BEFORE the BELL

WWE COMICS

WWE wouldn’t be living up to its reputation as a global entertainment monolith if it didn’t try its darndest to expand into every possible medium and platform. And it has done just that over the course of recent decades, sometimes several times over with varying degrees of success. The world of comics is no exception, as the company made forays into that genre with the campy WWF Battlemania series of the early-1990s and the over-the-top Chaos line later the same decade. With the recent resurgence of comic-themed nostalgia, it should be no surprise that the E has opted to make a go of it all again, partnering with BOOM! Comics to launch the WWE series.

Distinguishing the Boom! Studios effort from previous attempts at presenting wrestling storylines in the comic book medium is its overt commitment to realism—or at least the type of realism that fans have come to be familiar with through the current incarnation of Vince McMahon’s WWE Universe. Indeed, reading a single issue of WWE is much like garnering a privileged peek at bonus scenes from an episode of Monday Night Raw. The storytelling in WWE comics fits with, and actually complements, the company’s mosaic of platforms,