Tuesday 24 February 2015

Wrestling Comics: Superman vs Antonino Rocca

This comic really confused me. I found it at a flea market in the mid-80s and since I had been purely brought up on Vince McMahon, Jr.'s WWF (read: HulkaMania era), I had no clue who this Antonino Rocca guy was.

Rocca as a singles wrestler and in his team with Miguel Perez, of course was a top, if not THE top star of the Capital Wrestling Corporation, the predecessor of the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and now World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).

His heyday was in the 50s and he actually was involved with the New York office until his death in 1977.

The comic was published in 1962, so Rocca was probably still the top guy in the eyes of the writer, as Bruno Sammartino had not yet gained his massive popularity as WWWF Champion and NWA Champ Lou Thesz was not that visible in New York.

As so many Silver Age stories, "The Downfall of Superman" is quite silly and convoluted.

In order to trick a small time criminal to reveal where he stashed some loot, Superman enlists Rocca, Krypto and several members of the Legion of Superheroes in one of the most complicated schemes ever. The crook is a big wrestling fan and when he sees that Rocca is stronger than Superman (explained at first by Mr. Mxyzptlk using magic to enhance his strength), he hires Rocca to move a boulder that had blocked the entrance to the cave where he had hidden his loot.


Turns out it wasn't really Mr. Mxyzptlk, but Krypto in disguise with his voice provided by Superman's super-ventriloquism. The two guys Rocca is juggling around are mythic strongmen Samson and Hercules, played by adult versions of Lightning Lad and Cosmic Boy. And to top it all off, Rocca wasn't really stronger than Superman, because they had simply switched identities.

It won't win an Eisner Award, but it is one of the first instances combining wrestling and comic books.





The whole story can be found here.

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