WWE Attitude Comic Book Issue #1
Boom! Studios have launched several series of WWE comic books in recent years, including this one re-telling stories from The Attitude Era (scrubbed to meet 2018 standards, of course).
The first story shows Stone Cold Steve Austin's never-say-die attitude, as he recovers from The Rock throwing him into the river (wasn't it just his title in real life?) and gets revenge on The Great One. At one point, Stone Cold calls Rock a "peckerhead," which is about as PG-13 as we'll get here.
The second story is Table For 3, the WWE Network program that, for this occasion, welcomes Mick Foley's three personas - Cactus Jack, Mankind and Dude Love.
The three personalities debate their various merits and (of course) end up brawling before Mick Foley (from his Commissioner Foley era) shows up to break up the fight and have his three gimmicks walk away peacefully. As a big Mick Foley mark, this story is my personal favorite.
cv
The next story is a re-telling of the Trish Stratus vs. Lita feud. While the rivalry was an important one at the time, I do think WWE has romanticized it in recent years, putting it on a Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Savage level in many respects, which, of course, it never was.
I don't love this particular story, given it's largely a re-telling of various events in the feud. Not to mention it portrays Trish largely as the villain, which is never okay.
Speaking of romanticizing things... the final story for this comic book is yet another re-telling of D-Generation X's invasion of a WCW Nitro event in 1998. Of course, DX consists of Triple H, X-Pac, Road Dogg, Billy Gunn and absolutely no one else. Boom! Studios must have forgotten how to draw Chyna.
Of course, there is a twist here. Instead of DX making WCW to all be fools, this story also shows Kevin Nash and Scott Hall furious with the actions of the WWE guys.
After DX invades the Norfolk Scope, they decide to press their luck by invading WCW's Power Plant ("Where The Big Boys Train") as well. But instead of finding it a cake walk, DX are met by the nWo, in the form of Hall and Nash.
After a tense staredown, the two factions decide they're not really the enemies, and they should just let the two promotions fight it out instead. A Russo-level swerve if there ever was one!
While I'm not a massive comic book guy... I do have to say that this was a fun little read. They're definitely appealing to the nostalgia factor here, and if you can accept the fact that they're re-writing history in some respects (e.g. no Chyna), it's all good. On top of that, the artwork is quite good, particularly the front cover art (although The Undertaker is really nowhere to be found in the comic).
Definitely recommend picking this one up if comics are your thing. We will be reviewing some more of the Boom! Studios releases over the coming months.