Street Fighter Legends: Sakura by Omar Dogan

[martinitolove]

Street Fighter Legends: Sakura by Omar Dogan - what's up with this? Any info, please...

his art is cool!!!

:lovin:

[yikhai]

STREET FIGHTER LEGENDS: SAKURA - Issue #1 (of 4)
Story by: Ken Siu-Chong Art by: Omar Dogan Full Color. 32pp. SRP 3.95

The most action-packed, out-of-control martial arts adventure blasts off as everyone's favourite fighting schoolgirl, SAKURA, leaps from pages of Street Fighter into her own limited series! Taking her reluctant master's advice after returning to Japan, Sakura vows to emulate RYU and learn from as many different fighters as she can-leading to explosive encounters with the likes of E. HONDA, ZANGIEF, RAINBOW MIKA and her fiercest rival, KARIN! But perhaps her greatest challenge lies in the pink-garbed wonder himself...the ever-determined and hopelessly over-confident, DAN HIBIKI! Be sure to see the legend of Street Fighter burst from the seams like never before with equal parts martial arts thrills and zany, over-the-top spills! Whatever lies ahead for Sakura, one thing is sure--the streets of Japan will never by the same!

2 Covers: #A Omar Dogan, #B Alvin Lee
Expected August 2006

[Tokoyama2000]

crazyyy
omar finally gets the spotlight

[martinitolove]

Thanks!

Does anyone have the pictures of the covers?

Loving Zangief and Honda in advance!!!

[Gain]

omar is a great artist and i love the idea of a seperate comic to cover more intimate stories of the SF cast...

thumbs up bee0tch

[Chrno]

I hope there's a "Legends" for every character, even if it may be 3 issues; all mini-series

[Artayes]

I hope there's a "Legends" for every character, even if it may be 3 issues; all mini-series

Amen to that!


Can't wait for this!

[FALLEN ELDOR]

I have to admit I'm not much of a Sakurai fan. As a sidekick type she works well enough I suppose ( I certainly don't dislike her) but a whole mini series dedicate to her, and calling it "legends"? I question both of those things...I would think most people would be more inclined to read about Blanka or Honda over Sakurai, I know I certainly would...At any rate, doing a mini series is the wrong way to go I think. They should just work the plot into the ongoing. Not every issue has to resolve around Ryu or Cammy you know...

[/U]I hope there's a "Legends" for every character, even if it may be 3 issues; all mini-series

The He-Man comics did a similar thing. They did what they called "icons of evil" and each of the 48 page four one shots focused on Skeletor's four main (most classic) henchman, Beastman, Merman, Trap jaw and Tri-Klops. Each covered the origin of that particular character and each one took place decades before the story of the main comic. I liked that idea, and I agree that every (SFII character) deserves this "legends" format, I just wish it took place between the pages of the ongoing title.

[CptMunta]

HOoraY!!!!

Next lets see a Dan Hibiki Mini Series!!!!!!

[TiamatRoar]

Needs more grumpy surly Kei.

[yikhai]

I would think most people would be more inclined to read about Blanka or Honda over Sakurai, I know I certainly would...At any rate, doing a mini series is the wrong way to go I think. They should just work the plot into the ongoing.

I don't neccessarily agree, the thing with Sakura is that her story is lost after SFZ3 and what I think UDON is trying to do is give us their interpretation. Since the last arc featured Ryu and Sakura very often, it only makes sense that a spin off series would contain Sakura, who is no longer a pivotal part in the ongoing story but still a character that UDON feels requires more attention.

If the Sakura part was to be placed into the ongoing, then it'd be like DC cramming all the Infinite Crisis crossovers into the main mini-series which would have been too much especially as there were some which didn't help progress the story.

Also, in a marketing point of view, Ryu or Ryu-clone (maybe Chun Li and Guile added in) centered titles are possibly the only titles that would sell as opposed to E. Honda or Blanka being the main focus. As stated before, UDON need to shift books to make back the money invested and start making profit. Considering the price point, if a fraction of regular SF buyers purchase the new book, then later Legends series won't be viable. So its better to start with what they consider fans and the public to be the "big-guns".

