An honest opinion from a hardcore Sf fan

Media Outlet Comic Book Forum
1

Some of you guys are gna flame me for this, but for what its worth this is my shot at contructive criticism for a comic about something i love.

i’ve noticed that the intestity and depth of the story’s been going down hill since issue 1. It just seems like Udon’s way of storytelling is just to make excuses for our favourite characters to beat each other up. Well, of course i DO wanna see that, but fights are 100% more fun to watch when there’s intensity,history,reason and character revelation explored during/before/after these fights. well to give Udon credit, there’s a visible pinch of those qualities thrown in,like in Sagat vs Ryu in issue 5. “Im not the same fool u fought X years ago,ryu” or sumthing like that was pretty neat. but why did sagat try to knee ryu right away after seeing him? Impulse? He wasnt even there to assasinate/capture ryu so at least say sumthing first! Grown men dont just do that. Kids with grudges against each other do. Real fighters always need a good reason, be it good or bad, before they let the punches fly. Be it for the fight itself, to save sum1’s ass/revenge watver. Im sure Sagat had his reason’s but in the EXCECUTION-the way the comic came out- we didnt know squat. it wasnt in self defense either.

Another example would be the Vega/honda match.Im not sure how long Udon is planning to run this series, and I know that the SF universe has ALOT of characters to play around with, but once again a REGULAR like Honda is treated candidly. I liked him much more in the original SF anime, where it was practically a draw with Balrog. If Udon thinks sum1 like honda is so expendable then sumthing’s really wrong. Birdie, I understand but honda?

Whats worse is the whole Charlie mess. Guile’s been searching for him for YEARS…he was Guile’s best friend and mentor…he abandoned his FAMILY to search for Charlie and what happens when he meets the real Nash again?(not shadow) It happens just like that?No buildup,no facial closeup…nothing. Such a big turning point in the story and it gets treated to just a few frames on a page. And after Charlie “died” again?Guile:“he sacraficed his life to save us”. THATS IT?!U finally met the guy u’ve been searching for and when he dies infront of your eyes thats all you gotta say? I really think im watching a video game than reading a comic book about the STORY of street fighters.

oh and when chunli found out her dad was dead? that’s IT?

I dunno, from the promising 0,1st and 2nd issues I come across this. I dont like how UDON’s been treating the franchise, I get the feeling SF is being cheapened somehow…again. I do admit i’m satisfied with seeing my favs going at it against each other, but for the average person who didnt spend years of his life playing these characters…I dont think so. no wonder SF hasnt had the popularity it had in the old days. Capcom started milking the franchise, thinking that everyone would swallow a new Sf just because it had new characters or whatnot. I hope UDON doesnt think it can sell comics to the masses just because u get to see Charlie do his flash kick on Bison. for the Sf fan,its enough. but the potential of this comic was to satisfy the Sf fan, and also to “introduce a whole new generation to this great franchise”. I dont think this comic can acheive the latter with the way its going now.

Ok, this is MY opinion of things. If you guys enjoyed the comic more than i did, good for you.You got more of your money’s worth than i did. And for the record, its still a big KUDOS to Udon for appreciating Sf for what its worth and putting visible passion into the art and production of this comic. but still, as a great fan of Sf, i believe the potential of these characters can stretch far,far more than how they’re being portrayed now. I may be wrong about everything, but if any of this strikes a bell to any of you guys at Udon or here, I’m sure u know the comic has the potential to be a CLASSIC, instead of what it is now.

Peace.

2

“Street Fighter 2: The World Warrior” - the first game i ever owned (i haven’t been around for that long). It was just simply beyond words, and for that reason SF will ALWAYS have a special place in my heart.

It pains me to say that i agree with you on the most part, but you also have take into account that it is comic, in order to sell well, it is no good to isolate the masses just so there is no stepping-on-the-toes of the ‘real hardcore fans’ like you and [ahem] me.

Udon deserve praise as you said, not only for the comic but also for rekindling the nostalgia i thought was once lost.

