#legacycomix — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #legacycomix, aggregated by home.social.
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The Job #1 Review by Marie Dieudonne
Words: Patrick Hickey Jr
Art: Steve Cange
Letters: Josh Adams
Publisher: Legacy Comix
The Job #1, written by Patrick Hickey Jr. and illustrated by Steve Cange, is a fast-moving, emotionally grounded comic that examines the tension between performance and survival in the world of independent wrestling. What starts as a familiar look at backstage politics quickly becomes a portrait of identity, ego, and the lengths people go to protect the dreams that define them. Told through the perspective of Delicious Dan Dero, the issue blends action, humor, and vulnerability to show how the illusions of wrestling mirror the illusions people construct just to get through the day.
One of the most striking elements is the comic’s refusal to treat wrestling purely as spectacle. Dan narrates the work with blunt honesty, exposing how demanding and underappreciated the job can be. He understands that fans know the difference between real performance and phoned-in effort, and Cange’s artwork reinforces that with chaotic, colorful panels full of exaggerated poses and movement. Even in the flashiest moments, Dan’s internal monologue grounds everything. He isn’t just fighting opponents he’s fighting to feel valued in a business that rarely rewards the people who keep it alive.
This tension hits its peak when Dan breaks script during a match. Frustrated with carrying an opponent who can’t keep up, he grabs the microphone mid-performance and calls out the champion’s lack of skill and the booking choices holding him back. The scene is messy, raw, and electric. Hickey uses it to blur the line between authenticity and performance, raising the question of what happens when someone refuses to play the role assigned to them. Dan is immediately scolded backstage for stepping out of line, yet the reprimand feels like its own validation at least, for once, someone noticed him.
The issue briefly shifts to a detective subplot about a string of flawlessly executed bank robberies. The tone shifts but the parallel is intentional. The detectives admire the thief’s precision the same way wrestling fans admire a perfect match. Hickey uses this to underline a central idea: mastery is mastery, whether in a ring or a vault, and someone always pays the price for it. It expands the story’s world without abandoning its core themes.
What gives the comic its emotional weight is Dan’s private struggle. Cange’s quieter panels Dan watching old matches, resting beside Bodacious Bev, or contemplating quitting reveal a man torn between love for the craft and resentment toward the industry. When he admits that wrestling keeps people in “far longer than they should be,” it feels like a personal confession. He knows the business is unforgiving, yet it is also the only place where he feels alive. That contradiction defines him.
By the closing pages, Dan’s declaration that he’ll do “whatever it takes” to stay on top carries a heavier meaning. This isn’t about fame. This is about clinging to the one part of his identity that still feels real. Hickey and Cange end the issue on a note that is both triumphant and uneasy, reminding the reader that ambition demands sacrifice.
The Job #1 succeeds because it treats wrestling not just as entertainment, but as a metaphor for ambition itself. The fight never stops, the odds are never fair, and the people who love it most keep stepping back into the ring anyway.
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Words: Patrick Hickey Jr
Art: Joshua Adams
Colors: Joshua Adams
Letters: John Svedese
Publisher: Legacy Comix
Sometimes life is not fair for those who deserve it, and Sarita is in that group. Despite the delinquency in her neighborhood, she is a brave and generous wife and mother who shines through in her resilience, inspiring those around her.
What seems like a nonfiction story set in Crown Heights is introduced in Legacy’s comic ‘Sarita,’ which explores with themes of delinquency, love, and religion. The main character is Sarita, a woman who has lived in Crown Heights her whole life. In fact she knows everything about his neighborhood even though it has gotten worse due to the crime rates.
This can be the story of any person in Brooklyn’s famous neighborhood, especially its black community, with a demographic of 48.8% being the most common race there. But what sets Sarita apart is that she is somebody who can get what she wants.
Sarita has a brave spirit that makes her confront the most feared gang in the neighborhood, The Lopez. At the same time she is a lovely mother of Leroy, who has built a journalism career.
The characters in Sarita are not just ink on paper but reflections of people you might know. They could be your neighbors, like Sarita’s husband Lester who cares for his wife and strives to bring her joy, making the story even more relatable. Also the vocabulary used in this story references the level of education, rudeness, and slang language.
The artwork in this comic uses colors that express an environment of poverty and social status. Graffiti, litter in the streets, and even the poor maintenance of the streets immerse you in this atmosphere.
