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Mike Kingston on Comics, Wrestling, and Creative Persistence · The Scene Projects

• 0:02
  Today, we've got the architect of modern wrestling comics himself, Michael Kingston.
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  He's the creative force behind Headlocked Comics, a groundbreaking series that's brought
• 0:12
  the world of pro wrestling to the page with legends like Mick Foley, Jerry Lawler, and
• 0:18
  Trish Stratus.
• 0:19
  Stick around as we dive into the stories, the art, and the passion behind wrestling's first
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  true comic universe.
• 0:26
  Let's get into the show.
• 0:32
  This program is part of the Scene Projects podcast network.
• 0:36
  Scene Project features interviews with independent musicians, comedians, and artists
• 0:41
  from across the Midwest.
• 0:44
  Become part of our community and support local art wherever you are.
• 0:57
  Welcome into this exciting episode of the Scene Project Sports Network.
• 1:01
  With me today is Mike Kingston.
• 1:03
  Mike, welcome to the show, brother.
• 1:05
  How are doing?
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  Thanks for, thanks for having me on.
• 1:08
  I appreciate it.
• 1:08
  Yeah.
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  And I'm gonna give a quick shout out to Matt Classic Creed for, connecting us, man.
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  I know you're in town.
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  You're close.
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  We won't get to meet in person, unfortunately, because I have other obligations this weekend.
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  But, give us a little bit of backstory, and then we'll talk about, obviously, you being in
• 1:25
  Sioux Falls for the Sioux Falls Comic Con.
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  So, yeah, I was just a I was a kid who loved wrestling and comics, and I felt like anytime I
• 1:36
  would buy wrestling comics, they were really kinda lame.
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  I think everybody kind of has consumed things that were made for money and things that were
• 1:47
  made for love.
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  So, you know, I always just kinda felt like the people that made wrestling comics didn't really
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  care about wrestling and didn't care about wrestling fans or whatever.
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  So I decided to make my own wrestling comics, and then I was summarily turned down by
• 2:00
  everybody in comics.
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  Just sometimes in brutally harsh terms, a guy from a large publisher, like, literally laughed
• 2:09
  in my face.
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  So I made my own books.
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  I started selling them on my backpack at wrestling shows.
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  I built a readership, and then a lot of the wrestlers who like comics would buy my books
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  from me.
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  And we started making books together, and it's just sort of grown and grown.
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  Now I've collaborated with probably 50 different famous wrestlers, you know, Ric
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  Flair, Jerry Lawler, Mick Foley, Cody Rhodes, Kenny Omega, Sergeant Slaughter, you know, just
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  a ton a ton of big names.
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  And, you know, I do about 30 Comic Cons a year now.
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  I get to I've get I've got to see the world and get to I got to meet all my heroes and make,
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  you know, make make art with them.
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  And that's been, you know, kind of the coolest thing ever.
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  That's so cool.
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  And something that you, you hit on there is funny because I was talking about it.
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  I'm gonna show them off a little bit.
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  So I work with a new magazine called Tumbling Rock Zine out of Minnesota, and and it was
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  something that started about a year or so ago that, the the way the ladies put it is it was a
• 3:16
  joke.
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  We did it as something for, you know, one of their own band shows, and then everybody's
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  like, oh my god.
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  I love that.
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  And it it's for the love of it.
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  Right?
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  And we talked a lot last night about, you know well, like, it has to be a little bit of a
• 3:32
  business, but we don't wanna make it icky.
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  Right?
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  We're not in it to make money.
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  We're in there to support the artists that we love.
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  And for you, it was just supporting and writing about the things that you love in an art form
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  that you had a passion for.
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  So, the parallels of just, like, the last twelve hours of my life between, you know,
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  talking with the gals last night and then talking with you today.
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  It it was too juicy not to just bring up and and kinda put that out there.
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  So awesome, man.
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  So did you kinda draw grow grow up drawing and and making illustrations, or was it more of the
• 4:05
  stories that you kinda come from it from that angle?
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  Yes.
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  I do everything but draw.
