As a huge fan of professional wrestling, I jumped at the chance to review new indie comic, Tap or Die #1.

Especially as it comes from the mind of creator Anthony Stokes, who also released a comic named Intrusive Thoughts, which I’ve previously read and enjoyed (you can check out my review of Intrusive Thoughts here).

Tap or Die is set in a dystopian future, where the rich are getting richer and the poor are, yes, getting poorer – which sounds less dystopian future and more dystopian present by the day.

In any case, this seems to be a way to set up the situation with the world of wrestling that features in the story.

It’s no longer choreographed, storyline-based entertainment, but instead is real, unscripted violence (Jon Moxley would clearly be at home here).

After a very brief set up, we fast forward 15 years to meet a promising rookie, Domino. He’s dominating the lower leagues – and he’s desperate for a shot at the big time.

One encounter with a veteran later, he gets his wish – but is it really what he wanted?

Anthony Stokes has written a breathlessly paced story with Tap or Sue’s first issue, accompanied by some truly stunning, manga-esque art that has some serious dynamism in the fight scenes.

Each one feels weighty, consequential and very dangerous indeed.

There’s a bit of nudity in one scene, though given that one of the variant covers is fairly lewd, this doesn’t come as a surprise.

The crunchy, ‘real’ wrestling action was a surprise, however, given that usually there’s more of an excuse for the action to step beyond the realms of kayfabe in wrestling based stories.

The prologue doesn’t do a good enough job of setting this up; the social commentary sets the scene somewhat, but doesn’t make itself known beyond those initial few panels.

Still, this is a decent first issue and the cliffhanger is definitely one that’ll have readers keen to tune in for the next chapter.

Definitely a series to keep an eye on, even if you aren’t a wrestling fan!