If there’s one name who’s synonymous with comics books and pro wrestling, it’s Michael Kingston, the creator and writer of the long-running comic book series Headlocked and Tales from the Road, which feature collaborations with wrestlers such as Danhausen, Adam Cole, and Jerry “The King” Lawler, to name a few. At this point, the list is so long, it’s almost easier to list wrestlers who haven’t collaborated with Kingston, but his latest project is possibly his biggest and most aspirational yet.
Vampiro: Rockabilly Apocalypse is a collaboration between Michael Kingston, Vampiro, and Masked Republic, and it’s an ongoing comic book series published by Massive, which also publishes Popeye, Assassin’s Creed, and Luchaverse comic books, among many others.
According to the press release, “Join Vampiro, luchadora Estrella Nocturna, and Everitt as they hurtle down Route 66 in a 1955 Pontiac Bonneville on a quest to save the world! It’s a tale filled with monsters, muscle cars, luchadores, cops, clowns, nuns, guns, demons, blood and plenty of BBQ as our heroes race against time – and a whole host of enemies – to try and thwart a secret plan to jumpstart the apocalypse!”
I thought Vampiro: Rockabilly Apocalypse sounded fun as hell, so I was excited to talk to Kingston about his new project, and how it came to be.
“I’ve been friends with Kevin Kleinrock of Masked Republic for a long time and we always kind of wanted to work on a project together,” Kingston told SlamWrestling.net. “At one point, Vampiro was hosting a punk and rockabilly radio show in Mexico, and he was like, let’s do something with a rockabilly vampire!”
Kleinrock chimed in, via email. “I’ve known Michael for a long time now and have been a fan of his work. For years, we’ve wanted to find the right project to work on with Michael. The Luchaverse books just were not the exact right fit, especially because we do our best to have Latine writers for those books. With Vamp being Canadian (well, technically a dual citizen now), I felt this was the perfect opportunity to ask Michael for his take on what I wanted to do, and I loved what he came up with. From there, he and I created the series that is hitting shops on October 16th and his writing has been absolutely killing it.”
Kingston said he “made the weirdest pitch” he could possibly make to Vampiro and Kleinrock, and everybody loved it, so he started making the book, but “the trick was to inject Vampiro’s personality into that character.”
“We did a good job of that. Vamp is a very, very charismatic dude. One of the things that I’m always fascinated with about wrestling are the guys that just have incredible personal charisma, and Vamp has that charisma, and it’s just something you can’t teach or bottle. He also believes a lot of weird stuff, so it’s fun, picking his brain,” said Kingston, adding that he spent time with Vampiro at the San Diego Comic-Con booth “just chit-chatting” in between customers, and it’s already pushed his brain into new territory.
“As a vampire,” Kingston explained, “you can exist whenever, so we can tell arcs all over the place. I mean, at some point, maybe we even do a wrestling one, right? It’s been super, super fun to write. It’s been some of the most fun I’ve had.”
Kingston said that the tone of Vampiro: Rockabilly Apocalypse is like if the movie From Dusk till Dawn met Evil Dead. He wanted to capture the feeling of a midnight drive-in horror movie. So, it’s interesting that even though the protagonist, Vampiro, is a wrestler in real-life, Rockabilly Apocalypse isn’t exactly a wrestling story.
“A lot of Masked Republic [comic books] sort of tries to recreate the vibe of old Lucha movies and stuff like that, and they’ve got the Luchaverse (comic book series), and those wrestlers are all doing stories that are outside of wrestling. I mean, if you didn’t know who Vampiro was, you could pick up this book and still enjoy it,” explained Kingston.
He further explained that accessibility is a priority to him, so if a reader isn’t familiar with wrestling, they can still read and understand Vampiro: Rockabilly Apocalypse.
Kleinrock touched on this too, stating that Masked Republic comic books “are not wrestling comics. They are comics starring luchadores, but they are comics first. Vampiro: Rockabilly Apocalypse will be among the most fun horror comics you will read all year!”
Kingston is part of a whole team that collaborated on Vampiro: Rockabilly Apocalypse, which includes the artist El Terrorifico Dr. Napalm, and this comic book is a real showcase for his talents, hyped Kingston: “Napalm’s the guy, man, he’s just perfect for it. There’s so much between the cars and the guitars and the guns and the fighting. There’s a lot of kinetics in the story and I just think that his style is perfect for it. I think he brings a lot of energy to it.”
Kingston also gave a lot of credit to their letterer, Jacob Bascle. “I think he adds so much to the graphics and the letters. It’s a noisy book, because there’s cars and there’s guns … and I don’t think I’ve ever put in so many sound effects. He brings such a great energy to the sound effects and to the lettering.”
