We chat about all things UDON, including Final Fight, Street Fighter, and Mega Man.
The following interview originally ran on Nintendojo.com. We present it below in its entirety.
We got the chance to sit down and chat with Matt Moylan, the Director of Publishing at UDON Entertainment. With Final Fight #1 on stands and the 2024 Street Fighter & Friends Swimsuit Special #1, it felt like a good time to check in and talk about all things UDON.
Bits & Bytes (BB): For our readers, would you please let us know your role at UDON Entertainment? How long has UDON been around?
Matt Moylan (MM): I’m Matt Moylan, Director of Publishing at UDON Entertainment. UDON has been around since 2000, when it started as a creative services studio. UDON did art for other comic companies. Then in 2003, the studio picked up the Street Fighter comic license from Capcom and became a publisher itself. I’ve personally been at UDON since 2006.
BB: We’ve been huge fans of UDON here almost from the beginning. UDON’s adaptations of Street Fighter, as well as localizations of some of the classic Street Fighter manga, is what drew us to you. What were the early days like when you were seeking out Capcom to license its characters? How did that relationship come about?
MM: Originally, since UDON wasn’t a publisher yet, we pitched the idea to other publishers to pick up the Street Fighter license and hire UDON to do the writing & artwork. But no one wanted to pick up the rights since SF was fairly inactive at the time. This was four years after Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, and five years before Street Fighter IV. So, Erik Ko (UDON Chief) went to Capcom himself with the help of licensing agent Mark Mostman, and was able to secure the license. Now, UDON has held the Street Fighter comic license for over 20 years.
BB: How did you recruit some of the talent that UDON worked with at the beginning? From Jo Chen to Alvin Lee, the art quality at the company has always been through the roof.
MM: Most talent comes to UDON simply by submitting their art, either directly or through friends that already work with us. Some, like Alvin Lee, are just part of the Toronto area art/comics community where UDON began. More recently, we do also find artists browsing Twitter, Instagram, etc., checking out fan art of our properties.
BB: Is there any artist out there that you’ve yet to work with but would love to see do some art for UDON?
MM: Personally I’d love to get a cover from Humberto Ramos some day. He’s the only one of the original three Cliffhanger imprint artists (Ramos, Joe Madureira, and J. Scott Campbell) who has never done a piece for the UDON comics.
BB: What compelled UDON to begin its range of art books? I’ve found them invaluable as both an artist (I’m addicted to video game concept and promotional art) and as a lecturer of game design.
MM: Our first art book was STREET FIGHTER: ETERNAL CHALLENGE in 2005, a localization of the Japanese version of the book. It was a pretty natural expansion of our relationship with Capcom and the Street Fighter brand. After that we moved on to other Capcom properties like Ōkami and Mega Man, and eventually on to the games of other game companies, and also anime art books. These days art books may be the most important segment of our publishing line. We still translate books from Japan, but also assemble original art books of our own.
BB: Some fans might not know this, but UDON handled the art for Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. How did that opportunity come about and what was it like?
MM: Capcom brought UDON into the game. Originally UDON was planned to just produce stage backgrounds, endings, and character select art, as well as some key frames for the sprites. However, they first round of fully animated sprites went very badly and the original sprite contractor didn’t deliver on time. So, UDON was also tasked with quality control of the sprites using a new animation team. It was a pretty large project!
BB: UDON has a strong association with the Street Fighter brand, but it’s just a part of what you all have worked on over the years. From Darkstalkers to Daigo to Team Phoenix, what are some favorite projects that you’ve published over the years that fans might not immediately think of?
MM: I’m personally very proud of our four ART DARKSIDERS art books, and how we covered the game universe created by Joe Madureira and Airship Syndicate. I also quite like our ARTISTRY OF MACROSS art book series, featuring the work of Hidetaka Tenjin. Upcoming, we have BUBBLEGUM CRISIS: COMPLETE ARCHIVE.
BB: Final Fight #1 hit stands on July 31. How did that series come about?
MM: We’ve talked about doing a Final Fight miniseries for many years, and it seemed like the right time finally as our comics line is doing fairly well. Finding Matthew Weldon to do the art also turned out to be a perfect fit.
BB: Is there a chance of Final Fight launching into an ongoing? And will we ever see a proper monthly series from UDON?
MM: Final Fight is a four issue series. If it’s successful enough, we’ll likely move onto the next Final Fight game after a break. For Street Fighter and Darkstalkers, we’re comfortable with quarterly one-shots for now, but you will see upcoming one-shots become more interconnected.
BB: Shantae Swimsuit Special #1 is coming up this September. How did that collaboration with WayForward come to be?
MM: We first got to work with the Shantae franchise by putting together the book The Art of Shantae a few years ago, collecting all the illustration work from the various games in the series. Then recently, Shantae’s creators Matt & Erin Bozon came to UDON with a pitch for a Swimsuit Special.
BB: Any chance we’ll see more Shantae stories from UDON in the future?
MM: Shantae’s first swimsuit special seems to have gone over pretty well with the fans. We’re currently chatting white Bozons about what we might do next!
BB: We’re going to wrap this with a question that I’ve been wanting to ask for a while, which is if there are any plans for original Mega Man comics from UDON. Archie had its series running for a bit, which was fun, but I’d love to see your talented pool of artists taking on the Blue Bomber.
MM: As you may have heard from our San Diego Comic Con news – UDON has now picked up the comic license for Mega Man. So yes, we’ve got lots planned for the franchise in 2025!
We want to thank Matt Moylan for taking the time to chat with us. It sounds like there’s a lot in the pipeline from UDON that video game fans will be looking forward to.
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