3

I don’t really agree with you. Sagat is supposed to be blind with rage over his loss against Ryu in the tournament, so that would explain where the sudden knee came from. Yes, Sagat had a grudge against Ryu–that was the point. As for Charlie, how much more could have been said or done? You knew he was going to die, so there’s no point in letting his life drag on. Same deal with Chun-Li’s father. You knew he was going to die, and why he died…how much more explanation do you need?

I agree with the E. Honda/Vega fight…I hope we don’t see the last of E.Honda, or Vega for that matter.

I’m not sure how you would’ve handled the series if you were running the show, but I have no problem with the way the stories are unfolding so far (the backstories help flesh things out). If the stories were any longer, we’d run into the problem that the DBZ cartoon has: lots of pointless filler episodes until you get to the good stuff. How long would we have had to wait until Udon got around to the Akuma/Ken/Ryu fight?

4

You got a point about Sagat, Il give ya that. Maybe he JUST needed a taste of fighting Ryu again…that primal fighter’s instict within him just letting go at the time…

But it certainly didnt feel as if that was the intention. I felt the intention was to just tease us with a semi-fight. I loved the action tho.

And even if you know a chacter’s going to die, if he’s as important as charlie, dont trivialise it. As for chun, she’s a MAIn character. Main characters need characterization…character building. Seeing how Chun’s emotions are treated so worthlessly by the writer was kinda dissapointing.

And yes, Im well aware that if u let me run this show, the comic wouldnt even get past issue 1. but since Im on the outside of things, a bit of contructive critism wont hurt. Hey,just some customer feedback, eh?

And yes again, the forbidden fruit tastes better. A ken/ryu/akuma fight should be treated as a trump card: Cant show it too early in the game. I think its a better to keep readers coming back with a little buildup. but since i havnt got my hands on issue 6 yet i wont be pretentious. I cant wait to see the fight! tho since this is only issue 6 i HOPE it wont be the last hehehe.

Oh, and bringng DBZ, a japanese manga into the discussion is like talking about oranges in a discussion about apples. They’re but good fruit, but definitely taste different. Americans have theyr own great way of telling stories, and the reason why Batman was voted as the century’s greatest super hero wasnt cuz of his powers, it was because of his Character. and character is what our street fighters are KINDA(not totally) lacking now IMO.

but all in all, im STILL taking my hats off to the guys at Udon! u guys still rock!

5

http://db.gamefaqs.com/coinop/arcade/file/street_fighter_plot.txt

eveything UDON does is approved by Capcom (of Japan)

6

hmm

your posts r so long.
i didnt read all of it.

the only problem i have is that it seems rushed.
wheres the suspense and intensity when a fight is all over in one issue…ahem guile/chun li vs bison.

i know they want to move on to the second arc but ALPHA has a great storyline to it too. i just feel they should take their time with it and perhaps elaborate some more like… how about how ken and ryu met and how their rivalry/friendship established? or how adon and sagat are rivals and dan’s thirst gfor revenge on sagat?

u have to realize that once they move on to the second arc there is no going back to ALPHA cuz then the stroyline will just get messed up.

7

With only 16 or so pages a month, and around 40 playable characters (and about what, 60 more nonplayable supporting ones?) in Street Fighter 1 through alpha alone, as well as practically an obligation to show them all, I really don’t see a way around this problem. I agree with all the flaws, but the current rate the comic is moving at is about 2.5 fight scenes per comic (including back-up stories) and 2 characters introduced per issue. If it were to slow down (which would be required to get rid of the rushed feeling) to say, 1.5 fight scenes per comic and 1 character introduced per issue, that would take more than 3 years to do the Alpha through SF2 series alone. And 3 years is about how long Udon has the license, currently!

