The Finals of the World Warrior tournament are nigh, but will Shadaloo go down so easy?
Creative Staff:
Writer: Aubrey Sitterson
Art: Emilio Laiso
Colors: David Garcia Cruz and Ander Zarate
Letters: Tom B. Long
What They Say:
It’s time for the finals! After handily defeating Rufus, Jinx enters the final battle against M. Bison prepared to give it her all. And while M. Bison’s Psycho Drive makes him nearly unstoppable, the device has taken some drastic hits in previous matches…
Content: (Please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The finals of the tournament in Mriganka (Bison’s country) are coming to an end. The finals are here, and the warriors are preparing. Despite Cammy’s hopes, Guile lost his match against Bison, damaging the Psycho Drive in the process. Cammy, who was beaten badly by Bison is angry that Guile did not defeat Bison, but Guile was planning something else. We open on Jinx, an Arashikage ninja, training with Ryu, who warns her to only use the Satsui no Hadou as a last resort, since she can’t control it for long. Storm Shadow confirms that he damaged the Psycho Drive as well, and that Bison should be weaker at least by his own standards. After this, we get a nice looking splash panel of what may be a nod to Street Fighter VS. Screens, depicting the finals match- Jinx vs. M. Bison. Bison attempts a sliding kick, which Jinx nimbly avoids, but the match starts going in Bison’s favor. The Psycho Drive is still working, and Bison’s dialogue is gleefully in character, mocking his opponent for thinking she could beat him. Suddenly, the power goes away, and Jinx begins counter attacking. Bison confirms that he’ll never submit or lose, as is his way, until Jinx activates the Satsui no Hadou. Her appearance becomes more akin to Akuma’s, with red hair and a darker skin color. It’s obvious to me that Bison knows what the Satsui is, considering his demeanor changes. Suddenly, Bison is fighting to keep Jinx away from him, trying to avoid being near the power.
Bison’s attempts to keep Evil Jinx (think Evil Ryu pretty much) away are no use, and he’s soon face to face with her again. Evil Jinx pulls a few of Akuma’s moves out, blasting Bison with a Metsu Hadoken, and we get an awesome (though there are two panels on the same page) one page spread of Evil Jinx, smashing Bison into the ground, with a retro style “K.O. Evil Jinx wins” on the page. Evil Jinx is about to go one step further, but Ryu manages to calm her down and bring her back to normal (a skill he’d love to have in the games I’m sure). It’s here where we learn why the whole tournament has gone the way it did. Guile explains to an injured Cammy (see last issue for that) that He and some friends fixed the whole thing. They needed Jinx-and by extension, the Satsui no Hadou- to be in the finals. Guile goes into character when he tells he he hoped it wasn’t going to be needed and that she would be able to take out Bison, but things certainly did not happen as he hoped. It was why he and Storm Shadow sacrificed their chances just to damage the Psycho Drive.
One person who is not too happy to hear this is Rufus, who learns that the only reason he advanced past Snake Eyes was because they wanted Jinx to have an easy ride to the Finals. Rufus is understandably upset about this, yelling that the others are slandering him and his kung fu (which is sorta true, even though Ryu is right about Rufus beating Snake Eyes legitimately being a delusion). He demands a match for third place against Guile, who is annoyed, but acquiesces. Meanwhile, Baroness, C. Viper, and Croc Master are going to secure another Psycho Drive, one Destro kept secret, but Viper accidentally destroys it trying to stop Baroness. Zartan comes across this, having been sent by Destro to find Baroness. This is a scene that may have importance later, since we’ve seen what the Drives can do. Going back to the tournament ring, Ryu, Chun-Li, and Cammy watch as Guile “prepares” to fight Rufus. Rufus rants about how great hoe is and how Guile’s confidence will undo him. Guile tells him that’s a highly doubtable thing, and then we get the most hilarious fight ever. In line with his character fro the games, Rufus attempts to stumble out a response in the form of, “You doubt it? You doubt it?! How dare you-” before promptly being cut off by Guile’s Flash Kick technique, ending the fight instantly.
It’s safe to say that Rufus was never going to win that fight. His character is built around ego. He thinks he’s the best fighter around, but in reality (sorta like Dan Hibiki, who’s at least slightly more humble and better at fighting) he actually stinks at it and couldn’t beat half o these people. Rufus picking fights with people above his level isn’t really new for the poor guy. In Street Fighter IV he chose to try and beat down Ken Masters, who is Ryu’s rival. Ken is also the U.S. Martial Arts champion, and underwent the same training as Ryu did. Someone like this is obviously way above what Rufus can handle, Rufus also can’t handle defeat well, and he certainly doesn’t take this loss to Guile well. Seeing his girlfriend hanging with the Joe called Roadblock, something in Rufus snaps, and he becomes Psycho Powered Rufus. This form of Rufus is scary only because of the look. more of his already bulging stomach is shown off, his mustache is now really long, and he has nipple rings now. It really has to be seen to be believed it’s so ridiculous. Guile calls in plan B, which turns out to be back up from Scarlet and General Hawk of he Joes. He’s delivered a big gun of some kind, and delivers one of the best lines of the issue with, “You know what? I like Plan B.” Guile fires the massive weapon at Psycho Powered Rufus, and it seems to hold him back, but our issue ends ar Rufus summons some purple energy balls, and a zoom out of the place shows things start exploding. Next Month will be the last Issue, #6, and all this one promises is “Next Issue: Who Knows?!”
In Summary:
This issue was one wild ride! The art was really cool, and the storytelling all makes sense now. There are many moments in this issue worth picking it up for, from the splash page of Evil Jinx, o the weird looking Psycho Rufus, to just seeing how this whole tournament unfolded. Emilio Laiso’s art is simply top notch here, and it’s definitely one of the big reasons to pick this up. I loved the retro K.O. and vs. stuff that appeared when fights started or ended, making it feel like a retro Street Fighter II game. The cover I have did this as well. It’s a continuation of the 8 bit covers, depicting Zangief grappling with Roadblock, while Dhalsim floats in the background. Bringing the Joes and the World Warriors together works out quite well in a storyline, as this issue proves. If you like either of the series depicted here, this is a must read. It’s more influenced by the Street Fighter series than the other way around, bu i still manages to bring it all together so well. It’s got enough action to satisfy any fan, and it pulls it off quite well in my opinion. The art, the story, and even the characters all lend themselves so well to this, and it eb=ven makes one think of questions that may not have been there before. This is simply a great read, and fans owe it to themselves to pick it up!
Grade: A+
Rating: 12+
Released By: IDW
Release Date: June 29th, 2016
MSRP: $3.99
