THROUGH THE WRINGER :
MIXING MARTIAL
ARTS AND CIVIL
RIGHTS
AN EXAMINATION OF AN
UNLIKELY CROSSOVER — MALE
QUEER
CULTURE AND MMA
In the early days of Mixed Martial Arts , kickboxer
icon DJ Bellyi slurs a queer opponent in the ring , and is beaten to death while his young son James watches in horror from the stands .
Sixteen years later , young James Bellyi has become an MMA star in his own right , with top-tier endorsements and an imminent title shot . But when James is outed as gay by an opponent in a press conference , he loses everything : his title shot , his fans , his team , even his family . To fight his way back , he turns to the only one left in the world willing to train him : Xavier Mayne , the man who killed his father .
Writer Steve Orlando and illustrator Phillip Kennedy Johnson discuss their collaboration on Kill A Man from AfterShock Comics . Kill A Man will be available everywhere June 16 , 2020 .
Mixed Martial Arts seems like an obscure choice with which to frame a coming- of- age story . Why MMA ? STEVE ORLANDO : I think for me , the story isn ’ t just coming-of-age , but it ’ s fused with the classic underdog stories we ’ ve seen in the tradition of ROCKY and CREED and WARRIOR . And in that progression , you can see how the sport in focus shifted from boxing to MMA , the zeitgeist has moved slightly over the decades . And why use combat sports of all in the mindset of coming-of-age , and the underdog ? These competitive combat sports give us a great opportunity as creators to fold an incredible amount of emotional stakes into a literal , physical , battle with a clear goal . In ROCKY , Rocky ’ s journey of finding self-worth was summed up in his going the distance in the match at the end , same with Adonis in CREED and getting closure on the relationship with his father , same with the family issues in WARRIOR . So , by using MMA here , in KILL A MAN , we can weave in all the complex issues of pride , worth , and identity , into a clear , cathartic , and concise physical goal to accomplish . MMA is up and coming as a sport , and in its strategy , its danger , its skill and style , it offers us a physical metaphor for the mental
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