As for the COVERS, they are in the latest Diamond Previews. Sorry I don't have a scanner but COVER A is the Omar Dogan cover art of Sakura as seen in the back of Rival Schools #1. COVER B is Alvin Lee's usual art affair. You have Sakura, holding a melted ice cream cone, running towards us in the left of the cover and looking back with a happy expression at an angry Zangeif with ice cream on his chest hair, a jumping R Mika, a yawning Karin and Hinta from RS sitting and watching by. Dan is in the bottom left of the cover, meditating.

[martinitolove]

Please someone, scan in that Previews page!!!

[FALLEN ELDOR]

I don't neccessarily agree, the thing with Sakura is that her story is lost after SFZ3 and what I think UDON is trying to do is give us their interpretation. Since the last arc featured Ryu and Sakura very often, it only makes sense that a spin off series would contain Sakura, who is no longer a pivotal part in the ongoing story but still a character that UDON feels requires more attention.

If the Sakura part was to be placed into the ongoing, then it'd be like DC cramming all the Infinite Crisis crossovers into the main mini-series which would have been too much especially as there were some which didn't help progress the story.

Also, in a marketing point of view, Ryu or Ryu-clone (maybe Chun Li and Guile added in) centered titles are possibly the only titles that would sell as opposed to E. Honda or Blanka being the main focus. As stated before, UDON need to shift books to make back the money invested and start making profit. Considering the price point, if a fraction of regular SF buyers purchase the new book, then later Legends series won't be viable. So its better to start with what they consider fans and the public to be the "big-guns".



I see what your saying, and it does make a certain amount of sense from the PoV of a Sakurai fan, I my self never cared about her enough to ask what happened after SFA3. Call it a SFII centric way of thinking but I would never call Sakuri a "big gun". Ultimately she isn't as important or recognizable as Blanka. If UDON is testing the market I just feel they are going with the wrong character to test it with. Deejay, Honda, Blanka and Zangeif have been severely underused ( or misused IMO) in the comic series so far and giving them a mini would make more sense then Sakurai I would think.

Originally I was hoping the back up feature would cast the spotlight on the "minor" characters of the saga that always get neglected in the older Anime and other Manga. Another way to utilize the underused characters would be to have "filler issues" where the main creative team takes a break from Ryu/Ken/Chun Li/Guile/Cammy stuff and a guest team comes in and tells a Blanka story for an issue or two. That would certainly be one way to get us fans more comics and the time off Alvan needs.

Heck if they want to make a mini out of anything, they should make a mini out of the first SF tournament/US Martial Arts Tournament, but they kind of already messed up that story line the way they used Adon, Retsu and Geki and rushed through the Sagat stuff in back up features.

[yikhai]

When I say "big-gun", I don't neccessarily mean just who fans of the game may be interested in but also as a marketing tool. I'm not saying this is the way that UDON presented the idea and followed through but if we look at Sakura, there is a list of factors that enable her to be considered for her own book (miniseries at least):

1 - She's a Ryu (main character) style character
The white band makes her quite recognizable.
2 - The title could tie in nicely with Street Fighter AND Rival Schools comics.
The Cover B image has Hinata on it so Rival School readers can also try this book, especially if they feel the RS book isn't great, they can obtain some sort of satisfaction from this one since Omar Dogan is helming the art chore.
3 - She's a girl in a school girl outfit.
UDON may not have neccassarily used this factor but there are a lot of people out there who may find this appealing...(ref. Britney Spear's 1st video :rofl: )
4 - Theres a story to follow to expand on.
UDON can use their creative ideas to branch out of a story based on the tournament and focus on a story driven story as opposed to finitely sticking to the progression to the tournament. With the SFII characters, their ultimate goal is to enter the tournament so the story that Ken Siu-Chong must abide to is limited. With Sakura, because its not set in stone, creativity here is no limit.

IMO, popular characters in the gaming world may not translate as well in comic form. Although the character themselves are important, the story is what drives sales, especially after the first issue. This is one thing I noticed was from the X-Men books. X-Men is similar to Street Fighter where there are a large number of different characters. Two main characters, Gambit and Nightcrawler, both recently had their own ongoing book along side Wolverine. Both books have been cancelled since and the reasons for this are usually due to sales lower then expected. I, myself, read X-Men and the numerous books but I didn't buy Gambit or Nightcrawler but I do buy Wolverine, which is still going strong with some good creators and story.

