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.
Overview
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]
The Udon panel at the 2012 New York Comic Con. From left to right are Udon Director of Marketing Chris Butcher (emceeing at the podium), Managing Editor Matt Moylan, Project Manager Jim Zubkavich and artist Omar Dogan.
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.
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.
