Robert Kirkman is one of the biggest names in comics. Over the years, he's written The Walking Dead (which is arguably the world's biggest zombie franchise) and the superhero comic Invincible (also known to the masses thanks to its ongoing animated adaptation at Prime Video). How has he managed to make waves on all fronts, become a partner of Image Comics, and also produce AMC's The Walking Dead TV show along the way?
Well, the good news is that no, Kirkman has not duplicated himself. There's not a dozen Robert Kirkmans locked away on typewriters. He's just terribly efficient at his job. "You write a comic in three days usually, and so you're talking about six days of the month, sometimes 10, sometimes 15, depending on if an issue gets hard to write, but at worst you're talking about half of a month focused on those two comics,' he told SlashFilm.
Funnily enough, while The Walking Dead and Invincible were very much his cornerstone projects, Kirkman had numerous other comics ongoing, too. We're talking Outcast, Die!Die!Die!, Astounding Wolfman, Marvel Zombies, the list goes on.
Rather than taking all the credit for his creations, Kirkman also praises the various artists he's worked with for their dedication. Kirkman pens the scripts; they put in immense time illustrating his visions.
""For me, I got 15 full workdays to do other projects, and I did 'Outcast' and 'Astounding Wolfman' and all kinds of other stuff while I was doing that, but Charlie [Adlard] and Ryan [Ottley], [they were both] nose to the grindstone, day in day out making those books happen. It's definitely a team effort when it's all said and done.""
Kirkman approaches the process of writing comics as a monthly task, rather than considering the bigger picture. That's how both The Walking Dead and Invincible managed to have way over 100 issues. "You worry about the month, you worry about the week, you worry about the day. I'm doing 'Void Rivals' now with Lorenzo de Felici and I'm like, 'Oh my god, issue 18 is out? That's crazy. I can't believe we're already at issue 18,'" he explained.
""And it's just because you keep your head down and you just keep those issues coming. It seems like a pretty monumental task to get two books over a hundred issues, but like I say, it's just doing those little pieces and then you don't notice that so much time has passed as you go."
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A lot of this sounds much easier said than done. Clearly, Kirkman is not only a master of his craft, but a master of discipline. He and artist Ryan Ottley recently returned to Invincible for a spinoff Battle Beast comic, giving fans all-out action and plenty of backstory for the fan favorite cosmic warrior who will stop at nothing to find a challenger worthy of killing him.
Meanwhile, The Walking Dead continues to live on years after the conclusion of the original show through spinoffs like Dead City, which is currently in the middle of its second season on AMC. And Invincible will be back for its fourth season sooner or later on Prime Video.
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