I guess everone has their own feelings of interesting and popular characters. While you may feel underused SFII characters should get the limelight, others may feel that Sakura is fine for the first miniseries.

I think filler issues are a nice idea. Standard ongoing books from Marvel and DC have filler arcs and it would provide lead time for Alvin. The problem with it so far is that the Street Fighter story feels like an ongoing arc so its hard to find a break without losing the story momentum while Marvel arcs are usually 6 issues or so with recurring themes revisited at a later stage.

[Artayes]

Legends I would like to see-

ORO-explain how he got so powerful,maybe have a huge,awesome battle with Goutetsu many years ago,have him train Ryu,an awesome battle with Akuma and a more humerous one with Ibuki


Hugo and Poison-show how these two ended up together as Hugo tries to gather more wrestlers and Poison guides him,show him batle Ryu and other numerous sf 3 characters and of course have him fight Guy,Cody,Maki,etc.


SAGAT-deal with him and Adon early on,his battle with Ryu and how it scarred him not only psychically but mentally as well,joining shadoloo under Bison,and closing his story that happens between sf 2 and sf 3

Urien-show how he and Gill came about in the Illumini,tie in Necro/Effie,Dudley,Yun/Yang,Alex,Twelve and Chun-li's big battle with Urien so she can get back her stepdaughter

Akuma-show the battle with him and Gen,go into more of his past and how he came to be and tie in Goutetsu when he and younger Gouken trained under him,akuma's battles with Ryu and his journey to become the ultimat power

DAN-show him early on ,the fight with Gou and Sagat,dealing with his vengeance and having to leave Gouken's dojou because of it,show lots of Blanka and how they met,show him beating Sagat as the fight sheds light on both of them because of the encounter,conclude his story by having him run his own dojou and even Sakura training there some(comedy relief of course)


Alot of the other sfers should have their stories finished in the regular comic.

[Chrno]

I wanna see "DELTA RED" for a 5 mini issue or something

[Sammuraiblade]

I wanna see "DELTA RED" for a 5 mini issue or something
I can see this series as anthology series(as in 5 each for every prime supporting character). I can see Delta Red or R.Mika in the Legend series easily after sakura's

[LostPhrack]

I wanna see "DELTA RED" for a 5 mini issue or somethingDitto.

Personally, I'd like to see it set after SFII, with Cammy, and show them taking on some of the remnants of Shadaloo. I was thinking Splinter Cell/MGS meets the SF-verse. Infilitrate a base, yadda yadda before the big showdown with whoever the villian is.

But that's just me.

[Leo Sal]

Another cool story would be Guy and Maki training to be the next Bushin master, or something with the Final Fight characters (Guy, Cody, Rolento, Sodom, Hugo and Maki), because let's face it, they haven't had an once of scene-time or characterization. I like the idea of an anthology, kind of like a "Street Fighter Presents..." with one main story and several one-shots featuring other characters.

[Skyler]

You guys know what, i think it would've been better if Udon did just make SF side stories instead of telling the SF storyline all over again since they havent really done a wonderful job. These side stories can actually give the other characters more comic time than just a few seconds like Dhalsim's scene. T.Hawk, Adon, Sagat, Charlie, Gen, Goutetsu, etc. would have more roles in their own series instead of being showing for 1 page and kill them off the next page. but like thats going to happen. :lol:

[CptMunta]

The more I think about this legends idea the more I like it. This is the perfect way to tie up all the loose story threads around the SF Universe and put the spotlight on some of the characters weve been hanging out to know more about. i.e. Final Fight.

[Dez26]

I see what your saying, and it does make a certain amount of sense from the PoV of a Sakurai fan, I my self never cared about her enough to ask what happened after SFA3. Call it a SFII centric way of thinking but I would never call Sakuri a "big gun". Ultimately she isn't as important or recognizable as Blanka. If UDON is testing the market I just feel they are going with the wrong character to test it with. Deejay, Honda, Blanka and Zangeif have been severely underused ( or misused IMO) in the comic series so far and giving them a mini would make more sense then Sakurai I would think.

Her name is Sakura.
Deejay, Blanka, 'gief and the others made Street Fighter a varied and balanced game.

Sakura, along with the Alpha games, made it into a story.

