CBR: (Dark)Stalking The "Night Warriors"

[CBR News]

CBR News spoke with the creative team of the new "Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors" miniseries to find out what's in store for the popular Capcom characters and to share an exclusive look at some of the art for the comic.


Full article here.

[maniacmatt]

Female character designs like that are a big part of why I can't stand manga/anime.

[Drezz]

I was never really a fan of the original game in the first place - it was just too campy. Like Matt mentioned, the women look ridiculous in those costumes.

Hey! I know what we can do to sell this - let's draw the women as if they had grapefruits glued to their chests!.

[C-Cool]

Two things:

1) Make that next-gen version of the Darkstalkers series, Capcom! I'll buy it in an instant.

2) The dude on my avatar, John Talbain from this series, was, for a long while, the most popular character in this series for most of the non-Japanese fans of the series (which didn't matter to Capcom, a Japanese company. Still doesn't, sadly). More so than Morrigan, Donovan (who's not a popular character, in fact most fans hate the character), and Demetri.

But... since this is a Comic forum... nobody cares about what I'm saying right now... forget it.

[G. Wayne]

If Udon were as good at releasing books on time and, y'know, ever, as they are at making pure eye candy, I'd be a happy guy.

Originally Posted by C-Cool

Two things:

1) Make that next-gen version of the Darkstalkers series, Capcom! I'll buy it in an instant.

2) The dude on my avatar, John Talbain from this series, was, for a long while, the most popular character in this series for most of the non-Japanese fans of the series (which didn't matter to Capcom, a Japanese company. Still doesn't, sadly). More so than Morrigan, Donovan (who's not a popular character, in fact most fans hate the character), and Demetri.

But... since this is a Comic forum... nobody cares about what I'm saying right now... forget it.

I had a tabletop RPG character modeled after Talbain. ^_^

I've been a fan of the series even through all it's... interesting... incarnations over the years. Count me in as liking the hybrid designs of classic concepts.

[AdamYJ]

Awesome! A new Darkstalkers mini. Nothing like a combination of classic horror and over-the-top fighting game action.

Originally Posted by C-Cool

Two things:

1) Make that next-gen version of the Darkstalkers series, Capcom! I'll buy it in an instant.

That would be really cool. I have a feeling it won't happen, because Darkstalkers isn't quite as well-known as Street Fighter. Still, it would be cool.

2) The dude on my avatar, John Talbain from this series, was, for a long while, the most popular character in this series for most of the non-Japanese fans of the series (which didn't matter to Capcom, a Japanese company. Still doesn't, sadly). More so than Morrigan, Donovan (who's not a popular character, in fact most fans hate the character), and Demetri.

But... since this is a Comic forum... nobody cares about what I'm saying right now... forget it.

Talbain's cool. He and Victor are my two favorites. In the situation of fighting games, which rely on an ensemble cast, which characters take center stage changes depending on a number of variables. Demetri was designed as the star at the beginning, because the tournament was his idea. Morrigan's popular because she's the sexy bad girl and so they like to put her at center stage. Donovan's an easy character to put at center stage because he's easy to to play as the "good guy". Especially if you like angst. (Though, I think this misses the point, seeing as Darkstalkers is more built on the idea of monster vs monster than good vs evil). Heck, that odd little syndicated cartoon that aired here in the US made Felicia the star presumably because 1) She's American, 2) She's a cute cat-woman and 3) she's among the less evil members of the cast. And they gave her a boy wizard sidekick for good measure. It would be nice if they could focus on all the members of the cast equally without having to single anyone out.

[Dave H]

Originally Posted by maniacmatt

Female character designs like that are a big part of why I can't stand manga/anime.

Right, because American comics feature all their heroines in practically designed nun habits...
Lets not forget how realistically the male characters are portrayed.
Why is it no one is ever so frequently or vocally outraged by that?

Originally Posted by Drezz

Hey! I know what we can do to sell this - let's draw the women as if they had grapefruits glued to their chests!.

The main "offender", Morrigan, is a succubus.
...A sex demon.
The entire premise of that character is to be overly sexed up.
Drawing people in is kinda the point.

Anyways...
I'm excited that they're finally releasing a new series and with one of the original artists on the series too.

Sadly it's only 3 issues, but hey, I'll take what I can get.
Also? Emily Warren's variants look awesome!

[Beto_Machado]

Don't bother trying to change their minds. Ignorant guys like him think all anime is Dragon Ball Z/Naruto or porn. If you point him to the asses in New Avengers or the tits in Powergirl, he'll make up some random excuse than start talking loudly until you give up.

Anyway, this looks great.

I'm incredibly dissapointed by Udon's Street Fighter (the fact Chamba draws one, maybe two backgrounds per issue being only the tip of the iceberg), but the last DS comic was good, and this looks to be of the same level.

[maniacmatt]

Originally Posted by Beto_Machado

Don't bother trying to change their minds. Ignorant guys like him think all anime is Dragon Ball Z/Naruto or porn. If you point him to the asses in New Avengers or the tits in Powergirl, he'll make up some random excuse than start talking loudly until you give up.

I'm nowhere near ignorant. I used to be a manga fanatic, until I realized how over-sexualized a lot of it is. And I completely agree that American comics have their fair share of poorly-portrayed women. However, it is at least avoidable and easy to not support it in American comics. I make a point of not reading anything involving Power Girl or any similarly clothing-challenged character. Is that a good enough made-up random excuse? Or did I just skip to talking loudly?

[mattmoylan]

Hey guys!

Matt here from UDON. While everyone's entitled to love or hate how the fantastical female characters are drawn in this series, I would like to note that we do have 4 talented women on the creative team for this book:

- series inker Crystal Gaets
- cover illustrator Emily Warren
- cover colourist Christina Strain
- cover colourist Christine Choi

So far I haven't heard any problems with the female characters from their POV. Maybe partly because, just like your average super hero comic, the men are given as unrealistically chiseled bodies as the women.

It's all just fantasy gang ;)

[AdamYJ]

Originally Posted by mattmoylan

So far I haven't heard any problems with the female characters from their POV. Maybe partly because, just like your average super hero comic, the men are given as unrealistically chiseled bodies as the women.

It's all just fantasy gang ;)

Yeah, you'd think that the men's unbelievable physiques would be getting just as much attention. I mean, these are Capcom fighting game characters. They're all heaps of muscle on muscle. It's not like any of these characters aren't getting exaggerated at this point.

[C-Cool]

Originally Posted by mattmoylan

Hey guys!

Matt here from UDON. While everyone's entitled to love or hate how the fantastical female characters are drawn in this series, I would like to note that we do have 4 talented women on the creative team for this book:

- series inker Crystal Gaets
- cover illustrator Emily Warren
- cover colourist Christina Strain
- cover colourist Christine Choi

So far I haven't heard any problems with the female characters from their POV. Maybe partly because, just like your average super hero comic, the men are given as unrealistically chiseled bodies as the women.

It's all just fantasy gang ;)

I agree, people who prude it up about male and (especially) female portrayals almost instantly seriously need to open their minds a little more.

And more female artists, illustrators, and colourists in comics is a great thing in a medium where fans do everything they can to chase out those who don't think the same way they do.