The Headlocked comic once quoted me, “An intriguing take on an industry that is just as drama filled behind the scenes as it is on television.” Years later and seeing all the work that has gone behind Headlocked, I still hold that to be true. Michael Kingston has created the quintessential wrestling story ithough never being a wrestler himself. Though there are some parts nitpickers may try to poke and prod at, it has come a hell of a lot closer to the wrestling world than any WWE or WCW comic ever did.
With two months time, Kingston has given himself the Kickstarter goal of $16,000 with over $2,000 coming in during the first 24 hours to help fund the second story arc of the comic entitled Headlocked: The Last Territory. Meant to be enjoyed as a continuation of the story or read on its own, Kingston describes Headlocked: The Last Territory:
In The Last Territory, Hartmann’s journey brings him to Texas and Kings of Texas Championship Wrestling. Built around the ultimate regional superstar, Magnificent Mark Steele, it’s the last surviving wrestling territory in the country. Because they still draw strong crowds, the WFW uses it as a developmental promotion to prepare their talent before bringing them up to the “big leagues.” It’s a heavy dose of the old-school “smoky arena” days mashed up with modern corporate wrestling politics.
In this type of environment, we’ll meet wrestlers at every level of their career: rising stars, veterans getting repackaged, superstars on injury rehab, territory lifers, and the hopeless dreamers. With all these guys literally one call away from making it to “the show,” you can bet there’s going to be some drama!
Having seen the changes in the way wrestling runs itself and the fall of the territory system in real life, I am personally looking forward to seeing where Kingston takes the story next.
Michael is someone who genuinely loves both the worlds of wrestling and comics and his story is a fantastic merger of the two. And from the looks of it, the fans on Kickstarter have taken notice. Some of the top rewards have already been claimed including someone getting their own likeness being featured as a champion during the run of the series.
In addition to donating to the Kickstarter, make sure to stop down and see him in person at Comic Con, starting tomorrow at booth 1901. He is pretty easy to spot always throwing up his hands in the background of anyone taking a picture of Lou Ferrigno.
