‘WWE #5’ Review (Boom Studios)

Written by Dennis Hopeless, Ross Thibodeaux | Art by Serg Acuna, Rob Guillory | Published by Boom Studios

At first glance, the idea of a WWE comic seems pretty absurd. It is not super surprising it exists as we live in a world where any licensed property is bound to have some version of a comic, but the more you look at this pairing the more it ends up making sense. Professional wrestling and comics have a lot in common with their over the top characters, larger than life storylines, and their ability to be self-aware in a humorous manner. Dennis Hopeless is able to use that common ground and make this comic much better than it has any business being.

In this issue, we get a heavy dose of the Lunatic Fringe Dean Ambrose. Even if you never watched an episode of WWE before you’ll get a solid understanding of who he is as a character. Some may argue Hopeless does a better job than WWE creative at selling Ambrose as a major player.   He is kind of the grown up version of Judd Nelson’s character in The Breakfast Club mixed with a modern day Fonzie. He has an edge to him that makes him unpredictable, but for the most part, he is cool, calm, and collective.

Here he is down on his luck as his car is acting up. It’s is no ordinary car mind you, he’s had it for some time and he shares a special bond with it. This leads him on an adventure around the arena where he runs into a number of key wrestling figures including Roman Reigns, Sasha Banks, and the mayor of Suplex City Brock Lesner.

I am amazed at the tone Hopeless is able to establish with this book. It takes place in a world where the events of wrestling are real but never treats them with high-level seriousness. At the same time, it is not extremely wacky, well at least until the backup story with the New Day. Reading these characters interact is similar to reading a group of superheroes like The X-Men or Justice League conversing with one another except instead of them doing battle with the likes of Magneto or Lex Luthor they fight them in a wrestling ring.

This issue is a series of random events, but by the end, it all does tie together quite nicely. Even if you have not read any of the previous issues you can pick them up and find a well told singular adventure. At times the dialog can get hooky and I do not see this appealing to anyone who is not watching or keeping up with the current product. For those that are it does pack in a lot of fun Easter Eggs to better the experience.

***½  3.5/5