The (almost) one true comic for the one true sport.
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Aubrey Sitterson and Chris Moreno
Colors: Len O’Grady, Brad Simpson, Allen Passalaqua, and Jay Moreno
Lettering: Rus Wooton
What They Say
From the host of the critically acclaimed pro wrestling podcast Straight Shoot, this graphic novel history of wrestling features the key grapplers, matches, and promotions that shaped this beloved sport and form of entertainment.
As a pop culture phenomenon, professional wrestling–with its heroic babyfaces and villainous heels performing suplexes and powerbombs in pursuit of championship gold–has conquered audiences in the United States and around the world. Now, writer/podcaster Aubrey Sitterson and illustrator Chris Moreno form a graphic novel tag team to present wrestling’s complete illustrated history. Featuring legendary wrestlers like Bruno Sammartino, Hulk Hogan, and The Rock, and modern-day favorites like John Cena, Kenny Omega, and Sasha Banks, the book covers wrestling’s progress from the carnival days of the Gold Dust Trio to the dominance of the WWF/WWE to today’s diverse independent wrestling scene, and it spotlights wrestling’s reach into Mexico/Puerto Rico (lucha libre), the U.K. (all-in), and Japan (puroresu).
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Maybe I’m getting cynical in my impending dotage, but I always approach “The Comic Book History” or “Story” of “Such-and-Such” with a healthy dose of skepticism and trepidation. I’ve been down that road before and too often it led me to a piece that was facile and didn’t take advantage of the medium it was using to tell the story. Well, I’m happy to say that The Comic Book Story of Professional Wrestling delivers the heat and provides a surprisingly dense and fairly in-depth global history of the sport.
To go into the sport’s history in this review would ruin most of the fun of reading this graphic novel, so I’m going to eschew my typical summarizing. What I will say is that the depth and breadth of the history is far more than I expected, and it’s presented in a way that’s full of genuine love and affection for it. It’s easy to get swept up the authors’ enthusiasm, but it does undercut and underplay the darker side of the “one true sport,” as they like to call it.
The history touches upon this near the end, bringing up the sad endings of Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero, but it’s only a touch. The authors don’t go into any sort of depth with it, and leave out some key tragedies in the sport, such as Owen Hart’s disastrous accident, or the untimely deaths of The Ultimate Warrior and Chyna (to name just a few).
When I talked about this book to a friend, they said, “Is it sad? Cause they’re not doing their job if it doesn’t make you sad at the end.” I’m afraid to say that it’s not sad, and my friend was right, because as much as I have enjoyed the sport over the years, it’s done some horrible things to people. I even know a couple of former wrestlers, and I’m very happy that they got out of the biz when they did. It’s not an easy life, and it takes its toll on the body (among other things), and the comic’s unwillingness to address this aspect in a more substantial way stands as a blemish on what is otherwise a very fun and informative read.
In Summary
Although The Comic Book History of Professional Wrestling glosses over some important moments and truths in the sport, it’s still highly entertaining. It takes an international approach to the one true sport, and provides a great deal of solid, interesting information. If you’re a hardcore wrestling historian, there might not be a whole lot for you here, but if you’re a more casual fan like myself, there’s definitely a lot here to enjoy. Dr. J gives this a…
Content Grade: B-
Art Grade: B+
Age Rating: N/A
Released By: Ten Speed Press
Release Date: October 2nd, 2018
MSRP: $18.99
