The world of Pro Wrestling over the ages has been filled with many great companies with WWE being the top and companies like IMPACT, AEW, Ring Of Honor, AAA, New Japan, NWA, CMLL, All Japan, Rock Star Pro, Wrestling Revolver and MLW as well delivering top notch wrestling to fans worldwide. Not to mention companies like AWA, WCCW, WCW, XPW, GWF and ECW all companies that are gone now but also brought so much to the table when it came to Pro Wrestling. But one federation brought female wrestling to the front and that federation was GLOW who had such talent as Little Egypt, Babe The Farmer’s Daughter, Corporal Kelly, Draculetta and Matilda The Hun to name a few. And this update is about one of the female grapplers from GLOW, the fan favorite Sunny The California Girl! This will be a short and fun update as her career was very short lived. So let’s get ready for some singing Knock, Knock jokes and see how well Sunny goes from the ring to the comic pages.
Gorgeous Ladies Of Wresling (GLOW) started in 1986 and was a pro wrestling federation that was made up of all female talents and was owned by Meshulam Riklis and was the brainchild of David McLane. Back in the day McLane worked for WWA and pitched his idea of a female run wrestling federation to owner Dick The Bruiser who turned down the idea as he thought that it would not work in their base area of Indianapolis. So after thinking about it, McLane decided to try it again and ran an ad in Hollywood and got a massive amount of responses. After casting and training done by Mando Guerrero they decided to hire wrestling veteran Princess Jasmine to wrap up the training as well as be a member of the roster with a name change to Pepper. GLOW would go on to then lock a TV deal as well as find a location for their events that was at the Riviera Hotel And Casino in Las Vegas. Most of the wrestlers on the roster were models, actresses and athletes who wanted to use this as a way to rocket their careers. And with the TV deal also came the signing of Sylvester Stallone’s mom Jackie Stallone who played the fake Owner of GLOW on screen. The live events for GLOW were used for the TV Show and over all it did well lasting 4 seasons and ending its first run in 1990. Glow would try and make a comeback in 2001 under new ownership, and it as well only lasted a short time. And in 2017 the wrestling federation became a show on Netflix that will air its fourth and final season this year. While GLOW is ranked among the worst wrestling federations, it still delivered some good matches and interesting female grapplers for viewers to enjoy.
Sunny The California Girl started her wrestling career around 1986 and was originally a model, actress, and athlete and worked as a councilor. Growing up watching pro wrestler and being pushed by her father, she join the new federation called GLOW. Sunny was known for her singing of knock, knock jokes and was one of the popular grapplers in the ring. She had a bubbly and easy going personality and a classic 80’s style female wrestler in ring work. While she was never a true main eventer she still put butts in the seats and worked hard to climb the rankings. After GLOW closed in 1990, she never did go on to work for the likes of WWE or WCW and would only make small appearances mostly at GLOW reunion shows. While she might not have been the biggest name in women’s wrestling nor was she ever a champion, one thing is for sure those who watched GLOW all loved Sunny and her cheerful jokes and in ring style.
So as you can see, both GLOW and Sunny The California Girl had a very short run in the world of Pro Wrestling, but both managed to make their marks in the industry. And now I think it’s time to dive into the comic book based on Sunny that was released by Squared Circle Comics. I got it via their Kickstarter to fund it. I would like to remind you that I grade this issue on a standard 1-4 star system and am looking for how well the comic stays to the source material, its entertainment value and it’s art and story. So if you are ready to step into the squared circle with Sunny, let’s see what this bio comic has in store for us.
Sunny The California Girl # 1 *1/2
Released in 2019 Cover Price $8.00 Squared Circle #1 of 1
Patricia Summerland was born in 1964 and was raised by her Aunt and Uncle with her cousins being like her brothers. Patricia was very athletic growing up and competed in so many sports, and while swimming, her never back down nature left her drowned and flat lined for four minutes before she was brought back my paramedics. With a new outlook on life she took up a modeling career and during this time as well she learned about her real parents and was angry and set on a life of partying in the LA scene. But once back home, she was pushed by her Uncle to tryout for a new wrestling league called GLOW and after some hard work she was selected for a roster spot and took the name Sunny The California Girl with her character being based on actress Jayne Mansfield. Her first match was a tag team bout that took place on a Nevada gambling boat where she lost due to her opponents cheating. Her biggest feud was with Big Bad Mama, a wrestler who used her voodoo powers to beat Sunny in their big match. In 1988 Sunny’s father fell very ill and she took time away from the ring to visit him on his death bed, and once he passed she attempted to return to GLOW, but the federation had closed and so ended her in ring career in 1989. While retired, Sunny wants the world to know that she could come back to the square circled any time and could once more try her best to climb the ranks of any federation that hires her.
This wrestling bio comic in my opinion is very loose and does not pack much of a bite, let alone really let us into who Sunny is and what she had done for the world of Pro Wrestling. In fact the comic has very little dialogue and does a very poor job of telling us readers anything really about her at all in and out of the ring. The issue’s story briefly touches on Patricia Summerland as she rises from model to wrestler and her part in GLOW before retiring just as quickly as she began. The little tiny amount we get to know about Sunny shows that she was a hard worker who grew up loving and respecting wrestling, she also was a family person who loved her adoptive parents. There is not much to say about this comic besides it pretty lackluster and that’s a shame as I enjoy all the other Squared Circle Comics I have read up to this point. The cover for this issue is pretty cool and eye catching for fans of Sunny. The interior art is solid indie art done by Rich Perotta who seems to be the company’s in house artist. Over all this is a so-so comic and I would say if you are a fan of GLOW and Sunny The California Girl give this a read, otherwise I would stay clear. Check out the art work below to see the style of Perotta.
While this Squared Circle comic was not very good, I do recommend them as they have done some great issues based on classic wrestlers like Bruno Sammartino, The Rock & Roll Express, Hacksaw Jim Duggan and The Fantastics to name a few, and yes many of these will be getting an update here on Rotten Ink. But for my next update I am going to leave the world of pro wrestling behind and will be taking a look at the world of short lived and overlooked superheroes as Black Bow and his friends will be the topic. So until next time, read an indie comic or two, watch a wrestling PPV or two and as always support you’re local wrestling federation! See you next time for an unknown hero good time.
Rotten Ink 