WWE Comics can reveal the line-up of wrestlers set to appear in WWE Heroes, launching March 2010. The flagship series will feature worldwide stars Triple H, Undertaker, Randy Orton, Batista, Shawn Michaels, Big Show, John Cena, CM Punk, Kane, Edge, Chris Jericho, Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy, Rowdy Roddy Piper, Carlito, Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, Kelly Kelly, and WWE owner Vince McMahon.
WWE Heroes #1 from Titan Comics
Really? Okay, I’ll bite.
As a long-time WWE fan (I’ve been watching since 1993), I’ve seen many attempts at wrestling-based comics come and go… Mostly badly. Chaos! Comics’ series based on The Undertaker started off well, working under the premise that The Undertaker was actually a Lord of Hell, working undercover in the then-WWF (”World Wrestling Federation”) as a wrestler in order to send some escaped demons back to the underworld. His long-time associate Paul Bearer was also a demon, and Undertaker’s half-brother, Kane, was working for Bearer. Mick Foley’s former persona, Mankind, made appearances as the only mortal who could see everybody for what they really were; However, since he talked to the sock he wore on his hand, everybody assumed he was insane. Overall, it was a fairly promising setup… Except, about halfway through the series’ publication, Undertaker stopped portraying his “Lord of Darkness” persona and began dressing in biker clothes as the “American Badass” version of The Undertaker… completely negating the entire premise behind the comic. Chaos! also did comics based on Stone Cold Steve Austin and Chyna, though I never read either of those series.
A couple of years earlier, former WWF Superstar The Ultimate Warrior attempted to produce a comic of his own. Ultimate Creations was housed right here in Scottsdale… unfortunately. The Warrior comic had nigh naught in inter-character dialogue exchanges, but a veritable metric ton of verbose, loquacious exposition. And it all sounded like the previous sentence. At least the art was pretty.
Marvel attempted to release a WCW comic in the early 90s (we actually had a couple of issues in stock for a while, before a local wrestling fanatic bought them up). The less said about those, the better. In addition, there were several WWE comics from the late 80s and early 90s that attempted to further promote each wrestlers’ persona.
The problem with doing comics like that today, however, is that wrestlers are always switching sides. Earlier this year, WWE Superstar CM Punk was a beloved fan-favorite heroic-type character. And why wouldn’t he be? His entrance music is performed by popular Metalcore band Killswitch Engage. He is, both on- and off-camera, a straight-edge indivdual (which mean he doesn’t drink, smoke, or do drugs). A perfect role model for the kiddies. But, in the middle of the summer, as he began to have a series of matches with the more popular fan favorite Jeff Hardy, the audience began to turn on CM Punk, and he responded in kind, effectively becoming a villain character.
Similarly, Dave Batista was one of the WWE’s top good guy stars (called “Babyfaces” in wrestling jargon), but his recent greed for championship gold has turned him against his long-time friend, Rey Mysterio. Similarly, long-time villain, Shelton Benjamin (who cockily refers to himself as “The Gold Standard”) has become a good guy, again, with almost no warning.
How, then, can you keep a monthly comic book series up-to-date with the weekly changes in WWE programming? Considering it takes at least two months to draw, ink, color, and print a comic, everything is always going to be at least eight or nine weeks (or two Pay-Per-View events) behind.
But, okay, let’s take a look at what we’ve actually got. The promotional bit at the top of this article states that we’ll see “Triple H (currently heroic), Undertaker (heroic, despite demonic undertones), Randy Orton (villain), Batista (villain), Shawn Michaels (Christ-fearing hero), Big Show (always flip-flopping), John Cena (annoyingly heroic), CM Punk (see above), Kane (always flip-flopping), Edge (long-time villain who is currently injured with a torn achilles tendon), Chris Jericho (villain), Matt Hardy (temporarily heroic), Jeff Hardy (NOT EVEN IN THE COMPANY ANYMORE!), Rowdy Roddy Piper (RETIRED!), Carlito (hasn’t regularly been on TV in months), Jim Ross (…commentator?), Jerry Lawler (retired wrestler-turned announcer), Kelly Kelly (eye candy who I suppose you could call heroic), and WWE owner Vince McMahon.” For a series called “WWE Heroes,” there sure are a lot of non-heroic characters advertised as being present.
And the cover features Triple H (short for “Hunter Hearst-Helmsley”) in the center, with none of the logos present on his tights; The Undertaker, with neither of his arms covered in his trademark tattoos; and John Cena (in the hat), fighting zombies and cat-people. Um, okay?
John Cena is in a hat and denim shorts with no shirt on, fighting zombies. Hell, Triple H is fighting zombies in his underpants! And The Undertaker is supposedly already dead. Shouldn’t he be on the zombies’ side?
Don’t we have enough zombie comics? And since when do Undertaker, Triple H, and John Cena all have the exact same physique? (Hint: they don’t)
I’ll give UK publisher Titan comics credit for attempting to branch out and try something different… but I’m not sure about this one. We’ll carry a few copies, so people can check it out. But I dunno.
Then again, I thought the idea of multi-colored Lanterns was kind of silly, and Blackest Night is selling like gangbusters! So, clearly, I’m sometimes wrong.
WWE gets new Mattel figures on January 01, 2010, and a comic series from Titan on March 23, 2010. It’ll be an interesting decade, that’s for sure.
Comic Zone, Comics, industry | Linda | 
December 30, 2009 6:26 pm | 
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