HEADLOCKED COMIC BOOK

A wrestling cable drama in comic book form! Mike Hartmann dreams of becoming a professional wrestler. But how much will he sacrifice to make that dream a reality? With covers by WWE Hall of Famer, Jerry "The King" Lawler!

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#thankyou

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Getting our Kickstarter rewards out into the world! 

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Packed up A LOT of #Kickstarter rewards today! #theyrecoming

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Finally! #Kickstarter

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Who says you can't look cool wearing wrestling shirts? Help support Headlocked and look good doing it by grabbing one of our sweet T-shirts at @prowrestlingtees. Thanks to @chrissant1104 for supplying the hunky man-flesh & @speedysk8 for his always amazing camera skills! #Headlocked #roninprowrestling #photoshoot #Wrestling #comics

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This weekend! The King and I will be rocking the Henry B Gonzales Convention Center for @alamocitycomiccon! Stop by to get books, shirts, prints and meet The King! #Headlocked #Wrestling #comics #MakeComics #creatorowned

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Hot start to Day 1 of @ct_comiconn. Looking forward to Day 2! #Headlocked #ctconn #MakeComics

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This Friday thru Sunday, @realjerrylawler and I will be rocking Mohegan Sun for CT ComiConn! We'll have books, shirts, and prints on hand...come grab yerself some Headlocked and get it signed by The King! Worst case scenario: you get a little side action with that chain-smoking granny over at the nickel slots rocking a leopard jacket and that sweet sweet beehive! #ctconn #Headlocked #MakeComics

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Pretty snazzy looking shirt if I do say so myself. Thanks to @chrissant1104 for making it look good! Get it at prowrestlingtees.com

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This weekend! Be there!

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FIRST POST! And a slightly serious one at that too. Recently, a NZ comic creator blogged about the tokenism of individuals by the supposed gate-keepers of the NZ comics community. You can read Indira Neville’s blog post about the subject here: http://blog.squareplanetcomics.com/how-competent-boy-comics-tokenise-others/ While reading it, I realised that in order to be a token representative you actually have to be invited to participate in events. As a Samoan comic book artist, I often feel like I’m the only brown NZ comic creator out there. I know there are other Maori and Polynesian comic creators out there but we are quite the minority. The NZ comics community events are often run by and catered towards the white male. Female comic creators get little representation. With this comic, I wanted to show how I feel sometimes with being a non-white comic creator in the NZ scene. The game in the comic is based on the Street Fighter Alpha and Street Fighter Alpha Zero 3 video games. The ‘Isms’ were an option in SF Alpha Zero 3 for your character’s Super Specials type. I thought it’d be funny to play on the various ‘Isms’ that can be at play within many communities. As for the likenesses of NZ comic creators in the comic, I’m not out to offend anyone, though I hope I didn’t offend anyone with my poor likenesses. I chose some of the higher profile creators, who I count among some of my good pals, as an indicator of who you are likely to see or hear about in regards to NZ comics. I also threw in a ‘token’ female creator because 1 in 10 seems to be the ratio of their representation, as well. As for me, I feel like you need some kind of Secret Code* to unlock information about who I am and what I do. Representation of non-white NZ comic creators is sorely lacking and if you’re not in the know, you don’t know. *For you Street Fighter Alpha fans, you’d recognise the Secret Code needed to unlock the Brown Guy! Though I am often excluded from panels and discussions about the NZ comic scene, in the last two years, I have done my darnedest to put myself out there and get noticed. I no longer wait for permission to join the club. I make myself heard by being loud, brash and in the public eye. Things that play to my extroverted nature. Sometimes I think it’s the comics I make which don’t allow me to be invited to the table. My comics don’t change the world or create intelligent dialogue. I just want to entertain my reader. Dalliances in social commentary comics like this are a rare occurrence. But don’t let my need to entertain rather than enlighten discount my credentials as an artist. A lot of opportunities have presented itself to me once I decided to just do my own thing and let my work speak for itself. I am fortunate to be working on the @headlockedcomicbook, do various school visits, run comic creating workshops and media appearances. Opportunities that came about due to relationships and friendships I’ve built myself but putting my hand up and saying, “This is me. Here I am. This is what I do.” I am grateful to everyone who has given me a shot, taken a chance and supported me throughout my continuous journey as a comic creator. I love every chance I get to share my story and talent to help inspire other kids like me. Kids who escaped the harsh world of South Auckland by burying my head in comic books. I don’t want to be the only Samoan comic book artist. So I don’t mind if I become a token of the NZ comic community. It will allow me a platform to share my experiences to a new audience. Gain some visibility for a sorely non-represented part of the scene. A token has no value until it is used.

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Wanna support Headlocked but maybe wearing wrestling or comic shirts ain't for you? Check out our sweet new 4 Color Fight Club shirt available at www.prowrestlingtees.com/Headlocked

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Step 1: Buy new Headlocked shirt from www.prowrestlingtees.com/headlocked Step 2: Prepare to fight off the ladies! #Headlocked #wrestling #comics #wwe #tna #roh #rvd

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RVD is live at Booth 1901! #sdcc #Headlocked #wwe #rvd

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@reallisamarie is here at Booth 1901 #SDCC #Headlocked #wwe #tna #wrestling #comics

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Comic Con is cool as fuck, yo! #SDCC #sdcc2015 #NXT #wwe

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Even the baggage claim is branded for#SDCC