OBIT: Alberto Hinojosa

Wrestling Observer Newsletter ran this recent sad note:

“Alberto Hinojosa, who drew all the comics in Super Luchas magazine, passed away on September 13.”

The guy was only 39. Celebrate Alberto's greatness by heading to http://www.albertohinojosa.com/ today.

Brody biography manga

THIS would've been published in the 1980s. Great art, even though I can't understand the story to save my life.
I found these samples on Emerson Murray's excellent web site at www.BruiserBrody.com.

Read the review of Emerson's excellent book on the big man at http://docriot.blogspot.com/2007/06/book-review-bruiser-brody.html.

Bif! Bam! Bodog!

Bif Naked

Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer (Sept. 5, 2007) wrote:

“This stuff is almost too funny. Bodog will be putting out a comic book/novel next year. It’s based around a babyface group called the Ayre Force (you know, Calvin Ayre), who are a group of secret agents who come from the world of poker, MMA and music to join together and fight crime. Kind of like Santo, Blue Demon and Mil Mascaras but without the masks. Remember when WWE wrestlers were special US undercover agents?*

"The head of the Ayre Force will be the globetrotting playboy mastermind Calvin Ayre. The first book will be Calvin and his friends saving bears who are being tortured in China. Characters in the Ayre Force working under Calvin include musical artist Bif Naked (get it, working under Calvin). Also are some proker pros as well as fighters Yves Edwards, Tara LaRosa and Trevor Prangley."

* I do – Big Apple Takedown is one of the most hilariously bad novels I’ve ever read – Dann

I heard a rumour...

...that Von Erich comic books were published in Israel. I presume this was in the mid-1980s when World Class wrestling was a huge TV ratings success in that country.

Anyone seen a copy? Anyone wanna e-mail me some scans?

The Goon Noir

THERE'S a vague wrestling link in this collected edition of the three-part miniseries put out by Dark Horse last year.

In the tale Big Ma’s Hootenanny And Slack-Jaw Fighting (story Steve Niles, art Ryan Sook), The Goon and Franky break up an illegal backyard zombie fighting ring that’s loosely based on the once-huge backyard wrestling scene.

Hell, one of the slack-jaws is even wielding a chair in one scene.

The Sentinels

SOME nice wrestling references can be found in Rich Bernatovech and Luciano Vecchio's excellent graphic novel series The Sentinels.
Crusher (above) - real name Robert Beck - is a member of the latest incarnation of The Sentinels.
Tall, big, headstrong, he's seen as the resident meathead of the superhero group - not helped by the fact he's a wrestling fan who eventually entered the pseudo-sport to wrestle for the Global Grappling Network.
Robert's parents were members of the original Sentinels, who mysteriously disappeared years ago. He and his sister Samantha inherited their helmets which gave them their unique superpowers and they became Crusher and Firebomb.
Crusher's powers are superhuman strenth and near-invulnerability. He realised after a while that his powers remained for a short time even after removing the helmet.

Sadly, Crusher has retired pretty much from professional wrestling.

This fella (above) is Pitbull, a seasoned professional wrestler who turned to crime and joined the villainous group known as The Axis. They fought the first Sentinels for years without success.

After serving time in jail, Pitbull (or Dan McGinely as he was now known) went straight and eventually ran his own construction company. Sadly, his sordid past eventually caught up with him. Read the GNs to find out what happened to Pitbull.
Learn more about The Sentinels at http://www.sentinelsonline.com/.
And check out my review of the graphic novels here.

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.