Undertaker Rise Of The Deadman – Advance Review And Preview (Photos)

Undertaker Rise Of The Deadman is BOOM! Studios’ latest entry in the WWE comic book line; it arrives in comic book stores tomorrow, October 31st, with a bookstore release date on November 6th. 

BOOM! Studios’ newest book Undertaker Rise Of The Deadman is a story about one of the most legendary performers in the history of professional wrestling. The story is very familiar to most ‘Attitude Era’ fans, but it delivers a lot of backstory about the ‘The Phenom’ that will surely please new and old fans alike.

The book, written by Chad Dundas, starts off by introducing the reader to the Undertaker and Kane as young children, which is familiar to WWE fans. On WWE TV, Paul Bearer accused Undertaker of burning down the family funeral home, admitted to being Kane’s real father, and had him institutionalized until revealing him to the wrestling world. Rise Of The Deadman plays out in similar fashion, with the fire being a catalyst for all of the events that came after, but they do a great job of emphasizing the relationship and bond between the brothers.

We’ve always had one view on WWE TV of how things really went down with the family, but this provides some more context and acts as a companion guide of sorts to new and old viewers. The ‘why’ of the fire’s origin is addressed early on, but then we learn more about the relationship between Bearer and Undertaker. WWE has always presented the pair as manager/wrestler or sometimes even a father figure, but this takes an interesting turn and emphasizes Bearer grooming the unnamed Taker as a prize fighter of sorts. Taker is shown moving his way up in the world of wrestling (with no mention of his pre-WWF career) until they all meet “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase, and it is this point where he is given the gimmick we are most familiar with.

Undertaker Rise Of The Deadman does a nice job of blurring the lines between the on-air and “real life” relationship between Bearer and Undertaker, and lays the groundwork for Bearer’s eventual betrayal and Kane’s debut. If you’ve ever wanted to see what wrestlers talk about away from the arena, one particular panel sees Undertaker visiting Kane at home to try and work things out, well before the time Kane actually ‘learned to speak’ on WWE TV. The book shows Undertaker as a man taking care of his home, and who still tries reason with Kane about being aligned with Bearer, but it does all still work in the context of the story. (WWE stars actually communicate with each other, and don’t just wait for their TV segment!)

From here, the book recaps Taker’s biggest matches and feuds, including ‘American Bad Ass’ Undertaker, being buried alive, feuding with Edge and Triple H and more. The book jumps through these parts of his career rather quickly, but a little more depth would have added to those feuds. Rise Of The Deadman is very much a story about family, but Undertaker’s more limited screen time in recent years might have allowed for more off-air panels like the beginning of the book did.

I rather enjoyed the ‘Old Man Logan’ aspect of the end of the book, and it also addresses John Cena’s early pleas about their Wrestlemania 34 match in a rather interesting, if not humorous, way. The book’s strongest points are definitely those that involve the ‘non-televised’ panels, including his interaction with Cena and the real life death of Paul Bearer, which ends up being a rather touching and heartfelt tribute.

Undertaker Rise Of The Deadman is divided up into four ‘chapters’ and each one has varying artists assigned to each one. The artwork is rather good, but the one complaint is that the book doesn’t feel consistent visually. The early parts of the book have a very gothic or Western feel (depending on Taker’s on-air gimmick at the time), but the beginning of Chapter 4 feels a bit disjointed and almost too clean compared to the rest of the book.

Overall, the graphic novel is a success. It adds a lot to a story that has been well-documented and told, albeit in a different medium. Undertaker Rise Of The Deadman is the first original graphic novel between BOOM! Studios and WWE, and it does a nice job of recapping the biggest moments in Undertaker’s career while introducing some new surprises. If you’re an Undertaker fan, or looking for a different take on one of wrestling’s classic stories, this book is for you.

Recommendation – Buy It

Score – 8.0  

*This was conducted with an advanced review copy of the graphic novel.