Headlocked: Tales from the Road, a forthcoming graphic novel by Michael Kingston, will showcase art and story by some of wrestling’s biggest stars. “You’ve got costumes, larger than life characters, the whole morality play. So it’s not surprising that there’s a lot of overlap in the fandoms,” Kingston told Forbes.

The author hopes to bridge the gap between comic book and pro wrestling fans, who have long clamored for quality wrestling comics but have been sadly shortchanged. Kingston has never understood how a fan base that spends millions on live events, media and pay-per-view has always been marketed such low-quality comics.

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After spending years trying to convince publishers that a graphic novel about the wrestling world could work, he finally decided to fly solo in 2006. He worked two jobs for a year to save enough money to hire an artist to illustrate the first storyline of Headlocked.

Despite his efforts, his booked was rejected by retailers. Taking matters into his own hands, Kingston sold copies at conventions and wrestling matches, slowly growing a committed fan base. In addition, wrestlers started to take notice. Jerry Lawler offered to contribute artwork and Michael Milipola provided interior art. So far, Ric Flair, Mick Foley, AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks, Booker T, Rob Van Dam, Hurricane, Cody Rhodes, MVP, Gangrel, The Addiction, Ken Anderson, Trent Seven, Donovan Dijak and numerous others have lent their talents to the project.

Kingston also managed to raise more than $100,000 on Kickstarter, and he’s currently crowdfunding to produce his latest volume, Tales from the Road. The new book offers a series of short stories and wrestler character studies. One story, “The Beacon,” which has been co-authored by Kingston and Adeel Alam with art by Nadia Ramlan, tells the tale of a Pakistani-American wrestler who refuses to become a stereotype.

Given his success with fans, Kingston is now beginning to explore other options, including potentially creating an animated series. “If we could do it as a cartoon – like a late-night cartoon for adults – we could get real wrestlers to do the voices, to bring a little star power to it,” he says.

Kingston has also launched Headlocked Clothing in conjunction with Pro Wrestling Tees and will join Jeanie Buss and WOW: Superheroes for a special San Diego Comic Con event.

Source: Forbes

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