It has a mix of saturated colors, and the amount of grain is notorious. The vignettes in each panel give us a strong feeling that something bad will happen. A combination that evokes thriller and mystery.
Gradient colors are utilized between panels—predominantly warm colors from the red, orange, and yellow families. They seem to refer to danger, as seen in stop signs, fire, or blood.
When there is a lack of opportunities and resources, the community’s quality of life and safety turn darker. This exemplifies Crown Heights where, according to NYU Furman Center, the crime rate was 12.4 crimes per 1,000 inhabitants in 2022.
Like in the beginning of the story of villains or superheroes there is a moment when something bad has to happen, a canonical event.
In Sarita’s story, her husband was one of the victims of delinquency. The day Sarita lost Lester, she also lost her hope in people. Who supports the person who always helps others? Who’s going to be the relief of Sarita?
The end of this comic leaves room for many questions. It’d be surprising if Sarita seeks revenge because she has values and attends church.
It reminds us of different stories about superheroes and villains. Initially they are ordinary people but then society makes them change their behavior, whether for good or bad. Spider-Man comes to mind as an example of this. After his uncle is shot he seeks revenge, but that doesn’t mean he will turn into a villain.
The emotional comic makes you reflect on the story of hundreds of cases like this, in which innocent people suffer the consequences of social issues such as the lack of resources, jobs, and opportunities. As a result crime rates go up and delinquents get out onto the streets.
Why did Sarita have to suffer the consequences of gang violence? She did not deserve it, but it is what it is. Life can be like that.
Sometimes bad things happen to good people. Does that make sense? Romans 5:3-5 says, “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
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Words: Patrick Hickey Jr
Art: Bellaizza
Colors: Bellaizza
Letters: Patrick Hickey Jr
Publisher: Legacy Comix
KROOM is a love letter to the indie comics of the 1990s as its art style takes elements from Spawn (Todd McFarlane) and Tank Girl (Alan Martin and Jamie Hewlett). The comic also takes its inspiration from arcade fighters of the 90s such as Killer Instinct and Mortal Kombat, creating a post-apocalyptic atmosphere filled with cyborgs and gore. The comic is based on an indie dungeon crawler of the same name. The Redux version of KROOM that I’m looking at here is brought to us by Legacy Comic writers Patrick Hickey Jr and teenage artist Bellaizza.
The setting of the comic is a sprawling metropolis which at first glance seems like the perfect modern city. However, under the surface a race of Malphorians come to take away the city’s peace. The grungy and surreal aspects undermine this seemingly peaceful atmosphere set up in the beginning panels. These aspects surround the reader in its later panels creating a mind game with the reader’s perceptions.
KROOM stands for Kinetic, Robotic, Obedient, Obliteration Machine and was designed as the planet’s last hope. KROOM was created by scientist Doctor E. Swell and his Harunji Helen. Harunji’s are an original species of bear-like human hybrids whose design is reminiscent of Kuma from the Tekken series.
Doctor E. Swell however is seen as a stereotypical scientist character in a suit and tie with glasses and a rotund appearance. Doctor E. Swell is shown to be the main mind behind the creation of KROOM. Still, his motivations to create such an ultimate superhero are left a mystery to the reader and is only hinted that KROOM was designed to help defend against the Malphorians as the metropolis hasn’t fought in centuries.
The Malphorians are shown to be alien-like figures who are the series titular villains. Due to their demonic presence their designs are angular and gritty with design elements reminiscent of FPS such as Doom or Madspace.
While this issue doesn’t give us much information about the Malphorians, readers can infer that their race is interested in taking off the earth for some sort of gain but whether that gain is resources or just planning world domination isn’t directly told.
K.R.O.O.M. however, as a superhero, is shown as a cyborg with a laser sword and a robotic machine gun arm. Its design takes elements from Teen Titans Cyborg with its robotic characteristics as well as elements from fantasy RPGs such as Final Fantasy and The Witcher due to its flowing white hair and knight or wizard-like features such as armor and a cape.
From the little the comic shows about its plot and characters, the reader can learn that Malphorians are vicious. In the panel they are introduced in we see a gorey depiction of a civilian having a sword impaled through his throat. This type of over-the-top and grotesque gore also shows a horror element to the comic. These slight horror elements are shown in sprinkles throughout the comic which could suggest that the villains may have even more killing scenes.