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  But one of the cool things about my books is a lot of the artists that I use are trained
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  wrestlers that are also professional grade comic book artists.
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  So Jerry the King Waller paint painted the covers to a lot of my books.
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  He had a lot of art skills.
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  It's how he got into wrestling in the first place.
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  And then I had and then I have a Samoan wrestler from New Zealand.
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  His name is Mikhail Molapola.
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  He does the art for headlocks.
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  And then I have another artist named Doug Hills who was a trained indie wrestler, then he kinda
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  gave it up before he became a full time comic artist.
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  And so it's kind of cool because we're we're doing stories about the art of wrestling and
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  doing art with wrestlers, but then also having the wrestlers contribute artistically as well
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  as, you know, storytelling.
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  Yeah.
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  That is so cool.
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  So you're kinda writing the story like oh, I'm so interested.
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  I've never talked to anyone who's written a comic book, so I have, a million questions, and
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  I'm gonna try to keep it in order a little bit.
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  But so the process, do you kinda come up with the story first and kinda storyboard and then
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  they come with the illustrations after that?
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  Is that kind of the the basis for how it's made?
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  Yes.
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  Yes.
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  So I I I do the story or I co create a bunch of stories with different wrestlers.
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  I have a series called Tales From The Road where I I collaborate with a wrestler.
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  We come up with a story together, and then, you know, I write a script, and then, you know, we
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  go back and forth on it until we're good with it.
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  And then, you know, we send it to the artist, and the artist does the art, and then it goes
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  to a letter who does the word balloons and the caption boxes and the title and the the trade
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  dress and all that.
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  And then it goes to a printer to get made and then hopefully into somebody's hands to to read
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  it.
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  That's just awesome.
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  I I love hearing stories of someone who's passionate about a a sport or, an artist or or
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  something and is able to build that up for themselves.
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  Oh, how long how long have you been doing this, Mike?
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  About fifteen years or so.
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  It just I mean, it was a long process of me, you know, when I just had my first book.
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  Because because the other thing that people don't I mean, comics are super, super expensive
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  to make.
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  Like, it's a horrible business plan.
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  Like, it's high high overhead, low price point.
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  You know?
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  They'd laugh you right out of Shark Tank.
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  But, I mean, if you're in it, right, like, you're in it for the love of the game.
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  You know, I do I'm doing a panel at this show this weekend.
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  I'll I'll talk about that later, I guess, but about making your own comics and stuff.
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  But, you know, I just tell people, you know, I mean, Robert Kirkland got rich off the walking
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  dead, but, like, there's not a lot of people who make a ton of money.
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  But, I mean, I wouldn't trade my life with anybody for, you know, what I've got to do,
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  what I've got to experience or whatever because I make comic books out of my bedroom.
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  So it's been, yeah, it's been a dream.
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  I just wanna make a cool wrestling comic, and I never thought, you know, I'd be sitting down
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  with Ric Flair to to come up with a comic book story.
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  So
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  Right.
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  And and I kinda mentioned it off camera that I was covering a PGA event.
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  I mean, I started this podcast in my garage, and last weekend, I was interviewing hall of
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  famers Ronda Barber and Chris Carter.
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  Know?
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  Yeah.
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  So as a fan, like, you you started this passion project, and now it's giving you access to the
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  people that you grew up loving.
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  Like, what more does a guy need?
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  Right?
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  Who needs all the money in the world if you're not having to pay for the experiences that you
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  are spending your money on anyway?
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  And that's funny because so many people like wrestling.
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  So I I've gotten to do, like, sort of tangentially had, you know, people who are
• 7:51
  involved in wrestling were able to do, you know, do stuff for me.
• 7:55
  So, like, the basis for my favorite band is my favorite band is Gaslight Anthem, and the
• 8:00
  basis, Alex Levine, is a wrestling fan.
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  You know, he he loves my books, which is cool and, like, wrote a pull quote for me.
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  And then, you know, my favorite TV show ever was The Wire, and the second season is my
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  favorite season.
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  Chris Bauer, played Frank Sabaka, was my favorite character.
