Welcome back to the Deep Dive. This is where
we cut through all the media noise and really
try to give you a solid understanding of all
the people actually building modern pop culture.
That's right. And today we're diving into someone
whose impact is, well, it's huge. Robert Kirkman.
Exactly. A writer, a publisher, a producer. He
didn't just join the party in comics and horror.
He basically rewrote the rulebook for creator
ownership. Yeah. If you've watched, you know,
those big prestige horror shows on TV or maybe
that really smart kind of brutal superhero cartoon,
you felt his work. We're looking at the engine
behind franchises that have, frankly, defined
the last 20 years or so. And what's really fascinating
about Kirkman, I think, isn't just the writing,
which is great, obviously. It's his strategic
mind, how he built this whole empire skybound,
dedicated to keeping control. control of his
own ideas. Okay, so let's unpack that. Our mission
for you today is basically to follow Kirkman's
journey. Right from the start, like self -publishing
this wild parody comic. Gotta poke. Navigating
the whole image comic scene, which was super
competitive. Oh, yeah. And then finally setting
up Skybound Entertainment, which is now this
massive multimedia company. It's quite the story.
It really is the modern creator -owned success
story. Built on talent, sure, but also on some
incredibly sharp business moves. Quick facts
for everyone listening. Robert Kirkman, born
November 30, 1978, Lexington, Kentucky. Right.
And today, yeah, he's known as a writer, producer.
But his other hat is just as important. He's
one of the five partners at Image Comics. And
not just a partner. He's the COO. Right. Chief
Operating Officer. Exactly. That COO role is
key. It says a lot. He's not just some writer
they brought in. He's literally one of the leaders
steering the ship at Image. And it's worth remembering
he's the only one of those five partners who
wasn't an original Image co -founder. Which means
his success, his leverage was so undeniable,
they basically had to give him a seat at that
table alongside the guys who, like... built the
company? Absolutely speaks volumes. And the work
we're talking about, I mean, the list is huge.
The Walking Dead changed zombies forever. Invisible
totally flipped the superhero script. Then his
Marvel stuff, Marvel zombies, Irredeemable Ant
-Man. Plus Outcast, Firepower. And now this massive
new thing, the Energon universe. Yeah, it definitely
warrants a deep dive. Okay, let's start at the
beginning. Ground Zero, Kentucky. Kirkman grew
up in Cynthiana. Right. And you can really see
how his early interests, you know, the stuff
he was into as a kid, just laid the tracks for
everything later. Lots of pulp. Lots of horror.
He was a big horror movie fan, right? Oh, yeah.
Documented. Loved the classics. The really visceral
stuff. He specifically mentioned George Romero's
Night of the Living Dead series, obviously. But
also, like, European gore fests, like Fulci's
Zombie 2. You can definitely see that influence
in The Walking Dead. The grit. The action. Totally.
And it wasn't just movies. He was also into the
newer horror wave, like video games. He cited
Resident Evil, the whole survival horror vibe.
So he was soaking it all up across different
formats right from the start. Exactly. And interestingly,
he channeled that passion into his first actual
comic, which was, well, it wasn't serious horror
at all. It was Battle Pope back in 2000. A superhero
parody. Super satirical. Tell us about Battle
Pope. That sounds like the definition of indie
hustle. Oh, it was pure DIY. He did it with artist
Tony Moore, who later co -created Walking Dead
with him. Right. And they self -published it
under this amazing zero -budget label called
Funkotron. Funkotron. Love it. The premise alone,
this... badass fighting pope who's also a superhero
it just screams indie attitude from that era
and it wasn't just a one -off thing no not at
all it ran for 14 issues between 2000 and 2002
and it actually got enough buzz enough heat to
get adapted later on an adaptation pretty early
on too yeah relatively way before the tv mega
success in 2008 battle pope got turned into eight
animated webisodes For Spike TV's website, believe
it or not. So even back then, right at the start,
he was already thinking about moving his creations
into other media. Seems like it. That instinct
was there early. Okay, so how does a guy making
a satirical Pope comic under Funkotron end up
at Image Comics? You know, the house that McFarlane
and Liefeld and those guys built? Classic story,
really. Persistence pays off. He pitched this
other idea he had called Science Dog. Right.
Science Dog itself didn't get picked up right
away, but the pitch impressed them enough that
Image hired Kirkman and another artist, Corey
Walker, to do a Super Patriot miniseries. Ah,
the foot in the door. Exactly. That was the key.
After that he launched his first official image
series, Tech Jacket, in 2002. EJ Su on art. It
ran six issues, plus a one -shot called Cloudfall.
