Street Fighter Forever # 0 (Free Comic Book Day 2026)

 By Mark Rodriguez

One of the comics I always look forward to every year for Free Comic Book Day is whatever Street Fighter comic Udon will throw at us. This time around we look at Ryu as he faces several opponents in his past, present and future! Let's check it out! 

"Lost in Thought" opens with Ryu meditating by a waterfall. He focuses his mind and controls his breathing until it feels like the world stops around him. Ryu has an out of body experience as he ponders on how he fights to better himself and surpass his limits. He asks himself about the meaning of strength. Is it to throw the strongest punch or land the swiftest kick? He wonders if his fighting style, Ansatsuken, is the the source of his strength or if it comes from somewhere else.

Just then, Ken leaps in to attack him with his hurricane kick, only this is the younger long-ponytail version of his friend. Ryu looks around and finds himself back at Gouken's dojo. He remembers this day and this fight. Ken eggs him on. Ryu agrees but warns him that he remembers winning this fight.

 

As they fight, Ryu remembers that training with Ken pushed him to get stronger. He wouldn't be where he is today had Ken not been keeping up with him every step of the way. Ryu asks Ken why he fights, and Ken asks if he thinks he's Master Gouken all of a sudden. Ryu tells him to humor him. Ken says he fights for fun and nothing is more fun than fighting with him. Ryu considers that a fair answer as they shake hands. Suddenly Ken turns into his older 'Street Fighter II' self and has a more serious look on his face. He repeats the question, why does he fight?

Eliza and Mel appear alongside him. Ken says he fights for his family, and they hive him strength. He suddenly knocks Ryu back with a Shoryuken. Ryu gets up and sees the current day 'Street Fighter 6' Ken. He once again asks himself why he fights. Ken says he doesn't even know anymore. He lost everything and everyone and only has his strength... "if you can even call it that anymore." Ken walks off and Ryu tells him to wait.

Gouken appears and tells Ryu that Ken's path is now his own. Ryu is surprised to see him, Gouken says he sees that he's been keeping up with his meditation. Ryu says it gave him more questions than answers. He says Ken's reason for fighting has changed several times throughout his life and he asks if Ansatsuken has failed him.

Gouken starts to fight Ryu and says his pupil is still in the need for one more lesson. Gouken explains that throughout Ken's tribulations, Ansatsuken has been the only constant. Just like Ryu, the fighting style has forged and molded Ken into what he is today. He says if Ken puts his trust in Ansatsuken, it will not fail him. Akuma suddenly appears behind Gouken and punches through him. He tells his brother that Ansatsuken failed him in the end.

Ryu is shocked. Akuma says he won't be poetic about it, Ansatsuken is a killing art and one has to master the Dark Hado to be able to reach its full potential. Ryu won't stand by and let Akuma kill Gouken again (or whatever he did since Gouken is still alive somehow) and throw a punch. Akuma catches his fist. He says you can only achieve full power once the opponent lays dead at his feet. Ryu asks if standing atop a mountain of corpses is what Akuma calls strength. Akuma says strength is measured by the number of victims left in his wake. He says he'd know this if he didn't turn away from the Dark Hado. Ryu says he didn't turn away from it, he conquered it. He summons a fireball and fires it at Akuma.

Akuma is gone but his voice is heard saying he's looking forward to the seeing the results of his training. Gouken says Akuma has always had a trouble soul but there is some wisdom in his words. This confused and angers Ryu. Gouken says his own master, Goutetsu, would say that Ansastuken, like any other martial art, is a tool to hone one's mind, body and spirit. Mastering it will make you grow in strength.

Ryu says this makes it sound like any style of martial art will do. Gouken says he's right, but he can forgive his personal bias when he says Ansatsuken is a fine tool to use. Ryu says Akuma used Ansatsuken to kill Goutestsu and Gouken himself. Gouken says he lives on through Ansastuken and through Akuma, Ryu, Ken and beyond. He adds that masters and students have tumultuous relationships but the fighting styles persist through generations. Ryu thanks him as he has learned a great deal today. Gouken walks off and says that Ryu has meditated a lot on the past and should now look to the future.

Ryu turns to see older versions of Sakura and Sean, who are flanked by robots. They both say they haven't seen him in a while. Ryu asks about the robots. Sakura explains that they're 'cousins' of Twelve, and they sort of adopted each other to bring out their martial arts to the next level. 

 

Sakura leaps in to fight and the Twelves join her as it's clear she's controlling them. Ryu asks how she's doing this. Sakura explains he taught her how to meditate so she learned to expand her mind. Ryu is impressed but asks how Sakura will fare without them. He blasts the Twelves with a Hadoken. Just then, Ryu dodges a ball. Sean now jumps int the fight, eager to test his mettle.

The balls bounces off the wall and nearly hits Ryu. Ryu is impressed that Sean managed to add the ball's trajectory into the fight, acting as if it were a third fist. Ryu punches Sean back. Sakura asks how Ryu will deal with six fists as her outfit gives her four extra arms. Ryu fights back but is surprised that Sakura can counter every move as if she knows them before he can make them. Sakura says she has eyes on the back of her head. 

