On the Coffee Table: Box Brown

Title: Andre the Giant: Life and Legend
Writer and Artist: Box Brown

via Amazon

I'll admit upfront, I am not even remotely a professional wrestling fan.  My curiosity about Andre the Giant stems instead from his appearance in The Princess Bride.  We picked up a copy of this book when we went to a screening of the cult classic a couple years back.

Brown's book follows the life of Andre Rene Roussimoff from age 12 onward.  The early stories reveal the difficulty of walking through life as, well, a giant.  Already 6'3" and 240 pounds, he measured 7'4'', 520 lbs. in adulthood.  A wrestling promoter discovered him in Paris when he was 17.  At first essentially a novelty act, he reached the top of the profession after ten years.  By the time Princess Bride came along, he was already a superstar.  The film guaranteed his legacy beyond the ring.

Andre does not come across as especially likable.  Hard drinking, arrogant and generally rude, he's a far cry from Fezzik.  But there's no denying he lived a colorful, unusual life.  The presentation style reminds me of Chester Brown's Louis Riel: sparse and simple.  The book doesn't do much to spark my interest in wrestling generally, but perhaps in the individual.  Box Brown is a genuine fan of wrestling.  He is candid about the sport's staged elements but those elements have clearly done little to dampen his own enthusiasm.