Comic Books

Joe Palooka comic returns

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Alan Gardner March 1, 2012 1 minute 2 comments

The Joe Palooka comic strip is back, but not in newspapers. According to CBS News boxing announcer Joe Antonacci has purchased the rights to the character and is reworking the boxing champion character into a “mixed martial arts fighter” to be released as comic books. You can see the samples of the comic book online.

The original strip debuted in 1930 and at its height of popularity appeared in over 900 papers before it was retired in 1984.

From CBS News:

Antonacci’s version has been updated to reflect the growing popularity of mixed martial arts, with planned cameos by real-life Ultimate Fighting Championship stars.

But Antonacci, who read “Joe Palooka” as a boy, said the message remains the same.

“In a way, it’s similar to what Ham Fisher tried to do,” he told The Citizens’ Voice of Wilkes-Barre. “My Joe Palooka character is a guy with a heart of gold, who gets into trouble and gets out. It’s family-friendly ? the character is not full of gratuitous violence or sex or cussing.”