Street Fighter II #5

Jan 1995. Cover price 95p.
40 pages. Full colour.
Manga Publishing Ltd.

Edited by Cefn Ridout.

Cover by Masaomi Kanzaki, finished art by Lea Hernandez, colouring by Koto Color.
r: UNKNOWN.

Free cover-mounted Ryu postcard.

Contents:

 2 Announcing... A New Breed of Heroes for the Nineties! in-house advertisement for Timecop.

 3 Street Fighter II Battle 06: Karma w: Masaomi Kanzaki, translated by William Flanagan; a: Masaomi Kanzaki, lettering and finished art by Lea Hernandez, colouring by Koto Color. / Indicia

r: UNKNOWN.

 4 Ryu (one fifth page) fact file.

 6 Ken (one fifth page) fact file.

 8 Guile (one fifth page) fact file.

10 Zangief (one fifth page) fact file.

12 Dhalsim (one fifth page) fact file.

14 Blanka (one fifth page) fact file.

16 E. Honda (one fifth page) fact file.

18 Chun-Li (one fifth page) fact file.

20 Street Fighter II poster 5 (of 8); a: Masaomi Kanzaki, finished art by Lea Hernandez, colouring by Koto Color.

r: UNKNOWN.

23 Street Fighter II Battle 07: King of Kings w: Masaomi Kanzaki, translated by William Flanagan; a: Masaomi Kanzaki, lettering and finished art by Lea Hernandez, colouring by Koto Color. / Indicia

r: UNKNOWN.

24 Balrog (one fifth page) fact file.

26 Vega (one fifth page) fact file.

28 Sagat (one fifth page) fact file.

30 M. Bison (one fifth page) fact file.

32 Po-Lin (one fifth page) fact file.

34 Wong-Mei (one fifth page) fact file.

36 Gouken (one fifth page) fact file.

38 The cloak of mystery surrounding M. Bison begins to unfold as Ryu, Chun-Li, and Guile reveal the stories of their pasts. (one fifth page)

39 Street Fighter II Survey!

40 More Cyber-Suited Psychic Action in the Cyberpunk Collection in-house advertisement for AD Police and Geno Cyber videocassettes.

With a very nice postcard adorning the cover, this issue seems to be designed to attract back lapsed readers, and usher in latecomers, with some especially attractive art. The splash page is as good an image of Ryu and Ken as I have seen, and although what follows is an extended flashback of a pivotal fight in Ryu's past, it is handled well enough to overcome any sense of further padding.

With so many plots carrying over from earlier installments it might have been nice for events thus far to have been provided in a brief opening paragraph, as introduction to the continuing story.

Battle 07: King of Kings steps up an already impressive display of style, with page 24 and 25's scenes from the stadium recalling the brief scenes of activity surrounding the fight scenes in numerous boxing movies.

Chun-Li continues her investigation into the disappearance of her father, discovering a link between the drug Doll, the Grand Fight, and Shadowlaw. Ken approaches Ryu before his fight, and M. Bison finally steps to the fore. There's a flurry of activity, for sure, but the plot progression has been erratic at best, and downright glacial in places. With things appearing to be reaching decisive turning points for several of the hanging plot threads, this is hardly an entry-level issue.

Given the furore over Newsfield's inclusion of bared breasts in a computer game magazine a few years earlier, it is remarkably brave of Manga to include just such an image here, almost taunting conservative retailers with their lack of a mature readers warning on the cover.

#04

Street Fighter II

#06