Robert Kirkman remains best known for his zombie series The Walking Dead, but 24 years ago today, he released a superhero masterpiece that changed everything. In fact, he created his superhero epic before he ever started writing The Walking Dead. Kirkman’s first comic book that he wrote was a parody called Battle Pope in 2000 with Tony Moore, with whom he also worked on The Walking Dead. After joining Image Comics, he worked on SuperPatriot and created Tech Jacket and Cloudfall. However, his career skyrocketed one year later when he created Invincible for Image Comics, and it is almost as popular today as The Walking Dead.
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On January 22, 2003, Robert Kirkman released the first issue of this landmark series, Invincible #1, with artist Cory Walker.
Invincible Remains The Best Non-Marvel & DC Superhero Comic
Fans of Invincible know that Cory Walker didn’t last long on the title, as he was replaced when he couldn’t meet the deadlines. Ryan Ottley ended up taking his place, and the rest is history. Invincible follows Mark Grayson, the teenage son of the world’s most powerful superhero, Omni-Man. Mark ends up developing powers of his own, which include super strength, speed, stamina, and durability. He also has a healing factor that will keep him alive for hundreds or thousands of years, and protects him from all human-made artillery, including nuclear attacks.
However, soon, his father’s superhero team is all murdered, with his dad as the sole survivor. Mark eventually learns his father was responsible and was actually an alien sent to Earth years earlier to prepare it for his race to invade. Mark then has to decide whether to side with his dad or protect Earth. This story ended up morphing and changing, and it ended with father and son battling to stop their alien race from continuing attempts at conquest.
The Robert Kirkman series was a massive success and ran for 144 issues, lasting from 2003 until its final issue in 2018. It was also big enough to result in several spin-off series, including Brit, The Pact, Atom Eve & Rex Splode, Guarding the Globe, and Battle Beast. Things got even bigger in 2021 when Amazon Prime Video began airing the streaming animated series, adapting Robert Kirkman’s Invincible comics to the small screen.
Robert Kirkman’s work on Invincible began to get him more attention in the industry, including work on Avengers Disassembled, a two-year run on Ultimate X-Men, and the Marvel Zombies series, which allowed him to tell more zombie stories after his landmark work on The Walking Dead. Kirkman won an Eisner Award for his work on The Walking Dead, but these days, thanks to Prime Video, people talk about Invincible as much as the zombie series, and it all started 24 years ago today.
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