The trend seems to be that movies based on video games turn out to be turkeys, but what about comic books based on video games? With Darkstalkers, Udon Studios has proved that it is possible to make a quality franchise. Capcom’s Darkstalkers is a Street Fighter-inspired fighting game with a twist; all the characters are based on classic horror movie icons. If you ever watched Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman and hoped for an all-out brawl, this is the series for you. The comic books go a long way toward fleshing out the characters’ backgrounds while retaining much of the flavor from the original video game. The characters have unique quirks that keep them interesting: instead of terrifying the local villagers, Viktor, based on the Frankenstein Monster, is their greatest protector; Jon Talbain is a werewolf master of kung-fu. Fun stuff, but will the Darkstalkers be able to stop the coming menace of the mighty flaming alien Pyron? Humanity’s fate is in the hands of monsters, kind of like real life, I suppose.

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