Wrestler CM Punk leaps from wrestling ring to comic book

After retiring from the squared circle, wrestling star CM Punk is tackling a new hero role, this time with Marvel Comics on Thor.

But Punk – Phil Brooks in real life – is not quite going to act in a Thor movie. Instead, he'll be behind the scenes, writing plot lines for the comic.

"In February’s Thor Annual #1, Punk teams up with artist Rob Guillory, joining a star-studded lineup of creators tackling the God of Thunder," Marvel.com said.

Punk said he talked to Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Axel Alonso and "just pestered all the right people," and the "right things kind of popped up."

He said he is excited to plunge into comic book writing, something he said he has never done before.

But he said Thor Annual editor Jon Moisan forwarded him a bunch of scripts, including Thor books and scripts for them "so I can see how scripts can be broken down into the actual comic book form."

The retired wrestling star described himself as "learning on the job, which is pretty exciting."

"And I think this kind of gives us the freedom. I think we’re kind of under-the-radar, and there’s not really a whole lot of pressure on us to deliver some sort of a magnum opus as a 10-page backup story in an annual, so I think we have a lot of freedom that could be really fun," he said.

Comic idea

Punk gave a peek into the story he is working on – Thor as a "kind of a brash, bratty teenager who’s like, 'I’m totally worthy of this hammer. My dad’s full of [expletive]. I don’t know why I’m not ‘worthy’ of the hammer. Look at all this cool stuff I did.'"

"And it’s more or less like a drinking story. He’s gonna be sitting around with a few choice characters from the Marvel Universe, and they’re all gonna be drinking, and Thor’s gonna basically be complaining about essentially why his dad won’t give him the keys to the car," he said.

Insight from wrestling

Punk said he could bring some insight into his new job from his wrestling career, which he said involved "Wearing tights in front of thousands of people and kind of, almost play-acting."

"I’m definitely prepared to fall flat on my face, I think. If anything, (wrestling) got me used to understanding that failure is part of a process, and the only real failure is if you don’t try. Like I could be nervous and bite my fingernails, worried that I think my book is gonna be a piece of crap, but I could be not doing it, and that would be the true failure," he said.

Other marvel characters

Other Marvel characters Punk said he would want to try include The Punisher. He said this was his original pitch to editor Axel Alonso in 2011.

"In my mind, for some odd reason, I’ve just got this Punisher story in my head, and I think it’s super, super awesome. I can read Jason Aaron’s Punisher and everybody else’s [take on the] character and it’s good, but I think that my Punisher story is pretty badass. So everything I do for Marvel is going to be leading up to, 'Please just let me write my Punisher story,'” he said. — Joel Locsin /LBG, GMA News