When the sport of wrestling leads to non-wrestling comics
Slam Wrestling's written a few articles about comics drawing inspiration from the sport, this being the 4th they've published. The subject itself is certainly interesting, but becomes problematic when the writer starts echoing the speculator collector's mentality:
No doubt, there's plenty of comics alluding to wrestling over the decades that are quite engaging, and even the premiere Spider-Man story from 1962 makes good use of allusions to wrestling. But anybody who can't go into modern mainstream with an awareness that today's offerings since the early 2000s are like sour milk does nothing to improve or salvage the medium from its sad modern state, and isn't helping the wrestling genre either.
While Superman #155 may not be the most sought after issue of Superman in the long history of Superman comics, it’s still not exactly a cheap comic book, relatively speaking, but if you’re looking for an early example of wrestling in a non-wrestling comic (it’s the earliest example I’ve learned of, so far), this is a very cool option, featuring a real pro wrestler on the cover.One must only wonder why the guy writing this encourages buying a pamphlet with little more than 20 pages or so, no matter how high the price is on the back issue market, but doesn't say he hopes this is reprinted in paperback/hardcover formats, if it hasn't been yet. I'm sure there's plenty of interest and amusement to be found in these old Silver Age tales. But the way he's going about encouraging everyone to find it is just wrong. The article also tells something about the early 1950s Adventures of Superman TV show starring George Reeves, from the pioneer era of the small screen:
The funny thing is, Peyer mentions in the Editor’s Notes of issue four of The Gimmick that while Superman #155 may have been the first time he saw pro wrestling in a comic, this wasn’t the first time a Superman story featured a wrestling plot. In fact, while it’s not a comic book, Peyer mentions that an episode of Adventures of Superman from November 28, 1952, season one, episode eleven, titled “No Holds Barred,” includes a whole storyline about wrestling.I've done a little research on this episode, and from what I can tell, this claim about the episode, if anything, is exaggerated, because the following reader review states:
While I haven’t yet watched the episode myself, Peyer mentions that this episode of Adventures of Superman is quite racist, and doesn’t go into too many specifics about the episode, but one interesting tidbit I found, while searching for the episode online, is that the episode features a previously uncredited performance by Henry Kulky as a wrestler named Crusher. Kulky wasn’t someone I was familiar with, but thankfully SlamWrestling.net’s own Greg Oliver wrote an article about Kulky titled Bomber Kulkavich: From the Mat to the Bottom of the Sea, for those who wish to learn more.
The subject matter here was really appropriate to the time it appeared. In 1952, professional wrestling was one of the most popular events on television. It was on all the time, including film of past matches. So this probably appealed to the audiences they were trying to attract. The plot involves a wrestler who uses the "paralyzer" which when applied sends men to the hospital, unable to wrestle any more. A crooked promoter has engaged a man from India who understands pressure points and can teach his guy how to disable someone by simply pushing on a part of their body. This man is being kept in hiding and the crooks have a hole on him. He is doing this under duress but doesn't feel he has a choice. Perry White and Clark Kent have made it their goal to put this guy out of business. They enlist a national collegiate champion who challenges the big oaf. He observes and sees what is being done. But how does he stop him? Lois has a crush on this guy and doesn't want to see him harmed as the others have. You need to watch to see how the Man of Steel gets into the fray.So the criminals involved are exploiting the guy, and depending how you view this subject, something's wrong with depicting how criminals are doing something reprehensible, taking advantage of a guy no matter his background, and that the heroes have to help him out of the predicament isn't admirable? That the other commentator mentioned didn't go into specifics any more than the writer of Slam Wrestling's own article did is quite telling. How are we to form judgement from the article if nothing's explained? On which note, back to that specific article:
With that being said, I’m not much of a Superman fan, but I am a fan of Batman, and I especially enjoy Batman’s “Rogues Gallery,” or the collection of villains that Batman has faced over the years, so let’s jump ahead from 1969 to 2023. Starting in October 2022 and concluding in May 2023, DC published an eight issue mini-series titled Batman: One Bad Day, in which each issue was dedicated to telling a one-shot story about some of Batman’s greatest foes. The fifth issue in this series, published in January 2023, was Batman: One Bad Day – Bane.Anybody who's going to recommend something coming long after DC collapsed isn't proving capable of passing good judgement, nor are they trying to. This tale doesn't sound very appealing as it does a laughable insult to the original story by Chuck Dixon, and when the guy says he's more Bat-fan than Super-fan, that's got to be telling too. Which only makes this whole column a big yawn. And the continuing hints of villain worship don't improve matters.
In my previous wrestling comics column, I discussed the pro wrestling imagery that inspired the appearance and moveset of Bane, but the comic book Batman: One Bad Day – Bane takes those allusions to wrestling and brings them to the very front of the story. At the start of Batman: One Bad Day – Bane, Bane isn’t a supervillain in a lucha mask, he’s literally a washed-up professional wrestler, off the juice (aka Venom), reliving his life’s single greatest accomplishment, breaking Batman’s back, night after night, in the squared circle. Except the Bats he’s breaking now aren’t Bruce Wayne, they’re stand-ins, copycats, jabronis in ill-fitting Spirit Halloween Batman costumes whose job it is to get their backs broken by Bane.
No doubt, there's plenty of comics alluding to wrestling over the decades that are quite engaging, and even the premiere Spider-Man story from 1962 makes good use of allusions to wrestling. But anybody who can't go into modern mainstream with an awareness that today's offerings since the early 2000s are like sour milk does nothing to improve or salvage the medium from its sad modern state, and isn't helping the wrestling genre either.
Labels: Batman, dc comics, golden calf of villainy, history, msm propaganda, sales, science, Superman