Seems like a pattern. Using one gig delivers
the next. But Tech Jacket, Super Patriot, those
were solid, but not the Game Changers. That came
later. Yeah, 2003. That's the year everything
really shifted. 2003. You could basically draw
a line in the sand for Kirkman's career right
there. Absolutely. Because this is the year he
launched the two big ones. The properties that
would become the absolute pillars of Skybound.
Invincible and The Walking Dead. Let's take Invincible
first. Launched with Cory Walker, who he'd worked
with on Super Patriot, this was part of Image
trying to kind of refresh their superhero lineup.
That was the idea, and the concept was immediately
sticky. Mark Grayson, teenager, his dad is Omni
-Man, basically Superman. Right. And Mark finally
gets his own powers and becomes invincible. It
starts off looking like a bright, fun superhero
thing, a deconstruction maybe. Like it's dark.
Yes. Oh yeah, it became famous for its, like...
deep emotional stuff and often really shocking
violence. It was pitched as this coming of age
story with capes, but it went places most superhero
comics just wouldn't. But even with a killer
concept, keeping a monthly book going is tough.
And we see a business decision here pretty early
on. We too. That monthly grind in comics is brutal.
You absolutely have to hit those deadlines month
after month to keep readers hooked. And Walker
couldn't quite keep that pace. Apparently not.
Cory Walker's art was brilliant, perfect for
the launch, but keeping up that monthly speed
was a challenge. Kirkman needed consistency for
the long haul. So enter Ryan Otley. Exactly.
A really critical creative shift. Ryan Otley
came on board as the main artist, and that partnership
lasted for almost the entire rest of the series,
like 144 issues worth. That decision, it really
highlights how sometimes you have to prioritize
the project's stability, the business side, even
over maybe a personal artistic preference if
you want to build something long term. It's a
tough call, but yeah. The longevity of the IP
was key. Okay, but the real story of strategic
genius, maybe, comes with the other pillar launched
that year. The Walking Dead, co -created with
Tony Moore, ran for, what, 193 issues? Just insane.
And became this massive cultural juggernaut.
The origin story here is kind of legendary in
comic circles, and it says so much about Kirkman
knowing how publishing actually works. He pitched
it to Image, and they weren't keen. They hesitated
big time. They felt, you know, the market had
enough horror and they really, really didn't
want, quote, just another zombie story. Okay,
so how did he get it past him? This is the famous
bit, right? This is the famous bit. He basically
deployed, well, you could call it the most audacious
fib in modern comics history. He lied. He totally
lied. He made up this completely fake high concept
twist just to give the image execs something
shiny and different. What did he tell them? He
claimed the zombies were just like, act one.
And the real story, the big secret, was that
it was all part of an elaborate alien plot, like
a sci -fi invasion thing hiding under the zombie
story. No way. Yes way. He pitched this whole
complex alien backstory, got the green light
based on that. And then he immediately went back
to his original plan, ignored the aliens completely,
just wrote the grounded, character -driven survival
horror story he wanted to tell all along. That's,
wow. That's more than just a white lie. That's
like strategic maneuvering. Totally. He saw what
the publisher needed, a hook, something marketable,
and he gave it to them knowing the actual quality
of the story would carry it once it was out there.
He played the game to get his creator -owned
book published the way he wanted. Exactly. It's
like the foundational myth of Skybound, almost.
Success needs smart, creative, and smart business
strategy. He was a pragmatist. And like Invincible,
Walking Dead also had an artist change early
on. Charlie Adler came in. Yeah. Charlie Adler
took over with issue hashtag seven and his style,
those heavy blacks, that gritty realism. It.
completely defined the look and feel of The Walking
Dead for the next, what, 180 plus issues? Right
up to the surprise ending in 2019. Tony Moore
still did covers for a while, though. He did.
Moore drew the covers up to issue 24, and he
did the covers for the first four collected editions,
the trade paperbacks. But yeah, Adler was the
engine room artist, visually delivering that
relentless bleakness month after month. Beyond
those two giants, he was still building other
stuff at Image, too. Like The Astounding Wolfman
with Jason Howard. Right. And look how they launched
that one free comic book day, 2007. Smart. Use
a big industry event to get maximum eyeballs
on a new creator -owned book. Exactly. Leveraging
the system. Again, thinking like a publisher,
not just a writer. He was also editing Brit around
then, another character he'd created earlier.