And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the amazing first cover of Vampiro: Rockabilly Apocalypse, painted by Rafael Gallur, “who’s recognizable style and Lucha Libre themed imagery has influenced a generation of Lucha artists.”
It’s a spectacular creative team, but one of the challenges, Kingston admitted, was that while his previous comic books were sold direct to consumer, via Kickstarter or at comic cons and wrestling shows, Vampiro: Rockabilly Apocalypse will actually be sold in brick and mortar comic book shops, as well as online.
“I’d be lying if I didn’t say it was nerve-wracking, because I built my whole sort of ’empire’ or whatever outside of comic shops and so now to be in comic shops, it’s such a narrow thing. You’re not necessarily selling to fans, you’re selling to retailers to put [your comic book] on the shelf. There’s a battle for shelf space. … It’s a fight just to get on the shelf in a lot of places,” he explained.
“Luckily, Massive [Publishing] has a good reputation, and they’ve made a lot of books that sell, so it’s better than me putting it out myself,” continued Kingston. “It’s going to have more cred with retailers, but it’s still super, super nerve-wracking. I also think, too, I have a heavy show schedule, and Vamp wants to do conventions and stuff, so even if it comes out slow, I think we can build it. We’ll have the ability to grow it.”
Kleinrock added more perspective. “When Masked Republic started the Luchaverse six years ago, we worked with a small publisher who helped me figure out the art and business of getting a comic made. We didn’t want those books going through Diamond Distribution into stores then, it was more of a proof of concept and we wanted to test out our idea of these one-shots and then see where we wanted to take things next.”
About two years ago, Kleinrock started talking to larger publishers about plans for Masked Republic Comics, which included The Luchaverse, Vampiro: Rockabilly Apocalypse, and more. “Finding the right publisher for us was very important and there were only a small handful of them that would make sense for us. The publisher we decided was the best fit for us was Massive Publishing. So, we complete the books here at Masked Republic and then hand them over a finished version they style up to match their other tremendous series, print, and distribute it,” said Kleinrock. “It’s definitely a proud moment when you get to see your work in Diamond’s Previews Magazine and especially on store shelves. But it’s also taken a lot of investment by Masked Republic to be able to get us here to this point.”
Kleinrock believes in the product. “We are very proud of the comics we publish and we will gladly put them up against ‘the big publishers’ in terms of story, interior art, and covers. These are top-notch comics.”
As for the future of Vampiro: Rockabilly Apocalypse, Kingston was happy to tease that “There’s a lot of stuff coming.” For example, there’s a “motorcycle gang of shotgun toting nuns known as the Bad Habit” who are “perpetually a thorn in the side of Vampiro.” There’s also a side character referenced in the first issue who’s a “disgraced police officer who’s been drummed out of the force for being an awful person, and now he makes fake monster hunting videos on YouTube with his film school dropout nephew.”
Be patient, warned Kingston. “There’s a lot of breadcrumbs early on for stuff that isn’t going to pay off for a while … And there’s just a lot of fun weird villains and anti-heroes. I’m super, super excited for the opportunity to do this. It’s never boring. I just want to write this book for as long as I can.”
The debut issue of Vampiro: Rockabilly Apocalypse will land in comic shops on October 16, and a new issue will be released each month after that, and fans of Kingston should be on the lookout for a new Kickstarter project, titled Friday Night Bigfoot, about a promoter in Portland, Oregon, in 1985 who trains Bigfoot to wrestle, and if that’s not enough, Tales from the Road Volume 4 and Headlocked Volume 5 are currently in the works.
Michael Kingston and Vampiro will be at The Wrestling Universe in Flushing, New York on October 16, and then on October 17, they’ll be signing at the Headlocked booth at New York Comic Con, where lucky fans can get their hands on the first issue of Vampiro: Rockabilly Apocalypse, as well as the brand-new Vampiro Legends of Lucha Libre action figure.
RELATED LINKS
- Mar. 10, 2024: Headlocked Comics returns with new collection of stories
- Nov. 9, 2021: Behind the Gimmick Table: Michael Kingston’s Headlocked comic just keeps going
- Nov. 7, 2007: Headlocked comic book depicts wrestler’s journey
- Feb. 28, 2021: Behind the Gimmick Table: Kevin Kleinrock’s Masked Republic moving lucha more mainstream
- Vampiro story archive
- SlamWrestling Master Book List
- SlamWrestling’s Not Another Collectible! section
