Transmyscira: RINGSIDE #4

Ringside-04-1-8b58b

RINGSIDE #4
Written by Joe Keatinge
Art by Nick Barber and Simon Gough
Published by Image Comics
Release Date: February 24, 2016

After all the past recriminations and present violence, Ringside finally gives us a glimpse at just what Danny gave up when he left Teddy to start his wrestling career in earnest and what he’s fighting to claw some small piece back of in the present.

It’s colorist Simon Gough who really comes into the forefront this issue to draw the emotional beats out of what is, up until it isn’t, a down tempo issue all about emotional investment. The issue opens in a two tone palette of soft greens and oranges as Danny and Teddy meet doing security for a campaign event for a gubernatorial candidate. It’s a significant departure from the greens and browns that he employed for the flashback to their breakup last issue.

Keatinge quickly weaves together the dynamic between the two that was implicit in their fortunes in the present but had yet to be presented explicitly. The pair are there working for two different bosses. Danny is working minimum wage and looking to enforce the rules, while Teddy is taking cash under the table to let certain things slide, putting them in immediate conflict. Teddy lays on the charm and disarms Danny, engaging him about the wrestling magazine in his back pocket, leading to to a dinner where they first hit it off where the colors shift into pinks and yellows.

Back in the present, Terrence and Danny are gearing up for one last run at the goons holding Teddy. The coloring goes back to mostly natural colors, except for Terrence who maintains the clashing blues and reds that have defined him across the series so far, flickering back and forth between dominant colors to communicate his mood. He sends Danny off in Andre’s car to hunt down a lead with very explicit instructions. Instructions that Danny naturally disregards, landing him in a bloody mess that bathes the whole page in red.

Elsewhere Reynolds and Davis are setting up for a minor signing event in a motel, with Reynolds complaining about having to carry Davis’ boxes of merchandise. To the outsider, it’s a spectacle of faded glory, old washed up wrestlers peddling autographs for what Davis projects to be a $50 payday. It has all the makings of being a sneering look at wrestling and The Wrestler certainly had a pivotal scene in a similar venue, but the takeaway couldn’t be more different. Davis points out one of the retired wrestlers there, a heavyset man in a scooter with an amputated leg.

Reynolds’ enthusiasm as a fan wins out for a moment, but he falls back into assuming that Davis is making a point about watching his health, due to the wrestler having lost the leg to diabetes. Instead, Davis points out a fan getting an autograph from the man, watching his face light up, and Davis explains that’s what keeps him going doing house shows in spite of his glory days being long behind him. Reynolds again interprets it cynically, calling it an ego stroke.

This is the kind of exchange that Keatinge uses to buoy up the story and justify the engagement with the wrestling business. He and Barber are fans and they very clearly want to build up an honest enjoyment of it even as they keep it grounded in what is more or less the reality of it. The signing is also the real highlight of the issue for Barber, who brings palpable joy to the face of the retired wrestler as a fan approaches him — despite how small his on page — and you can see the genuine enjoyment he gets out of the interaction as he signs an action figure. Beyond Reynolds and Davis’ words, it’s those two panels that truly communicate the creative team’s engagement with the spirit behind wrestling and their own enthusiasm for it.

It’s typical of what Keatinge, Barber, and Gough have set out to do to bring out such emotional highs, tapping into what brought Danny and Teddy together and what attracted Danny and Davis to wrestling, only to cap it off with Danny in a bloody mess surrounded by bullet holes and a body.

The Verdict: 9.0/10

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