Pages: 315
Synopsis: WWE's attempt to explain a decade of really, really bad Kane storylines.

 

"Glen Callaway" Sergeant Dominguez said, stepping into the room.

 

The second the police officer spoke, Melissa saw the spark vanish from the boy's eyes.

"Yeah," Glen said. "That's me."

 

The sergeant introduced himself, taking a step closer to the boy as he did so. Melissa took Katie by the shoulders again and pulled her out of the way.

 

"I'd like to talk to the boy in private, Ms. Vick," Dominguez said.

 

When Kane debuted in 1997, he was portrayed as a one-dimensional cartoon; The Undertaker's long-lost brother, a cross between the Dead Man and Frankenstein. And of course, even though WWE has attempted to give his character a few more "layers" over the years, they haven't been very stellar attempts.

 

Journey Into Darkness is possibly the most ambitious attempt to date to explain the Kane character, and how he, The Undertaker, Paul Bearer and the notorious Katie Vick fit in.

Now, make no mistake about this -- this is hardly an "unauthorized" story; the WWE logo on the cover should tell you at least that much. The "unauthorized" reference makes everything sound a bit more ominous, I guess.

 

It's still no small task to explain Kane's madness, at least more than the Russo-esque account that was force-fed to us, and conveniently changed numerous times during the late 90's. One minute, he killed his parents. The next minute, it was actually The Undertaker who did the deed. One minute, he and Taker are mortal enemies, and the next minute, they're best of friends. One minute, he needed a voice-box to speak, the next minute... well, you get the picture.

 

That's what Journey attempts to explain, in a writing style that borrows more than a little from Stephen King. We begin with a four year-old Glen Jacob Callaway (tying Kane's real name of Glen Jacobs and Taker's Mark Callaway in somewhat), awakening as his family's funeral home burns to the ground and apparently, with him being the only survivor.

 

..... OR WAS HE????

 

Without giving away too many details, Glen goes through a series of horrific events, some of which are triggered by the evil Paul Grimm (who later becomes -- you guessed it -- Paul Orndorff. Okay, fine... Paul Bearer). Mark grows up to be a powerful wrestler, and Glen is eventually coerced into confronting him.

 

Make no mistake: this book is hardly rocket science, or even enough to satisfy most smarks out there. But if you enjoyed the Pro Wrestling Illustrated kayfabe storylines of the 80's and 90's ("Revealed: Ted DiBiase's Secret Plot To Buy The WWF!"), you may just get a kick out of this.

 

Rating: Bowling-Shoe Ugly. I say that mainly because it's the kind of book you can probably read once and in only a few hours; maybe on a plane or something (as I did).... but you're not going to really learn anything new from it. Tip: See if you can track it down in a used bookstore on the cheap, or borrow it from your local library. But don't need to go through fire and brimstone just to pick up a copy of this.