I'm sorry, but in my humble opinion, most of the Alpha cast is vital to the actual Street Fighter Story. Only a handful of the SFII people deserve any attention outside of gameplay reasons, and the important ones who do already recieved their share of the spotlight.

I'm all for Sakura getting the spotlight. She's my favorite Street Fighter, and by a fricking huge margin.

[Skyler]

Her name is Sakura.
Deejay, Blanka, 'gief and the others made Street Fighter a varied and balanced game.

Sakura, along with the Alpha games, made it into a story.

I'm sorry, but in my humble opinion, most of the Alpha cast is vital to the actual Street Fighter Story. Only a handful of the SFII people deserve any attention outside of gameplay reasons, and the important ones who do already recieved their share of the spotlight.

I'm all for Sakura getting the spotlight. She's my favorite Street Fighter, and by a fricking huge margin.

You dont have to make Dee Jay get his own side story, but you can put him in a group that gets their own side storylines, this way Dee Jay can get more comic time compare to the mere pages udon put him in. Oh say, Dee Jay, Fei Long, T.Hawk, E.Honda, Rose, Zangeif, Elena and Charlie all appear in the same side story together and fight together. If you only care about Sakura, then you my friend arent a very good character developer yourself. Being able to give every Alpha character a spotlight, a chance to show themselves more freely and get to know them well gives us fans a better view of them. Or rather do you prefer the part where, Adon meets ryu, fights ryu, and ryu leaves thus we never see Adon ever again.

just like if you play only 1 SF character, you wont be able to realize how good the other SF characters are.

[yikhai]

Or rather do you prefer the part where, Adon meets ryu, fights ryu, and ryu leaves thus we never see Adon ever again.

One thing that I'm not understanding is that everyone absolutely loves the Street Fighter II Animated movie and yet it was mainly centered around Ryu, Ken, Vega, Chun Li and Guile. All other SSFII characters came in, had their scenes and weren't seen again because they weren't pivotal to the story being told.

Now UDON comics has that same formula and people aren't liking the way the ongoing is being done and how some characters are being treated. Its true that I think its a good idea and would like other characters to have some sort of mini-series and I think this Sakura series may be that answer. From the solicit, she's going around the place in a similar fashion to Ryu and finding fighters that Ryu didn't meet such as Zangeif and E Honda. That'll give some limelight for these characters to satisfy some people at least.

If characters aren't neccessarily needed in the ongoing, then they should stay out of it. There's no point in attempting to cram a load of side stories in the ongoing especially in a 22 page monthly comic. Side-stories in miniseries would be ideal as long as it ties in to the ongoing such as another fighters journey up to the SFII tournament and as long as UDON can afford it.

[Ryu Kazama]

I do agree slightly with what Yikhai is said above. Firstly, cramming in too many characters usually ends up being bad, confusing and just not right. It's a common problem where there's so many characters people want to see more of, but there's few ways to pull it off so well.

Secondly, you're now comparing a feature length movie to a comic book. There's major constrictions with a movie and they can't possibly put everyone in for so long. It's not feasible to the producers to do it. With a comic, yes, there are limitations, but eventually you'll get round to each character. A movie is just less than 2 hours so they can't possibly cram in every character to have major roles. It just doesn't work.

[Dez26]

If you only care about Sakura, then you my friend arent a very good character developer yourself. Being able to give every Alpha character a spotlight, a chance to show themselves more freely and get to know them well gives us fans a better view of them. Or rather do you prefer the part where, Adon meets ryu, fights ryu, and ryu leaves thus we never see Adon ever again.

just like if you play only 1 SF character, you wont be able to realize how good the other SF characters are.

Oh, I completely agree with that, don't worry. And I don't only care about Sakura... I have a bunch of characters I really like and really would want to see more of them in stand alone stories. I just got a bit upset when Fallen Eldor said she was less vital than every SFII filler character... I don't get along all too well with SFII-centric fans.

My characters : Sakura, Rose, Juli, Cody, Karin, Guy, Maki, Charlie, Sagat, Rolento, Alex, Makoto.

