Comic Book Review: Invasion From Planet Wrestletopia #1
So in what might not be the biggest shock in the world, I’m a big comic book fan. I’ve had a folder at my local comic book store for over ten years now and at one point had several boxes full of books. Therefore, I was rather pleased when I was contacted by the writer of a wrestling themed comic book, asking if I would be interested in reviewing it. After a rather enthusiastic yes (as it was the first time anyone had done that), I received a few copies of the book a few days later. Let’s get to it.
The comic, entitled Invasion From Planet Wrestletopia, focuses on a former top star of the 1980s who one day declared himself the Galactic Wrestling Champion of the Universe. That’s all well and good, until a transmission of his statement gets to a planet of wrestlers. The aliens take it as a declaration of war and that’s quite a problem.
What surprised me the most here was this actually isn’t a comedy. You would think that a book like this one would be another story that makes a bunch of wrestling jokes and advances the plot in between all of the comedy material. That’s actually not the case here though as while there are some funny moments (and potential for several more), there is actually a somewhat sad story about a former star who is running out of chances and has fallen on hard times.
That’s really surprising but it’s surprising in a good way. I can’t count how many parodies of wrestling or forms of entertainment I’ve seen over the years that take shots at wrestling. You know most of the jokes you’re going to see before they start and that’s only going to take you so far.
However, look at something like GLOW. It’s a series that focuses on the drama and has wrestling as a means to get there. It’s a bit more direct here, but the wrestling is really just a detail. The story could have been about almost anything and you could have gotten to the same conclusion, which is why I could see this having more staying power than just a parody. You can only make jokes about wrestling for so long before it gets stale but a story that has potential like this is a much better way to go.
The other major perk here is you don’t have to like wrestling to understand this. There are a few uses of wrestling lingo but it’s nothing that the average person wouldn’t understand. You can easily understand the story they’re telling and it’s one that I’d like to see more of. Having a story that involves wrestling (albeit heavily) instead of a story specifically about wrestling is a good idea and the right path to take.
Overall, I was rather pleasantly surprised here and that’s always a great thing to see from a comic. I got the characters and ideas the writers were trying to push and the artwork is quite good. It’s a fun story and the ending leaves a lot of potential for more stuff from this concept. I’d check out another issue of this and it’s well worth checking out.
If you’d like to pick up the book or see more from the company that put it out, here’s all the information:
Website:
www.suspiciousbehaviorproductions.com
Amazon:
Comixology:
https://www.comixology.com/Invasion-from-Planet-Wrestletopia-1/digital-comic/56853
Preview of the comic on Tumblr:
Apple iBook:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/invasion-from-planet-wrestletopia/id1272011089?mt=11
Twitter @SBP_Comics and Facebook
Also, if anyone out there has something you’d like me to check out (movie, video, comic, book, etc.), hit me up at kbwrestlingreviews@hotmail.com. I’m always open to checking something out.