Now, what other type of entertainment features an ongoing battle between the forces of good and bad (well, evil)? Comic books!
I can't pretend that I am a comic connoisseur (like this guy), but from what I do know about them, they have a lot in common with wrestling. Comic books tell a story about a superhero and their attempt to defeat an evil force and as I already said, wrestling tells the story of the babyface vs. the heel.
The superheroes in comic books go by a 'cool' alias, rather than their real name. Back in the 80's and even in the 90's there were wrestlers with names that could be fit for a superhero. Andre The Giant, Hercules Hernandes, Macho Man Randy Savage, The Ultimate Warrior (pictured on left)--okay, they aren't the greatest superhero names, but they are definitely better than what we have today. Wrestlers usually keep their real names (or names that could be real) rather than using a ring name or alias. Brian Popkin, a guest columnist for SlashWrestling.com, made a great point when he said, "their names make them sound like guys I went to high school with". I couldn't agree more.
"The comic books that sell all have characters with superhero names. Do you think a comic book called "The Adventures of Clark Kent" or "Legends of Bruce Wayne" would sell? They tried using a real name for a comic with Luke Cage instead of Power Man. It didn't sell."Another similarity between comic books and wrestling is that the superheroes and wrestlers each have their own "superpower". A wrestler's finishing move is equivalent to the amazing powers a superhero can exert on his foe. Sometimes, however, a wrestler has his own move put on him. Popkin compares this to "Spiderman getting beat by his own webbing or the Iceman getting beat by water".
I think that the huge fan base that both comic books and wrestling have is what truly makes them similar. Comic book fans and wrestling fans get the same type of entertainment from both products and entertainment is what they are all about.
2 comments:
Hey Laurn, thanks for the link! It's funny, because at Paradise Comics we used to question our manager's love of Wrestling. Now it's starting to make sense.
I think my problem with Wrestling was that I was looking at it the wrong way, which was essentially "UFC (which I hate)... but fake." But you point out that there's much more to it (storyline, athletics, characters), making me think of it now more along the lines of "comic books (which I love)... but real!"
I'm curious to give it a shot... is it available on channels other than pay-per-view?
Hey, did you know there was a DC villain called Vandal Savage? He's this Caveman-like guy who's been around since prehistoric times but can't die. Is that anything like (the concept of) Randy Savage?
P.S. it would help if I spelled your name correctly.
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