Broken Frontier

Titan Publishing has announced its partnership with World Wrestling Entertainment® in the launch of WWE Comics.  Over the course of the agreement, 20 issues will be produced and distributed to comic retailers and specialty stores in the US and Canada.  The comic’s flagship title will be WWE Heroes featuring WWE Superstars and Divas, with the first issue debuting on March 23, 2010.

BROKEN FRONTIER: How did this project come about?

KEITH CHAMPAGNE: I can't testify to anything before I came onboard but for me, it all started when a plucky young editor named Ned Hartley (who has since gone on to achieve great things like becoming my Facebook friend) contacted me about a new license that Titan magazines acquired--and if I might be interested in writing it.

It was serendipitous timing. I had literally left Supergirl the day before and was about to start looking for a new project. When I heard it was WWE, I was sold. As a lifelong wrestling fan, it was an offer I couldn't refuse.

BF: What will the comics be like? One-shots or miniseries?

KC: It's an ongoing comic series. Each story arc is a complete narrative but they're also designed to build upon one another so that when taken together, each is a piece of a larger puzzle.

BF: Will there be an ongoing plot?

KC: There is a larger, ongoing plot at play. Each successive story arc raises the stakes a bit and reveals a bit more of the mythology and puzzle we're building until finally resolving the greater conflict in the final series.

BF: In the CHAOS! Comics era there were some wrestling-comics to be found and those stories were all about the gladiator/battle-theme as well as good-vs-evil.

KC: What will the theme for WWE-comics be? At its most basic, professional wrestling is about good versus evil. So is LOST, or Action Comics, Lethal Weapon movies, or any number of other stories told. Storytelling techniques, characters, and set dressing like time periods may change but the overall theme remains as fundamental.

BF: Will Andy Smith be the ongoing artist? Who is theoverall team working on these comics?

KC: Andy is onboard to kick us off and define the visual identity for the first story-arc and, depending on his availability, will possibly be back for the third. But because the second story arc is being produced simultaneously as the first, a different artist will be handling the interiors. Andy's fast but pencilling two books a month at the level he does would break his poor little drawing arm in half. I know he's been working out on a bowflex but still...he's only human.

Also, on our website we take a look through the stages of artist Andy Smith's #1 WWE Heroes cover: http://wwecomics.com/wwe-heroes-1-behind-the-cover/323/

Titan has a great artist lined up for the second story-arc but I'm not allowed to divulge who it is right now.

BF: In the press release it was announced that the comics would be available in the US and Canada. Is the rest of the world not a possibility via Diamond or Haven?

KC: Yes, through Forbidden Planet and all good specialist comic stores in the UK.

BF: I am a big fan of references in comics and clearly you have taken the personas and faces of WWE superstars to the pages of the comic. Are the superstars themselves involved in promotion or otherwise, much like in the way Gene Simmons works his way in comics with Kiss?

KC: It's too early to divulge these plans but it's safe to say the WWE is one of the greatest marketing/publicity-minded businesses going--and Titan has done a really impressive job of rolling out the initial release and website for the series. There's definitely a plan in place for getting the word out there in a big way, starting at Wrestlemania: their biggest event of the year.

BF: What is the setup for the first issues? What is going to be happening to the WWE superstars?

KC: The WWE finds themselves in the worst situation a live event with over 20,000 fans in attendance possibly could when terrorists lead by a fanatic named the Reverend Josiah Brown sieze control. But what at first seems like a straightforward hostage situation is only the outer skin of the onion. As the layers begin to peel back, the WWE finds themselves caught up in a horrifying situation in which none of them may survive.

In fact, one of the biggest names in all of sports entertainment doesn't make it out of the first issue alive and it only gets worse from there.

WWE Heroes #1 on-sale March 23rd 2010
Available from all good retailers and specialist comic stores.