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  He just wrote a forward for volume three for Tales on the Road.
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  So, like like, for me, like, sort of the juice is, like, meeting, you know, creators that you
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  respect and then having them respect what you do.
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  Like, that is
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  And money can't I respect, Mike.
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  I don't care
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  how much of it
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  you got.
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  And that, yeah.
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  I'm living living it in the same way.
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  Right?
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  We're just a year and a half or so into our broadcasting career.
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  Right?
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  But, what it's brought me and the way I get treated by people is is so far beyond whatever
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  monetary value could be placed on it.
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  And sure.
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  Could could it be worth a little bit more?
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  Probably.
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  But, eventually, somebody comes along that sees the value in that and is willing to work on
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  commission and go find
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  the money.
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  Sure.
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  I mean and, you know, for me, I just wanna make enough money to keep making comments.
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  That's all I that's all I really care about.
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  I just I just wanna make comics.
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  I I have a million stories in my head that I need to get out onto the page.
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  And so that's all I really wanna do.
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  And I wanna see the world.
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  You know?
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  I grew up I grew up poor, and, like, I didn't I didn't get on a plane until I was in my late
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  twenties.
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  And at the end of this year, I'll have five states that I haven't been to.
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  I got I got brought to Australia.
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  I got to pet koalas with Bret Hart in Australia.
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  I mean, like, it's a it's an insane life.
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  You know?
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  I've I've been all over the place, all of these con you know, all over the country.
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  I've got to see so much of the world.
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  I've got friends everywhere.
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  Like, it's, you know, it's just the it's just the best, man.
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  I I wouldn't like I said, I it's interesting too because, you know, when you start out,
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  like, you go through these hardships.
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  Right?
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  Like, had this guy laugh at me, and I had a the comic book store in my town said nobody would
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  ever read my books.
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  And, you know, I had a lot of naysayers at the beginning, and, you know, I chased a lot of
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  publishers for a long time.
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  And then when Kickstarter became a thing, like, I was able to just make my books and sort of
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  just take them to people directly.
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  And then I you know, our first Kickstarter here for $27,000.
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  So it's you know what I mean?
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  Like, you know, there's times where you just kind of the rejection kind of sucks and you're
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  going through it and you're struggling.
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  But, you know, ultimately, it made my it made me build a stronger property.
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  It made me build a stronger foundation to what I can do.
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  And, you know, I've been able to make books longer than a lot of people.
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  I mean, there are people that have tried to do what I do and they haven't lasted.
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  So, you know, I just it's interesting.
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  It's a you know, it's been a struggle, but whatever.
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  Like I said, everything that I went through brought me to where I am, and I wouldn't trade
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  where I am for anything.
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  Brother, I I sold overpriced magazine subscriptions door to door.
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  I know all about rejection.
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  And in some ways, I'm very grateful for that opportunity because it made me so callous to
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  that.
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  Right?
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  And now I'm not afraid to knock on, hi.
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  I'm Bubba Starts.
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  I have an award winning podcast and to see where that leads me.
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  And, I'm not afraid of no.
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  Right?
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  Because I know that the guy next door might say yes, and it's always that, like, eternal
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  optimist side of of that, you know, has been because you beat down that other side.
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  You beat down that pessimist.
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  You go, look.
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  If you're gonna live in that space, you're never gonna make it.
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  Right?
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  If you're gonna, you know, be afraid of the word no, then you're never going to to make it
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  anywhere in life, really.
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  So love your story, man.
• 11:45
  I gotta know.
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  What's it like working with the king?
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  Oh, it's crazy.
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  I mean, it's it's crazy.
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  You know?
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  Like, he's one of my best friends now.
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  And I I sent him a cold email through his website, you know, probably thirteen, fourteen
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  years ago.
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  Forgot I did it after I did it.
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  It was such a, like, a lark.
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  Like, I knew he did art.
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  And then he sent me an email back and said, you know, send me some books, and I'll I'll take a
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  look at it.
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  And, you know, I just assume it's a webmaster or something, you know, but all this time, it
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  it's him.