We don’t know much about KROOM as a character other than a motivation to help save the planet. Is he naturally heroic or only doing so as it’s his mission? The comic does suggest that KROOM doesn’t have any human-like traits and is more so just a fighting machine. KROOM however, could just be an allegory for society’s obsession with heroic figures during times of intense stress.
The art style of KROOM is reminiscent of Adam Kubert of X-Men fame due to his use of angular lines and dynamic poses. The art style of KROOM allows for panels to tell a complete story without any dialogue allowing for the artwork to catch the reader off guard.
Bellaizza’s line work is also reminiscent of Adam Kubert due to his use of pencil line work to straight color illustration creating a more sketch-like style than it is typical ink.
This pencils-to-color style allows KROOM to feel nostalgic almost like the comic book characters we all designed in our notebooks during math class.
Overall, while the comic is a short read its ability to create an atmosphere with its grungy visuals would intrigue any fan of indie comics. KROOM takes its influences from the genre’s most beloved cult classics. KROOM does this in a way that isn’t pandering or self-parody but with a sense of love and respect for the originators of the style.
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The Job #1 (Cameron Fulcher Review)
Words: Patrick Hickey Jr
Art: Steve Cange
Letters: Josh Adams
Publisher: Legacy Comix
If Joey Janela and Penelope Ford had guns and a criminal mind before signing with AEW, you’d have Dan Dero and Bev.
The world of independent wrestling is filled with stories of struggle and heartbreak, and Dan Dero’s journey is no exception. In “The Job – Vol. 1” by Legacy Comix, we follow Dero and his partner Bev as they turn to a life of crime to make ends meet. This gritty story asks, “What are you willing to do to succeed and survive?”
Donning a Lucha mask and holding a bag of money, Dero is the star of this bank heist, and Bev is his ravishing co-star.
A homage to the likes of Miss Elizabeth, “Sensational” Sherri Martel, and Terri Runnels, Bev acts as the brains behind all the operations and as Dero’s valet for his in-ring career.
In the realm of professional wrestling, it is customary to have a female valet who employs her cunning and expertise to ensure that her managed competitor emerges victorious. Similarly, Bev uses her tactics outside the ring by stating, “The DDT that you perform with the Dragon Sleeper transition is remarkable; it just needs to be seen by more people…”. It appears that she is trying to help her wrestler gain more exposure by showcasing their moves.
“This is what makes us money. This is what supports us. Not wrestling,” Dero states as they prepare for the next heist.
Dero enjoys thoughts of being a big star, yet he focuses on the present situation instead of Bev’s planning for the future.
The comic does a good job of throwing subtle references to real-world pro wrestling. For instance, Dan Dero “goes into business for himself” and proceeds to perform a “shoot” promo, which ultimately gets him “over”.
Steve Cange developed Dero’s superkick in a way that distinguishes it from other live-action pro wrestling moves. While it is referred to as the “sexy superkick,” paying tribute to the “Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels, the artwork demonstrates that Dero has personalized it as his own move, as shown on pages nine and ten.
Bev wears an all-purple spaghetti-strapped buttoned crop top and pants similar to Ivory in WWE Smackdown: Shut Your Mouth. Cange snuck in this cool reference on pages 12 and 14.
The couple gets over with the crowd and becomes Bodacious Bev and Delicious Dan, allowing them to break away from breaking into banks.
The comic does a good job of focusing on the uprise of Dan and Bev, that you almost forget that these two are bank robbers.
A police officer and detective investigate the bank that was robbed, watching the surveillance footage and admiring the robbers’ “SEXY ASS SUPER KICK”.
In the thrilling world of independent wrestling, Legacy Comix introduces readers to the dynamic duo of Dan Dero and Bev, whose journey from struggling wrestlers to daring criminals is depicted in “The Job – Vol. 1.” With their masks and cunning plans, they execute bank heists that rival their performances in the ring. This captivating narrative blurs the lines between wrestling and heist genres, showcasing the lengths individuals will go to in order to survive and thrive. As the story unfolds, readers are immersed in a tale that explores themes of ambition, loyalty, and the pursuit of success by any means necessary. Through its clever nods to wrestling culture and high-stakes action, “The Job – Vol. 1” delivers an exhilarating experience that will leave fans eagerly anticipating the next chapter.
If this were a tag team match, Hickey Jr. and Cange would be the champions due to their great teamwork.