The worlds of comic books and professional wrestling have always intertwined, as creators and performers share an admiration for one another. The top of the wrestling food chain is the WWE, which has a monthly comic book series at BOOM! Studios, along with its superstars venturing off to collaborate on their own creator-owned series.
Two WWE superstars who are choosing this path are C.J. Perry (Lana) and Miroslav Barnyashev (Rusev), who are married in real life while also starring on E's Total Divas. Together with award-winning comic book writer and screenwriter Jason Starr (Wolverine Max, Punisher Max) are working on a comic book called Dark Country.
While they work behind the scenes to flesh out the story, the trio is running a contest through May 1 to find an artist to bring Dark Country to life.
CBR talked with C.J. Perry to find out more about her love of comic books, partnering with Jason Starr, the origins of Dark Country and the goal of expanding to other forms of entertainment.
CBR: First, let me say congratulations on your performance in the Women's Battle Royale at Wrestlemania. What was it like performing in front of that huge crowd at Met Life Stadium?
C.J. "Lana" Perry: It’s kind of surreal. I’m always grateful to have these opportunities to perform and compete in front of 80,000 people at Met Life Stadium. It’s an incredible feeling and to also eliminate someone who’s the ultimate competitor like Ember Moon, it’s very exciting.
The WWE Universe and I have a love/hate relationship. They love me, then they hate me, but at the end of the day they’re very passionate towards me. The entire stadium booed me when I eliminated Ember Moon, so at least we have a strong, emotional connection.
They always say its better to get a reaction than no reaction.
Oh totally, 100%.
How did you decide to go with the Wonder Woman-inspired ring gear?
I didn’t know it at the time, but Mickie James went with Captain Marvel-inspired ring gear, so we got to have a Captain Marvel versus Wonder Woman moment, which wasn’t planned at all but just happened. To get even close to eliminating a veteran like Mickie James, I get really excited just thinking about it.
And I went with Wonder Woman because I’m a big comic book fan, obviously, and I love superheroes and supervillains. They always believe in themselves, and if you don’t believe in yourself, who will?
Can you take fans back to the genesis of Dark Country and how you and Rusev decided to collaborate with Jason Starr?
I’ve always loved comic books, and not just superheroes, but the world of fantasy, sci-fi, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, and I’ve always got Star Wars going on repeat. And I’ve always wanted to make my own story and Rusev and I had similar ideas of creating our own comic and larger-than-life characters – creating versions of ourselves.
And Jason Starr is an incredible writer and has written one of my favorite comics with The Punisher, so that’s how we decided to collaborate. It’s been a long time coming.
From what I understand, you and Rusev are going to be characters in Dark Country? Will this be starring or supporting roles?
Yes, we are the leading characters. Not “Rusev and Lana” but Miroslav Barnyashev and C.J. Perry. It’s really exciting that we have this contest for our fans, followers and the WWE Universe to take this journey with us of creating this comic book.
So we have this contest to find an artist. You can send samples to DarkCountryComic@gmail.com by May 1 because we want people to be involved. There’s so many amazing artists out there and we want to give everyone the opportunity to collaborate with us.
Are there any particular art styles that catch your eye when you're reading through some of your favorite comics? To help give fans and artist an idea of what you're looking for. ex: flashy, real-world, fantastical, action-packed, etc.
I do love something that has a little bit sexier, where everything is more enhanced. Where the men are bulkier, bigger, stronger and larger than life. And that’s just my personal take on it. I like to look at art and say, “Wow, that is a beautiful woman or man.”
What will be the next step for Dark Country after you've gathered all the artist samples on May 1?
We’re announcing the winner on May 15, so that will be the next step. Then we’ll start working with the artist. Jason Starr is actually well on his way into writing the entire comic book, and we’ve created the characters and the story, though I don’t want to give it away yet.
And we’re going to show the world and fans and followers a lot of it as we move along, which we’re really excited about.
Do you see this being a miniseries or something that can sustain itself as an ongoing series?
For sure, we want this to be at least a three or four issue comic to make a volume. And if our fans, followers and the WWE Universe like it, we want it to be an ongoing comic book that’s released on a schedule.
Ideally, our dream is to have it adapted into a streaming or TV series. The sky’s the limit.
Win a chance for a paid gig, creating art for DARK COUNTRY, a new superhero comic by Jason Starr (Wolverine, Punisher) and C.J. Perry and Miro Barnyashev, also known as WWE SuperStars Lana & Rusev. Submit samples to DarkCountryComic@gmail.com by May 1st, 2019.