Chaos! to release more WWF comics

By JOHN POWELL -- SLAM! Wrestling

The cover of the Mankind one-shot comic due out in August.

What's that you say? A pay-per-view each month, three weekly television shows and you still can't get enough of your favorite WWF superstars? Well, the folks at Chaos! Comics got something that will satisfy that George "The Animal" Steele craving in you.

Inspired by the staggering popularity of their monthly Undertaker book (rated number three in this month's Wizard Guide To Comics' Top Ten), Chaos! will be chronicling the further adventures of that human-Crash Test Dummy known as Mankind and WWF rattlesnake, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, in their own comic books this fall.

"Stone Cold" Steve Austin: Tougher Than The Rest, is a four-issue limited series scheduled to begin this September. Written by former Punisher scribe Steven Grant with covers by Dan (Superman) Jurgens and Jerry (Power Of Shazam) Ordway, the comics will portray Austin as per his ring persona - an outlaw powerwalking that thin line between good and evil. A hero in search of his forgotten past, Austin must survive in a society where the wealthy and powerful are not only above the law...they are the law.

In August, a Mankind one-shot comic written by Steven Grant and penciled by Jerry (The Crow, Razor) Beck, expands upon the deranged one's guest appearance in the Undertaker series. Mrs. Foley's little boy travels the globe trying to put together the pieces of his past and find a place where he will not be seen as a monster but accepted and loved as a man. His trusty cotton sidekick Socco at his side, Mankind matches wits with the sinister Director, a psychotic egghead out to create his own obedient race of supermen.

Also hitting store shelves in August is The Undertaker: Prophecy Of The Dead. This trade paperback edition assembles Undertaker issues 1 through 4 in one book for all those jabronis who've been in a sleeper hold the last four or five months. Written by Beau Smith with art by Manny Clark, the series follows the Man From The Darkside in his quest to regain his throne as the ruler of Stygian, Hell's prison. To do so, he must battle for possession of the three Books of the Dead. While he possesses one, the other two are held by his eternal enemies - Paul Bearer and the Embalmer.

The Mankind one-shot and the first issue of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin: Tougher Than The Rest will retail for $2.95 (U.S.). The Undertaker: Prophecy Of The Dead trade paperback is tagged at $12.95 (U.S.).

Check out the Chaos! Comics site to order their comics online.