Darkstalkers, Fighting Games, Staten Island, and my Mom

ImageMy love for fighting games was born in Pathmark, Staten Island (it didn’t look that nice back then). The shops inside always had the newest cabs. I’d beg my mom to go play while she shopped/waited on line. A good bit of the mini shops inside the Pathmark had cabs. A lot of shops and bodegas throughout Staten Island had random cabs at the time, so it wasn’t out of the ordinary to see them. The Pathmark cabs were dope tho. It’s where I 1st played Street Fighter II, Street Fighter Alpha, and DARKSTALKERS!  

ImageI remember clearly the 1st time I saw the original Darkstalkers cab in one of the shops. I heard the noises and music from the machine before I actually saw it. Seeing the characters move around for just a few seconds instantly captivated me. At that time I wasn’t allowed to stay by the cabs by myself yet, so I had to walk around with my mom while she shopped for groceries. The wait felt like eternity! I finally got to play while she was on the cash out line. I don’t remember if the line was long or not, but playing it that 1st time felt like time stopped. I was hooked, and kept thinking about it long after leaving.

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Whenever I went back to those shops and tried the new games, I would also hear a bunch of Wu Tang songs playing from the shops. It became the soundtrack to my fighting game experience. To this day, whenever I play Vampire Savior, I automatically hear a random track off the 36 Chambers album play in my head. When you walked through the main entrance to that Pathmark, you had to walk by a few of the shops, so you could hear Wu Tang playing and noise from the cabs. It always felt like my mom was hurrying my brother and I along as to not annoy her to play. She always made sure to give us a chance to play when she could, even though she was always busy, and I appreciate that greatly and love her so much! I still can’t believe how on point she was for surprising us with Street Fighter Alpha on playstation as an Easter present. Like wut!? For Easter?!!? We were so hyped. Then on one of my birthdays she got me Vampire Savior on playstation! I was so shocked. When I started it up, I quickly realised it’s a bad port :((( but I still played that game a ton. I wouldn’t be surprised if the disc turned floppy and transparent.Image

My art style and choices are heavily influenced by the Darkstalkers series. Vampire Savior is my all time favorite fighting game and possibly my favorite game, for multiple reasons that I can go on about forever. I owe a lot to that Pathmark and my Staten Island childhood upbringing. Also my awesome, awesome, awesome mom. Darkstalkers reminds me of the 90s, SI, and my mom.

One Piece Character Representation is Great

I’m extremely happy that characters like Kikunojo and Yamato exist in One Piece. Both characters are upfront and proud about being trans and everyone around them in the world don’t think twice about it or are immediately corrected. There’s more characters like this in One Piece and I’d love for more mangaka to do this sort of thing. Not much else to say, I’m just very happy these characters exist. I’ll be drawing them again in the future.

Ms. Fortune is No More

the aberrant adventures of ms fortuneIt pains me to say and admit to myself, but I have to stop drawing Ms. Fortune. I started the comic on a whim some time ago and it was meant for me to get used to consistently create comics. It served its purpose for a very brief moment.

My life went through drastic changes around that time so I had to put it on hold. Then when things got a little less chaotic, I picked up drawing the comic again. THAT was short lived again as things got super chaotic, but this time it was for the best, mostly.

I got into a little groove consistently making pages, but during that time and developed/am developing several other comic projects. All of which I mapped out and can finish them all. That one detail has me more excited to drop Ms. Fortune to focus on these projects and knock them out one by one.

More word on these comics soon. Thank you so much to those early Ms. Fortune readers and those who stuck around. I truly appreciate it. Don’t worry, a lot of the ideas and themes I had in that comic and planned to implement are being repurposed into these new projects. I will miss Mei Li Cheung and the characters I introduced, but holding onto a project I no longer was excited to draw was holding me back. I’m very amped up for this new era in my comics work!!! Thanks again, please stick around!

Oh and collected pages of Ms. Fortune issue 1 is available in the shop for free or pay what you like, here: The Aberrant Adventures of Ms. Fortune Issue 1