Pitt Returns: Creator Dale Keown Announces Phillip Diaz as New Series Writer

When the Image Revolution of the 90s took place, it spawned (pun fully intended) a plethora of titles, many of which were flashes in the pan or team books that were indistinguishable from each other, only to note they all vaguely looked like Marvel's X-Men. But there were a handful of standout characters that made a greater impact with readers and the entertainment industry: Todd McFarlane's Spawn, Erik Larsen's Savage Dragon, Sam Keith's The Maxx, and Dale Keown's Pitt. Pitt saw a 20 issue run which ended on a cliffhanger and right as all the series' foreshadowing seemed to be coming to a payoff.

When Keown came back to the independent comics scene, he joined up with Ethan Van Sciver's All Caps Comics to distribute a new run of the popular comic. But details of how that would happen were still kept under wraps.

But on April 26, on Joe Sonntag's YouTube channel, Keown dropped the news that everyone was waiting for. Not only was Pitt returning and bringing back all the elements of the original series, but the launch would have a new writer: Phill Diaz of Zaid Comics.

"Not sure if i want to say where the story picks up yet," Diaz tells Critical Blast. "But fans are going to see familiar faces outside of just PITT, and even some villains that we did not get to see at the full potential of, from the OG series."

However, fans may have to wait a while longer before a campaign for the series launches. "We don't want to rush it," cautions Diaz. "I would like to have a good amount of art done before the campaign is launched. For Dale and I, deadlines are very important. I am hoping that Dale can arrange for that PITT Omnibus to come out. If so, i think that will give everyone a refresher on this world before we melt their faces with the comeback."

Fans have been expecting an announcement for a Pitt series ever since Keown made his first appearance on Van Sciver's Comic Artist Pro Secrets show, and on repeat appearances Keown would sometimes share the show with other guests, one of them being Phill Diaz. "I was also making appearances on there, and got the chance to share the panel with Dale a number of times. We hit it off. We both love LOBO, Simon Bisley, and ultraviolent bad-assery."

"I sent him a copy of my book, THE LOST PAGES, and he seemed to dig my use of narration," Diaz continues. "Back in August I came to him with an idea for his new PITT series, something for him to use if he wanted. And his response was, 'I love that. So do you want to run with this?' I was confused until he clarfied: 'Write the story?' It was shocking. Surreal. Since then we have been meeting and working on plot while he's been working on a slew of CG (Comicsgate) covers."

Keown is the latest of a number of comics pros who have stepped away from the mainstream industry outlets to pursue his craft in the independent market of crowdfunded comics. He has recently contributed a cover for Van Sciver's property, CYBERFROG.