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  And then, you know, he just called me up, like, a week later.
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  He's like, hey.
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  I just got your books.
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  They look really cool.
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  You know, I'd love to do something for you.
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  And, yeah, we've been we've been all over the country together.
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  You know, I've stayed at his house.
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  You know, I've been backstage at probably two dozen WWE events.
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  You know, I've just got to do so much in it.
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  I mean, just I mean, he didn't have to do anything, like you know?
• 12:40
  But it was interesting because when he started, he got into wrestling through his art.
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  When he was a kid, he drew the Memphis wrestlers and sent them to the TV station, and
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  then they put them on the air.
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  And then he sort of hired him as, a courtroom reporter type thing where he would draw what
• 12:55
  happened at nontelevised events.
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  And and then eventually, that led to him train to become a wrestler.
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  So, you know, when he saw my email, like, that was his opportunity to pay the kindness that
• 13:07
  that Lance Russell gave him when he was younger trying to break in.
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  And so he he paid that forward to me, and changed my entire life.
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  And so now I do panels for people who wanna make their own comic books, and I try to pass
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  on my wisdom and get people sort of creatively inspired.
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  It's sort of half instructional, half motivational, you know, trying to get people
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  fired up and, you know, to to sort of get past their fears of, you know, you know, not you
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  know, you have to have you know, you have to get over your fear of, you know, sucking
• 13:42
  because you're gonna suck for a while before you get good at anything and, you know, getting
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  past your fears of putting yourself out into the world to be judged and all that.
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  So, yeah, it's been a you know, what what, you know, what Lance Russell did for Jerry, you
• 13:55
  know, forty, fifty years ago or whatever, sixty years ago now probably is, you know, that one
• 14:02
  act of kindness sort of is echoed all the way up to 2025 and beyond.
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  I was in Memphis earlier this summer and walked by Jerry's place down there and, just like,
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  when I think of wrestling, all I hear is his voice.
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  Right?
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  I'm a fan from way back in the day.
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  Don't follow the the pro side of it much, probably because I don't have cable.
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  So I'm not tuning into that.
• 14:28
  Sure.
• 14:28
  Sure.
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  But working with, you know, working with Matt and AIWF and getting to know some of the
• 14:34
  promotions that are right here close to me.
• 14:37
  You know, thing you know, promotions like Below Zero Wrestling, which is up in North Dakota.
• 14:42
  I know we have some great wrestling folks that are right there in Sioux Falls.
• 14:45
  I'm sure you're gonna meet some of them this weekend.
• 14:49
  It's so awesome to see where, like, the independent side of wrestling has come and how
• 14:57
  many of these independent promotions are out there doing it.
• 15:00
  And it's really cool to be a part of that and to be someone that can use my platform to
• 15:07
  promote those things and to watch that grow.
• 15:11
  And that's all I'm all I'm all about the the little guys.
• 15:14
  Right?
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  Like, yeah, to go and do the WWE events is awesome and to do the PGA or or whatever I'm
• 15:20
  doing.
• 15:21
  Right?
• 15:21
  Like, those things are great, but it's really about, you know, being able to watch someone
• 15:26
  grow from, you know, nobody and that obscurity to watching their track all the way up to the
• 15:33
  top and getting to watch that whole kinda hero's journey.
• 15:37
  And now I find myself right in the thick of it.
• 15:39
  It's really cool, and it's it's awesome to hear your story and also getting to hear some of
• 15:45
  Jerry's story that probably a lot of people don't know.
• 15:49
  Yeah.
• 15:49
  No.
• 15:50
  Jerry is Jerry is one of, to me, one of the most influential wrestlers in the history of
• 15:56
  wrestling.
• 15:56
  Like, almost every part of what we consider modern sports entertainment started in Memphis
• 16:04
  under Jerry.
• 16:05
  Like, he he had celebrities.
• 16:07
  Right?
• 16:07
  He did the Andy Kaufman thing.
• 16:08
  He had celebrities before WWE did the, you know, Cindy Lauper, You know?
