PREVIEW: Headlocked

THE writer on Headlocked, Mike Kingston, sent me a PDF preview of his new comic the other day. I've been following the title's progress for a few years and I'm glad to see it's set for release soon.
Headlocked is a 48-page comic looking at Mike Hartmann's dream to become a pro wrestler and hit the big-time in the World Federation of Wrestling (WFW) run by Spenser McLane (a thinly veiled version of you-know-who, I suspect).
Kingston promises to deal with Hartmann's trials and tribulations in the pseudo-sport in an honest, no-nonsense fashion, which will be a welcome change after putting up with so many shitty wrestling-themed comics over the years (and, yeah, I AM referring to you dicks at Chaos! Comics!).
Kingston's story is nicely illustrated by Randy Valiente. I'll reserve judgement until I see more of his work - especially how he draws action sequences - but the preview pages I've seen so far look pretty good.
For pre-ordering info, or to learn more about Headlocked, head to http://www.visionarycomics.com/v2/.
I'm sure I'll be writing more about this book in coming months.

Google me pink!

TYPE in “wrestling comics” in Google and before you hit a bunch of kinky sex web sites and eBay auctions for Marvel’s shitty early 90s WCW comics, you’ll find the following sites of interest:

http://www.thundergirls.com/

Thunder Girls isn’t just beefy babes wrestling each other for the DVD viewing pleasure of hundreds of lonely, middle-aged men. It’s also a line of wrestling comics starring the likes of Cheryl Rusa, Hollywood and Lady Victoria.

There are four Thunder Girls comix for sale at this site…if you’re interested in that sorta thing. Which I’m not. Um…sorta.

http://www.battlingbeauties.com/comics/hairref.html

You can buy even more of these overpriced mags – like “Hair, Ref!” at the above site.

Mmeh…maybe you should just jump straight to the kinky sex web sites, eh?

“Steel Pulse” rocks!

IT IS one of the greatest wrestling comics ever produced and you can now order it directly from http://www.squidworks.com/Mot/steelpulse.html.

And I’m not just plugging it again ’cos creator T. Motley runs one of my quotes from BP on the site. Well, maybe a little… :D

“Headlocked” is coming

I wrote about Headlocked ages ago in BP. It now seems the comic WILL finally be published by Markosia Enterprises (never heard of them, but anyway…).

The June 13 Wrestling Observer had the following news item:

“Reader/correspondent Michael Kingston has gotten a publishing deal for a pro wrestling themed comic book, with the star going through the seedy underbelly of wrestling. The series debuts in October with Headlocked: The Work of Art.”

The full story is at www.brokenfrontier.com/headlines/details.php?id=2936.

Mamma mia! It's Italian wrestling

I DON’T know much about this mag or even if it features any wrestling comics (or “fumetti” as the Italians like to call them). Wrestlers (Wrestling Comics Magazine) is put out by WLF Publishing, for 2.90 Euros. There’s a site that talks about the mag at www.scanner.it/strips/wrestling3203.php. I contacted them to see if I can order a copy, but I don’t hold out much hope of success.

Does anyone know anything about Wrestlers? I assume it came out to coincide with the recent WWE-led wrestling boom in Italy.

Someone wanna send me a copy or two so I can find out for sure?

“Sledge Hammer!”

I WAS never a fan of the TV series Sledge Hammer! , but I was intrigued to read this article (http://i-mockery.com/comics/longbox13/) about the very short-lived Marvel spin-off comic of the same name from the mid-80s.

In a nutshell, the show’s “humour” didn’t translate well to the four-coloured world.

However, of greater interest to me is the slight wrestling connection in Sledge Hammer! #2, as seen in the following panel.

Here’s what the article has to say:

“The second issue, ‘Illegal Weapons’, starts with Spider-Man breaking into some woman’s apartment and starting a wrestling fight!

“There’s even a wrestling match on the TV in the background that just so happens to be commenting on moves that match up exactly with what is happening in the apartment!

“The fight gets out of control and the woman lunges for Spider-Man only to go flying off her balcony to fall to her death below. What I love about this is that the people in other apartments are cracking jokes as they see this woman falling to splatter on the pavement beneath them.”

Of course, it’s not the REAL Spider-Man, but frankly I don’t care – I just wanted to mention the rasslin’ reference.

“Desperate Dan” in “The Dandy”

ENGLISH children’s comic The Dandy has been published by DC Thomson & Co. for decades and one of its longest-running regular strips is Desperate Dan.

In No. 2665 (Dec. 19, 1992), Dan is shaving when he’s challenged by Harold The Hairy to a wrestling match.

“The guy’s ravin’ mad,” says Dan, but he takes him on anywhere and beats the crap out of him. Pretty basic kids’ stuff in this two-pager.

I found this ish in Elizabeth’s Bookstore in Sydney.