UDON Entertainment Corporation is a studio (or "art collective") of Asian-influenced comic book creators which provides creative services to the entertainment industry. It is named after a kind of Japanese noodle. The company is also a publisher of comic books, graphic novels, and art books, as well as English editions of Japanese manga and Korean manhwa titles. Erik Ko is its Chief of Operations. The studio is best known as the publisher of the Street Fighter comic book series. They also did artwork for some Capcom games, including Marvel vs. Capcom 2, Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, and others.
Overview
UDON appears to have begun operations in March 2001. It was affiliated for a few years with Studio XD. However, in March 2004, UDON announced a partnership to release comics under Devil's Due Publishing. UDON's first offering was the Street Fighter comic book series, launching in September 2003. They would add a Darkstalkers comic series to their line in November 2004. In October 2005, UDON reorganized its operations and began self-publishing. Erik Ko revealed that the lengthy break in the Summer of 2005 was to recover from a licensing deal with Capcom, which saw UDON doing artwork for Capcom Fighting Evolution. Although UDON appreciated the opportunity to work on the game, and to strengthen their ties with the video game maker, it taxed their resources, and left them behind schedule on their comics. In October 2005, UDON released Street Fighter II #0, the sequel to their Street Fighter comic; it was followed in early 2006 with the long awaited launch of Rival Schools.
In December 2007 at the New York Anime Festival, UDON announced that it would be publishing three new Street Fighter comic book series in 2008. These include Street Fighter II Turbo (12-issue series), Street Fighter Legends: Chun-Li (4-issue mini), and Street Fighter III (6-issue series). In November 2008, UDON announced they would publish a 4-issue mini-series of the upcoming Street Fighter IV game. “With the most anticipated Street Fighter game in years arriving 2009, we will be launching the SFIV comic series as a big crossover event with the game. That would mean the originally planned SFIII series will have to make way and be released after this SFIV story arc is done.” says UDON’s Chief of Ops Erik Ko. “We are working very closely with Capcom and the SFIV producer in Japan to make this comic series as exciting as possible. The stories from our comic are linked directly to the game, and it is a genuine extension that fans will definitely love. Also expect plenty of cross promotion and marketing between our comics and the game”.
In January 2009, UDON suprised fans with the announcement that they had acquired the rights to produce Final Fight comic books. They will also continue the Darkstalkers storyline with an upcoming mini-series entitled The Night Warriors.
Artists
- Alvin Lee - Although no longer an UDON artist, he still occasionally does work for them.
- Joe Madureira
- Arnold Tsang
- Joe Vriens
- Shinkiro - While not an UDON artist, Shinkiro has previously done work for them.
- Jo Chen - While not an UDON artist, Jo Chen has previously done work for them.
- Jeffrey "Chamba" Cruz
- Omar Dogan - Specializing mostly in female characters, he has done work for Street Fighter Legends.
- GENZOMAN
- Joe Ng
- Eric Vedder
- Long Vo
Works for Capcom
Games
Mega Man Tribute Art by GENZOMAN
- Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower
- Mega Man X Collection
- Capcom Fighting Evolution
- Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
- Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes - (re-release)
- Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars - (endings only)
- Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds - (endings and some promotional art)
Comics
- Street Fighter
- Street Fighter II'
- Street Fighter ll Turbo
- Street Fighter IV
- Street Fighter Legends: Ibuki - (four issue mini-series)
- Street Fighter Legends: Sakura - (four issue mini-series)
- Street Fighter Legends: Chun-Li - (four issue mini-series)
- Darkstalkers - (four issue mini-series)
- Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors - (three-issue mini-series)
- Rival Schools - (four issue mini-series; last two issues published online only)
- Super Street Fighter: New Generations Volume 1
- Street Fighter Origins: Akuma
Artbooks
- Darkstalkers Tribute
- Street Fighter Tribute
- Mega Man Tribute
- Street Fighter World Warrior Encyclopedia
- UDON’s Art of Capcom
- UDON’s Art of Capcom 2
- Street Fighter: Art Comic Anthology - (Japan only)
- Marvel Vs. Capcom: Official Complete Works
Miscellaneous
- Street Fighter UFS trading card game (Sabertooth Games)
- Darkstalkers UFS trading card game (Sabertooth Games)
- Mega Man Robot Master Field Guide
Translations
UDON has translated many original Capcom manga and artbooks, making them more widely available to English readers and art fans.
Captain Commando manga art by Jeffrey "Chamba" Cruz
Artbooks
- Street Fighter: Eternal Challenge
- Okami: Official Complete Works
- Mega Man Zero: Official Complete Works
- Mega Man: Official Complete Works
- Mega Man X: Official Complete Works
- Darkstalkers: Graphic File
- SF20: The Art of Street Fighter
- The Art of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
- The Art of Resident Evil 5
- MegaMan Battle Network: Official Complete Works
- MegaMan Star Force: Official Complete Works
- Street Fighter X Tekken: Artworks
- Sengoku Basara Samurai Heroes: Official Complete Works
- DmC: Devil May Cry Visual Art
- Monster Hunter Illustrations
- Monster Hunter Illustrations 2
- Dragon's Dogma: Official Design Works
- Asura's Wrath: Official Complete Works - (TBR)
- Breath of Fire: Official Complete Works - (TBR)
Manga
- Mega Man Megamix - three volumes.
- Mega Man ZX - three volumes.
- Darkstalkers/Red Earth: Maleficarum - one-shot.
- Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams - two volumes.
- Street Fighter Alpha - two volumes.
- Street Fighter: Sakura Ganbaru! - two volumes.
- Street Fighter II - three volumes.
- Street Fighter III: Ryu Final - two volumes.
- Street Fighter Gaiden
- Sengoku BASARA: Samurai Legends - two volumes.
Gallery
