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Founded | 2000 |
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Founders |
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Country of origin | Canada |
Headquarters location | Richmond Hill, Ontario |
Distribution | Diamond Book Distributors |
Publication types | Books |
Nonfiction topics | Art Books |
Fiction genres | Graphic Novels and Manga |
Official website | Official website |
Udon Entertainment Corp. is a Canadian art studio and publisher. [1] The company publishes original and translated comic books, graphic novels, manga and art books related to anime and video games. It was founded in 2000 and is named after udon, a kind of Japanese noodle.
It was affiliated with Studio XD; in March 2004, Udon announced a partnership to release comics under Devil's Due Publishing. [2] 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 became a full-fledged publisher.[ citation needed ] 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 . [3] 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.[ citation needed ] In October 2005, Udon released Street Fighter II #0, the sequel to their Street Fighter comic; [4] it was followed in early 2006 with the long-awaited launch of Rival Schools . Erik Ko discussed this in an interview with Newsarama that can be read here. [5]
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). [6]
In November 2008, Udon announced it 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 ‘‘Street Fighter IV” comic series as a big crossover event with the game. That would mean the originally planned Street Fighter III series will have to make way and be released after this ‘‘Street Fighter IV” story arc is done,” said 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.” [7]
In January 2009, Udon announced it had acquired the rights to produce Final Fight comic books. [8] In November 2009, Udon announced it will continue the Darkstalkers comic series with a new 3-issue mini-series called Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors. [9] In December 2009, Udon announced it would publish a four-issue Street Fighter Legends: Ibuki miniseries. [10]
From 2012 to 2014, Udon partnered with Bandai Namco to produce several webcomics and webseries based on their various video game IP as part of their ShiftyLook initiative.
In July 2024, during San Diego Comic-Con, Udon and Capcom announced to gain the license to produce new Mega Man comics for 2025. Those comics will include the original series, alongside the X , Zero , ZX and Legends series, with the exeception of the Battle Network and Star Force series. [11]
The Capcom Comic Book Universe (CCBU) is a comic book franchise developed by Udon, which is based on various Capcom franchises set inside a shared universe.
^a Out of print.
Mega Man is a Japanese science fiction video game franchise developed and published by Capcom, featuring the protagonist of the same name. The original game was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1987, and spawned a franchise that expanded to over 50 games on multiple systems. As of July 2024, the series has sold 42 million units worldwide. Mega Man has been popular among gamers and has been reimagined and evolved as a video game character for over 30 years.
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Darkstalkers, known in Japan as Vampire (ヴァンパイア), is a fighting game series and media franchise created by Capcom. The series is set in a pastiche gothic fiction universe with characters based on monsters from international folklore, and features a stylized 2D graphic style. Its first game, Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors, was released in arcades in 1994 and its third and final main game is Vampire Savior, released in 1997. Darkstalkers introduced gameplay concepts used in later Capcom fighting games, including the Street Fighter Alpha and Marvel vs. Capcom series.
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Corey Sutherland Lewis is an American comic book creator. He is primarily known as the creator of Sharknife, published by Oni Press. Other works include PENG for Oni, and providing back-up comic strips for the Darkstalkers and Street Fighter comics for UDON. Rey also had a brief stint as the artist and writer of the Rival Schools comic book. He participated with a short story in Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Lost Stories comic published by Dark Horse Comics. He created a series of self-published zines that were later published by Image Comics as the anthology Sun Bakery. Rey recently started Coastalvania where he sells books and other merchandise made by him.
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Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors, known in Japan as Vampire: The Night Warriors, is a 1994 fighting game developed and released by Capcom originally for the CPS II arcade hardware as the first game in the first title in the Darkstalkers series. It was ported to the PlayStation in 1996 and was followed by Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge in 1995. In later years the game was re-released on the PlayStation Network and most recently has been released as part of Capcom Fighting Collection in 2022 on various platforms.
UDON's Street Fighter comic book series are based on the Street Fighter video game franchise published under license from Capcom. This series draws not only on the established Street Fighter canon, but also occasionally addresses various continuity retcons, and even draws from fanon and non-official sources as well. UDON's Street Fighter comics are stated to share the same continuity with other Capcom franchises like Darkstalkers, Rival Schools and Final Fight.
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