Review: The Comic Book Encyclopedia of Pro Wrestling

Howdy friends, A brand new Kickstarter campaign is underway for a comic book that I'm very anxious to get a hold of, The Comic Book Encyclopedia of Pro Wrestling! I'm pretty excited about this book, so I've decided to do a series of posts, following the path of the Kickstarter and ending with an extensive review of the book, once it's fully funded and delivered into my hot little hands.

The book, from the Squared Circle Comics imprint of Inverse Press is a collection of entries using information they gathered from interviews that writer and pro wrestling historian John Crowther did with the actual wrestlers, all of whom were featured in different comics from Squared Circle.  So far the information they've released as a part of the campaign looks great and I love what I see.  This should be a fun book for fans, especially fans of old school pro wrestling.

I first discovered Squared Circle when I came across their Nikolai Volkoff issues one and two, those comics inspired the idea for the "Rasslin' with Comics" reviews. You can check those out here

Stretch goals for the book include up to 20 more pages of entries, with the possibility of entries on Hulk Hogan, Miss Elizabeth and more.  If you're unfamiliar, Stretch goals are incentives and additions to the book for going above and beyond the needed funds for publishing a book. 

Here is some official text from the Kickstarter page.  You should definitely head there to see sample pages, art work and incentives for the project.  Click the link to see the page.

Pro Wrestling Encyclopedia on Kickstarter

The Comic Book Encyclopedia of Pro Wrestling is a soft-cover, perfect-bound, full-color book in standard comic book dimensions (6.625" x 10.25"). While the base version is 280 pages, there are opportunities to expand the page count up to 300 with Stretch Goals and certain rewards.

 Volume 1 of The Comic Book Encyclopedia of Pro Wrestling includes full-length comic stories (20-32 pages each) from:

Bruno Sammartino

Nikolai Volkoff

The Genius Lanny Poffo

Hacksaw Jim Duggan

B. Brian Blair of The Killer Bees

Jumpin' Jim Brunzell of The Killer Bees

Ricky Morton of The Rock 'n' Roll Express

Bobby Fulton of The Fantastics

Sunny the California Girl from G.L.O.W.

Jake Hager (a.k.a. Jack Swagger)