Jason Conlan

Last updated

Jason Conlan
Born1971
New Zealand
Nationality New Zealander
Known for Cartoonist
Notable work"On the Mat" comic strip
1995–present

Jason Conlan (born 1971) is a New Zealand cartoonist, best known under the pseudonym Mister J, who is the creator of Pro Wrestling Illustrated's monthly cartoon strip "On the Mat". He has also contributed to the similar Australian wrestling publication Piledriver and long-running newsletter Wrestling Then and Now as well as professional wrestling websites ProWrestlingDaily.com and Bill Apter's 1wrestling.com. Conlan has also done work for the online version of The Sun , the most-read daily newspaper in the United Kingdom.

Contents

Biography

Early life and influences

Jason Conlan developed an interest in drawing and professional wrestling as a child. As early as the age of six, he began watching Steve Rickard's NWA-affiliated promotion All Star Pro-Wrestling and its wrestling programme On the Mat . He became an avid fan of the show and was encouraged to begin drawing some of the wrestlers he saw such as Baron Von Krupp. After On the Mat was cancelled in 1984, Conlan started reading Pro Wrestling Illustrated and began following professional wrestling in the United States. Though he enjoyed WWF Superstars of Wrestling when it debuted in New Zealand in 1987, the country's first regular American wrestling show, Conlan favoured the National Wrestling Alliance, specifically Jim Crockett Promotions, partly due to being a fan of the NWA-friendly "Apter mags" and found its wrestlers more interesting to draw. [1]

Conlan continued developing his artistic talent, carefully studying comic book art, newspaper comic strips, and political cartoons, and started selling his own drawings while a high school student. Conlan also had a regular spot in his local newspaper. He considered attending art school but found it "to be boring and expensive". [1]

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

Conlan was working part-time in a comic book store when he first contacted the offices of Pro Wrestling Illustrated via cold calling in 1995. His first call was "politely declined" but had better luck two weeks later and was put through to then editor Bill Apter. He had previously worked on the Australian wrestling magazine Piledriver and the Wrestling Then and Now newsletter, however, it was his work for PWI which would give him his first big break. After two months of negotiations, he accepted an offer from publisher Stu Saks to draw a monthly cartoon in addition to 30 full-page cartoons for their wrestling annual. He would eventually go on to illustrate all of Saks' wrestling magazines. [1]

His comic strip On the Mat, named in honour of the wrestling programme Conlan watched as a child, debuted later that year and continues to appear in PWI as of 2010. Conlan, also employed at a bookstore, is also a contributing artist for professional wrestling websites ProWrestlingDaily.com and 1wrestling.com, the latter owned by Bill Apter. He has also contributed to the online version of The Sun , the most widely read daily newspaper in the United Kingdom, which also carries artwork from On the Mat for its sports columns. [1]

Recent years

A member of the Australian Webcomics Collective, [2] Conlan has also drawn art for the long-running Australian comic anthology series DeeVee. In July 2007, his comic strip "Mister J and the Pirates" appeared in DeeVee 2007 alongside work from Eddie Campbell, Jeffrey Brown, Mandy Ord, Jason Paulos, Daren White, David Tang, Matt "Stikman" Huynh, Daniel Best, Andy Finlayson, Daniel Gibbs and Lee Slattery. [3]

Reception

Conlan's work has garnered some interest from within the wrestling industry. When World Championship Wrestling was touring New Zealand during its final years, he sent some of his artwork to their office and was invited to meet some of the wrestlers during the tour. Scott Steiner, he was told, had expressed some negative comments towards a caricature he had done of Steiner and was warned to stay away from him during the tour. The popular Mexican luchadore Puma had the opposite reaction praising Conlan and commenting "When I saw myself [in the PWI comic strip] I thought I might as well just retire right there. It just doesn't get any better than that." In recent years, Conlan has expressed an interest in having his artwork commissioned by World Wrestling Entertainment, as many of his favourite caricatures are of WWE superstars, such as illustrating a daily cartoon for WWE.com. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cartoonist</span> Visual artist who makes cartoons

A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons or comics. Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and graphic components of the work as part of their practice. Cartoonists may work in a variety of formats, including booklets, comic strips, comic books, editorial cartoons, graphic novels, manuals, gag cartoons, storyboards, posters, shirts, books, advertisements, greeting cards, magazines, newspapers, webcomics, and video game packaging.

<i>Pro Wrestling Illustrated</i> Professional wrestling magazine

Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) is an American internationally sold professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. PWI is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publishing Group. The magazine is the longest published English language wrestling magazine still in production. PWI publishes bi-monthly issues and annual special issues such as their "Almanac and Book of Facts". The magazine recognizes various world championships as legitimate, similar to The Ring in boxing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gene Anderson (wrestler)</span> American professional wrestler and manager

Eugene Avon Anderson was an American professional wrestler and professional wrestling manager. He is best known for being one-half of the tag team The Minnesota Wrecking Crew, first with Lars Anderson, then with Ole Anderson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Art Barr</span> American professional wrestler

Arthur Leon Barr was an American professional wrestler. While he wrestled briefly for World Championship Wrestling, he found his greatest success in Mexico's Asistencia Asesoría y Administración promotion.

