#BuildingMyOwnTrade 14--Invasion from Planet Wrestletopia

Out of the blue, I received a tweet from Suspicious Behavior Productions.  My immediate thought was, "I don't know what they're promoting with a name like that...but I'm intrigued."  I told them to go ahead and email me their books and I'd give them a good, honest look.  Waiting for me in my inbox was "Invasion from Planet Wrestletopia 1-5."  Before I opened my email, my guy Cole, from the Youtube Channel/Podcast "Comic Burrito Show" replied on twitter, that this book is great.  The one thing I've learned from my short relationship with Cole, is that he and I share a lot of similar preferences, and I should trust him, because he's been reading waaaaay longer and more consistently than I have.

You can purchase books 1-5 of Invasion from Planet Wrestletopia on Comixology.

Invasion from Planet Wrestletopia (Starburns Industries Press, Suspicious Behavior Productions)
By: Matt Entin, Edward Kuehnel, Kendall Goode, Jilo Butler and Sal Cipriano

Before I jump into some of the individual titles, all I have to say is this book is solid gold.  If you have ever liked wrestling or "sports entertainment" at any point in your life, you will appreciate this book.  It has all of the over-the-top absurdity of your favorite promo.  It embraces the kitch of every possible character nuance while respecting kayfabe.  It displays the true dumpster fire some of the top wrestling talents are in their personal lives.  And....it introduces a race of aliens wanting to battle for the one true "Champion of the Galaxy."

The advertisements they post in the series for a variety of wrestling memorabilia match the things you would find from 80's and 90's wrestling promotions.  Check out the gallery below: 

Book 1

In book 1, we meet our protagonist.  I'd call him our hero, but he seems like quite the pompous douchebag both inside and outside of the ring.  Rock "N" Roll Rory Landell feels like a combination of several great big personality wrestlers from the past 30-40 years.  Imagine if the Ravishing Rick Rude, The Rock, Razor Ramon and AJ Styles had a singular hybrid child.  The outcome would definitely be Landell.

Book 1 opens on the verge of the AWF's Summer-SLAM-A-Bration with Landell cutting a promo anticipating walking out of his match with the title.  However, much to his dismay, he learns he is leaving with nothing but a hot L.

Landell is quite pissed with this outcome, as he feels like he's getting hosed in the name of family-friendly ratings (he is) and is told to either toe-the-company-line or to walk away from the promotion all together.  He's handed a new page for his next promo and is ordered to not deviate from the script.

Spoiler alert....he goes off script.  During his promo, he doubts the legitimacy of the World Championship, and unveils the newly-self-created "Galactic Championship."

I lost my shit at this page.  The pizza box taped to the title belt creating the new title is hilarious, and I laughed because it seems so poorly designed and as terrible as an idea when the WWE first revealed their newly minted "Universal Championship."

Landell abruptly walks out on the AWF feeling screwed, and attempts to ride out into the sunset (of other indy promotions...pissing off each and every one of them).  Little does he know, his announcement of his new title has planetary repercussions, as the REAL galactic champion is pissed and feels as if he now has a score to settle!

Books 2-5

Each book takes the energy and absurdity of its predecessor and says "hold my beer, I got this" and kicks it up a notch.  Books 2-5 feels like cult classic "The Warriors" meets "Saving Private Ryan" meets "every 80's action film ever."  As the quest to pull Landell from somewhere out west comes to order (because they need to get him to St. Paul for the match) he's eventually found...but each time someone tries to pull him in a vehicle to get him on his way, a new gang of oddball rasslin ruffians seem hellbent on gathering him for their own means.  The best part of it all is Landell has no idea why folks are hunting him down...for a while.  

This also is not just a match for galactic bragging rights...but between rival wrestling promotions as well.  With each book, the stakes keep getting higher and higher, and I am DYING to see how it all ends.

I honestly don't want to say anything else about books 2-5 because I don't know what I will spoil, but YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK!

In Conclusion

If you are a fan of both wrestling and comics, you should check this series out NOW.  Book 6 is scheduled to release on comixology sometime in May, but for now you should definitely go pick up books 1-5.  You'll be thanking me later.  

Thank you to Suspicious Behavior Productions for bringing your book to my attention.  It feels like this book looked at all of the random memorabilia I have stored in my classroom and house, and said, yeah, we have the perfect book for this guy!  

I'll be reaching out to SBP to see if I can follow up with an interview, because if you are reading this book you may have questions about where it all came from, and if there are broader plans for this title once book 6 drops.  God, I hope so.  This is the kind of reading I needed to distract me from the depressing reality we are living in now, and makes me want to re-subscribe to the WWE network to see what kind of good nostalgia matches I can find to keep the energy of this book fresh in my mind!