In recent years, Kyle Starks (alongside his many collaborators) has delivered a string of inventive and poignant reads. That includes the horror love story of I Hate This Place; the thrilling crime tale that is Pine and Merrimac; and, more recently, the unrelenting revenge tale Devil on My Shoulder. Now, though, Starks could deliver a tale that’s both decidedly personal and extra thrilling as he prepares for the release of Wrestle Heist.
A new title from Image Comics, Wrestle Heist sees Starks serve as both writer and artist (as joined by colorist Vladimir Popov). In the story, Sterling Steele has spent years as the top heel in a national federation — until an injury (that may not have actually been an accident…) derails his career outright. To get back at the promoter who almost ruined his life, Sterling teams up with other wrestlers to “rob him blind during the biggest wrestling event of the year.”
Whether you like rasslin’ and/or capers, Wrestle Heist truly is “packed with body slams and backstabs.” It sees Starks not only distill the essence of wrestling (he’s very much a fan of the industry and its storytelling magic), but he ultimately tells a poignant and engaging story of revenge. It’s a story that may actually have you cheering for the heel.
Wrestle Heist #1 is due out next week (December 17). Recently, we caught up with Starks via email to grapple over the story. Topics included his love of pro wrestling, his other wrestling-centric releases, his favorite wrestling stories, why he opted to make Sterling a heel, how he told a great wrestling story (without being hokey), and even some of his most beloved grapplers.
Courtesy of Image Comics.
AIPT: How or why did you first become a wrestling fan, or what drew you to the true sweet science? For me, wrestling encapsulates all the stuff I love (rock ‘n’ roll, fantasy, bright colors, etc.)
Kyle Starks: My hometown was the Wednesday stop for the Memphis circuit back when there were still regional promotions and my grandmother went every week and I went with her seemingly my whole life. I asked my mom when did I start going with my grandmother to the wrestling, and she said I was in a baby carrier when it started. So I’ve been a fan my whole life, though, there are windows of time I stepped away — I always come back.
I think what I love about wrestling is the same thing that I love about superhero comics — I love big, bombastic, action-packed battles between good and evil. I like people in costumes with specialized moves or powers. I like it when those fights try very hard to do a little soap opera, and when they are able to rise above their low art natures, it’s the purest that art and storytelling can be. It’s magical. And I say low art warmly, not insultingly. All art is good and valid!
AIPT: This isn’t your first wrestling book, as you also released The Legend of Ricky Thunder. Did that book prepare you or pave the way at all for Wrestle Heist?
KS: When I started making comics, I was about to have my second daughter. I was 33 and made a list of things I didn’t think I’d have time for after she was born and the first thing on that list was “finish a comic.” I had started a lot of comics in my life; though at that point it had been many, many years, and I never finished anything so they were never done. I asked myself how I trick myself into finishing a comic and the answer was “make what you wished existed in the world,” and at the time there weren’t really any wrestling comics of note. It was the thing that I would finish because I loved it and I wish there was any if not more of it.
Courtesy of Image Comics.
In that regard, in 2025, we are very lucky! We’ve had so many since I made Legend of Ricky Thunder all those years ago.
I try not to repeat genres, though, that isn’t an intentional decision. I’m just always trying to be moving forward but there are certain things I love, and wrestling is one of them. Really, I’ve been actively resisting doing another wrestling comic for all these years.
AIPT: It’s interesting that Sterling is a heel (and also a nice guy behind the scenes). Why’d you opt to make your good guy a bad guy?
KS: I just really like the subversion of the unexpected, I think. But also to really emphasize that there is the wrestling persona (the job that they do) and then the real people who portray those roles, who are performing the wrestling theater for us. Also, it’s sort of funny for the guy who pretends to be the worst bad guy is actually the best dude.
AIPT: There’s some solid examples of good wrestling books, including Crimson Cage, Do a Powerbomb, and Hell is a Squared Circle. Did any of those influence or help inform this book, or even just offer some motivation/inspiration?
KS: Not particularly, though I would be lying if I said Daniel Warren Johnson finding and establishing an audience for a wrestling comic certainly didn’t play into the decision for me to make another wrestling comic. Though all those books you listed are great!
If you like a good wrestling comics. Check out J. Gonzo’s La Mano El Destiny (Gonzo did a variant cover for #2) and Jarrett Williams’ SuperPro KO! I think Box Brown’s two non-fiction books about Andre The Giant and Andy Kaufman are so stellar.
Courtesy of Image Comics.
AIPT: I really think you nail the world of wrestling here in a fair and deliberate light – some books make it feel stupid or overly hokey. How do you approach the singular weirdness of wrestling in order to truly nail it?
KS: I think that as a career and as an industry, it’s fascinating and no hokier than comics or movies. It’s so incredibly interesting, and I think the way you represent it is with that respect. This is a fascinating job that sort of exists singularly in it’s own little biosphere. And I think with the subject matter of wrestling, you don’t talk down to fans, you don’t insult the industry, and I think because it is so interesting and singular that [you present it] in the way that that non-fans will also be intrigued and enjoy it.
