The New Day: Power of Positivity #1 - Review

Written by: Evan Narcisse & Austin Walker

Illustrated by: Daniel Bayliss

Lettered by: DC Hopkins

Published by: BOOM!

Well, this comic was a breath of fresh air. The premise is quite simple: Narcisse and Walker give us the comic book origins of WWE’s pre-eminent tag, the New Day. I still remember getting back into WWE in 2015 as the New Day was making their meteoric rise to fame as one of the hottest acts in the company at the time. I still remember the first PPV I watched that year was Summerslam where the New Day went on to win the tag team championship and held on to those belts for a record-setting length of time. It was awesome!

So, it is no surprise that I quite enjoyed this fictionalized look at the beginnings of Kofi Kingston, Big E and Xavier Woods. Narcisse & Walker begin the issue in a way that I enjoy when it involves an origin story: with a fast-forward. This isn’t quite the present in terms of real-world years, as the match depicted is between the Shield and the New Day, but it works in the context of the story. From there, we are offered a look back at how these three men not only became wrestlers, each with their own motivations but also how they come to form the team they are today. 

I have to say I get a kick out of seeing this done in comic form, as, unlike the real-world, this version, the men behind the characters are their characters, so seeing a somewhat ominous villainous Triple H, a current version of the Usos, and some old-school looking Shield members is a lot of fun. 

With any wrestling comic, a key is to have an artist that can easily convey the action that wrestling provides, and Bayliss is definitely up to the task. I particularly liked his use of white space throughout to concentrate the eye on the action as well as his use of various panel types. It makes reading the comic less “boring” and a lot more exciting as it should be with a comic based on the wrestling art-form. One thing that I found a little funny, and I know it’s because BOOM! is probably not allowed to use their likenesses anymore, but seeing a three-man Shield team where one of the men’s face is ALWAYS covered, and a Wyatt family where only Bray is visible, and the others are in shadow, makes for an unintentionally funny read.  

Barring that, the issue is a great read for anyone who is a fan of the New Day, or even for those who just want a fun comic to read.