BOOK DETAILS
Paperback: 180 pages
Dimensions: 8-1/2 x 11
Publisher: Crowbar Press
Images: 811 b&w
Cover: Full color
ISBN: 978-1-940391-52-6
Item #: 99-cic3
Price: $24.95
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From the time I was a toddler, I was a fanatic about cartoons and comic strips. When you consider the fact that our local newspaper, the Bradenton Herald, printed 18-20 comic strips each day, I estimate that, during the 12 years that I lived there, I read more than 78,000 strips. And when you consider the fact that each comic strip had four panels, that amounts to having read 312,000 individual story panels. That being the case, it has always been in the back of my mind to publish a book of old comic strips. What I never considered until the past few years was that such a book could be combined with my love of wrestling nostalgia.
When I began to research and write about pro wrestling, the odd illustration or comic strip would occasionally surface. I kept a file of these "treasures," not because I planned to publish them, but because ... well, they're comics, and I wanted to save them. Over the years, I discovered hundreds of these illustrations, all pro-wrestling themed. A few years ago, it suddenly hit me that I just might have enough illustrations to fill a book, so I began to date and catalog them.
What I didn't realize was just how monumental this task would turn out to be. At this point, I have amassed close to 6,500 images, most of which will be published in this and future volumes. This volume alone, the first in a series of who knows how many, boasts an incredible 811 cartoon images, and many of those images have multiple cartoon images within them.
Comic strips featuring recurring character didn't really take off in popularity until circa 1918. The first pro wrestling "mention" I found in a recurring character strip is the Feb. 4, 1927, episode of "$alesman Sam." The first recurring "storyline" about pro wrestling appeared in Gene Ahern's "Our Boarding House" single-panel strip for 12 days in 1930. After that, pro wrestling became a regular subject in that strip for many, many years with the tall-tale-telling Major Hoople bragging incessantly about his exploits as a wrestler.
New ground was broken when illustrator Victor (Vic) Forsythe ran a 53-day pro wrestling storyline in his "Joe Jinks" strip. Pete Humus, a fighter managed by Jinks, wrestled — and defeated! — Everett Marshall. He also wrestled Abie Coleman and Don George, both of whom were big names in wrestling during that era. Six months later, Forsythe returned to the theme in a 45-episode series with a matchup between Dynamite (a boxer managed by Joe) and a wrestler named Dick Radanovich.
Not every entry has to do with "professional" wrestling. Also included are an occasional boxing strip, or comics about amateur wrestling, and even illustrations in which the word "wrestling" is mentioned.
All that goes to say that I am stoked to make this series available to everyone as I know that many wrestling fans are also comic book fans. Enjoy this trip into cartoonland. I hope you enjoy it as much as I've enjoyed putting it all together.
— Scott
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