Mike Kingston on Headlocked’s Growth, Pitching The Rock and All In

Fred: What’s up, everybody? Fred Richani of TSC here at the Javits Center at New York Comic Con, standing alongside our longtime friend, author Mike Kingston of the “Headlocked” comic. This has to be your biggest crowd yet, man. How’s it going?

Mike Kingston: It’s been insane, honestly. Every year I feel like New York can’t get any bigger, and somehow it does. We’ve been jamming up the aisles. We’ve had three lines going in the middle of the aisle, and I think we had a bigger line than Steve Aoki, which is kind of impressive. It’s bananas.

Fred: You’ve had a number of comics released, with your main collaborator, Jerry “The King” Lawler, and you collaborate with a number of wrestlers and celebrities. What are you showcasing here?

Mike Kingston: We’re just trying to promote our “Headlocked” books. We did some cool convention prints for the show and some wrestling comic mashups that are a lot of fun. We’re working on volume four of “Headlocked” right now, and I have a couple of scripts in the works. A story with Mustafa Ali is in production, and there’s one with Jack Sexsmith from Progress. I’m working on a story with Tommy Dreamer right now, and I might have another wrestling project with a fairly large company, so we’ll see how it goes.

Fred: I’m not just saying this because I’m a big Sting fan, but Sting is right behind us posing for pictures in full gear. Sometimes celebrities don’t want to dress up for the occasion and just sign autographs, but that dude is in full face paint and full gear.

Mike Kingston: The guys we have at the booth this weekend are all warriors. Sting shows up in full face paint and a heavy coat amid the sea of humanity. Trish is working this entire show in tiny little heels on concrete. I’ve got orthotics in running shoes, and my feet are killing me. It’s a testament to people coming out and giving the fans the full experience, instead of a half-assed deal.

Fred: Speaking of testaments, you’re a testament to the do-it-yourself mentality. Your Twitter profile still has your pitch to The Rock’s Seven Bucks Productions, and you got a tweet back from him. You were also recently at All In, the do-it-yourself event from Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks. You talked about the atmosphere there and how it might have inspired you to keep going.

Mike Kingston: It’s always cool to see anybody build something from nothing. There was a period when it felt like The Bucks were going to be out of wrestling, and then they promoted the biggest independent wrestling show of all time. It’s nuts, and it keeps me moving. The thing with The Rock is sort of in limbo right now. It’s Hollywood. I kind of kicked down the door, so I don’t think they were ready for me, and they’ve got a pretty heavy schedule. I think they filmed seven movies in the time this has been going on. But I actually have a call with them next week, so I’m hoping to make something happen there. I’ve also got interest from other parties. A guy here yesterday, a television writer, was talking business with me about maybe taking us to Adult Swim and doing side stories in a “Tales from the Crypt” style. Wrestling’s hot right now, and we’ve got a pretty strong brand, so a lot of people are starting to come around. We’re hoping to see some payoff for what we’ve been doing. Of course, I still want to keep making comics and writing stories as much as I can, but if we can bring it to TV, by all means.

Fred: The brand has grown so much, and every year the contributors get bigger and bigger. Any advice for other creators on how to scale as they grow?

Mike Kingston: Don’t sleep. You have to make sacrifices. I have a stack of comics that’s about a year and a half old that I haven’t read. I haven’t watched the second seasons of any of the Marvel Netflix shows. That’s how hard I’m working just to be semi-known. That’s the game, and there’s always somebody out there working hard. I always feel like if I take a weekend off, somebody’s going to gain ground on me. Right now wrestling’s hot, and there are a ton of providers looking for content, so this isn’t the time to take your foot off the gas. I take everything day by day. If I ever stopped and looked at the enormity of everything I have to get done, I’d probably have a mental breakdown, so I deal with what’s in front of me, prioritize as best I can and keep trying to move forward.

Fred: Well said, man. Before I let you go, where can fans find you and “Headlocked” online?

Mike Kingston: All of our social media is Headlocked Comic: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and our YouTube channel, where I just started a food-centric travelogue called “Comics, Cosplay and Carbohydrates.” It’s me traveling around the country with a bunch of my famous friends, eating at different places, seeing some cool cosplay and going to wrestling shows, and you get a taste of the day-to-day struggles of trying to do all this and balance my life. We’ve got a beta episode up, and we’re going to polish it a little, but we want to give people an idea of what we’re doing.

Fred: Awesome, man. Best of luck with everything, and congrats on the well-earned success.

Mike Kingston: Thanks so much, man. I appreciate it.