What are you gonna do brother, when we come at you with this week’s “So You Want To Read Comics.” This is our weekly feature, where we take a look at a single topic or genre, then give you two comic book recommendations, perfect for new readers, based on that topic or genre. This week we’re taking a look at the world of professional wrestling.

Professional wrestling got its start in the early 20th century, as audiences began to enjoy the theatrics that came from the “fixing” of legitimate wrestling matches, more so than the actual authentic matches.  The spectacle quickly spread through the U.S. and became more elaborate as the participants took on-stage personas and incorporated melodrama and rivalries to the matches.  Eventually, wrestling would become a multi-million dollar industry with companies like WWE, AEW, and WCW garnering massive viewerships both live and via TV.  Around the world professional wrestling took hold, with each region incorporating its own style and tradition to the sport.  For example, in Japan, the drama is often based on one of the fighters’ spirit or determination to overcome their opponents as opposed to some sort of personal grudge between them.  In Mexico, professional wrestling, also known as Lucha Libre, took on a life of its own, featuring quick and acrobatic maneuvers, a heavy emphasis on teams of wrestlers, and the athletes taking on elaborate and colorful identities that act almost like superheroes.   Beyond itself, professional wrestling has often been used as the focus of other types of entertainment.  From movies like The Wrestler and Ready To Rumble, to countless documentaries and non-fiction books.  Even comics have gotten in on the action.

So if you’re a fan of wrestling (and who isn’t really), here are a couple of comic books that are perfect to jump into.

RINGSIDE

Writer: Joseph Keatings
Artist: Nick Barber
Publisher: Image Comics

In recent years, wrestling has shifted its focus away from letting the drama exist solely between the fighters and has allowed a highly dramatized version of the industry itself to become the setting for the antics, which has created a large interest in the lives of the wrestlers outside the ring.  Which is exactly what the comic series Ringside is all about.  Focusing on a wrestler named Dan Knossos who’s entering the uncertainty of his retirement years.  As things go on, Dan is forced to face all of his personal demons and mistakes that he’s racked up over the years while struggling with the real world after spending so many of his years pretending to be a larger-than-life wrestler.  The series also routinely shifts perspectives to other people in the wrestling industry as they face their own unique victories and failures, both in and out of the squared circle.  The series is a fairly short one, having gone through just 15 issues (collected in 3 volumes), but manages to tell a plethora of compelling stories nonetheless.

SONAMBULO

Writer: Rafael Navarro
Artist: Rafael Navarro
Publisher: 9th Circle Studios

The jump from professional wrestler to comic book superhero is not as far of a jump as you might think.  As mentioned above, the personas taken on by the wrestlers in the Lucha Libre style of professional wrestling are taken incredibly seriously and have become something of a folk hero themselves.  The comic series Sonambulo just decided to take this to the next logical step.  This series focuses on the fictional wrestler Sonambulo, who is a rising star that unfortunately finds himself on the wrong side of the mafia and is gunned down.  He then rises from the grave with superpowers, becomes a private detective, and wages a war on crime of all shapes and sizes as well as supernatural threats, always wearing his luchador mask and delivering suplexes wherever he can.   Unfortunately, the issues of Sonambulo are hard to come by either physically or digitally.   But if you can get your hands on one, it really is a treat.

So what do you love about wrestling?  What did you think of these recommendations?  Let us know in the comments section below.

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