UDON

Infobox Company
company_name = UDON
company_
company_type = Entertainment Corporation
company_slogan =
foundation = 2000
key_people = Erik Ko, UDON Chief
Jim Zubkavich, Project Manager
Matt Moylan, Marketing Manager
Marshall Dillon, Managing Editor
Marina Siu-Chong, Assistant Editor
location = Richmond Hill, Ontario
industry = Comics

UDON Entertainment Corporation is a studio (or "art collective") of Asian-influenced comic book creators which provides creative services to the entertainment industry. 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 books series, based on the Capcom video game franchise.

Overview

It appears to have begun operations in March 2001. It was affiliated with Studio XD; 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 became a full-fledged publisher. 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". Erik Ko discusses this in an interview with Newsarama that can be read [http://www.newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=41089 here] .

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). [ [http://www.udonentertainment.com/blog/?p=63 "New Street Fighter Comics!" press release, Dec 11, 2007] ]

Publishing

Comic book series

*"Street Fighter" (originally through Image, then Devil's Due Publishing)
*"Street Fighter II"
*"Super Street Fighter II Turbo"
*"Street Fighter Legends: Sakura"
*"Street Fighter Legends: Chun Li"
*"Darkstalkers" (originally through Devil's Due Publishing)
*"Rival Schools"
*"Exalted" (based on the roleplaying game by White Wolf)
*"Cannon Busters" (creator-owned series by LeSean Thomas)
*"Makeshift Miracle" (a collection of the webcomic by Jim Zubkavich)

Imported titles

*"ROBOT" (Japanese anthology/art book)
*"APPLE" (Korean anthology/art book)
*": Dawn of Dreams"
*"Street Fighter Alpha"
*"Street Fighter: Sakura Ganbaru"
*"Street Fighter II: The Manga"
*""
*"Dorothy of Oz"
*"Star Project Chiro"
*"Magical JxR"
*"Dear Waltz"
*"Daring Students' Association"
*"Chronicles of the Grim Peddler"
*"Evyione: Ocean Fantasy"
*"Reading Club"

Art books

*"Street Fighter: Eternal Challenge"
*"Street Fighter Tribute"
*"UDON’s Art of Capcom"
*"Ōkami: Official Complete Works"
*"Mega Man Zero: Official Complete Works"
*"Darkstalkers: Graphic File"

Work for other companies

Video games

*Full artwork for "Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix" (Capcom), for Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network
*Character designs and illustrations for "New International Track & Field" (Konami), for Nintendo DS
*Character designs and illustrations for "Speed Racer (movie) The Video Game" (WB Interactive), for Nintendo DS, Wii and PlayStation 2
*Artwork for "Capcom Fighting Evolution" (Capcom)
*Artwork for Kongai on Kongregate

Comics

*"Agent X" (Marvel Comics)
*"Marvel Mangaverse: Avengers Assemble" (Marvel Comics)
*"Cable & Deadpool" (Marvel Comics)
*"Deadpool" (Marvel Comics)
*"Sentinel" (Marvel Comics)
*"Taskmaster" (Marvel Comics)
*"" (Marvel Comics)
*"Last Shot" (Image Comics)
*"Vampi" (Harris Comics)
*"XIN" (Harris Comics)
*"Robotech" (Wildstorm)
*Covers for the "Starcraft" and "Warcraft" manga (Tokyopop)

Misc

*character designs for DC's "Ame-Comi Girls" PVC statue line (DC Direct)
*"Epic Battles" trading card game (Score Entertainment)
*"Street Fighter UFS" trading card game (Sabertooth Games)
*"Darkstalkers UFS" trading card game (Sabertooth Games)

References

External links

* [http://www.udonentertainment.com/ Official UDON Entertainment site]
* [http://www.udonentertainment.com/blog/ Official UDON blog]
* [http://www.capcomcomics.com/ Capcom Comics Official site]
* [http://www.koreanmanhwa.com/ KoreanManhwa.com]
* [http://www.clubudoncomics.com/ Official Club Store]
* [http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=609 "UDON: Not just a noodle anymore" on CBR.cc] announcing UDON's formation
* [http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/archive/index.php/t-12707.html The UDON Checklist] current through September 2002
* [http://marvel.com/catalog/?artist=Udon%20Comics Udon Comics on Marvel.com]
* [http://udoncrew.deviantart.com Udon's page at DeviantART]