I’ve always stated that the Street Fighter storyline, while having some semblance of a main storyline here and there, is really mostly broken up into several different segments that just happen to criss cross a lot. Guy trying to reform Cody ends up having a completely different destination from Gen searching for Akuma which is completely separate from Rolento and Sodom trying to start a new Mad Gear which has nothing to do with Cammy and the Dolls getting free from Shadaloo, and the Dolls meanwhile “remain a mystery to this day” to Chun-Li (Although that’s just Alpha, SF2 and SF3 are the same way for the most part). Due to this, if you really really were to try to catch a good amount of development while staying somewhat true (can’t stay completely true, I think) to the SF plot, you’d need multiple series going on at the same time to do it, and one series wouldn’t cut it (or at least, one comic series. If it were a cartoon/anime, I imagine churning out a new 30 minute episode once a week might be a good enough pace, although it might seem slightly unfocused at times). Problem being, no sane business man would put up or possibly even have the capital and resources to do that.

I think Udon’s doing one of the best jobs that one could possibly do with the restrictions they have (although admittingly, I think I would have saved Sakura, Dan, and the great awesomeness that is grumpy surly Kei for later)

8

akuma vs. ken and ryu fight is going to last 18 pages.

9

And that technically wouldn’t leave many pages for anything else besides fighting, would it?

(note: I say ‘technically’ since I admit it’s possible to have character development etc take place during a fight)

10

I agree with alot of the parts you said, about storylines ending just like that. I’m pretty dissapointed that the Charlie/Guile storyline ended just on Issue 5, Charlie’s one of my top favorite and I’m pretty sure I won’t see him again other than a backup story.

But if you drag the stories too long they’ll probably not be as interesting as it is now. I’m just glad that Udon released a Street Fighter comic series, I haven’t been into comics like this before, so thank you Udon…

11

I dont think hes asking for an “explanation”, i think hes asking for development, character development. He wants some “feeling” in there, if you may.

I agree 100%.

If we consider that Alpha is the only SF with a real plot, its even worse. They dont use the potential of Alpha, what are they going to use?

Its pretty clear what Udon is aiming for: showing people fight scenes.

Thats it.

They got caught up in the “three years” issue, and said “forget the writing”. Instead of just doing a nice, decently-paced first arc, they just ran through it.

It would be much better to have one or two good arcs than three or four so-so arcs. But hey, whatever.

They know most fans will buy it, after all. I did buy them (instead of the TPB like i originally planned). They got my money, so their job is done.

12

If every character had to have there storyline be told, then 1 issue has to be dedicated to that character like guile here. Telling every character storyline would be a pain in the ass, so a backup story does sound better and that charlie dying and that chunli father dying was pretty lame, but to me i didnt give a rat ass about it. I focus soley on ryu, ken, and akuma right now cause i already seen guile and chunli going after bison already in the SF2 animated movie.

Also dedicating 1 issue to the ryu/ken vs akuma fight is worth it. I dont wanna see a lame ass fight between these guys cause this is the fight i’ve been waiting for too. Its the like the wolverine vs. sabretooth fight. Everytime wolverine and sabretooth go at it, cyclops shows up and blast sabretooth away which suck ass alright, until marvel actually dedicated 1 issue to the wolverine vs sabretooth fight which was worth it. So far its all about akuma, ryu, ken right here. The rest, i really dont give a rat ass about them for NOW.:smiley:

13

I am sadden to see that you think we do not care. In fact I almost felt insulted. If we do not care, I will not even spend time here talking with everyone.

We are not going all out JUST TO get your money. Making money to keep us alive is one thing, but we choose SF because we love SF so much. I can tell you that if Alvin Lee would have stayed at Marvel doing a book, he makes more money than doing this SF book on a monthly basis. But making this SF comic is our dream, and to pursue a dream, we need to make sacrifices.

You read through all these posts on the board and you will realized that there are so many different opinions about who want to see what. The harsh reality is that there is no way we will be able to do something to please everyone. So we have to just do something that makes sense. (Let alone that we have to deal with approvals, sales, retailer’s response, etc).

In the grand scheme of things, we choose to do what we are doing because we feel that it is the best logical solution for now.

