The early 90s was a weird time for comics. It was a boom period, so in addition to their own superhero books, Marvel started publishing a whole bunch of licensed comics.

There was an NFL comic, an Alf comic, a Bill & Ted comic (that was surprisingly good, thanks to writer/artist Evan Dorkin)… and a WCW comic.

WCW – World Championship Wrestling: The Comic Book is something I’ve been fascinated by for a while. There have been other blogs and sites that have covered it in some detail, but it was never enough – I needed to experience it for myself.

I scoured some of New York’s weirdest comic book stores and, over the course of a few months, I managed to find all 12 issues of the series that ran from 1992 to 1993. However, it became clear to me after flicking through just a few pages that this was an epic work of fevered genius which I couldn’t possibly hope to adequately cover in just a few columns and needed to share with the world in its entirety.

So, here’s the deal: on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, I’ll post a new page of the comic with some of my comments, and we’ll read it together. We’ll be there for each other, through the good (Vader! The Steiners! Sting! Cactus Jack!) and the (Johnny B.) Badd.

And hopefully, this reading club will also act as a support group, and we’ll get through the whole thing without completely losing it (or without Marvel / WWE shutting us down). Also, check out the inspiration for this feature, Ryan North’s B to the F, where he does a page-by-page readalong of the crazy ‘Back to the Future’ novelisation by George Gipe.

WCW: The Comic  (Issue One)

WCW: The Comic is probably the property of Marvel Comics / WWE, though I’m not entirely sure. This website makes no claims to own it; all panels and images are posted in the spirit of fair use and are the property of their respective owners and creators. Continue reading →