Friday, May 9, 2014

Graphic Novel Review - Street Fighter IV Volume 1: Wages of Sin HC

Name - Street Fighter IV Volume 1: Wages of Sin HC 
Published by - Udon Entertainment
Story by - Ken Siu-Chong, Matt Moylan, Jim Zub
Art by - Joe Ng, Chris Stevens, Eric Vedder, Bob Strang, Takeshi Miyazawa

First things first, I got this book from NetGalley, so thank you netgalley, Diamond Book Distributors and Udon Entertainment for this opportunity.
The plot-line of 'Street Fighter' have never seemed anything extraordinary to me, specially compared to some other fighting games out there (King of Fighters, Guilty Gear etc comes to mind). So I went in to this graphic novel mostly to see the action sequences which have quite impressed me in the previous Street Fighter comics by Udon. And Udon delivers on that front this time too with true to the game moves adding to the nice drawing and fight scenes. While the story delivers nothing new and quite generic the different artists and the sheer number of cast with the bonus stories are impressive.

The main story follows C. Viper in her mission to infiltrate the S.I.N and also Abel trying to find his origin and follows the already known plot with a few bits of originality thrown in and ends with Abel and Fifteen's fight getting interrupted by Akuma & Fifteen emerging as Seth. There are a number of bonus stories featuring Abel, El Fuerte, C. Viper, Hagger, Guy, Q, Alex, Juri among other cameos by know characters.


The art was interesting with its nicely drawn fighting sequences and varied style throughout the GN. I specially liked the unique drawing featured in the Q & Juri bonus stories. The art really does drive the story and just might be the focus of veteran fans already familiar with the story of Street Fighter IV.


In the end, this GN is a must read for any Street Fighter fans and collectors of Street Fighter art. For me, while I did enjoy the action and the drawing, the story of Street Fighter like always didn't really impress me that much.

3 out of 5 stars. 

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