Oh, you don't know Vincent Edward Jackson? Well, do you know Bo- Jackson, that is!
Jackson played a trio of sports for Auburn University including baseball and football. Bo's impressive scoring of 17 touchdowns and almost 1,800 yards during his senior year earned the Tiger the Heisman Trophy and Walter Camp Award in 1985. While Bo's future looked paved in goal with teams such as the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Buccaneers putting early bids on the multi-sport star. Ultimately, Bo went on to play with the Kansas City Royals and Los Angeles Raiders while securing several lucrative endorsement deals including Nike and a live-action cartoon series with NBC.
But early on as a child, Bo Jackson almost ended up behind bars. The 8th of 10 children, Jackson's family were literally dirt poor in rural Alabama. They lived in a 3 room shack that did not have indoor plumbing. Often targeted for his stutter, Jackson developed a violent temper. The angeralso earned him a nickname- 'Bo-hog', later shortened to just BO.
A violent incident of animal cruelty put Bo at an impasse- clean up his act or got to juvenile detention. For the sake of his mother, Bo chose to put his aggression into school sports. Bo become a 3-sport star and was heavily recruited by many SEC schools. Jackson selected Auburn due to it's proximity to his family and the rest was history.
Some of that history includes Bo running a touchdown for a then record of 92 and 93 yards, breaking baseball bats over his knee when he struck out, hitting a home run in 4 consecutive at bats, and becoming the first player in MLB all-star history to hit a homer and to steal a base in a game. He was the MVP for that 1989 game.
The Bo Jackson train came to a screeching halt in a January 1991 NFL play-off game against the Cincinnati Bengals. A rough tackle resulted in Bo dislocating his hip. Somehow upon being taken off the field, the hip popped back into place and the damage was done. Blood vessels damaged, Jackson was soon diagnosed with avascular necrosis which killed all of the cartilage within Bo's hip socket.
Bo would never play football again. After taking 1992 off to get a total hip replacement, Bo returned to baseball with the Chicago White Sox and the California Angels. While Bo did have some impressive numbers, chronic pain kept him from ever playing more than half a season's worth of game. By 1994, Bo Jackson hung up his cleats for good.
This issue of All-Pro Sports Comics was published in 1991 just as Bo's career ending injury had experts wondering 'what if?' Published by Burke Publishing, this issue was to usher forth a vast line of comics based on current and all-time great superstars of all areas of sports. Ultimately, only 5 issues were published. Joe Montana, Wayne Gretzky, Larry Bird and Evander Hollyfield were featured in these unauthorized biographies. Sadly, Burke Publishing folded sometime in 1992 before the release of the much promised issue to feature 'Steffi Graf Graf and the Babes of Tennis!' All-Star Sports Comics would be Burke's only comic book publication.
There is supposed to be a variant cover to this issue. Bo in his Royals uniform is the lesser known version. Despite the rarity of the KC Royals cover, I haven't seen a very big difference in the prices of the 2 comics. Though, I've run across the Raiders issue on several occasions in bargain bins throughout the North Carolina comic convention circuit.
Bo Jackson will never be a part of Canton or Cooperstown. His career was too short and he never played for a championship team. But those short several years that Bo did play were exciting. If anything, Bo will forever be enshrined in my personal hall of fame. He was an amazing specimen who unfortunately became a victim of a career ending injury.
Worth Consuming!
Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.
Completing this review completes Task #37 (About Sports) of the 2022 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.
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