And now, our main event… for the Tokyo Grand World Heavyweight Championship! Your Major Spoilers review of Do A Powerbomb #1 from Image Comics awaits!

DO A POWERBOMB #1

Writer: Daniel Warren Johnson
Artist: Daniel Warren Johnson
Colorist: Mike Spicer
Letterer: Rus Wooton
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: June 15, 2022

Previously in Do A Powerbomb: Lona Steelrose wants to be a pro wrestler, but she’s living under the shadow of her mother, the best to ever do it. Everything changes when a wrestling-obsessed necromancer asks her to join the grandest pro wrestling tournament of all time, which is also the most dangerous! It’s The Wrestler meets Dragonball Z in a tale where the competitors get more than they ever bargained for!

THE BEST THERE IS

Ten years ago, world champion Yua Steelrose embarked on her tenth consecutive title defense, facing a heel challenger named Cobra Sun. In front of an audience including her adoring daughter, Lona, she cuts an amazing promo telling everyone in the arena that they are her family, then embarks on what should be another exciting win… until the unthinkable occurs. A slip from the top rope costs Yua her life, and her devastated family is left to grieve. Cut to today, as a grown-but-inexperienced Lona fights in the ring in her uncle’s small promotion. She loses the match, but then adds insult to her injury, as “Uncle Blood” says he can’t let her work for him anymore, because her father disapproves. After an angry confrontation with an understandably worried father, Lona stalks away angry, only to find a strange man named Willard, who wants to talk to her about participating in his private tournament… and also about bringing her mother back to life.

HOW TO LIVE UP TO YOUR LEGACY

There are a few issues that I have with the story as presented, mostly having to do with the questions of how much is authentic in professional wrestling and how much is predetermined. Yua’s accident is portrayed well, as her opponent is obviously concerned that his botch caused the accident, but there’s a sense that the ending was up in the air. Given that Willard Necroton uses actual magic and claims to be a necromancer, that’s less of an issue than it might have been, but it’s a little difficult to the behind-the-scenes drama of ‘The Wrestler’ merged with something that treats the matches as legitimate battles. Even with that issue, it’s an enjoyable issue with some really well-handled art and a clear love of the wrestling industry (including some actual, correctly named, and executed moves in the matches). The premise of a young woman trying to live up to her mother’s legend is a good one, and the idea that her reward will be mom’s return from the dead gives it all a mythic feel that I enjoy.

BOTTOM LINE: AN INTERESTING APPROACH

My concerns as a long-time fan of wrasslin’/puroresu/lucha libre aside, Do A Powerbomb #1 has a lot going for it, including some impressive art, an arresting story hook, and a mystical punk rocker, coming together for 3.5 out of 5 stars overall. There’s a lot to like here, and I’ll definitely be back for the next issue.

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DO A POWERBOMB #1

73%

73%

The Perils of Kayfabe

An enjoyable issue with enthusiasm about big time puroresu action and action-oriented art, even if it can't quite seem to decide whether its subject is "real" or not.

• Writing

  6
• Art

  8
• Coloring

  8
• User Ratings (0 Votes)
  0