BOOM! Studios’ new WWE comic hit stores last week, and it features a main story taking a look back at the fall of The Shield.
The story starts out with a quick rundown of what we basically saw on television, and how Seth Rollins explained his reasons for dismantling the group. The book does a good job of expanding on it though, and shares Rollins’ thoughts after winning Money In The Bank and how he tried to rationalize his decision with the WWE locker room. The story reads like a better version of a WWE storyline, with plenty of context and a nice balance of serious and funny moments that translate well to the comic format.
One of the strongest features is the way they establish a tone and give more depth and backstory to the characters you normally see on TV. We do get to see a lot play out on TV, both in-ring and in backstage segments, but this format allows you to learn even more about the motivations for certain characters. There are some corny lines (see: ‘sweet golden pudding’) but overall the story does a great job of delivering a ‘WWE’ feel without it feeling like too much of a stretch.
The writing is strong here, and although Rollins wasn’t portrayed as one on screen at the time, writer Dennis Hopeless does an excellent job of establishing him as a somewhat sympathetic character. The story explains the relationship between Rollins and Triple H, and sets up the eventual roles of Rollins as a babyface and Triple H as the heel. The story leads up to Rollins wanting to cash-in his briefcase, but Triple H telling him to wait for the right time, and waiting for what’s best for business, etc. Again, it does follow the TV segments pretty closely, but adds plenty of details like the real motivations behind Rollins’ Wrestlemania 31 match with Randy Orton, and the person (who won’t be mentioned as to not spoil it) who was ultimately the motivation for Rollins’ epic cash-in during that show’s main event.
The story ends in an obvious place to get us to the next issue, but it is still exciting to see where they will go next. WWE #1 did a good enough job of writing a storyline for an angle that already played out on TV, so I am interested enough to continue reading and find out where they take things next.
The backstory, Part Two of The New Day’s Optimistic Odyssey, is ridiculous and fun and totally makes sense and fits the goofiness of the stable. It’s a short story considering it’s the issue’s back-up, but all I can say is: time travel, dinosaurs, and Francesca II. Rob Guillory (Chew) did the art for this one, so I was already excited to read this, but it’s worth a read if you’re a New Day fan or looking for something off beat. If I have one complaint, it’s that this is ‘part two’ of the Odyssey; part one was in the ‘Then. Now. Forever.’ one-shot book. It would have been great to start with both stories at the beginning, but hopefully they’ll do a trade for The New Day or it should be pretty easy to track down the one-shot.
Final thoughts: get this if you are a WWE fan, a Shield or New Day fan, or just want to read something better than what storylines are on television. This is well-written and the art is on point, and I’ll be adding this to my monthly subscriptions because it’s a fun read and a nice departure from a very familiar subject.
