About Heroes

Author and Artist: Chi Wan Shum
Translator: Yun Zhao
English Adaptation: Ken Li
Publisher: DrMarster

Summer has been really keeping us away from our podcasts and focusing on reviews. Between vacations, our jobs, and family we hardly have time to concentrate on the site. So I'm hoping to change that starting now. I wanted to start with a book that I haven't reviewed for a long time (a year to be exact). So to be precise here it is SVC Chaos review in all its glory!

Volume 4 kicks off where we last left off with Athena's plot to restore the real world. Enlisting the help of more warriors such as Kyo and Ryu, Athena makes some tough decisions as Red Arremer's brings out the evil in Ken. As in the previous volumes there are some amazing fights and tons of cameos by all our favorite fighters. Volume 5 is more of the same goodness, but the big M. Bison bites the dust in this volume. However, it was nice to see Geese Howard get to kick some ass, even though that ass belonged to Terry Bogard.

What is there to be said for this series? Other than it's been a hell of ride for a fanboy of the two fighting genres. There are some classic moments in these volumes such as Earthquake using his poisonous farts on Kyo, the appearance of Dan Hibiki, and the battle between Violent Ken and M. Bison. The plot is really nothing to write home about, but some of the dialogue is right down hilarious (whether intentional or not). For the most part the characters are pretty hollow, the good guys are very stereotypical noble and honorable and the evil forces are devious and bloodthirsty.

If you only need one reason to pick up this title, it’s the stunning art. Portraying some great action scenes, particularly those taken right out of the video game his art will blow you away. Splash page after splash page is filled with gorgeous renderings of intense action and bold poses. Shum is the definitive artist for a book about video game fighters looking like badasses and fighting to the bitter end. His pencils are not the strongest part of his art, it’s that mix of computer assisted painting and traditional brush coloring appearing side by side on each panel that makes the characters move so fluid.

It really brings back the memories of all those years ago, spending my life perfecting my fighting techniques only to be beaten by someone using Dan or Kasumi. This is really a no brainer here, you love Capcom fighting games? Buy it! You love SNK fighting games? Buy it! You a fan of beautiful rendered artwork from the east? Buy these books! Even to those that aren't familiar with the history of these characters give it a shot. The only people I tell to stay away from these books are those button-mashing Tekken dorks. Bring on the rest of the volumes! B+