Waaaay back in 2001, before Hawk & Croc existed, my H&C co-creator, Brandon A. Mayo, was writing VERY silly fanfiction stories based on the characters of our favorite fighting games.
These very stories are the reason that I asked him to help me come up with and write a comic series, when I was having trouble coming up with story ideas by myself.
Looking back at them 20 years later, the stories are very simplistic and crude and obviously written by a teenage boy. But they’ll always represent the genesis of what became Hawk & Croc. Even if, um, it doesn’t really feel like it.
So below is the first chapter of Art of Fighting Adventures, a story using characters from SNK’s Art of Fighting video games. If you’re not familiar with the characters, here’s what you need to know before going into this story:
Takuma Sakazaki is the leader of the Kyokugen-Ryuu dojo, and father to Ryo and Yuri. Ryo’s best friend, Robert Garcia, is a student of Takuma’s, along with the Sakazaki siblings. Robert and Yuri are dating. Ryo is dating an androgynous, Muay Thai bartender named King. Geese Howard is a rich asshole who owns businesses and has a tower that he named after himself. The “Deadly Rave” is the name of one of Geese’s most devastating attacks.
Here’s a graphic with official concept art for the characters, done by various artists:
Over at Geese Tower…
Geese: Takuma! Work for me, or your daughter will die!!
Takuma: You’re bluffing! I’ll never work for scum like you!
Geese: I’m not bluffing! See?
Yuri: Daddy! Help me!!!
Takuma: I still think you’re bluffing.
Geese: Gaah! ::does the deadly rave to Yuri::
Yuri: NOO!!!! DADDY!!!!! ::dies::
Takuma: Holy crap, you weren’t bluffing.
Geese: Nope.
Takuma: Oh well. I’ve got a dojo to build. See ya!
Geese: Bye!
Takuma gets back to his home.
Robert: Takuma! We haven’t seen you in a long time!
Takuma: Yuri died.
Robert: WHAT?!?!
Takuma: Yep.
Robert: Oh well. I’m single again! Yeah!!!
Takuma: Hey, where’s Ryo?
Robert: Oh, him and King are having sex over at her place.
Takuma: Are they using protection?
Robert: No.
Takuma: Oh well.
THE END
Brandon got a lot better as a writer.