Don’t patronize readers, don’t goof on the business; just try to present it as it exists.
AIPT: Why did you opt to do this one on your own (aside from Vladimir on colors)?
KS: Well, the short version of that is I haven’t written/drawn a comic really since Karate Prom, which I mostly did over the pandemic (and came out last year from First Second). And while I love writing comics, writing and drawing is really when I’m at my happiest. The industry has been pretty hard on my mental health and happiness lately, and I wanted to make something that was stress-free, fast, and fun for both me and the reader, and that’s how you get a Wrestle Heist.
I really like writing/drawing the most. It’s my happy place. I am hopeful this book does well enough that I’m immediately doing more of it, honestly.
Courtesy of Image Comics.
AIPT: I love Sterling, but I really think Gravedigger is such a solid, solid character. What does the cast add (it is a heist story after all), and who else might join the fray?
KS: I don’t want to spoil anything, though, I’m not sure how much spoiling a book called Wrestle Heist could have. I mean, I think you know what to expect. But there will be five members in the heist time altogether, all wronged by crooked promoter Buddy Hanson in a different way and all deserving the revenge that comes along with robbing a giant wrestling event. They all, of course, like any good heist team, bring different skills and abilities to the table.
One of them appears very briefly in issue #1, and I think they’re going to be a fan favorite; though I also am very fond of Gravedigger.
AIPT: I feel like you also tap into some proper wrestling lore here – all the background happenings/dealings felt really like the end of WCW to me for some reason. Is that purposeful, or am I reading into as a wrestling super-fan?
KS: I very much want to walk the line where this is a fun comic for anyone whether they know anything about wrestling or even enjoy wrestling at all. But I also love archetypes, and wrestling is full of them. There is definitely a way I would talk about this book, or try to sell this book to a wrestling fan versus a non-wrestling fan. Our protagonist, Sterling Steele, is definitely a big star about to jump ship and I think that historically could’ve been nWo WCW-era or recent AEW. Where a smaller promotion is making some major grabs to increase their visibility. But stars bouncing between promotions looking for greener grass is a tale as old as time!
AIPT: Is there a page, panel, and/or moment from issue #1 that stands out to you? Something that speaks to the core of this story?
KS: I mean, for sure the moment in issue #1 is when Sterling heads to the ring for his ill-fated “Fightsgiving” main event for the world title and he uses the wrestling phrase that means “I’m going to have the best match of the night” where he says, “I’m going to steal the show.”
I wish I was a big single moment guy, but I’m not sure I am. There’s a story about an old wrestler I love. I love Gravedigger at the wrestling convention, I love the awful sequence that leads to Sterling’s injury.
AIPT: Can you tease any other big moments or highlights from the rest of the issues/story?
KS: I mean, it’s going to be very much your classic heist structure, so there will be fun character interaction, unexpected obstacles to the success of the heist, twists and turns aplenty, and yeah, OK, there’s probably a deathmatch in there somewhere, too.
Courtesy of Image Comics.
AIPT: The backmatter features some folks’ personal Mount Rushmore. But I prefer a better question: Who is one overrated and one underrated wrestler, and why?
I’m taking the backmatter extremely seriously. Too seriously even! It’s going to have it’s own narrative going on back there but it’s also going to have a survey question every issue from wrestling fan comic creators and wrestler type comic fans. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun to see what the question is and how your favorite creators answer.
THAT BEING SAID: My answer to this is underrated is almost surely Owen Hart in my opinion. I recently re-watched all the New Generation-era stuff and he was consistently the highlight, consistently the best. I know we all speak glowing of him, but even glowingly I don’t believe is high enough. If I get to choose an underrated personal fave, it’s going to be D’Lo Brown. I think that guy had all the tools to be a bigger star, and it just didn’t happen.
Most overrated is tough. I hate to denigrate anyone; everyone is working hard out there to be the best they’re able, I think. I also believe people mostly make it to where they belong, though I suppose sometimes you get a world champ that’s a swing and a miss and you get very talented guys who never go high enough card due to politics or personal failings. If I have to answer a guy who got opportunity after opportunity, title after title, main event after main event that I don’t think I’ll ever understand, [it’s] Diesel/Kevin Nash. Whatever promoters saw in him from a ring standpoint, I’ve never seen.
AIPT: Is there anything else we should know about Wrestle Heist, wrestling, comics, reverse DDTs, etc.?
KS: I think that if you are a wrestling fan you are really going to love this book. I think you’re going to have a lot of fun with it. But more importantly, I think if you don’t like wrestling, you’ll still really like this book. It’s fun characters, it’s an exciting romp. I think comics should be fun, and I’m trying very hard to do that here.
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