There are many things to like about Chris Haley. He’s a talented artist; he is a fan of comics (especially Superman); he’s a fan of animation (especially Gravity Falls); most importantly to us though, he’s a fan of Wrestling (especially CM Punk). We like Chris Haley because he has the ability to take things that are otherwise considered goofy and make them great. This probably comes from his work on his webcomic Let’s Be Friends Again. He and Curt Franklin use that platform to talk about comics and poke fun at the silly aspects of it. Haley has been able to weave in his love of wrestling into the webcomics, usually in terms of a punch line, like mistaking the New World Order for Wrestling’s New World Order, the nWo:

From the LBFA Comic: 4-Life

To be fair, we didn’t know there were two either. Haley is also not above using himself for the wrestling reference. Here is how Chris Haley – the web comic character – keeps in shape:

From the LBFA Comic: The Return

It’s fitting that Haley recently mentioned during a Tumblr Q&A that Hulk Hogan versus the Ultimate Warrior at Wrestlemania VI was a memorable match from his childhood. The “Golden Era” of Wrestling is on display through the poster on the wall. Next to it is brilliant send-up of Hogan’s creed: “Train, Say Your Prayers, Eat Your Vitamins, etc …” Chris Haley, being decked out in the Red and Yellow while exercising is the icing on the cake.

Haley makes more than Hogan references on Let’s Be Friends Again. In addition to non-wrestling things, he’s also included homages to Stone Cold Steve Austin and CM Punk. Outside of LBFA, Haley used his Comics and Wrestling knowledge to make a “Punk is Right” t-shirt, based of a “Magneto is Right” shirt in the pages of X-Men Comics. Correctly equating the WWE’s CM Punk with the X-Men’s Magneto sets off a ripple effect through both rosters. John Cena is the WWE’s Cyclops: they’re both square jawed, reliable and boring; Daniel Bryan equates to Wolverine: he’s the best there is, can’t be stopped, and a small hairy furball that you’d be a fool to underestimate. If you’re thinking that Daniel Bryan should be “The Dazzler,” that title belongs to Chris Jericho: both Dazzler and Jericho sing and Chris Jericho wears the sparkliest tights around. But I digress.

Haley has an uncanny treat something respectfully that nobody would otherwise look twice at. There is no finer example of this than his commissioned depiction of Santino Marella. It’s rare to see “Santino” and “respect” in the same sentence, given his goofball antics in the WWE. But Haley gave Santino a sense of seriousness while still playing up his antic. In the piece below, you believe that Santino believes his Cobra hand can strike you down.

Image Courtesy of Chris Haley’s Tumblr

If you want to be friends with Chris Haley, there are several way to introduce yourself to him. You can follow him on Twitter, where he frequently tweets about Wrestling (he’s been in the in STH Recap a few times). You can follow him on Tumblr, where he’ll post about Wrestling. You can follow his contributions to ComicsAlliance.com where he’ll participate in “Comics Everybody,” an illustrated history of specific Comic characters and even ComicsAlliance itself. You can listen to his podcast, The Gravity Falls Gossiper Podcast, where he and Adam WarRock talk about the awesome Disney Show Gravity Falls and occasionally other stuff (like comics, videogames and wrestling). You can also support him through his Society6 and Etsy Stores, picking up some of his really cool designs. The Society6 is home to the “Punk is Right” t-shirt. And this weekend, Chris has a 4th of July sale at his Etsy Shop where he will include a comic character of your choice. I don’t know if that includes Wrestlers but it doesn’t hurt to ask, right?