MICHAEL KINGSTON ushers in the VAMPIRO ROCKABILLY APOCALYPSE

Austin Allen Hamblin is back, this time with Michael Kingston, to discuss his long run of wrestling comics; the latest being Vampiro Rockabilly Apocalypse from Massive Publishing.

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COMIC BOOK YETI: OH YEAH, BROTHER! Today, we are talking to the king of pro-wrestling comics.  I have known Michael Kingston for over ten years, having first found his work through the Kickstarter comic, Headlocked. We then ended up becoming friends. He has written many comics, almost always centering around professional wrestling: Headlocked, Tales from the Road, Boom’s WWE Comic, Friday Night Bigfoot, and Vampiro Rockabilly Apocalypse from Massive. Many people on the con scene call you “The Road Warrior” because of how many cons you attend. How do you manage to work a job and still be everywhere all the time?

MICHAEL KINGSTON: I mean, to put it bluntly, I just don’t sleep. I try to be productive on planes, in airport lounges, and in lulls at cons. My life is packed so full that there’s no real margin for error. And I know that sounds miserable but I truly love both making comics and seeing the world, so it’s been the great joy of my life. 

CBY: Where did your love for professional wrestling begin?

MK: I was eight years old when the first Saturday Night’s Main Event aired. I was flipping through channels, and that’s when I first saw George “The Animal” Steele. He was outrageous and hairy and slobbering…easily the most over-the-top thing I had ever seen, and I was captivated. I’ve probably watched some form of wrestling every day of my life since. 

CBY: You’ve worked with many wrestlers on comics, sometimes co-writing and sometimes with them providing the art. Who sticks out to you as understanding comics the best? Who was the most excited to make a comic?

MK: The real hardcore comics guys like Hurricane, Christopher Daniels, RVD, and Frankie Kazarian definitely get the medium better than most. But at their heart, all wrestlers are storytellers, so it’s not as tough of a task as it might seem getting them to understand the medium. 

As far as excitement goes, Will Hobbs was definitely pumped to have done a comic. And The IInspiration named our collaboration as their favorite thing they’ve completed post-WWE. I’d be remiss without mentioning Cryme Tyme…our collaboration was one of the last things that Shad Gaspard did before his untimely passing. Shad was a friend and he loved comics. The last thing he ever texted me was “Super appreciate being part of this.” I don’t think the thought of that will ever not make me tear up. 

CBY: In your newest comic, Vampiro Rockabilly Apocalypse, you team up with wrestling legend Vampiro and tell an insane tale full of diverse and cool characters. How did you get hooked up with Vampiro?

MK: I’ve been working with Masked Republic for years at conventions and various projects. Kevin Kleinrock is someone I respect immensely. He asked me to make a pitch for Vampiro for a comic, possibly to be packaged with an action figure. After writing nothing but wrestling comics for years, I was excited to be able to cram all the weird ideas that didn’t fit into Headlocked stories for the last fifteen years into something new. Then after running them by Vampiro, who is one of the most unique souls you’re likely to encounter, we made the weirdest, funnest book possible. 

CBY: The project has also been optioned for television. If you could cast anyone, who would you want involved in the project, past or present? Maybe an appearance from El Santo?

MK: Vampiro himself would be a tough person to cast for just because he’s so unique. In my head, I could definitely see Stephen Amell playing Maddox Mars. Ben Marshall from Please Don’t Destroy would make a great Everitt. Maybe Xochitl Gomez as Estrella? And if anything I ever wrote ever made it to TV, I’d want Chris Bauer to be in it, because he's just the best. 

CBY: I also want to talk about Friday Night Bigfoot. While this is still centered around professional wrestling, it has the Cryptid element. What made you decide to do a Bigfoot pro wrestling comic?

MK: I co-created the idea with former WWE superstar, Gangrel. We were working out a "Tales from the Road" idea, and he pitched Bigfoot. And once we started riffing on ideas, it was clear we made something too fun to keep to a short story. Mixing Bigfoot with 80’s territory wrestling just takes you to so many interesting places. 

CBY: In the last few years, it seems we have had a resurgence of popularity in wrestling. Not only with WWE, but AEW and international promotions like AAA and New Japan. What are some of your favorite things happening in wrestling right now?

MK: I’ve been doing this so long and I’m friends with so many wrestlers, it’s just so cool seeing them all doing so well. 

Creatively, I like pretty much anything Sami Zayn, Finn Balor or Samoa Joe are involved in. I love Ricochet’s new character and watching the rise of Swerve and Jey Uso. I love seeing Penta on the WWE stage. Bianca Belair and Naomi are just perfection to me. And I’ve really enjoyed watching the rise of Dominik Mysterio…back in 2018, he was just a little kid helping his dad sell T-shirts at my SDCC booth and now look at him!  

CBY: Did you ever have any aspirations to enter the squared circle? Well, I mean, you must have as a former DDT Ironman champion…

MK: When I was younger, I definitely had thoughts of it, but it isn’t like it is today…there are schools everywhere. I had no idea where I could go to train. Definitely one of the bigger “what ifs?” in my life. 

But I guess it worked out in the end. How many people can say they were a Japanese wrestling champion? (Well, I mean aside from the 431 other people that have held that title?) And I took zero bumps! 

CBY: What was it like working on the official WWE comic compared to doing your own stuff?

MK: It was fun to play with the toys, so to speak. Story-wise, I got almost no notes. Considering I co-wrote two of those stories with AJ Styles and Samoa Joe…it wasn’t too different from working on Tales from the Road. I wish I could’ve done more. I had so many ideas and collaborators lined up.  

CBY: How can people find you and support your work?

MK: My webstore and all of my social media is @headlockedcomic and it's all run by me. If you haven’t checked out our stuff before, we’ve got some really dope stuff. I promise you’ll have a good time. 

CBY: For anyone who wants to dive deeper, You can read more about my relationship with Kingston at https://substack.com/@austinallenhamblin/p-162859183. This was Austin Allen Hamblin from Comic Book Yeti, signing off with another interview from the Yeti Cave. Be excellent, everyone! https://linktr.ee/austinallenhamblin

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