Since it's release on October 31st, Headlocked: Work of Art from AAM/Markosia has received nothing but positive accolades from both the wrestling and comic book community. The story of a college theater actor and his unlikely journey to become a professional wrestler was hailed as "one of the year's best comics" by Silver Bullet Comics and a story that "demonstrates exactly where the passion for the art and craft of professional wrestling is born" by former WWE/WCW television writer Ed Ferrara. With a successful one shot under his belt and a new Headlocked mini series in production, we sat down with Headlocked writer/creator Mike Kingston for a few questions about Headlocked, comics, and wrestling. CCL: What sparked your interest in wrestling? MK: One night I went to watch Saturday Night Live (this was back when it was good, mind you) and NBC was airing the WWF's Saturday Night's Main Event in its place. The first thing I saw when I turned the station was George "The Animal" Steele going nuts in the ring. He was all hairy and had that green tongue and he was eating turnbuckle stuffing. I had never seen anything like it. I just got sucked in after that. Nowadays I watch wrestling more for the athleticism than anything. Like in most professional sports, today's generation of wrestlers are on another level athletically from their predecessors. They can do things that have never been seen before in a wrestling ring. While I like most any type of wrestling, my favorite promotion is Ring of Honor. There is a real spirit of innovation there and a real love of the sport of professional wrestling. If you like wrestling, you can't go to a Ring of Honor show and not become a fan... CCL: What's your perspective on breaking into the comics industry as a writer? Was it difficult? MK: It's been incredibly difficult. There just aren't a lot of spots out there. The bigger companies want people with experience and the smaller companies aren't looking for writers. So how do you get in the door? You definitely have to do something different. That's why I decided to try and break in with Headlocked. It was a product that had a built in fan base but also could bring in readers from outside of comics and Markosia was smart enough to recognize that. CCL: Where did you get the idea for "Headlocked"? MK: I've been a wrestling fan for more than 20 years. Obviously the industry doesn't have the best reputation and there is definitely a stigma attached to it. It bothers me because wrestling is really an incredible medium for telling stories and the people that do it well are true artists in every sense of the word. They are improvisational actors that work live and do all their own stunts. How many people can do that? My goal is to show people wrestling through my eyes in hopes that it might challenge some people to at least reconsider some of the unfair assumptions that they have about it. CCL: Markosia is a publisher from the UK. How is your comic being received overseas? MK: It's been very well received actually. Whenever the WWE goes overseas, they always do well so I was hoping we'd get a good reception internationally. I've received letters from people who've really enjoyed the book from as far away as UK, Mexico, New Zealand, Australia, and the Philippines to name a few. CCL: Did you read comics as a kid, and if so, what was your favorite? If you still do, what are your favorites now, and why? MK: I've been a comic book fan for about as long as I've been a wrestling fan. I initially got sucked in by all the publicity around the first Secret Wars mini-series back in the day. Uncanny X-Men was the first book I really fell in love with though. Now my pull list is longer than ever. I'm a big fan of Vertigo books...100 Bullets, DMZ, Scalped, American Virgin, Y the Last Man are the books I look forward to most every month. I'm also a big fan of Walking Dead, Ex Machina, X-Factor, Booster Gold, and Punisher Max. And since I've been attending a lot of cons, I've been exposed to a lot of cool indy books like Death Comes To Dillinger, Maintenance, Spyboy, and Thirteen Steps which has been an unexpected bonus of this whole project. I generally like books that have a single writer and the stories are contained in one monthly issue. I like consequences in my stories....I hate when something impactful happens and the next writer comes in and undoes it. It makes you feel stupid for being emotionally invested in the first place. Headlocked: Work of Art is still available for re-orders through Diamond. (order code: AUG073844) For more information, check out www.visionarycomics.com or www.myspace.com/mike_kingston.