The Comics and Wrestling connection, or, another desperate attempt to be different from everyone else doing the column schtick Article by aviewaskewed, 02:49 AM 02nd May Disclaimer: The following column is entirely the opinions of the author (even at that we aren‘t sure), any similarity to the opinions of any other staff or affiliate of theendlesscrew.com is entirely coincidental and unintentional. Unless specifically noted otherwise, all creator comments have been gleaned from other sources and no creators have actually endorsed any aspect of this column. I’m not sure how good this weeks column will be, I’ve had the topic planned for a couple weeks, but I’ve had a horrid week, so we’ll just see if I’m still worth anything to write this. If there’s one thing I love more then comics, it’s pro wrestling. Seriously, I just love the drama of that business, and that business, loves comics. Seriously, the lead writer for Vince Mcmahon’s WWE RAW brand is a huge comic book fan, as evidenced by the fact that wrestler Kane, who was said to have had his face horribly burned in a fire, was unmasked to reveal no scars, the explanation being he merely thought he was permanently disfigured by the fire (sounds like a certain Latverian dictator doesn’t it?). Raven and The Sandman are both comic fans, Rey Mysterio dressed as the Flash for Wrestlemania 20, Mike Bucchi when he wrestled as Nova came out as a different comic book hero each week. Wrestling and comics also share the same basic precepts of good and evil, and heroes and villains, they also have had the same sorts of boom and bust periods. In the 1950’s, both wrestling and comics were hot, then wrestling dipped in the next decade, while comics were rejuvenated by the Justice League, and the beginnings of Marvel. But then comics dropped off as well, and then both got hot again in the 80’s (although wrestling did it with clean cut, family friendly stories, and comics did it by creating more harsh, and adult storylines). Both businesses then hit a bust period in the 90’s, and then wrestling got hot again in 98, while comics continue to have a problem finding sales success, but have made greater strides in the last few years. What’s my point? My point is that I think comics can actually learn something from the wrestling business, since they’re so closely linked, but I think there’s something wrestling has shown more of a willingness to do that comics hasn’t: change. Let me illustrate a point for you: In 1993, when wrestling was at the height of it’s absurdity, a man named Todd Gordon became so sick of Vince Mcmahon, and Ted Turner’s wrestling product he formed his own company, this company had a booker (story writer) named Paul Heyman, who would later own the company, they promoted a more athletics based product, steeped in violence, and athletes willing to go that extra mile to entertain their fans, and entertain them they did, that company, Extreme Championship Wrestling, went on to national cable distribution, and 6 pay per view events a year. They sort of paralleled the early days of Image Comics. They changed the way EVERYBODY did their business, the whole reason wrestling got hot again in 98, is because everybody picked off the concepts, and the talent of ECW, who just wasn’t funded well enough to hang onto either one. Comics does not have that same willingness to let someone experiment, and find out what will sell, and then take that. The business end of the medium has created a glass ceiling where the excuse “if it’s not super heroes, it doesn’t sell” is only true because nobody, especially at a meaningful level (yes, I’m looking at you Marvel and ESPECIALLY you DC) is really putting any muscle into pushing product that isn’t all about super heroes, to see if there’s a real audience out there that hasn’t been tapped yet. But the big two won’t do that, they don’t realize that they’re essentially playing to a dwindling house, and you can’t just make the mass public like something they don’t want (a lesson Vince Mcmahon should also learn). I’m not saying that this would fix all the industry’s problems, because there’s still a lot wrong with distribution, and sheer quantity of material being pumped out through this faulty system (which I do believe we will be addressing next week), but if they could just take a look at how wrestling made a killing, if they looked and saw that what happened is they just let creative people be creative, and then grafted that into their own product, they could pull in that new audience they’re craving, I’m encouraged every time I see an indie comic get a film made, and it does big box office, because that alerts people to the diversity of the medium, diversity that it’s everyone who works in and around the business’s job to try and push. Not everyone wants to read super heroes, not everyone wants romance, not everyone wants noir, but someone wants at least one of these, so find out what people want, and then give it to them. We have to stop being a closed market, like wrestling, the only reason I feel that comics gets into these cycles, is because the people on top ride a hot idea way too long, and they refuse to see that it’s time is done, or to even plan for it petering out, and being ready with the next good idea, and good push when it does. The only reason we see down turn I feel is because people on top are way to comfortable with the way things are, or are just unable, or unwilling, to enact real change. It is inexcusable to me to try and say “the audience isn’t there” that’s a croc! If the audience wasn’t there, comic movies wouldn’t make millions, the audience is there, it’s just that in the cases of both comics and wrestling these days, they have seemingly no idea how to get their attention. Back to Rants