily punches the mirror.

At the Mad Gear hideout, Roxy taunts Jessica, saying she hopes her father doesn't pay up for a while so they can keep her for a while. Jessica knees her in the stomach. Damnd laughs as Roxy holds her stomach. Jessica tells her to untie her so she can show off how tough she is. She says she's been suplexing teddy bears in the crib. Suddenly there's a loud BAM sound ans Damnd asks about it. Two P says Bred was going to park his fancy car... and he's bad at parking.

Just then Haggar, Cody and Guy bust through the brick wall, as the mayor demands his daughter back. Damnd is surprised they found them so fast. Cody says the same guy that left the tape at City Hall stuck around to shake down a meat stand. The guy led them to the slums after some convincing. Haggar wants less talking and more fighting as they start beating up the Mad Gear members. Damnd grabs Jessica and runs off with her, telling Roxy to cover him. Roxy leaps out but gets hit by one of the guys sent flying in her direction. 

 

The men outside wonder if they should see what all the noise is about. One of them says Damnd told them that nobody gets in or out until he opens the door. Damnd smashes through the door with Jessica in tow. He hands her over to Bred and tells him to take her to the big man's place. Bred drives off as Haggar, Cody and Guy arrive. 

Haggar is grabbing one of the guys by the face and asks him the name of the big blonde guy. He says his name is Thrasher Damnd. Damnd turns to face him. Haggar leaps out at Damnd and starts wailing on him, demanding to know where his daughter is. Roxy, Axel and Two P all jump onto Haggar to try to stop him, and Damnd didn't even have to whistle.

 

Haggar tosses all the punks off him. Damnd hits Haggar with a flying kick to the back. He says now he can tell his grandkids that he got to see a CPWA Slam Master in person. He says he'd rather end the story with 'and they were buddies ever since' instead of 'they pulled the mayor's body out of the river'. He punches Haggar in the face, but the mayor barely flinches. He tells Damnd that he attacked his child, he attacked him and he attacked his city. He picks up Damnd and leaps into the air, saying no all of the city is hitting back. He slams Damnd into the ground with a pile driver as the concrete around them starts to crack. Damnd says he saw Haggar's campaign and how he promised to deal with the Mad Gear problem, but he also forgot another promise he made. Haggar promised to fix the crumbling infrastructure. 

Just then the ground gives way under them and Haggar and Damnd fall underground. Cody and Guy see they fell into the subway and must have landed on a train. Cody says the K-Train has to loop back before the next stop, so they can meet up with Haggar there. Cody grabs one of their motorbikes and Guy asks if that's stealing. Cody says he doubts the Mad Gear have a proof of purchase on their bikes and Guy agrees that desperate times call for desperate measures. As they both drive off, they are being watched.

Meanwhile on the train, Haggar wakes up. Damnd is glad he's still alive so they don't have to start all over with another mayor. He tells him this isn't worth it and the Mad Gear want to be his friend. Haggar says the mayor's office isn't for sale, and now that they're alone they can settle this. Damnd says they're not alone, as the Mad Gear support mass transit. It seems everyone on the train are more Mad Gear members and Haggar finds himself surrounded.

  

My Thoughts- 

This one sure brought back the memories. So far the story is hitting a lot of the beats of the classic arcade game. They did a good job with the arcade intro as we get introduced to Haggar, Cody and Guy and how they have to rescue Jessica from the Mad Gear. There is a small difference with Haggar being given a videotape rather than just turning on the TV, but I guess it makes sense. How would the Mad Gear have the supervillain tech to hijack live TV? 

The comic is full of references to arcade locations and all the characters, and the lesser known members that don't get to become playable Street Fighter characters like Bred, Roxy and Axel get to shine. I see that they went with the Thrasher Damnd name. In the original arcade the first boss was named Damnd, but that was too strong of a name for the Super Nintendo so he was called Thrasher there instead. Eventually Street Fighter 6 would call him Thrasher Damnd, similar to how Charlie, known as Nash in Japan, became Charlie Nash.

Another reference that I know will be coming up just hit me when I was discussing the comic to the misses. So Bred got a fancy new car. He took Jessica in it. Sooner or later the Final Fight trio will catch up to him. Would be shame if something were to happen to Bred's fancy new car...

Other than that, the comic reads pretty fast once the action starts. I also liked the reference to Haggar being a Saturday Night Slam Master and the fact that Jessica is a lot tougher than she looks. She's just severely outnumbered. But this comic convinced me she could most likely take Roxy in a straight one-on-one fight without any outside interference. 

I liked the segue from the slums to the subway. I do wonder how they're gonna cram 5 stages into a 4-part story, but I guess we'll see. I still say there was a missed opportunity to have Damnd whistle for more thugs to come over. I'm sure it could have been squeezed in there somewhere.

I'm also curious as to who the mystery man was that was watching Cody and Guy drive off. It looked like Zeku to me, who is Guy's sensei, but... how does he fit into this story? 

 

I enjoyed the comic, and I'm glad I was able to re-buy them now before they would become rare and crazily priced. I'm on the fence of whether or not to re-purchase the Free Comic Book Day one since it was free the first time around....