"RETIRED" Count shamelessly takes chairshots from 'Catwoman' scribe.
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While the man known as Count Dante spends his time blubbering about his so-called retirement from Incredibly Strange Wrestling on this very same website, we have it on good authority that the Count was recently spotted at a Sunset District comic book shop taking chairshots to the back of the head from "Catwoman" and "Sleeper" scripter Ed Brubaker! It was last December, 2003 at the trendy Isotope Lounge Comic Book store 1623 Noriega St. in San Francisco. Brubaker was holding a book signing for his new graphic novel "Sleeper: Out of the Cold" and

according to eye witness accounts, Count Dante challenged the comic book writer to an arm wrestling match after berating a packed house of 50 drunken, slobbering nerds! The Count, now sporting hair down to his ass and a mustache, reportedly told the crowd that they had all voted for Matt Gonzalez because they were afraid that Gavin Newsom was "going to take your mama's shopping cart away from her."

One such eyewitness account can be found on the Comic Book Pimp blog...

"But the true highlight of the evening was the action packed half hour that none will ever forget, starting with an appearance by none other than ISW superstar, Count Dante, who whipped the crowd into a frenzy with insults and braggadocio. For several long minutes, Dante ran his big mouth before Ed Brubaker finally ended his reign of annoyance with a vicious chair shot to the back and a swift kick to the backside. Dante was last seen weeping and crawling pathetically for the exit."

Brubaker has a link to his very own account of the incident off of his own homepage...

"Special highlights of the day were my friend Count Dante (from Incredibly Strange Wrestling) and I putting on a show where he berated the 50 or so people in the store, playing up the wrestling bad-guy image, until I hit him with a folding chair and knocked him to the carpet and he crawled away on all fours in shame."

Brubaker shameless exposes the business and even applies that the whole imbroglio was some kind of "act." Many people there attest that the athletic competition and the breakdown that followed were 100% real - just like on television. We may never know the truth, but one thing is certain - Count Dante is still out there and he is still getting hit over the head with steel folding chairs.