Sunday, May 3, 2009

The Nexus of Superhero Comics and Wrestling Part 2--The Re-Wrestlening

Not so very long ago, but years ago in blog-time, I remarked on certain similarities between the superhero comics genre and pro wrestling. As with everything I write, it seemed a bit rambling in retrospect and I probably wasn't entirely successful in getting my point across.

However, sometimes in life, one is given a second chance, and even better, someone else does the heavy lifting and sells it better.

In this case, Steven Grant. You can find the full column here, but here's an excerpt:

"As I said, the lessons learned from all this wasn't that storytelling is still the most effective means to build an audience, but that swerves and short-term shock tactics is what will sucker them in. The latter's predicated on the notion that, despite myriad wrestling blogs proving otherwise, the wrestling audience can't keep track of what happened a programming hour earlier, let alone a day or week or month. Paradoxically, a big chunk of swerves are intended to make fools of Internet bloggers while bookers and owners also proclaim that the bloggers are an insignificant fraction of the audience. Which is probably true, making it doubly sad and funny, that the audience segment they so vehemently deride as irrelevant is the one they try the hardest to baffle and/or win over.

I won't bother beating home parallels to mainstream comics. But another is how, like comics, pro wrestling indulges in a "business cycle" theory to comfort itself and justify "staying the course" during bad times"

There's more there, and whether you're a wrestling fan or a comics fan (or both) it's pretty edifying stuff.

8 comments:

Diana Kingston-Gabai said...

I thought you'd made a pretty convincing case the first time around... which makes Paul O'Brien's occasional reviews of wrestling events even more hilarious, because with a bit of name-changing it could probably turn into a scathing critique of Marvel. :)

Kazekage said...

The overlap gets a bit more clear the more you look at it, doesn't it? :)

Though now that you mention it, Joe Quesada being put through a table is not without its appeal . . .

Diana Kingston-Gabai said...

Admit it: picturing any "editorial summit" at Marvel as the equivalent of a Royal Rumble makes all the sense in the world, doesn't it? :)

Kazekage said...

It makes all the sense in the world and is bound to be more entertaining than whatever method they use now. My feeling is, for something that special, you really need to jump right to the Steel Cage Match, however.

Diana Kingston-Gabai said...

While setting the ring on fire. Special referee: Stan Lee. Distract him with something shiny and nobody gets out alive. :D

Kazekage said...

This match gets more and more Wrestlemania-quality by the moment, Diana!

Diana Kingston-Gabai said...

Let's just hope it ends the same way: the heavy-hitters go on "injury leave" and we get some much-needed change of pace. :)

Kazekage said...

Well, that's about what happens--sometimes the only thing that can break a calcified glass ceiling is its own deterioration.

You could go crazy waiting for it to happen, however.