Aiden Mitchell has vengeance on his mind. He’s returning to the titular Crimson Bay after a 25 year absence, to take down the man who killed his father.

Crimson Bay #1 is an adrenaline fuelled love letter to classic arcade fighting games and beat ’em ups. Though at first glance, it’s a hyper-stylized revenge movie in comic book form, the influence of, and homage to, Capcom and SNK’s various series (Street Fighter, Final Fight and the Art of Fighting games immediately spring to mind) is immediately apparent, even from the cover. And just look at that glorious, very arcadey logo!

What’s more, writer Bruno Catarino really nails the melodramatic tone of cutscene lore, not to mention the ground shaking, fireball flinging super moves dished out in rounds of combat.

Not only is that video game-homaging tone ideally struck in the script, but also in Samuel Donato’s pitch perfect art too. The stoic characters, in the midst of high drama and explosive fighting, are beautifully rendered in  classic, Japanese arcade style.

Anyone who knows me will know exactly how much I adore Capcom’s Street Fighter and Final Fight games. I’m also a huge fan of Udon’s long-running, multiple comic book series based on those titles, and Crimson Bay seems to scratch the exact same itch, similarly striking the appropriate tone, with gorgeous art to boot.

There’s at least one moment early on which baffled me, with the way that lead character Aiden visualises a certain character, while facing (and talking about) another.  But on the whole, the storytelling clarity was excellent, and I was soon drawn into his (literal) fight for justice; that early confusion does make sense later on in the issue too.

On the evidence of this first issue alone, Crimson Bay seems to be laser targeted to my exact taste; I found it to be an action-packed, beautifully crafted thrill-ride. Consider me hooked.

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