Exclusive Interview: Lan Pitts Brings A WWE Classic To Comics In WrestleMania 2018 Special

04/03/2018 11:08 pm EDT

WrestleMania is just around the corner, and BOOM! Studios is celebrating in a big way.

This week sees the release of the WWE WrestleMania 2018 Special #1, which will feature all-time names like Macho Man Randy Savage, Ricky The Dragon Steamboat, John Cena, The Miz, Triple H, Elizabeth, and more. Writer Lan Pitts took some time out to talk to ComicBook.com about helping to bring that match to life on the page, and why this was the match of choice for the book.

"So this match is consistently called the greatest WrestleMania match in history, but the funny thing is, I didn't choose it for the book," Pitts said. "I had pitched a few other things and my editor Chris Rosa suggested it to me. I was shocked. You know, I haven't been doing this comic writing thing for long, a little over a year at this point and to be given the responsibility to take the reins on that match is just...wow. Ya know? So the pressure was on almost immediately."

That pressure ended up resulting in a whole new draft of the script.

"The deadline was Halloween last year and I remember turning it in and really disliking what I had done and slept on it and rewrote pretty much an entirely new script the next morning," Pitts said. "I wanted it to be done right. I wanted to honor this match the best way I could so I treated it with almost like a storybook narration or something out of a Greek myth; like common folklore. I mean, isn't that what wrestling, much like comics, really is, just modern day mythology?"

While matches like this one are great as a young fan, looking back on them can bring about a whole new level of appreciation.

"As a fan having grown up with this match, it's one of those matches you always hear about and you watch as a kid, but I'm not sure if I really appreciated it at when I was little, Pitts said. "I was four when the match took place, and I don't think I really saw the mat classic that it is until probably when I was 16. A buddy of mine had ordered WrestleMania 2000, but they had this all day presentation of past WrestleManias leading up to the show that night. I went back and bought the VHS of it as they had just rereleased all of them and really took notice of the storytelling they were doing which was really unlike anything else they had going on. It was like more of what the NWA was doing at the time, with a faster pace style of in-ring action. I must have rewatched at least four more times in a row to get the pacing of the story right and, man, does it hold up."

Something that translates extremely well to comics is the storytelling aspect of a match, but conveying the physicality of a match can be difficult at times, and this match-up has its share of challenges.

"Yeah I was just saying, the pacing for sure was the most difficult," Pitts said. "Mind you, this match is almost 20 minutes long, and there's a lot you want to convey and put into the match with it still making sense from a storytelling point of view. And also, it is non-stop action. I know that word is overused a lot, but it's the literal truth. They go and they go hard! There's this part of the match in the middle with some solid wrestling chains and trying to put that on the page without it being like a 12-panel page was difficult for sure. I feel like my second revision made better use of the action. I didn't want to waste anything, but even with Randy moving Elizabeth out of the way, I wanted to get his character across the best I could."

Artist Jake Elphick really brings that match to life visually, at times making it feel as if you're watching the match for the first time on your family's old TV set. Two moments in particular though came back even better than expected.

"Man, damn, can we talk about Jake for a minute because since starting on WWE projects I have been nothing but hashtag blessed with my artists," Pitts said. "From Kelly Williams to Rodrigo Lorenzo to Kendall Goode, each artist I've collaborated with has been insanely talented. The only thing I knew Jake from before this was his Huck story with my bud Stephanie Cooke for that MillarWorld New Talent Annual last year, but the energy he brought to this was insane. Just insane. Had I known he could dish out this much energy, I would have changed my story completely just to accommodate his killer style. I can't just pick one moment I think that came back better than I imagined, so allow me two, okay?"

"One being where Ricky has Randy in a wristlock and it's such a basic wrestling move, but how he's positioned both guys it looks like Ricky is about to take Randy's damn arm off, but the calm face he has on Ricky is great," Pitts said. "Where Savage was loud, brash, and wild, Ricky was more somber, calm, collective. He just puts him in his place and thinks nothing of it. The other being how the story ends. Yes, it's hardly a spoiler to say that Steamboat came out on top, but I wanted a different ending than just Savage's loss, so the last panel has this King Conan vibe from Conan the Barbarian's epilogue."

Today's WWE is far different than the WWF era these two competed in, but Pitts believes these stars would resonate just as well in today's wrestling climate.

"I think so," Pitts said. "For the most part, WWE has always put entertainment first, in-ring action second, but there's this change happening in the company. You see it every time you watch NXT, and with guys like Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Seth Rollins on the active roster, all vets before signing their WWE contracts, it's hard to ignore. I feel like this resonates so well because it's something you can watch and go "that's how it's done, this is storytelling". It's something, I feel like, teaches wrestling fans as well as aspiring wrestlers of what is really capable with the medium."

Now, Macho Man and The Dragon is an awfully hard match to top, but there a few others Pitts would love to write at some point.

"At the top of my head Rock and Hogan," Pitts said. "We currently can't because we don't have the likeness rights to either, but that match is in my top five for sure. It's not a technical mat classic by any means, but recently rewatching that match, man, it was pure magic. I think Undertaker and Jake the Snake from WrestleMania VIII is another one I'd love to tackle. I've written Taker twice now and love his macabre microverse so much. I think having Jake trying to get inside the mind of Taker would be fun to explore because both were such dark, silent characters that complimented each other so well."

"Lastly, I think Shawn/Taker II. I think having a story showing Shawn turning to his faith for strength and come to terms with the darkness of his own career would be something I'd love to take a swing at."

Fans will have a whole new roster of potential classics coming up at this year's WrestleMania, and there are definitely a few matches that Pitts wouldn't mind building a story around someday.

"Without a doubt AJ and Nak," Pitts said. "Have you seen their WrestleKingdom 10 match? Just my God, what a wrestling clinic that match is. I don't know if they'll go as hard as they did in Japan, but that's the dream match for me on a WWE card, and since I'm actually going to WrestleMania this year I feel like I've won some sort of lottery to get the chance to witness that. I've followed both those guys careers for over a decade, especially AJ with him being a fellow Georgian so I got to see him in his early days over at NWA Wildside. With Nakamura, I just discovered him through the internet and friends when tape-trading was a thing, if anybody remembers those days."

Pitts made our day when he brought up another potential story featuring none other than The Miz, a storyline that would also include Seth Rollins and Finn Balor.

"I think the interesting story here that could be expanded on behind the scenes is the triple threat match for Miz's Intercontinental Championship," Pitts said. "Everybody knows that the IC title is the workhorse title and I couldn't think of two bigger workhorses than Rollins and Balor, so adding them kinda makes sense, but from a TV perspective it comes across as "well, let's just give them something to do", but Rollins has been one of my go-to guys and would love to revisit his rivalry with Balor from SummerSlam and why Seth feels like this is his proper redemption road to the top. Plus getting to dress the Miz would be so much fun. That suit game is strong."

You can check out a preview of the new issue above, and you can pick up the WWE WrestleMania 2018 Special#1 in comic stores on April 4.

Disclosure: ComicBook is owned by CBS Interactive, a division of Paramount. Sign up for Paramount+ by clicking here.