• 16:12
  He had Adam West that, you know, as Batman on a show in Memphis.
• 16:17
  He he had a doctor Frankenstein character.
• 16:19
  He had, you know, years before the Undertaker existed.
• 16:23
  Almost all of ECW was sort of taken from Memphis, that sort of brawling weapon style,
• 16:28
  whatever.
• 16:29
  Like, almost everything that we consider modern sports entertainment, like, Jerry and, you
• 16:36
  know, his crew in Memphis did first before anything else.
• 16:41
  You know, obviously, WWE is a a monster and, you know, the the big companies sort of write
• 16:46
  rewrite history to, you know, whatever.
• 16:49
  But, like, Jerry I mean, Jerry is probably, to me, the most influential wrestler in, you know,
• 16:57
  in the modern era.
• 16:58
  Yeah.
• 16:59
  Not like he gets no credit, but he probably doesn't get as much credit as he deserves.
• 17:05
  Well, I've I mean, obviously, a lot of people know him as just the puppies guy, And he is the
• 17:08
  puppies guy.
• 17:09
  Right?
• 17:09
  I mean but he is so much more than that.
• 17:12
  Like, I've been to more art museums with Jerry Lawler than any other person on the planet.
• 17:16
  You know, whenever we're in in a town together and there's an art museum nearby, we go, you
• 17:20
  know, look at the art.
• 17:21
  Like, he loves Norman Rockwell.
• 17:23
  He's a Norman Rockwell original in his house.
• 17:24
  And we, you know, we we've been to the Norman Rockwell Museum together probably about a dozen
• 17:29
  times.
• 17:29
  What's his commentary like on a Norman Rockwell Museum?
• 17:35
  I mean, it's just you know, he he loves like, he's a big art nerd, you know, but it's a side
• 17:39
  of him that not everybody sees.
• 17:41
  You know?
• 17:41
  And, I mean, a lot of people didn't see, you know, what he did in Memphis.
• 17:46
  You know what I mean?
• 17:46
  A lot of people just know him as sort of the sort of heelish over the top, you know, WWE guy
• 17:52
  that he was, and that's that was the sort of biggest platform.
• 17:55
  But he did he's done everything.
• 17:57
  He's he's recorded a record album.
• 17:59
  He's been in movies.
• 18:01
  Like, he's an artist.
• 18:04
  He is just, like, a true like, he's one of the most talented people I've ever met.
• 18:09
  Like and it just it all comes so natural to him.
• 18:13
  Like, it's interesting because, know, a lot of people have to work at stuff, but he's a
• 18:17
  natural artist.
• 18:18
  And he's, you know, he's just I don't know.
• 18:21
  It I think he's just an incredible man.
• 18:24
  And so generous.
• 18:25
  Like, he's changed so many people's lives.
• 18:27
  Like, he invented the the Rock and Roll Express gimmick.
• 18:30
  Right?
• 18:30
  He he invented the gimmick for Kamala.
• 18:32
  Like, so many he signed Hulk Hogan's first car loan in Memphis.
• 18:36
  Like, he's just there's there's so many things that he's done for so many people over the
• 18:41
  years that, you know, nobody will ever know or nobody ever you know, he'll he'll never get,
• 18:47
  like, credit for.
• 18:47
  And he doesn't go looking for it either.
• 18:49
  I mean, he's just he's he's a super, super humble dude.
• 18:51
  But, yeah, just I mean, I would, you know, I would step in front of a bus for the man.
• 18:58
  And I'm sure he would do the same for you and a great many other people.
• 19:03
  Yeah.
• 19:03
  He's a he's a he's a yeah.
• 19:05
  He's the best man.
• 19:07
  And, I mean, I've met so many people like that, so many wrestlers.
• 19:10
  You know, there's this sort of opinion of wrestling as a sort of a carny business, and it
• 19:15
  I mean, it is to a certain extent, but, I mean, so many people have been so nice to me.
• 19:20
  You know?
• 19:20
  I've I I had a Ric Flair bought me a 150 shot of Louis the fourteenth on my birthday, like, a
• 19:26
  bunch of years ago.
