Daniel Warren Johnson’s Do a Powerbomb #2 proves why deathmatch wrestling remains popular on platforms like AEW and GCW still today.
This article conains major spoilers for Do a Powerbomb #2 now available from Image Comics
On June 29th, 2022, All Elite Wrestling (AEW) showcased their love of deathmatches through their televised event Blood & Guts. Pitting the Blackpool Combat Club against the Jericho Appreciation Society, the match unleashed a flurry of violence for nearly an hour. Thumbtacks, kendo sticks, and broken glass were just a few weapons used to draw blood and stick through the skin. Less than a month later, AEW featured a Barbed Wire Deathmatch between Chris Jericho and Eddie Kingston. Billed as the culmination of a blood feud, the match amped up the violence to an uncomfortable level, replacing the ring-ropes with barbed wires and wrapping everything -- chairs, tables, and human appendages in razor-sharp barbed wire.
To non-wrestling fans, deathmatch wrestling is a sick fetish for viewers who love violence and sanctioned physical abuse. For them, this type of wrestling is unacceptable for a wider audience. However, TV ratings, pay-per-view, and ticket sales suggest that deathmatch wrestling is more popular than ever. Both Blood & Guts and the Barbed Wire Deathmatch ranked #1 in cable ratings on their respective nights. With this upward trend in mind, Daniel Warren Johnson and Mike Spicer's Do a Powerbomb #2 highlights the devastating price of deathmatch wrestling, challenging readers to consider the moral implications of such a deadly art form.
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Johnson and Spicer's debut issue plunged readers into the harsh realities of professional wrestling. While often seen as entertainment, Do a Powerbomb convinces readers that wrestling is one of the most dangerous and demanding art forms. Bodily injury, psychological damage, and death are all real risks wrestlers take when stepping foot into the squared circle. Lona knows the dangers of pro wrestling all too well, as issue one thrusts her into tragedy, clutching her mother's lifeless body in the ring. Still, the young teen chooses to follow in her mother's footsteps, even if it means descending into the seedy underbelly of deathmatch wrestling.
Do a Powerbomb #2 shifts the spotlight to Cobrasun, chronicling his steep decline from the stadiums of Tokyo Grand Pro Wrestling to the dark lairs of SDPW's "Destiny with Death." Like Randy the Ram from The Wrestler, Cobrasun has fallen from grace, accepting bookings for promotions he'd never entertain in his prime. Even though his past matches were physical and high-risk, the masked behemoth's brawls in SDPW are ultraviolent and grotesque. Light tubes shatter and break apart, lodging their shards in his skin. Rusty forks dig into his chest, and barbed wired chairs prick and scrape open his back. After the match has ended, the pain sears his skin, reminding him just how far he's fallen.
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While deathmatches enjoy a positive spotlight in AEW, they do not receive the same respect in Do a Powerbomb. On the last page, readers discover that Cobrasun is Lona's father. From a thematic standpoint, this revelation provides a new outlook on Cobrasun's descent into deathmatches.
As a father and a wrestler, Cobrasun shoulders the guilt for his wife's death, gripped tight by shame and self-loathing. With peace far out of reach, he turns to deathmatches as a means of punishment for the brutal demise of his wife. The barbarity of barbed wire may distract from the emotional pain, but it cannot heal his internal wounds.
Based on his experience as a wrestler, Jeff wrote Paper Champion, a comic about cardboard wrestling belts, haunted dreams, and healing from loss. Today, Jeff continues to write comics, play soulful metal on his 8-string guitar, and analyze comics here at CBR.
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