[Leo Sal]

I would really like to see a M. Bison origin story, kinda like a "Bison Begins". It could start waaayyyy back when he was younger and follow the series of events that brought him to this point. Although characters like Ryu, Chun-li, Cammy, Ken and Guile have gotten the most attention (what am I saying, ALL the attention), Bison is still the single most facsinating character in SF, IMHO. Unlike Gill or Akuma, he's a true villian, one who's fully aware of how horrible he can be and embraces it. I always felt he and Sagat had some operatic tragedy in them that has never been touched in any medium. I'll go as far to say that Bison is the main character of the Alphas, since most of the plot revolves around him.

And honestly, UDON haven't done much with him, despite his role as the prinicpal villian of the series. A "Legends" style miniseries would change that. Sure, he'll probably play a absolutely huge role in the "Tournament" arc , but here is a change to really dive into his personality. This has to happen!

[TiamatRoar]

An origin story could use Ingrid! *is shot* Well, maybe those who hate Ingrid will get lucky and Udon will make Bison's origin involve him killing her :rofl:

Sorta like how Geki if he wins the vote will have to get his SOTA action figure post-mortem. ...wait, it's not sorta like that at all.

[The Switcher]

Personally, I would love a Final Fight comic or mini-series, more then Legends. But that's a faded dream as someone confirmed to me Udon tried to get the rights for FF, but failed.

[TiamatRoar]

Final Fight Streetwise's widespread success must have made the Final Fight license very expensive. ;)

[Dez26]

Final Fight Streetwise's widespread success must have made the Final Fight license very expensive. ;)


Everybody knew FF:Streetwise would fail badly. Everybody but Capcom. I really wonder how their well paid market analysts didn't realize something every Capcom fan knew from day one. Geez.

[Gojira]

Streetwise could have been great, it was just executed all wrong.

One-shot miniseries is a good idea, if it doesn't interfere with the main SF2 arc.

[Skyler]

Oh, I completely agree with that, don't worry. And I don't only care about Sakura... I have a bunch of characters I really like and really would want to see more of them in stand alone stories. I just got a bit upset when Fallen Eldor said she was less vital than every SFII filler character... I don't get along all too well with SFII-centric fans.

My characters : Sakura, Rose, Juli, Cody, Karin, Guy, Maki, Charlie, Sagat, Rolento, Alex, Makoto.


no biggie about it. I think every SF character deserve a spotlight, atleast 1 comic book dedicated to them cause if their not the star of the issue, atleast give them more comic time than a few lousy pages. :rolleyes: Sakura is indeed a wonderful character and if she gets her own side story, atleast 4 other SF characters can star together with sakura, but like thats going to happen. :rofl:


Streetwise could have been great, it was just executed all wrong.

One-shot miniseries is a good idea, if it doesn't interfere with the main SF2 arc.

the main SF arc has no place left to go anymore. The series is a complete mess with each issue having no points at all. thats why i think its better if Udon just made SF side stories instead of retelling the SF story all over again. All the SF characters can get more time to show themselves compare to the main SF arc. Handling alot of characters is indeed troublesome, but give them no comic time is indeed worser than troublesome.

[TiamatRoar]

The "SF story" itself is practically a bunch of different side-stories that happen to criss-cross here and there anyways, really. Even Alpha 3 which sorta had a bigger story going on was really 3 different major stories (Ryu + Ken + Sagat + Sakura, Cammy + Dolls + Vega, and Guile + Charlie + Chun-Li, all of which practically didn't even intersect at all for the most part) and about 15 or so different minor ones (Rose + Guy, Birdie + Balrog, R. Mika + Zangief, Sodom + Rolento, etc, most of which practically had little to do with each other as well).

And in any SF game besides Alpha 3, most of the other characters may as well not exist when it comes to an individual character's storyline. Yun and Yang's ending has absolutely nothing to do with Hugo's which has absolutely nothing to do with Elena who has absolutely nothing to do with Alex.

[Gojira]

the main SF arc has no place left to go anymore. The series is a complete mess with each issue having no points at all. thats why i think its better if Udon just made SF side stories instead of retelling the SF story all over again. All the SF characters can get more time to show themselves compare to the main SF arc. Handling alot of characters is indeed troublesome, but give them no comic time is indeed worser than troublesome.

What can I say to that other than: I disagree, the main SF2 story isn't a mess and still has plenty of places to go. I just want side stories that are consistent with the main one and don't cater to fanboys who want to see Sakura/ Karin/ Zangief fight X character that's already being handled at the same time in another story.