This is an adequate time to be a Street Fighter fan. Thanks to the the launch of Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix and Street Fighter IV on the horizon, we have been given a reason to keep breathing throughout the day.
Even better, we can go to our local comic retailer and exchange tuppence and a ha'penny for the very competent Street Fighter comic books by Udon. Purists can even help themselves to translated Street Fighter manga, full of bristling hairdos and hoarse oaths.
Ah, but life wasn't always so beautiful. There was a time when developers were scared to let US-bound video games and Japanese culture touch each other, so American comic book companies were commissioned to break out their Crayolas and scribble some cash-in magic. Bad things happened, Malibu's Street Fighter comic being among the worst.
Fans of The Simpsons might recall Marge Simpson's declaration that everything must be paired up: a woman for every man, a salt shaker for every pepper shaker and a dog for every cat. Malibu noticed that in the Street Fighter games, Chun Li wasn't paired with a man and they decided that must change immediately. So we have golden flashbacks where Ryu and Chun Li recall the love and laughter of their salad days. Of course, the narrative outside of the flashbacks are serious business. Things have changed, harumph harumph. Times are darker.
The Ryu/Chun Li pairing is as spectacular as damp moss next to everything else that goes on in Malibu's comic. Ken gets scalped and Ryu receives his friend's lovely locks in a "Forget Me Not" box from Sagat. Sagat, meanwhile, is obsessed with destroying good monitors. And Malibu sent one of their own hideous chimeras to fight against the World Warriors, a feral mental patient named The Ferret. I have a cousin who owns a ferret. She dresses it in a bow tie and calls it Daisy.
I'm sorry I put you through all this so close to Thanksgiving. Have something nice.
Related Links:
Street Fighter IV's Fighting Spirit in Painstaking Detail
Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix's C-c-combo Makers
Street Fighter IV's Boxart: A Warning of Things to Come