@d3v it isnāt but considering the circumstances of the release, itās quite possible that this comic in particular could be hinting at the direction they are going in SFV.
So from the characters revealed thus far, it appears they are trying to keep characters āpairedā in some way.
Ryu-Chun (Main Characters)
Nash-Bison (Shadowloo Storyline)
Cammy-Birdie (British?)
So this helps us guess the rest of the roster. Between Ken and the Silliconera āleakā of Mika, Alex, Urien, and Karin, I think weāre getting:
Ken-Alex (American major characters)
Zangief-Mika (Wrestling side story)
Karin-Sakura (Rivals)
Urien-Juri (Crazy psychopaths)
And using the rumored new characters Zen, Laura, and Rachid:
Dhalsim-Zen (India)
Laura-Oro/Blanka/Sean (Brazil)
Rachid-??? (No idea honestly. Elena?)
If the boss is playable, he/she will probably be alone at the bottom of the select screenās V-pattern.
Yāknow, itās all speculation at this point. But Iām really not sold on R. Mika and Zangief being in this game.
Will we get Alex and Juri? Yup. Bet it.
Will we get Urien and Karin? Probably. Capcom would be insane to not have them.
R. Mika though? I mean, I want her in the game. But thereās a shit ton of grapplers in your list. Birdie, Alex, Zangief, R. Mika, Karin (sorta), Oro (sorta, also I suspect heās in based on the statue getting released), possibly new characters? Lot of grapplers.
I mean, Oro and Karin arenāt really grapplers, but weāve no idea how their design will be empasized in sf5.