It’s hard to imagine the Street Fighter license, or indeed any of the Capcom fighting and beat ’em up game comics, working as well as they do with any publisher other than UDON Entertainment.

Don’t get me wrong; as I’ve mentioned numerous times, they’re hardly high class literature, but they don’t have to be; they recreate the silly stories and brilliantly staged action of the video games beautifully, with absolutely stunning artwork.

The manga-inspired, highly kinetic and super in-your-face art of UDON’s comics is reliably excellent, and has been consistently so for more than 20 years; I was first introduced to UDON via their work on Gail Simone’s far too short lived Deadpool/Agent X run in the early 00s, and I’ve been a huge fan ever since. Given how much of a soft spot I have for Street Fighter (despite not really being into the more recent entries in the video game series) it’s basically a match made in heaven for me.

Anyway, we’re here to talk about Street Fighter Masters: Game Gals #1, which is composed of a short story, a main feature and then a final, brief, one page comic to close the issue.

Street Fooder is the short that kicks things off, and is little more than an extended fight scene; it’s fun though, and once more shows off UDON’s incredibly vivid, technicolour style.

The Gauntlet sees schoolgirl Sakura, who first appeared back in 1996 arcade fighting game, Street Fighter Alpha 2, on the run from an unseen threat, with numerous female characters getting in her way as she makes her escape. What could possibly have happened to make her flee, and why is she willing to take on so many of the female World Warriors to get away? I can guarantee you won’t guess, but the answer is sillier and more amusing than you may expect!

Lastly, Juri and Sagat have a brief fight to finish the issue, though this short is cuter than that description makes it sound.

It’s a very fun, light and, yes, daft collection of stories with the usual gorgeous artwork that UDON Entertainment always provide. Hanzo Steinbach,Tovio Rogers and Dax Gordine are the artists for each story (in that order!), and despite differences in their individual style, they all have a knack for handling the familiar characters, as well as an excellent sense of clarity in the storytelling, even with the fight scenes.

Though several more obscure characters feature in this issue, prior knowledge of each of them isn’t required to just enjoy the lightning paced, action packed, OTT stories it features. Your mileage may vary if you’re not a Street Fighter fan, of course, but I had an awful lot of fun reading Street Fighter Masters: Game Gals #1.