Invasion from Planet Wrestletopia: Date with Destiny! by Edward Kuehnel and Matt Entin

Title: Invasion from Planet Wrestletopia.
Story Arc: DATE WITH DESTINY!

Writer(s): Edward Kuehnel & Matt Entin.
Artist(s): Dan Schkade & Kendall Goode.
Colourist(s): Marissa Louise, Jason Lewis & Jio Butler.
Inker(S): David Hahn.
Letterer(s): A Larger World Studios & Sal Cipriano.
Publisher: Starburn Industries Press.

Format: Digital Single Issues.
Release Date: May 1st, 2019.
Pages: 170.
Genre(s): Comics, Science-Fiction.

My Overall Rating:

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Sometimes knowing that you’re the best is just not enough. What really gets you going is the roar of a crowd. Sometimes what drives you, motivates you to wake up in the morning is the opportunity to perform at the peak of your abilities and receive the recognition you know deep down you deserve. In the world of wrestling, there’s nothing more important than the respect put on your name and the belt around your waist. To climb into the arena and hear the cheering, the booing, the buzz of microphones, and the ringing of bells, for some wrestlers, it’s all they need. Others prefer to push things further without realizing what kinds of consequences it may have, the kind of consequences that invite alien wrestlers to wreak havoc on the world you finally believe to be just a joke not worth hearing.

What is Invasion from Planet Wrestletopia: Date with Destiny! about? Unsatisfied, grumpy, and motivated, “Rock ‘n’ Roll” Rory Landell declares himself “Galactic Champion of the Universe” as he wrestles with his manager to obtain the championship belt. Unfortunately for him, news has traveled way beyond the AWF fanbase as his declaration is picked up on planet Wrestletopia fifteen years later by the real champion of the universe, Manifest Destiny. As the alien citizens of this planet descend onto Earth to find Rory Landell and challenge him in a wrestling match that will decide it all, these invaders are in for a surprise as the man himself is nothing like who he once was, drinking away his life and indulging a mundane routine. Unfortunately for him, this is where he has to live up to his past declarations or let the world fall into the hands of these lunatics.

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against spiritual wickedness in high paces. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist.”

— Edward Kuehnel & Matt Entin

I’ve never really followed the world of wrestling throughout my teenage days but I do have enough knowledge of it to understand why there’s an incredible fanbase for it. This series co-created by Edward Kuehnel and Matt Entin offers fans of wrestling or not the chance to explore the quirky and fun world of wrestling with a science-fiction twist centered around extraterrestrial wrestlers. Underneath this adventure is also a hidden homage to the history of wrestling that doesn’t necessarily take away too much of the fun for newcomers. While its choppy narrative goes back and forth between different sets of characters until they rally together to fight a common enemy, it is the silly and ridiculous moments that offer readers weirdly entertaining sequences to indulge.

Artist Dan Schkade and Kendall Goode also bring into play a vibrant and energetic artistic style to this series. The colours also add a dynamic nature to the action while also capturing the spectacular dimension of the science-fiction elements. While at times the action sequences felt like they were missing a couple of panels to fully capture the transition, it still offered a decent development of events to allow readers to fully comprehend the action, humour, and story. The bizarre nature of this tale isn’t only observed in the story as the artwork fully embraces this as well, giving us wrestlers with all kinds of silly personalities to go with their designs.

Invasion from Planet Wrestletopia: Date with Destiny! is a fun and quirky adventure paying tribute to wrestling and science-fiction.

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Thank you to the creators for sending me digital copies of all six issues for review!

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