Do a Powerbomb! is a heartbreaking, heart-gladdening, sharp-edged sweetheart of a wrestling comic that goes on an epic journey while exploring the cycle of grief.
Do a Powerbomb!
Daniel Warren Johnson (Art and Writing); Mike Spicer (Colors); Rus Wooten (Letters)
Image Comics
March 1, 2023
Do a Powerbomb! is about pro wrestling, intergenerational bonds (specifically between parents and their kids), and grief, three subjects that collide with finesse under creator Daniel Warren Johnson’s pen. It’s got beautiful, punk artwork, engaging writing, and gore by the mile, wrapped like barbed wire around the kendo stick that is its soft heart.
Lona Steelrose is a second-generation professional wrestler who lost her mother to an in-ring accident when she was a girl. Years later, Lona struggles to get proper training and can’t find a promoter willing to book her — not even her beloved Uncle Blood, thanks to her overprotective father’s interference.
Unlike her mother (the best there was, as her Uncle Blood describes her), Lona is a raw rookie, struggling with her training. She also has a hole in her heart, and in her family, where her mom Yuna Steelrose ought to be standing. That’s why Lona is beating herself against the bars of fame, trying to make the ghost of her mother proud of her.
Enter Necroton, a powerful but painfully immature necromancer whose attempts at taking over the world have resulted in him being marooned on an island. While he’s kind of a failboat when it comes to world domination (and, we soon learn, necromancy), there’s one thing he’s never been able to overcome — his love for pro wrestling, a true obsession for him thanks to his television set.
Necro’s love of the game gives him the impetus to throw his very own wrestling tag team tournament: the winner will get to revive one person of their choosing from the dead. He was a fan of Yuna — and, appearing magnanimous, tempts Lona into entering by offering the one thing she wants most: her mother back.
Unfortunately, Necroton doesn’t know the meaning of kayfabe (i.e., that wrestling has predetermined and choreographed movements and the storylines are not real), and he thinks Lona should team up with Cobrasun, the man who accidentally killed Yuna during an intergender match.
Cobrasun is coping with his scars from Yuna’s death more than Lona knows, and more than the reader will ever guess for the first half of the book. Agreeing to be Lona’s partner is the hardest thing he’s ever decided to do, but he strikes a bargain to help train her for their meeting anyway. Now a tag team called Sun and Steel, they’re on a collision course with the other wrestlers who are fighting tooth and nail to bring back their loved ones. And when Uncle Blood shows up, all bets are off.
Do a Powerbomb! is a trenchant exploration of competitive yearning, the strength of the mother-daughter bond, and the power of grief. The book is really about the mourning process. Lona faces each stage of grief in turn — I will leave it up to the reader to find out if she reaches acceptance. She’s a winning personality whose sadness can leave the reader breathless. Cobrasun is more complex; he hides huge secrets, and to tell you too much more would spoil the surprise . But he makes a great mentor for Lona, and together they put aside old wounds to become a stronger team. There’s a grace in the way Johnson acknowledges kayfabe and the nods he makes toward wrestling’s unreal reality. He never mocks the art of it all.
Necroton is a fun chaos agent — partially on the side of his athletes, partially a kid with a big toy. He doesn’t mean for anyone to die, and…well, you’ll see. Several contestants are given backstories worth remembering; my favorites were FYSO, whose secret mission leads to disaster.
The wrestling-centric violence here does not skimp on the gore – people use barbed wire, blades, and other methods to dispatch each other. Johnson’s art reminds me of Akira, with wild stray lines, angular drawings, and fearless application of gore. It is beautiful and stomach-churning, like the best wrestling matches.
Come to Do a Powerbomb! and expect to have your heart ripped out, but you’ll be glad it happened.