The story is compacted because we need to establish the universe. I know you hard core guys will stick around for months to see how the story unfolds, but the casual readers will not. That’s for sure. We sure want to have a story with the fight scenes, but we need to keep a good balance on things.

Originally, we planned that if the book launches well enough, we will do another on-going title to concentrate on specific characters, like a mini series within a series type of thing, to focus more on character developments. However, given that the book is only keeping 30K sales and the negative reaction that you guys have when we get Long Vo to help out on art and you do not like it, we are having second thoughts on how we can do this.

If we want to just forget about the writing, then the fight scenes will be much longer. The Alpha plot by itself is so messed up (we all know that, 3 generations of Alpha, all different endings) that even when I asked Capcom, they told us that they do not have a solution to it and tell us that we should take it as “alternate universe” history. So we gotta go through all the stuff and can only pick and choose bits and pieces of DIFFERENT PUZZLES to fit together and then made up our own pieces so that we can present you a completed piece.

And no, we were NEVER hindered by the “Three Year” term thing. Coz as far as we are concerned, this book might tank after 2 issues and that’s it. So the time of the contract is never an issue. Afterall, we do plan to extend our license if things goes well.

We are working the hardest to bring you something that we love and care. However, if this still does not satisfy you, all I can say is, to qoute that American Idol guy, “We have done out best and we have no regrets about it.”

Hope that clears things up.

14

wow…that was a nice prep talk! It’s like something Mats Sundin would say during a playoff game. :frowning: <— tears of inspiration.

15

Is that 30k sales only thing the fault of the retailers or something? Actually getting the Street Fighter comic in my area has become quite a pain due to how fast the thing sells out. :frowning:

Whatever the case, it’d be too bad, really. Insane business risks become smart business sense if a consumer base is established and it’s proven that the product would work in that medium. If the consumer base could exist, the Street Fighter storyline would work very well as a mini-series deal (although admittingly, a long-term problem might be figuring out how long each series could go on, since the majority of the storyline branches within Street Fighter’s storyline only lasted two games, tops, for the most part as far as I can tell). Course, as of the moment, I’d still chalk it up as just a wee bit too risky, considering that it’d take an awfully large fanbase to justify multiple series of something. Hmm… now I’m curious about how Marvel and DC managed to build up their large multi-series universes. I should look into that, sometime (although they had less restrictions than using an established license has)

16

Personally I like the way Udon’s been taking the story, at the moment it’s like a re-done version of the Alpha anime & done for the better, many things I would have enjoyed from that anime have been added to the comics, I’m especially pleased at the amount of characters they’re adding into it. True this is comic not anime but even SF2V which only had to deal with 16 or 17 (With Akuma) characters, only dealt with about 11, atleast this way the character development & they’re fight motives are all being shown in the comic, & every character is supposed to make an appearence & I think they’ve all been pretty well researched & thought through, my only objection would be if Udon were to start on Arika’s EX series which I feel is doubtful anyway.

17

as for right now Superman vs. Batman is the worst comic ever.

18

both marvel and DC has crappy comics right now. Only comic series im following right now is the SF series.:cool:

19

Actually, story-wise, Marvel and DC have many comics that are better than SF. Supreme Power, Flash, Punisher, Swamp Thing, and Sleeper (Just to name a few).

While I enjoy SF, it dosnt compare to any of those titles. What Marvel and DC comics are you reading??

20

Actually the comic plays out more like the SF2 anime, I dont know why people compare the comic to the Alpha and V animes though.

Just like in the SF2 anime

  • The first time after Ken and Ryu see each other in a long time, they fighy

  • Guile and Chun Li team up to investigate

  • Bison is looking for top martial artists to recruit in his army

  • Sagat wants to fight Ryu again

  • Ken is with Eliza

The list goes on and on, but the characters act the sameway also, and the way the characters come together is alot more like the SF2 movie.

Also, Capcom of Japan who has to approve everything UDON does has been outspoken about how much they love the SF2 anime, but have really never ever said anything about the other animes.