ANDRE THE GIANT Graphic Novel Set To Drop In May!

First Second Books is set to drop a graphic novel based on the legendary wrestler Andre the Giant next May. Andre the Giant: Life and Legend will tell the story of one of the most adored wrasslers of all time, both inside and outside the ring.

Andre’s size made him perfect for the wrestling world but caused him to suffer his entire life. He was born with acromegaly, also known as giantism; a disease that causes a person’s body to produce an excess of growth hormones. The “8th Wonder of the World” was billed as being 7’4″ and 520 lbs. As his name indicates, he reached “giant” heights of success in the ring. Andre was undefeated for over 15 years in the WWE (than the WWF), won the WWE World Championship and Tag Team Championship and became the first-ever WWE Hall of Famer in 1993. Fans also love Andre for his role as the giant “Fezzik” in the classic flick The Princess Bride. But no matter the level of success he gained, Andre always struggled in a world that could not accommodate his size. On January 27, 1993, Andre passed away at the age of 46 when his heart could no longer support his huge size.

Best known for the comics Bellen! and Everything Dies, wrestling fanboy and Ignatz Award winner Box Brown is set to bring Andre’s epic tale to the comic world. Here are some gems Brown said during an interview with Grantland’s The Triangle:

In many ways, we all have extraordinary circumstances thrust upon us in life and it’s up to us to do the best with them. That’s what I get out of Andre’s story. I empathized with him. We all have a ticking clock above our heads, but Andre’s clock ticked much faster and more precisely.

It’s hard to even distinguish the truth from the legend with Andre’s stories. Every wrestler had a story about him, but wrestlers like to tell stories and like to embellish those stories and make them their own. And they’re good at it! Even the stories that are generally accepted to be true about Andre have a mythic quality to them. I really wanted to convey his human side and that he was a multifaceted human being with all the same idiosyncrasies as anyone. In our lives, sometimes we are magnificent and sometimes we’re not so much and we’re everything in between.

Check out the awesome cover from the upcoming graphic novel.

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Jay Deitcher, LMSW(@mrdeitcher) is an educator on comic history and runs successful Free Comic Book Day events yearly.  You can see a listing of his incredible articles at JayDeitcher.com.