An unnamed writer for Scripps Howard News Service wonders why sports and comic books haven’t had a happier history:
There have been many comics-related premiums associated with sports stars before (like DC’s “King James” in 2004, starring Cleveland Cavalier LeBron James). And many pro athletes are avowed comics fans — notably Shaquille O’Neal of the Miami Heat, who sports a Superman logo tattoo and starred in “Steel,” a 1997 movie based on a DC character.
So comic books are pretty well represented in sports. But going the other way — sports in comic books — is a pretty bumpy ride. There actually have been lots of sports-related comic books, but none were very successful.
Of course, the writer completely ignores manga, which has a long, and extremely successful, relationship with sports stories: Slam Dunk, I’ll, Prince of Tennis, Dokaben, Touch, Star of the Giants, and so on.
September 26th, 2007 at 8:30 am
Britain also has a long sports comics tradition – football comic Roy Of The Rovers had a 20 year weekly lifespan (and the title strip ran for almost FIFTY years in various formats) and no boys comic in the 60s and 70s was without an array of various footballers, athletic greats, sporting detectives etc. When 2000AD launched it contained a future sport story, and the main UK tabloid newspapers both have a daily football strip (focusing more on scandalous off-pitch action!).
Sports make for excellent comic material – there’s a pre-set cycle of narrative action (“the season”) which readers are familiar with, and it’s one of the few areas of popular storytelling in which the heroes are expected to lose sometimes, so the tension in an individual episode is higher!
September 26th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
The same could be said for European comics (French and Belgian), with a long and succesful tradition of sport comics.
September 26th, 2007 at 7:34 pm
He also underestimates some of the success. That “Legends of NASCAR” comic was part of a line that produced 23 NASCAR issues, with the top-selling one moving around 350,000 copies.
February 16th, 2011 at 6:49 pm
Haha,I love The Heat! They are the best team in the NBA! We will never ever see another power houseteam like this again! Go James!