Ryu notices that the Twelves are watching the fight, and everything they see, Sakura also sees. Ryu sees that Sakura managed to spread her consciousness across three bodies. Just then Ryu is hit behind the leg with Sean's basketball. Sakura and Sean leap towards Ryu, declaring this to be Game Over. Ryu snaps awake, finding himself back at the waterfall.

Ryu realizes when he is and he stands up. He understands what his master wanted him to see. The future looks bright.

"Double Cross" opens in New York City as the leaders of the Italian and Russian gangs meet up in a restaurant to discuss their turf. Nunzio has paperwork that his lawyers set up to split their turf fairly. Just then some noise is heard outside and Nunzio asks about it. Sergey says that's the assassin he hires. He's planning to double-cross Nunzio and take everything. Juri busts through the window. 

Juri wraps her legs around Nunzio's neck and asks Sergey if this is the guy she's supposed to kill. She would have come sooner but the men outside gave her trouble. Sergey asks if she had to take out his guys as well. Juri says traction builds character. She then tells him to toss her his phone and wants to time the selfie with the moment she snaps Nunzio's neck.

Just then Crimson Viper smashes through the window and tells Juri to lay off her client. Viper explains that her client hired her to betray Juri's client. Juri asks if she's into mercenary work too. Viper says she is and asks Juri to keep her hands off her employer. Juri raises her hands and says they're nowhere near him. Viper specifies to keep her thighs off him as well. 

 

Juri gets off of Nunzio and tells Viper they should fight, and whoever kills the other can kill who their target. Viper agrees. The women start to fight as Nunzio and Sergey are angry at each other, as they both tried to get the other killed. Juri kicks Viper, sending her flying over both men. Juri asks if she's starting to get slow in her old age. Viper gets up and says she'll pay for that. Viper hands Nunzio his phone, which he dropped, and returns to the fight.

Sergey says they'd accomplish more if they put all the energy they put into backstabbing each other into actually working together. Nunzio asks if they should give the peace talks another shot and Sergey agrees. Nunzio tells the girls that the hits are off, but they're now gone. As they wonder where they went, Sergey notices that something is wrong with his phone. Nunzio has the same problem. All of their secret accounts are being drained by a virus. The men wonder when they access to their phones. Then they remember when Sergey tosses Juri his phone and when Viper handed Nunzio back his phone. The men outside alert their bosses that the cops are coming.

Days later, Juri and Viper are relaxing at a luxury hotel in the Caribbean. Juri comments that both men will be put away for a long time and they get to keep their Swiss bank accounts. Viper is glad she helped since she needed both organization dealt with but kept 'off the books'. Viper says this will be a one-time thing. Juri asks if she's sure since she knows of some underworld people in Belarus that could use a fleecing. Viper says she always did want to travel more. Juri is glad she agrees and says she likes her partnerships to be lucrative and morally gray.

 

My thoughts- 

Ryu has always pursued strength but this time he questions what that really means. During his meditation he gets perspectives from Ken, Gouken and even Akuma's twisted views. Even though this story is about Ryu, we do see Ken's changes from the more carefree younger version, the happy married man and now the guy that lost everything. It's interesting how Ryu asked if martial arts failed Ken, when martial arts can't really do much against a corrupt business man framing you for terrorist activities.

I do wonder how much Udon is going to dig into Ken's story since it is not fully resolved in Street Fighter 6. They can't exactly have him return to his family and make everything happy again, just in case Street Fighter 7 decides to make things even worse for him. 

 

The story ends with Ryu saying the future is bright... but what about Ken's?

The future scene was pretty wild with the older Sakura and Sean. Sean has mixed his basketball into his martial art... while Sakura goes all in with weird new tech. She can use her mind to control these Twelve clones, and her suit can materialize four extra arms. It's interesting, but I do wonder if Sakura would really go for relying on technology to fight. Being a fan and pupil of Ryu, I'd figure she'd stick with his basic 'rely on your own strength' approach. Maybe if this was an older Li-Fen instead, I can totally see her relying on advanced tech to win her fights.

The back up story was short and fun as Juri and Viper pretend to be in conflict with each other but were actually working together to double-cross both gang leaders. I do wonder when the new SF6 version of Viper will run into Xavia, the leader of Vortex... mostly because both of their looks and outfits are very similar. It's such an odd coincidence that their looks as so similar, considering that Street Fighter Prime # 0 came out way before Viper's SF6 DLC reveal. Hopefully Udon doesn't do something cheesy like reveal that Xavia was Viper all along. I'm sure Chun Li would have recognized her. 

The comic also advertises the next few books coming out. Ken is going to get his Street Fighter Masters book as well as Juri. On the Megaman side, Dr. Wily will be getting his own book. There's also a hardcover trade collecting all the Megaman Timelines issues and one for Final Fight. Get ready to flip that Final Fight one on its side once you get to the issue 2 portion....