AEW Origins (DC Comics)

 By Mark Rodriguez

AEW has been collabing with DC Comics for a while. Other than this comic and hoodies with art from this comics, the wrestling organization has also been advertising DC's latest All In event. They even have images of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman on the ring apron for the last few weeks. We found this comic while searching for Trick or Read things, so let's check it out. 

The book is separate into mini-stories of each wrestler.

Swerve Strickland-

Swerve was born to fight, so he joined the army. Unfortunately the Sergeant wanted off the book mercenaries, so Swerve left. Swerve went to fight in the underground and then in the arena. He would later return, now as the champ alongside Prince Nana, to face the Sergeant once again. The Sarge is ready for a fight and saying Swerve is too good to get his hands dirty. Swerve is too fast and hits him with a flying stomp. Swerve says his hands are dirty as hell, but with sweat, tears... and blood.

Toni Storm-

Toni grew up watching classic movies from the golden age of Hollywood. Toni's stardom didn't start at Hollywood, but in the ring. Toni ended up getting betrayed by her friends and abandoned by everyone except the icons that never let her down. She decided to follow their lead. 

Toni became Timeless and returned to her adoring crowds that saw her as the star she was. Toni never forgot her betrayal and let it inspire her to unleash her retribution. Toni Storm trusted her friends and it nearly cost her anything, but Timeless Toni trusts no one. Timeless Toni rises to the top, and it's Chin up, Tits out and Watch out for the Shoe!!

Will Ospreay-

Will Ospreay had no one to stand up or him so he learned to stand up for himself. As he grew up, he traveled the world, training with every master he could find. He was mentored by the world's greatest thieves, brawlers, philosophers and assassins. As Ospreay approached the final test, he realized he has hit an unstoppable wall. For all his anger, he couldn't bring himself to kill. He wasn't meant to take things out of the world but to bring wonder into it.

Ospreay returned to the wrestling ring, but he never forgot his vow. He was an assassin, not of men, but of egos and delusions of the impossible. In the ring, Ospreay sees every match as a chance to elevate himself. Outside of the ring, he serves as a warning to the street thugs. Will Ospreay may not take lives but he's always killing it.

Dr. Britt Baker DMD- 

While most follow one path, Britt Baker follows two. She faces challenges and twists and turns of being both in dental school and in professional wrestling. No matter how difficult one path gets, the other one becomes relief. On her graduation day, Britt filled two arenas. When it was time for the ring, she would deliver pain, and when she works in the dentist office, she brings relief.

Britt would gain more victories and get more honors. She wasn't just a fighter or a role model, she was now also a champion. For every good patient she got, there were two who wouldn't listen and paid the price. Britt pays the price as well as she feels it. It's part of her job and she lets the frustration build until she goes back to the ring and her opponent ends up paying the price.

Orange Cassidy- 

Cassidy was always a drifter, just going wherever, whenever, going where his own whims would lead him. One day he tripped over a backpack which held some awesome shades. The shades and backpack completed the look. The backpack also had a card for a wrestling gym. There Cassidy would eventually meet and hang on to his best friends. Those friends would get destroyed from within and Cassidy's world was shattered. Cassidy would slip the slacker into his back pocket and pulled out something new. He was now a man determined to challenge anyone, no matter the risk to defend his family. And that's pretty cool.... or whatever.

Darby Allin-

At age five, Darby met death. He survived a car wreck that would take out his uncle. He saw how fast a normal life could be stolen, so he turned his back on that. Darby would live on the fringes and reveal his true face to the world, half-dead, in and out. He would go out picking fights, challenging death to find him. He was suddenly kicked to the floor, as he encountered Sting. An icon and a vigilante, Sting chose to mentor Darby, pulling him from the underworld and offered him another way. Darby found a new fight in the arena, not just against men but against nature. He risks it all the prove to the world that despites the world's best efforts, he's not just half-dead, he's half-alive.

My Thoughts- 

If the summary sounds short, it's because each story is a pin up, followed by two pages of a summarized story. The stories are pretty much the backstory of each wrestler based on the character they portray on TV. There might be a few exaggerations here and there like Swerve's beef with the corrupt Sarge and Ospreay fighting random thugs in the street, but nothing too outlandish of comicbook-ish. I liked the extra detail of Darby overseeing Mount Everest since that was something he wanted to do outside of wrestling.

I'm guessing every wrestler used in the story came with some sort of licensing fee, which is why you would see Toni fight against characters that look like Saraya and Ruby Soho, but look different enough to let DC get away from paying for their likeness. Similarly, we get Orange Cassidy hang out with someone who looks similar enough to Danhausen, but not very nice and not very evil. The only cameo we got was Sting, which might explain why some comic shops were selling them for $7.50.

Saraya looks similar enough, but Ruby Soho never had hair that long in AEW

There are several artists here, one of them drawing the pin ups and one of them drawing the stories. The artist doing the stories does a better job, as the pin up versions looks extremely stylized and some just look odd. Probably the weirdest rendition was the Britt Baker pin up. What the hell did they do to her face?

So um... yeah.... that was a comic... This was mostly worth getting for the sake of novelty. Given the time it was released, maybe DC should have released this one for free as part of Trick or Read.