Afa Amituana'i "Arthur" Anoa'i is a Samoan-American retired professional wrestler and professional wrestling manager. Since retiring, he has operated the World Xtreme Wrestling promotion and trained wrestlers at the Wild Samoan Training Center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brad Guigar</span> American cartoonist

Brad Guigar is an American cartoonist who is best known for his daily webcomic Greystone Inn and its sequel Evil Inc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Apter</span> American photographer and journalist

William Stanley Apter is an American journalist and photographer specializing in professional wrestling. He was an editorial staff member and photographer for several magazines during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, notably Pro Wrestling Illustrated. These magazines often reported wrestling in kayfabe, focusing on the storylines and angles rather than reporting "backstage" goings on. Apter was so closely associated with these magazines that they were often known as "Apter Mags". The influence of these publications in the days before cable television and the internet was such that Apter has been credited with launching the careers of many young wrestlers whom he featured on magazine covers.

Joseph Afamasaga, better known by his ring name Samoan Joe, was a New Zealand professional wrestler who competed in the Australasian and South Pacific region during the 1970s and early 1980s.

<i>Best of World Championship Wrestling</i> American TV series or program

Best of World Championship Wrestling is an hour-long show, that was the Sunday evening edition of TBS' Saturday night wrestling shows, Georgia Championship Wrestling and NWA World Championship Wrestling. The rights to Best of World Championship Wrestling now belong to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).

Morgus Watson, better known by his ring name Morgus the Maniac is an American professional wrestler who has competed on the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern independent promotions including the Eastern Wrestling Alliance, Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation, National Wrestling League/House of Pain Wrestling Federation and Extreme Championship Wrestling and also wrestled as a preliminary wrestler for World Championship Wrestling during the early 1990s.

Craig Renney is a Canadian professional wrestler best known by his ring name, Juggernaut. He has competed for several North American independent promotions and has competed in several wrestling tours in Asia. He also had a brief stint in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike DiBiase (born 1977)</span> American professional wrestler

Michael Wills Foreman DiBiase II is an American retired professional wrestler. A third generation wrestler, DiBiase is the grandson of "Iron" Mike DiBiase and Helen Hild and the son of "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">D. J. Peterson</span> American professional wrestler

David W. Peterson, better known by his ring name D. J. Peterson was an American professional wrestler.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">E. Z. Money</span> American professional wrestler

Jason Broyles is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his tenure in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) under the ring name E. Z. Money. He also briefly wrestled for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 2001 under the ring name Jason Jett.

Jorge Moraza is an American professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Jorge Estrada. He is a former National Wrestling Alliance North American Heavyweight champion and participated in the first televised match of NWA Total Nonstop Action.

Derick Lee Neikirk is an American professional wrestler and former professional baseball player. He has competed for several promotions, and currently competes for Impact Zone Wrestling (IZW), a territory of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) based in Phoenix, Arizona. He has also wrestled in several other promotions and was signed to a contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) for several years. Much of his career has been connected with fellow wrestler Mike Knox, as the two have held championships together as a tag team and have feuded on multiple occasions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Professional wrestling in New Zealand</span> History of professional wrestling in the country of New Zealand

Professional wrestling in New Zealand has been promoted in the country from the early 20th century. In 1919, Gisborne Katene became the first national heavyweight champion, though the title was not recognized by the National Wrestling Association until 1925, and promoter Walter Miller began running events under the Dominion Wrestling Union banner ten years later.

Richard Link is an American semi-retired professional wrestler, trainer and promoter. He wrestled throughout Canada and the United States for the National Wrestling Alliance during the 1970s and 80s under a number of ringnames, most notably, as M.E.B. in NWA Central States and as Man Mountain Link in the Continental Wrestling Association where he was among the "monster heels" who challenged AWA Southern Heavyweight Champion Jerry "The King" Lawler and was involved in the ongoing feud between Lawler and Andy Kaufman. Other promotions Link competed in included Georgia Championship Wrestling, International Championship Wrestling, the International Wrestling Association, Jim Crockett Promotions, and Stampede Wrestling. He was also part of the NWA's 1983 visit to New Zealand, frequently appearing on the country's long-running wrestling programme On the Mat, and remained undefeated throughout the tour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jason Kincaid</span> American professional wrestler

Jason Kincaid is an American professional wrestler best known for his time in Evolve, Dramatic Dream Team (DDT) in Japan and Ring Of Honor. He is also known for competing on the United States independent scene and within the National Wrestling Alliance, where he is the former NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion.

The Lost Boys were a professional wrestling tag team composed of Yar and Wolf. They competed in numerous independent promotions throughout the East Coast and Northeastern United States during the 1990s. One of the rising stars of the National Wrestling Alliance, they became the first NWA United States Tag Team Champions since 1991 when the title was revived by NWA New Jersey. They also challenged The Misfits for the NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Championship, another abandoned NWA title, when it was briefly revived by NWA 2000 in 1998.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Elliott, Brian (10 October 2007). "SLAM! Wrestling: PWI artist aims to be a top draw". SLAM! Sports. Canoe Inc . Retrieved 29 December 2010.
  2. ↑ "Australian Webcomics Collective: Full Profile". Australian Webcomics Collective. WebcomicsNation.com . Retrieved 29 December 2010.
  3. ↑ Finlayson, Andy (2 July 2007). "Deevee 2007 out this week (6 July)". Andy-Pandy on deviantART. deviantArt . Retrieved 29 December 2010.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.