Lucha libre goodness!

I RECENTLY hit the mother lode in lucha libre comicy goodness on eBay. From a Mexican dealer I picked up four ooooold mini-comics (smaller than A5 format) for a reasonable price.
Now, I can't speak a word of Spanish, but these were all kinda fun.

First up was a battered copy of Sensacional De Luchas A Color #183 from May 5, 1989 starring motherfucking Canek! This is one weird-ass comic. The first part is real Benny Hill-style low-brow humour. Canek beats up some dude in the ring while a blonde rat gets the ringside fans hot and bothered 'cos she's wearing a tiny skirt that barely covers her huge butt. Later, she and Canek hook up in his apartment.

Now, it seems the rat is also banging a psycho boxing champ. He likes to beat up chicks - and she seems to just take it (yay for Mexican feminism).

Eventually, the champ challenges Canek to a boxer vs wrestler match. Canek refuses for some reason, so the psycho beats up the rat again, then beats up Canek's little friend Pepe.

Canek snaps, accepts the challenge, then beats the holy shit out of psycho boxing champ. The end.

Nice art - even though anyone who bleeds is drawn as if they've poured half a bottle of tomato sauce up their nose.

I also scored three issues of Patadas Voladoras from July/August 1988. Very cartoony art and real simple storylines (with only 1-2 panels per page). Issue #6 (above) sees a bloke with a chicken mask take on a Mafia boss and also dispatches a ring-in wearing his mask. #10 is about a big, slow kid who runs away from his abusive home and becomes a masked champion. #11 is about two drunks who decide to score some easy drinking money by entering the squared circle...only it isn't as easy as it looks.

Of further quirky interest, the back cover of each issue features an ad for Perro Aguayo comic, which I need to track down at some point.

FROM the same dealer, I also bought a coupla recent lucha libre magazines. Why? 'Cos I love looking at pix of Mexican masked wrestlers...even if I can't understand a word what's written.

Both mags had some hidden gems. The August 2008 DosDeTres featured a two-page spread of lucha-themed panel gags (like the one above) by Antonio Garci. I'm sure they're hilarious in English.

Better still was the September 2008 issue of Record Luchas Mensual, which featured a four-page comic strip of Atlantis vs Blue Panther. All right! Story by Candelario Andrade and art by Daniel Perez.

There's quite a few lucha libre comics (or wrestling mags featuring lucha libre strips) on eBay at reasonable prices. I suggest you go check them out.

WWE Heroes #1 is coming...

WWE Comics, eh?

How come I keep having flashbacks to those hideous titles spewed out by Chaos! back in the late 90s? I guess I'll just have to buy a copy of WWE Heroes #1 when it comes out in March and see if it's as shit as I think it'll be.

The Hulk busts a move or two

ONE of my fave comics at the moment is Marvel Adventures Avengers and a recent issue only makes me love it more.

Avengers #32 (reprinted in Marvel Adventures Avengers Vol. 9: The Times They Are A-Changin') sees the team run foul of the IRS. To get off the hook, they're forced to tackle a bunch of super-villains who owe back taxes to the government.

At one point the team takes on The Absorbing Man who proceeds to absorb Iron Man's powers and kick everyone's collective arse...until The Hulk jumps on him, that is.

After that, there are several panels where, in the background, Hulk playfully puts Absorbing Man in a boston crab, then a Lex Luger-style torture rack.

Kudos to writer Paul Tobin and, more likely, artists Matteo Lolli and Christian Vecchia for the wrestling references.

Wrestling aside, I wholeheartedly recommend Avengers - which is funny and easy to read, but not dumb, despite having the "all ages" tag.

Anyone seen this in their travels?

IN THE "Thanks for the announcement, but we'll believe it when we see it" department, ex-rassler/nudie model April Hunter supposedly had a comic book coming out this summer (winter in Aussie time).

The hilariously named Pickle Press announced the release of a title called Code Red. In it, April plays a sexy mercenary hired to fight terrorists...or some-such nonsense.

Anyone seen it? Or did it go the same way as that infamous Tammy "Sunny" Sytch comic from the late 90s?

Feel free to post me a copy if you come across it.

Nexus #5 (January 1983)

I RECENTLY unearthed this gem as I'm going through a "Nexus-fucking-crazy" phase. Mike Baron's star-swept tale of an intergalactic avenger driven to execute mass murderers is an easy-to-read, rollicking, surprisingly lighthearted read (considering the at-times grim subject matter). Steve Rude's art was superb even during this early part of his career.

This wrestling-themed back-up tale, The Hammer, looks at the pre-avenging career of Nexus' friend and ally, Judah Maccabee. Seems Judah was a pro-wrestler. In this amusing, fluffy piece, Judah takes on Black Death McGee for the Super Heavyweight Championship while at the same time attempting "to bake his prize-winning salmon souffle between rounds".

Naturally, McGee is tougher competition than Judah expects, but the souffle unexpectedly comes in handy as a foreign object.

Silly stuff, but it suits the feel of Nexus. Great comic by the way...I'm gonna have to buy all of the back issues.

Madd about wrestling

I COULD have written a sarcastic entry about this comic, but the always-excellent Living Between Wednesdays did it sooooooo much better.

Even more classic Kinnikuman...

A BLOKE with a teacup on his head kicks arse. Hooray for insane Japanese comics!

Thanks to DVR for these pix.