• 19:27
  You know, like, just crazy stuff.
• 19:30
  I mean, I was a guest at WrestleMania, back, you know, in a catered luxury box, and I've got
• 19:36
  to do so many so many cool things.
• 19:39
  You know?
• 19:39
  And I just I make comic books that, you know, half you know, three quarters of the world I've
• 19:44
  never heard of or whatever.
• 19:45
  So it's it's a it's a it's a dope little existence.
• 19:50
  For sure.
• 19:51
  Well and now it feels like it's coming full circle.
• 19:54
  You mentioned speaking on the panel this weekend.
• 19:56
  Sioux Falls Comic Con is going on at the Denny Sanford.
• 20:00
  It's in is it in the convention center, or or where is it at?
• 20:04
  Yeah.
• 20:04
  It's in the it's in the convention center.
• 20:06
  Very cool.
• 20:07
  Yeah.
• 20:08
  It's it should be a good time.
• 20:09
  There's a lot of really good comic book creators.
• 20:12
  Carrie Payton from The Walking Dead, who's king Ezekiel is there.
• 20:15
  Cooper Andrews, who's he's also on The Walking Dead, is there.
• 20:19
  And then there's a ton ton of great great comic book creators.
• 20:23
  Steve Orlando writes for Marvel.
• 20:24
  Gail Simone writes x men.
• 20:27
  I can't even think off the top of my head, but there's there's an incredible, incredible
• 20:31
  lineup of comic book people.
• 20:33
  There's some cool celebrities.
• 20:34
  There's tons of cool things.
• 20:36
  There's a there's a cat rescue if you wanna adopt a cat, and it's got, like, a Jurassic
• 20:40
  Park theme going on.
• 20:42
  It's Jurassic Park.
• 20:43
  It's amazing.
• 20:44
  So, yeah, it's it's definitely a great way to spend your weekend.
• 20:52
  No.
• 20:52
  And I know a friend of the show, Night Shield.
• 20:55
  He's a local rapper and a great great man himself.
• 21:00
  Does a lot for the native community all around here.
• 21:03
  And he'll be there because he's a huge comic book fan.
• 21:06
  He actually just started a podcast talking comic books, I think.
• 21:11
  So I'm gonna make sure that he's got your info and and you guys connect this weekend.
• 21:17
  What what advice do you have for for young people out there that are looking to start
• 21:22
  their own comic book, and and what's kind of the the best way for them to get started in the
• 21:27
  industry?
• 21:28
  I mean, the the things the things that I always tell people I mean, the the the thing that
• 21:33
  people come up all the time, people will come up, you know, I had an idea for a comic book,
• 21:37
  but, you know, it was just like the walking dead, but, know, they already made that or
• 21:41
  whatever.
• 21:42
  And, like, yeah, the walking dead's a it's a great comic.
• 21:45
  I mean, have them all.
• 21:46
  What ain't Shakespeare?
• 21:47
  You know what I mean?
• 21:48
  Like, anybody could do that.
• 21:50
  Like, what people think so many people think that people are talented per se, and it's just
• 21:57
  like god given, and and so much of it is just work and grind and hustle and just the people
• 22:01
  who refuse to quit.
• 22:03
  There are I mean, there are so many people that are just, you have to just get over your fear
• 22:08
  of, you know, of not being great and just start out, you make your thing, and it sucks, and you
• 22:16
  get better, and you just keep at it.
• 22:19
  I mean, it's just there's there's so few people that are, like, sort of just genuinely gifted.
• 22:25
  I mean, most of the artists I know are just, you know, people that have just drawn forever,
• 22:29
  and you just get better and better and better.
• 22:31
  I mean, you can anything that I have done is within anyone's capability.
• 22:39
  You just have to you just have to believe that.
• 22:41
  You know?
• 22:42
  Like, one of the things I I do when I when I get you know, because everybody gets impostor
• 22:47
  syndrome no matter what.
• 22:48
  You know?
• 22:49
  Every creative I know gets impostor syndrome.
