Wrestle Heist #5 //Review
Buddy Hansen is laughing. He’s confident. He’s still on top of everything. He figures that he’s outwitted those who had been conspiring against him. He had inside information that seems to have turned the conspiracy around on the conspirators. He’s planned. He’s prepared. He’s ready. What could possibly go wrong? He’s got it all worked-out. Now those conspirators are facing a serious challenge in Wrestle Heist #5. Writer/artist Kyle Starks closes-out a crime thriller with the aid of colorist Vlad Popov. It’s a fun closer to an enjoyable heist story with more than a few twists and turns here and there.
The guys who are looking to steal a tremendous amount of money from Buddy are now staring-down a final boss of a human being. He’s known as Savea Fetu. According to wrestling historian Spencer Wagner-Arms there are three things to know about Fetu: You won’t win. When the fight begins...he’s no longer a man. Finally...he fights to kill. Even a small squad of reasonably accomplished wrestlers ar going to have a hell of a time bringing him down and escaping with the cash. There’s got to be SOME way of getting out of the situation alive, though...
Starks structures the drama around the final twists in a largely satisfying crime thriller. The narrative moves briskly across the page in a few different directions that all feel suitably interesting for the big finale of the series. The script works on a few different levels which pay tribute to the various elements and angles of pro wrestling entertainment. Pro wrestling narratives can be long and convoluted affairs that play-out over the course of several years. As the series began it felt a bit rushed with Starks creating a whole new wrestling pantheon specifically for the series, but Starks has done a good job of carefully crafting an ensemble of appealingly sympathetic characters.
Starks’ art carries its own personality The weirdly amplified cartoonishness of the art is always a bit distracting for the first couple of pages of an issue of Wrestle Heist, but once the eyes adjust to it, it becomes an annoyingly appealing visual world to explore in and around the edges of the central story. Better art WOULD create a more appealing overall package, but it would have turned the series into something else entirely. Starks’ art matches the energy of his writing perfectly.
There’s no question that Wrestle Heist has held a geat deal of appeal for its brief series of meetings with the comic book rack. Honestly...it’s kind of impressive that Starks manages to string the story out for a full five issues. There are a lot of plot elements packed into those five issues. It’s remarkable that Starks managed to do as much without making it feel at all rushed by the end of the series. The pacing was impeccable. It may have been a simple and simply lovable heist story, but Starks delivered the story quite well.
