As a fan of Street Fighter from the very beginning, I adore UDON’s treatment of the franchise in adapting it into comic form.

Though Street Fighter comics existed prior to UDON nabbing the license in the early 00s, no one had been able to get it right. It’s been clear from the beginning that everyone at UDON Studios is a huge fan of the Capcom games, because they just get what makes them work.

In this issue, we focus on Kimberly Jackson, who’s tired of the gentrification of Metro City. There’s some shady stuff going on behind the scenes, with money laundering and people being forced out of their homes to make way for wealthier neighbourhoods. Staging a showy protest, Kimberly ends up biting off more than she can chew, but help may be around the corner.

One aspect of UDON’s Street Fighter series that has never been in doubt is its gorgeous artwork, and that’s definitely the case here. It’s beautiful from the cover, right through to the final page.

Yet, as campy and silly as they often are, the Street Fighter comics are pretty underrated when it comes to their writing; it’s no mean feat to juggle such a diverse cast of often kooky characters with a vast array of motivations, but what’s cool about these Masters one-shots is that it allows us to zoom in on one specific character, and quite often we get to know these characters so well that we end up wanting to spend even more time with them.

That’s definitely the case in this Kimberly-focused story, which is an endearing tale of one teenager fighting back against impossible odds, for a noble cause.

It’s really cool, tons of fun, and yes, it does prove once again why UDON have been trusted with Capcom’s characters and settings for so long.