Rock Bottom

In the mid-2000s, Joe Casey and Charlie Adlard teamed up for this single-issue comic from AiT/Planet Lar, a stark, character-driven story that examines the gritty underside of professional wrestling. Rather than focusing on the spectacle in the ring, it follows a washed-up grappler grappling with his past and the toll of a life lived on the margins. Casey's sharp, introspective writing and Adlard's moody, black-and-white art create a grounded, almost noir-like atmosphere that strips away the glamour to reveal a raw, human drama. It's a compact, potent example of the kind of creator-owned work that defined the publisher's ethos in the 2000s.