"Wrestle Heist," #1 is a Love Letter to Both Wrestling and High-Stakes Burglary

Wrestling and heist tales are both forms of entertainment full of stories. In wrestling, you have operatic tales of good and evil, the hero and the villain (sometimes one is revealed to be the other via heel-turn or such too), and lots of over-the-top fights. With a heist yarn, you've got someone down on their luck or done wrong who assembles a team and gets back at a nefarious party by stealing cash or something of value--in the name of justice and getting a little cheddar. "Wrestle Heist," marries these two storytelling concepts expertly. 

Both wrestling and heist stories can have lots of drama and be a bit silly, something writer-artist Kyle Starks knows in showing us the downfall of Sterling Steele--a pro wrestler who plans to leave one agency for another and is intentionally badly hurt by his former boss as retribution. The issue concludes with the announcement of the plan for a heist, and the promotion for the second issue outright says how next we'll have the exciting part of the crew getting together--"Wrestle Heist," isn't avoiding any genre tropes as opposed to having a lot of fun with them! The big Thanksgiving wrestling showcase of, "Fightsgiving," is Steele's target, and enough people clearly have been done wrong by Buddy that he'll be able to get some accomplices.

I've talked about the stealing, but what about the wrestling? Well, Kyle Starks is superb at illustrating the kinetic scenes of, "Fighting," whether it is the orchestrated aspects or when Steele is genuinely betrayed and hurt by real violence in the ring, made to look like an accident. Starks has always excelled at showing readers intense action scenes with his art, and "Wrestle Heist," serves as another great showcase for his abilities--other reviewers agree it is a superb read as well. This is a comic by someone who knows how to be critical of the industry of professional wrestling, but clearly adores the artform as well. I loved this first issue and can't wait to see how Steele and his friends pull off their caper!

5 out of 5 Stars.