CM Punk talks about comics and the advice from Batista about entering MMA
CM Punk discussed writing the new Drax comic and his contribution to the Vertigo's Strange Sports Stories anthology series
SB Nation recently interviewed CM Punk, who discussed writing the new Drax comic and his contribution to the Vertigo's Strange Sports Stories anthology series. Below are a few highlights:
What are your all-time favorite comics and what are you reading right now?
All-time favorite comics. Preacher. A lot of Vertigo stuff, honestly. I read Preacher once a year. I read Y: The Last Man once a year. I'm a big fan of [Brian] Azzarello's 100 Bullets, I'm a big fan of Jason Aaron's Scalped. I'm a huge fan of anything Ed Brubaker does. A lot of his Daredevil stuff. A lot of his creator-owned stuff, too. His Criminal stuff, I'm really into.
What I'm reading now? Actually, I just finished reading the first Rocket Raccoon trade paperback. I'm trying to get a feel, because I'm going to be writing Drax, going forward. A lot of creator-owned stuff lately. But I also think Mark Waid has been hitting it out of the park with Daredevil. He has been for a while, now. I normally go by writer, so anything Jason Aaron writes, Thor, Men of Wrath, Southern Bastards. Anything Brubaker does. Greg Rucka's Lazarus is amazing. Those are the most recent things I remember that I've read.
If it's surreal to be writing Drax, Batista's character in Guardians of the Galaxy:
Oh, yeah. Yeah. And I texted Dave [Bautista] right away. 'Dude, I'm gonna be writing the Drax comic book!' [laughs] And he was like, 'No way!' So yeah, it's definitely bizarre. It's almost one of those stories where you wouldn't be able to make this up.
Advice from Batista about entering MMA:
It might have been a little less than a year ago. I think he was doing a comic con out here in Chicago and he came over just so we could hang out for a little bit. Yeah, I talked to him about it. This was before I made the announcement [that I was signing UFC]. I was heavily thinking about it, so I was – without spilling the beans to him, because I wasn't sure what I was going to do – I was asking him all kinds of questions. Because he was in the same situation I was in, coming from the pro wrestling background, a little bit older than he probably should have been [starting out], just like I am. So there's a lot of similarities, so he gave me a lot of advice to help me out.
What's the most difficult part of preparing to fight in the UFC?
I think it's being well-rounded. Getting my reaction time down for stuff. I know when I do stuff wrong, or when I'm in a bad position. It's just fighting out of those positions and really putting it all together. Every day, training my ass off to be ready. It's not going to happen overnight, that's why I train every day.
