Street Fighter VS Darkstalkers Vol.1: Worlds of Warriors (1)

It’s interesting that Udon is continuing to push Darkstalkers since as a video game franchise it’s basically dead. There hasn’t been a legitimate new game created in over two decades and the HD compilation from 2013 was considered a financial failure. Yet, it somehow manages to continue on in statues, figures, books and movies. Obviously there is a sizable group that cares even if not enough to support continuing games. Street Fighter vs Darkstalkers is a continuation of Street Fighter Unlimited which saw Gill ending up in the land of the Darkstalkers. Much of the book is just a series of encounters between the Street Fighter characters and Darkstalkers. For example, Blanka is enjoying some time on the beach when Sasquatch attacks him and the two become friends when they discover a mutual love of bananas.I’m a huge fan of Udon’s work on Street Fighter and I own 12 if their hardcover books but I found it interesting that they chose to release this series first in paperback. My concern was that Udon wasn’t 100% committed to this crossover and now having read it I wouldn’t put it up there with the other Street Fighter books I’ve read. Not all Udon artists are created equal and the best are really spectacular. I get the feeling the Udon put its B team on this one. The art is decent but it never rises to what Udon is capable of. There really isn’t a whole lot to the plot. Gill is working with Jedah Dohma (the final boss from Darkstalkers 3) and Lilith to do… something. Meanwhile, Ken, Chun-Li and Sagat have mysteriously been transported to the land of the Darkstalkers and team up with Felicia and Jon Talbain.Street Fighter vs. Darkstalkers is the first real delve into the characters of Street Fighter V. We’ve already seen F.A.N.G but now we see Necalli, Rashid, Nash, Kolin as well as Violent Ken and Hot Ryu. It is a little weird since this book is coming AFTER SF Unlimited which took place in the SF III era whereas SF V takes place BEFORE SF III. On the other hand I’ve seen some Capcom reps say that each game is its own separate continuity so maybe I was hoping for something I’m not going to get. Udon does seem a bit more strict regarding continuity and I wish the SF V characters had been introduced in their own storyline rather than sharing one with the Darkstalkers. I also get the impression that some of the plot threads in here are from Udon’s Darkstalkers books which I’ve never read.My copy of Street Fighter vs Darkstalker came in terrible condition so I returned it and ended up buying from a brick and mortar bookseller. The condition I received it in has no bearing on my score but I thought enough of the book that I was willing to buy another copy and I’ll get volume 2. Udon sets the bar high and this book just doesn’t reach the usual Udon standards.

5 stars. Enjoy both vol 1 & 2 story.

Beautiful. Love the art.

The saga continues. I never saw this coming but suspected.

Awesome book! We need more new Darkstalkers material.

Great read for any occasion

Im a big fan of Streetfighter , i always loved playing the game ,seeing some of my favourite characters on a comic book makes it more fun to read the book as a fan.

Love the book as much as I love Street Fighter and Darkstalkers as video games!

Cuando leí el título de este crossover de inmediato todo tuvo sentido. Los world warriors y darkstalkers ya se han enfrentado antes, pero siempre en juegos spinoff (Marvel VS Capcom, Pocket Fighter), asi que la idea de tener solo estos 2 grupos, en un VS, me sonó tan bien, es algo que nos hacia falta. Siendo fan de ambas series, naturalmente tuve que comprar el comic, y en general estoy muy statisfecho con este volumen (1 de 2).La historia al parecer es canon. Es decir, continua donde se terminan SF Unlimited (que no leí) y Darkstalkers Unlimited (que si leí). Sin embargo, se puede disfrutar sin leer las historias anteriores, siempre y cuando tengas una noción de la historia de los personajes.En este volumen, se puede ver como los personajes de ambas series se conocen, pelean y forman alianzas.En cuanto al arte, me parece bueno. Tiene un estilo de dibujo como caricatura, es consistente con los otros comics de UDON, si ya los conoces entonces no hay pierde. Quizá Lilith me parecio algo rara en ciertas escenas, pero Chun-Li y Morrigan se hermosas.La calidad del libro está bien. Algunas hojas se sienten raras, como asperas, otras se sienten mas suaves. Al menos la impresión es buena, los colores brillan. Incluye #0-4, además de unas minihistorias (como de 4-6 paginas c/u), y páginas con las portadas alternas.En general, es mucho mejor que Darkstalkers unlimited, y lo estoy disfrutando tanto como el de Legends de Ibuki. Aún me falta el Vol 2, pero por ahora lo recomiendo para los fans.

el arte de UDON es asombroso