Joe Keatinge and Nick Barber are back at it again with another issue of the wrestling-adjacent series Ringside. I say adjacent because this is the most non-wrestling wrestling story I’ve ever seen, and that is an absolute compliment. The story of Daniel Knossos, former wrestling star, continues down its ever-darkening road, as another story begins to take off.

While this issue doesn’t exactly go far in terms of the progress of the story, it does something crucial to sustain the series, adding new wrinkles and sub-plots. Without spoiling too much, Knossos is not the only one who will be going on a journey inside the pages of this book.

Keatinge does something really special with this book, melding the love of the sport with an intriguing look at some of the darker things that surround the lives of those who have broken their bodies for it.  It also draws the parallels between the old guard and the new, with the young, fresh-faced kid making headlines while Daniel deals with the struggles of his past.

Simon Gough and Ariana Maher round out a very talented art team, using color to display emotions and doing a really interesting job of bringing the weight of the story into a more visual field.

This is still a really interesting book and only looking to get more complicated as the series goes on. I’m still totally on board for a wrestling book that is only kind of about wrestling, and a lot more about everything else.