Exclusive BOOM! Preview: WWE #4 Pits Seth Rollins Against Roman Reigns

04/20/2017 09:00 am EDT

BOOM! Studios has provided ComicBook.com with an exclusive first look at next week's WWE #4 from writer Dennis Hopeless and artist Serg Acuña.

"I was a big wrestling fan as a kid," Hopeless told ComicBook.com in a recent interview. "As a little kids back in 80's, I was huge into Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant era. And then when I was in high school the NWO thing happened, and I'm a big WCW fan. More recently last couple of years, Jason Aaron actually yanked me back into WWE fandom ... I'm a big every week, every show, WWE fan now."

While Hopeless has an appreciation for the entertaining nostalgia that old WCW bouts can surely bring, his series very much patterns itself after the current times in wrestling.

That's partly why the first major story arc centers around The SHIELD, one of the most dominant factions in WWE over the last decade. The trio has been apart for some time now, but the popularity doesn't seem to wane.

"Well one of the challenges of the book is that you can't stay current with WWE programming, because they change things on the fly. They're always bringing up new storylines, always moving stuff from the front to the back, and it's every week," Hopeless said. "It takes months to make a comic book; so we were never going to be able to be 100% current. We were going to have to go back and tell stories from in the ... past continuity. And The Shield, it's like you said, it's the storyline that is relevant now. It goes back two-three years at this point, and the characters that were involved in the break ... the three former members of The Shield are ... have had really interesting story arcs since then, both together and separately."

You can check out the official solicitation text below, and the preview pages in the attached image gallery.

WWE #4

Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Writer: Dennis Hopeless
Artist: Serg Acuña
Cover Artists:

• Main Cover: Dan Mora
• "Now" Enzo Amore & Big Cass Variant Cover: Marco D'Alfonso
• "Then" Chris Jericho Variant Cover: Jorge Corona
• "Forever" Sting Variant Cover: Frazer Irving
• Paul Bearer Action Figure Variant Cover: Adam Riches
• Royal Rumble Connecting Variant Cover: Brent Schoonover
• WWE Intercontinental Championship Title Belt Foil Variant Cover: Scott Newman

Format: 32 pages, full color
Price: $3.99
On sale: 4/26/17

Synopsis: Seth wants a title match against Roman at Extreme Rules, but The Authority isn't sold that Rollins is still what's "best for business." No matter—Seth is willing to break all the rules to regain his spot at the top.

WWE #4 is due in stores on April 26. You can pre-order a digital copy here.

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