Wrestling history grabs attention
Both comic books and professional wrestling have a tendency to feature strong, muscular heroes fighting against plotting, dastardly villains.
Writer Aubrey Sitterson and artist Chris Moreno have combined the two pastimes in their latest book, “The Comic Book Story of Professional Wrestling: A Hardcore, High-Flying, No-Holds-Barred History of the One True Sport.”
Sitterson, who hosts a wrestling podcast, previously has written “G.I. Joe” for IDW among his many comic-book credits and also has worked for WWE.
The graphic novel history follows wrestling from its carnival beginnings into the modern era, and while it primarily focuses on the United States, there are also chapters on wrestling in Japan, Mexico and the United Kingdom.
If you don’t know the Bullet Club from the NWO, this book will give the highlights of some of the biggest wrestling storylines over the past century and give insights on how the sport developed into sports entertainment. While the WWE, or World Wrestling Entertainment, headed by Vince McMahon, is heavily featured, rival promotions also are featured. Of interest to locals, Bill Watts and Oklahoma City’s Mid-South Wrestling and later, Universal Wrestling Federation, get a few mentions.
Moreno’s art veers toward the cartoony, but he uses it as expert shorthand to depict both well-known wrestling characters and early pioneers of the sport who may not be as immediately recognizable.
The book is fairly comprehensive, though an argument could be made that women’s wrestling receives relatively short shrift in the book. The WWE’s increased promotion of women’s wrestlers and titles in recent years is held to a single page.
Overall, however, it’s a nice primer that will be of use to new fans and likely to reveal new facts and facets to even longtime wrestling watchers.