Intergalactic Wrestling Federation, an epic retro sci-fi comic
Over the past several years, a flurry of pro wrestling comic books and graphic novels have been published in North America. A number of them have been exceptionally well written and illustrated, like Jaime Hernandez’s Queen of the Ring, Daniel Warren Johnson’s Do a Powerbomb!, and John Kenn Mortensen’s The Wrestler, while others seem like they’re trying to cash in on a niche trend, but some excellent, independent wrestling comics still manage to fly under the radar with little fanfare.
A little over one year ago, a friend shared with me a Kickstarter for a comic book titled IWF: Intergalactic Wrestling Federation, written and illustrated by R.L. Black and published by Vantage Comics. The Kickstarter was to raise funds for issue number two of IWF, after the successful release of the debut issue back in 2023. The initial campaign shared some early art, and said IWF would be loved by, “Fans of 80s wrestling, particularly Rick Flair, Hulk Hogan, Randy Macho Man Savage, and the Junkyard Dog (among others) … People who obsessively watch Arnold Schwarzenegger’s version of ‘The Running Man’,” among other details that appealed to my interests, so I immediately donated enough funds to secure a print copy of IWF issue two, as well as a reprinted copy of the first issue, which I hadn’t read yet.
Well, the comics took a little longer to ship than was originally planned, which is always the risk of pre-ordering something, but I finally have my copies of IWF: Intergalactic Wrestling Federation issues one and two, and I couldn’t be happier with the results.
The first issue of IWF: Intergalactic Wrestling Federation begins with a muscular, masked wrestler, who we learn is our protagonist, Tu Muerte, being lead at gunpoint by two heavily armed guards into a futuristic wrestling ring, in the Pontiac Silverdome of New Detroit, year 2525, where he’s about to battle to the death with Voltan the Merciless, a red, caped robot that looks like an anime villain. The illustration style and color palette of the comic resembles something published in the 1970s or 80s, so all of these different influences have merged here into a comic book unlike anything else published today.
From this opening scene, we flashback to learn that Tu Muerte is actually a computer programmer named Carlos Ortega, who accidentally learns about the villainous plot of President Donald, “a cyborg monster with a golden robot body,” and is swiftly arrested, imprisoned, and sentenced to death by IWF, where he will only live as long as he can survive, so likely not very long.
While in prison, before his first match in IWF, Carlos learns from his cellmate that there’s an underground movement to overthrow President Donald, and he’s been given an experimental formula full of nanobots that will transform whoever ingests it into a superhuman. Well, Carlos’ cellmate is murdered, and the formula is spilled on Carlos’ lunch, and after he eats it, Carlos mutates into Tu Muerte, which allows him to defeat and kill Voltan the Merciless and a number of other colorful combatants, working his way up the IWF ranks and closer to parole.
But President Donald has a different outcome in mind, and instead of issuing a parole to Carlos/Tu Muerte, he has his family kidnapped and deported to Mars, to work in the mines, and tells Tu Muerte that he will willingly lose to undefeated IWF champion Metatron at Wrestlefest 235, or else his family will die.
The first issue of IWF: Intergalactic Wrestling Federation ends on a cliffhanger, with Tu Muerte heading back into the Pontiac Silverdome to fight Metatron, and that’s why I’m somewhat glad that I didn’t know about IWF sooner, because while earlier readers had to wait a year or longer between issues, I had the privilege of jumping right into issue two of IWF.
After a concise summary of issue one, the second issue of IWF: Intergalactic Wrestling Federation jumps right back into the action, with Tu Muerte challenging the IWF champion Metatron, who resembles a bionic Ric Flair, with a Hulk Hogan mustache. Tu Muerte and Metatron have a battle of epic proportions, which takes up a sizable percentage of the double-sized issue of IWF: Intergalactic Wrestling Federation. While the first issue of IWF was certainly action-packed, the second issue is almost all action, and as the fight wages on, the scale of the fight gets exponentially bigger and bloodier, as well as goofier, so the comic maintains its humorous tone. For example, as the nanobots in Tu Muerte’s body continue to take greater control over him, his regenerative hand transforms into a microwave and a toaster, before changing into a buzzsaw.
While fighting tooth and nail with each other, Tu Muerte and Metatron come to realize they have a mutual enemy in President Donald, and decide to turn their attention on overthrowing his corrupt government, instead of killing each other, and that’s when things get really bonkers.
Suddenly, the heel locker room empties into the ring, and Tu Muerte and Metatron have to shift their focus to a cavalcade of monstrous, mutant, alien, and robot wrestlers, including one named Vladamir Putin, but they’re not alone for long, and the babyface locker room empties, as well, to help our heroes in need.
Many wrestlers are maimed, dismembered, and murdered in the blood soaked panels to follow, before Tu Muerte and Metatron escape the Pontiac Silverdome, and New Detroit, with the assistance of the rebel force, who have rescued Tu Muerte’s brother and mother.
At long last, Tu Muerte and Metatron are free from their imprisonment in the IWF, but their fight is far from over, as they join forces to take down President Donald … To be continued.
I expected that issue two of IWF: Intergalactic Wrestling Federation would end on a more definitive note, but while this certainly closes one chapter in the story of Carlos Ortega/Tu Muerte, it leaves the door wide open for more issues to come, and if they do, I only hope they come sooner.
I had a moment of realization while reading IWF: Intergalactic Wrestling Federation that this and the last pro wrestling comic book I read, John Kenn Mortensen’s The Wrestler, both featured a mysterious protagonist, a professional wrestler, being dropped into unfamiliar territory and forced to fight for survival, which reminded me of another comic I read year’s ago, Johnny Ryan’s Prison Pit. Obviously this trope isn’t exactly a new or unique theme, but what The Wrestler and IWF reminded me of in Prison Pit was the more overt reference to professional wrestling. The Wrestler and Prison Pit were both published by Fantagraphics, years apart from each other, but are a little more different from each other, with The Wrestler colored in stark black and white and taking place in literal hell, while IWF and Prison Pit have quite a lot in common, such as over the top violence, blood and gore, bright, primary colors, as well as both taking place within a dystopian prison populated with a plethora of freaks and monsters.
I’m very fond of Johnny Ryan’s Prison Pit, and would recommend it to select, adult readers of independent, experimental comics, but with the disclaimer that while IWF may be rated R, there’s even a parental advisory sticker on the cover of issue two, Prison Pit is more like a hard X, “filled with weird alien nudity, insane antics, and brutal violence.”
Back to IWF, though … I thoroughly enjoyed both issues of R.L. Black’s comic book, and if a third issue is published, I will certainly order it, but I hope I don’t have too long to wait.
If you don’t already have them, it may be too late to order the first two issues of IWF: Intergalactic Wrestling Federation, since the Kickstarter campaign successfully ended in May 2024, but if R.L. Black and Vantage Comics does release a third issue, hopefully they will reprint more copies of issues one and two, as well. Or if you ask really nicely, maybe I’ll let you borrow mine.