• 22:52
  When I when I feel that way, I just look for, like, the sort of biggest dipshit I can find
• 22:56
  that's doing what I wanna do and be like, alright.
• 22:58
  If this guy can do it, I got it.
• 23:02
  Oh, that's so great.
• 23:04
  And for me in the podcasting world, there's plenty of those to go around.
• 23:08
  I have to
• 23:09
  look very hard.
• 23:10
  I mean, there's never it's never been easier for people to sort of make their own comic
• 23:14
  books.
• 23:14
  I mean, it's also never been harder to find an audience, and that's what you have to do.
• 23:19
  Right?
• 23:20
  Like, you can't just make it and put it out into the world.
• 23:22
  Like, you have to actively put it in front of people for people to see.
• 23:27
  And the other thing I tell people, I think every every person in the world has at least
• 23:30
  one good story in them.
• 23:32
  And I think people try to, like, round the edges off to make things more marketable or
• 23:37
  they think about, like, oh, I should do this and, you know, people would like it or
• 23:40
  whatever.
• 23:40
  Just just tell your weird story.
• 23:42
  There's a there's a story in you that only you can tell that is a collection of your
• 23:48
  relationships, your experiences, your traumas, the way you respond to things or whatever.
• 23:52
  Like, tell that weird story.
• 23:55
  Because if you're just gonna do your version of Superman, people are gonna read Superman
• 23:58
  because why wouldn't they?
• 23:59
  I mean, seventy years of, you know, brand awareness and whatever, but, like, tell your
• 24:03
  weird story that that only you can tell and put your put all of you into it.
• 24:08
  You know?
• 24:09
  The the example I always give is Deadpool.
• 24:10
  Right?
• 24:11
  Like, the the first Deadpool in Wolverine Origins where he had swords for hands and his
• 24:15
  mouth was sewn shut.
• 24:16
  And, like, that wasn't the character, and everybody hated it.
• 24:18
  And it was still I was played by Ryan Reynolds, but Ryan Reynolds had an affection for the
• 24:23
  character and went and sort of made his own version that was more character accurate, and
• 24:27
  he made a billion dollars.
• 24:28
  You know?
• 24:29
  Like, it's it's you know, just just do the thing you love and, you know, put all of your
• 24:36
  passion and your love into it.
• 24:38
  And, you know, maybe you're gonna make some money, maybe you're not, but you're gonna be
• 24:42
  you're gonna be happier.
• 24:43
  You're gonna be creatively fulfilled.
• 24:46
  And to me, that matters a million times more than just hacking out some, you know, some
• 24:52
  awful story for, you know, people to be, you know, marketed to.
• 25:00
  Great advice, man.
• 25:02
  I appreciate you coming on the show, taking some time for me this morning.
• 25:06
  Why don't you tell everybody where they can find you?
• 25:08
  I'm sure you got a website and stuff like that where we can find these comics.
• 25:12
  Yeah.
• 25:12
  My website and all of my social media is all headlocked comic.
• 25:16
  It's one word.
• 25:17
  It's the past tense of headlock headlocked comic.
• 25:21
  It's my website.
• 25:22
  It's any social media platform I'm on.
• 25:24
  That is my that's my handle.
• 25:26
  It's all me.
• 25:27
  So, you know, if you have questions about trying to make your own comics, you know, tell
• 25:31
  tell you know, shoot me a message and be like, hey.
• 25:34
  You know, I saw you on Bubba Starts, and I wanna I wanna know some stuff.
• 25:38
  You know, I I will I will gladly let anybody stand on my shoulders to not, you know, to not
• 25:43
  have to make the mistakes that I made.
• 25:46
  And, yeah, I think if you like wrestling, if you like comics, you know, you'll you'll love
• 25:53
  it.
• 25:55
  Fantastic stuff, Mike.
• 25:57
  I really appreciate you jumping on.
• 25:59
  Thank you for taking some time for me, and thanks for being part of the scene.
• 26:03
  Yeah.
• 26:03
  Thanks so much.
• 26:04
  I appreciate you.