Gary Collinson reviews Street Fighter X G.I. Joe #3…
With the first round of duels settled, the World Warrior Tournament enters the quarterfinals! But can the forces of G.I. Joe and their Street Fighter allies remain in the fight long enough to take down M. Bison himself? The time for titanic tussles has arrived!
SEE ALSO: Check out a preview of Street Fighter X G.I. Joe #3 here
We’ve reached the quarter final stage of IDW’s Street Fighter and G.I. Joe crossover with an issue that features Rufus vs Snake Eyes, Hakan vs Jinx, Guile vs Zartan and M. Bison vs Storm Shadow as the combatants do battle for a place in the final four of Bison’s World Warrior Tournament, sponsored by MARS Industries.
Last month I bemoaned the rather formulaic four-fight structure of the series; each issue is almost neatly divided into four sections – we see the word “FIGHT!”, four pages later we see “KO!”, and we repeat. It’s the same again here, although this time we do get a little extra build towards the bigger story beyond the tournament. By the end of the issue, it seems that M. Bison is the only character who’s already shown his hand, and isn’t holding anything up his sleeve.
Although I’ve been critical towards the structure, I have to once again give praise to the writing and the artwork when it comes to the action (and let’s face it, action is what you really want from this comic). They really capture the essence of Street Fighter (even though the G.I. Joe and Cobra entrants have used virtually every weapon in their respective arsenals!) and remain exciting and unpredictable. Bison’s battle with Storm Shadow is the highlight here, although I have to say I did love seeing Guile delivering a backbreaker to Croc Master’s poor gator.
Street Fighter X G.I. Joe #3 does a decent job of pushing us into the latter stages of the tournament and teasing a few twists and turns on the horizon. With the next issue covering the semi-finals, we’ll finally get a break from the same four-fight set-up and hopefully that will give the story time to breathe. But things are set up nicely for an exciting conclusion to the series and I’m looking forward to seeing how everything plays out.
Rating: 6.5/10
Gary Collinson is a writer and lecturer from the North East of England. He is the editor-in-chief of FlickeringMyth.com and the author of Holy Franchise, Batman! Bringing the Caped Crusader to the Screen.
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Originally published April 27, 2016. Updated November 10, 2019.
