Thursday, June 28, 2012

KICK FIGHTERS ASSEMBLE!


Way back in the mid-1990's, Kick Fighter Komiks was one of the most popular komiks magazines on the stands at the time.  Published by Infinity Publishing Inc., it's claim to fame was its roster of characters that were based around those from the popular Street Fighter video games. Be that as it may, the book's writers and artist still managed to exercise their creativity, giving their cast of heroes completely different backgrounds and gradually modifying their looks just enough to make them more-or-less original characters in their own right.

Another thing that made Kick Fighter unique at the time was that its characters existed in the same universe.  Although there they may been a few crossovers between Philippine comic book characters before then, they were very rare.  To my mind, there hadn't really been a serious attempt at a shared continuity among a large cast of characters from individual series until that time.

The Kick Fighters first came together in KFK's 48th issue (December 30, 1993).  With some snappy dialogue from writer Mike Tan and action-packed art by Gilbert Monsanto and Lando Inolino, this book-length adventure was billed as their "Winter Special Edition" (even though we don't really have winter here in the Philippines).

THE KICK FIGHTER KAST

BALZAUR
Alien gladiator from the planet Omicron.  Star of the serial Versus.















BIOTROG
The silver-masked bionic vigilante, star of his own self-titled series.






BLADE
From the serial Double Blade, a Special Forces commando turned mercenary.  Not to be confused with Billy the Dragon, who would later replace Blade as the magazine's resident Guile clone.

BOGA
Wisecracking high-tech hitman.  Also a character from Versus.

BRONCO

Environmentally-conscious green-skinned man-monster.  Star of the series Mysterio.

CHAN LEE
From Versus, a Shaolin monk and ally of Balzaur.
















HIRO
From Double Blade, a black ninja and Blade's former nemesis-turned reluctant partner.














HUGO
From his own self-titled series, a pro-wrestler and part-time terrorist-buster.











ISPIKIKAY
Eco-friendly teenage superheroine, star of her own self-titled series.















JOLAS ZUARES
Fil-American secret agent, star of his own series.
















KAHDDIM
Super-powered Hindu monk, from the series Kulto.














KICKERO
Bionic-eyed crime-fighting kickboxer, star of his own series.
















ULTIMAXX
From Versus, evil robot creation of the mad scientist Brain Master.  Erroneously referred to in this story as Ultramaxx.












VOLTAR
From Versus, Balzaur's electric-powered arch-foe.
















WARLORD
The villain for this issue, an insane terrorist who has declared war on peace.















 The plot involves the Warlord's scheme to  turn the entire world's population into warmongers via a mind-control device.  With some of the KF heroes (and some villains) already under the Warlord's thrall, the rest of the good guys are forced to fight their brainwashed comrades in order to save the day.


The story ends with the Warlord being driven away (he's never heard from again), and the heroes vowing to stand together against evil, gathering together for one last group shot...


Even though this was the KF characters' only full-scale crossover, the universe had been established, and the Kick Fighters went on to make frequent guest appearances in each others' series. Later, during the two KFK revamps that followed, certain sets of characters would go on to form their own teams, such as Blades and Bullets, Omni Powers and others.

KICK FIGHTER KOVERS









19 comments:

  1. Nandun kami sa last page with the heroes :) Lando, Mike and me :) May isa pang full length feature after this. Then may full-length feature din ang terminator tulad nito :)

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  2. Cool! I didn't know Filipino komiks had such a rich history in blatant plaigarism. Almost as bad as the movies being made at the time.

    I'm glad the industry died out because this stuff is just sad. Your blog is a great reminder of how creatively bankrupt we were even back then.

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    1. Umm... Thanks, I guess? I'm not sure I should take that as a compliment. That isn't quite what I intended when I started this blog.

      So you're glad that the industry died out, huh? I'm not saying you don't have a valid point, but right or wrong, I just find dancing on someone else's grave rather distasteful.

      As for our alleged creative bankruptcy, I hope that you weren't speaking in general. Too many talented Filipino artists would disagree with you, I think.

      Cool? Cool.

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  3. No wonder the Filipino senates a bunch of fools who love plagiarism. They were taught this at a very young age. Lol.

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    1. Nah, most of our senators (especially the one in particular you're referring to) were already old when KF first came out. I doubt they ever read the comics.

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  4. I just recently saw this post. It was nice seeing the covers and the characters. I suddenly remembered the days where computer games/facebook hasn't existed yet and where Filipino Komiks entertain kids. My mom will always buy me a Funny Komiks and Kick Fighter Komiks every week in the nearest Newspaper Stand.

    Too bad my collection was destroyed by the flood. As far as I can recall they have a version of the WWF (Wrestling) komiks as well.

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  5. Waaahhh, meron akong kopya dati nito, dami kong kickfighter comics noon, pati wrestle warriors meron din ako, nung nasunugan kami dati sa malabon, sunog din lahat ng komiks ko pati mga punisher at mga dc comics ko, sunog din!!

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  6. Meron akong KF komiks nung bata ako, saka Funny Komiks. Sayang tinapon ng nanay ko. Ingat na ingat pa naman yun sakin. Laking panghihinayang ko noon.

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  7. aw na miss ko tong komiks na to, yong marami ko nito tinapon ng nanay ko. di na raw ako nag aaral wahuhuhu, ang dami non grabee! nawala nalang pag gising ko nasa trak na ng garbage collector wahuhuhu, sayang. okay pa naman yong version nila ng King Of Fighters non, ang galing ng pag ka convert nila ng characters. lalo nang mga early 1995 releases first year high school ako, >_< hays. sana may makahanap at makapag scan pa nun sa internet. :D

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  8. If you're one of the batang 90's you would miss your old school days. Ha..ha..ha ubos lagi ang baon ko dito. Sad to say pinagtatapon ng late mother ko yung mga collection ko, she didn't realized that someday magiging collectable items ang mga ito. Thumbs up ako dito. And please huwag (Para sa mga nagcomment ng hindi man lang pinag-iisipan ang gustong sabihin) niyo idugtong dito and problema natin sa Philippine Goverment. If you could read those articles sa mga komiks laging kabutihan ang ipinaglalaban at nananaig in the end.

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  9. wow...brings back memories. alala ko to nung bata ako lagi akong nabili sa may newstand sa min. tinabi ko lahat sa box so hopefully paguwi ko ng pinas nandun pa sila at hindi pa inaanay. :D

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  10. actually meron pang 2nd crossover issue nung KF vol 3 yata, malapit na sa dulo bago nawala ang publications.

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  11. Bakit wala si Nerva at Shen Nung (vs. Black Jack)?
    Hehe hindi ko na matandaan anong name nung series nila sa Kick Fighter, pero baka may komiks ka na lumabas sila paki-update naman ng list mo.

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  12. i once had a collection of this comic, I lost it when I had to move to other place, it's so sad that I can not find copies of it 😁

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  13. Fun read, thank you! Wish I still had my KF comics. I'd pay money to have a reprinted collection.

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  14. Hahaha rip off in the highest order

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  15. I have one copy of kick fighter 1994 I wan't to sell it.
    Who is interested just email me
    margarettegaildelacruz@gmail.com

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  16. San kaya pde makakuha ng copies nito, kahit digital lang. Ung akin kasi pinahiram ko tas nabaha, d ko na nakita uli.

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  17. Kaya gamit ko pa rin ang jolas suarez ngaun kc ke jolas suarez secret agent mismo ng kick fighter

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