So you see him moving into that editorial management
space already. So while he's building this creator
-owned powerhouse image, he's also... Kind of
surprisingly, maybe, spending a lot of time writing
for the big leagues for Marvel Comics. Yeah,
that's a really important phase. Roughly mid
-2000s. Started around 2003, actually, same year
as Invincible and Walking Dead. What did that
give him, working for Marvel? Two crucial things,
I think. One, steady paycheck. Let's be honest,
freelance work funds the creator -owned risks,
especially early on. Right. And two... invaluable
experience working with massive iconic legacy
ip learning how that machine works from the inside
and he got the full marvel experience right away
including getting a project cancelled Yeah, pretty
much. He was supposed to revive this obscure
90s character Sleepwalker. Oh, I remember Sleepwalker,
sort of. Well, Marvel shelved it before it came
out. Yeah. But the work wasn't totally lost.
The first issue stuff eventually showed up in
this anthology called Epic Anthology No. 1 in
2004. Anthologies are often where bits of canceled
projects end up. But he didn't stay on obscure
characters for long. He moved up to the A -list
pretty fast. Oh, definitely. He landed some major
gigs, did a solid two year run on Ultimate X
-Men. That's a big team book. Lots of moving
parts. He wrote the Captain America issues that
tied into Avengers Disassembled, which was a
huge. company -wide crossover event that shows
a lot of editorial trust yeah that's bigger he
wrote the entire run of marvel team up volume
three and maybe the most kirkman -esque thing
he did there was the irredeemable ant -man miniseries
right that had his kind of dark humor slightly
off -kilter vibe exactly injecting his voice
into a known marvel character and of course he
brought his signature genre zombies to the marvel
universe and it was huge marvel zombies yeah
that came direct from his known obsession. It
was basically letting Kirkman loose with his
specific brand of visceral, relentless horror,
but using Spider -Man and Captain America. The
concept alone, Marvel heroes as zombies, was
just brilliant. And it was a massive hit. It
proved his genre instincts worked anywhere, even
inside the walls of established corporate IP.
So he's doing really well at Marvel, high -profile
writer. But his heart and his business sense
were pulling him back to image. End of July 2008,
his Marvel freelancing stops. Why? Because image
made him a partner. Wow. That's the most. That's
the pivot. It signaled like a 100 percent commitment.
to the creator -owned path, becoming one of only
five partners and taking on the role of COO,
Chief Operating Officer. Right, the business
side again. Yeah. He wasn't just writing at Image
anymore. He was helping run Image. As COO, he's
managing the actual business operations of the
publisher, directly influencing how other creators
get their deals, how they maintain ownership.
That's huge. That's incredible leverage. Did
he wrap up anything else at Marvel after that?
One last thing. His final published Marvel work
was a five -issue miniseries in 2009 called The
Destroyer Vol. 4. He did it with Cory Walker,
his invincible co -creator, for Marvel's mature
readers, Max Imprint. So he finished that up.
And around this time, he wasn't just working
with Marvel characters. He was collaborating
with Image Royalty, too. Todd McFarlane on Haunt.
Yeah, teaming up with an Image co -founder on
a new book. And he even took over the Top Cow
Comics pilot season for 2009 -2010, working with
Mark Silvestri, another Image founder. What was
pilot season for people who don't know? Oh, it
was a cool concept. Basically, creators would
launch a bunch of one -shot pilot issues for
new series ideas. Okay. And then the readers
would actually vote on where ones they liked
best, and the winners would get turned into ongoing
series. So market testing built right. in audience
feedback. Exactly. Kind of ahead of its time,
in a way. Shows Kirkman was already thinking
about engaging the audience directly. And now,
as COO at Image, he's still shaping that whole
environment, making sure the company stays focused
on creator control. Okay, so that move, going
from writer to partner and COO at Image, that
really sets the stage for the next massive evolution.
founding Skybound Entertainment. This is where
it all comes together, where adaptation isn't
just hoping some studio options your book, it's
about managing it yourself. Skybound Entertainment,
co -founded in 2010. What was the goal here?
It was specifically built to be more than just
a comic publisher. It was conceived as an entertainment
company, dedicated to taking Kirkman's ideas,
his IP, and developing them across all platforms,
comics, TV, movies, games, digital, you name
it. The keyword there seems to be... Absolutely.
That's the genius of Skybound. It doesn't just
make the comics. It centrally manages the licensing
for all the big franchises, making sure that
The Walking Dead, Invincible, all that stuff
keeps its integrity no matter the medium. That
central hub is the big difference, isn't it?
compared to just selling rights off. Huge difference.
And they doubled down on that in 2018 by creating
Skybound Games, a whole division just for making
video games based on their IP. He clearly understood
early on that in today's world, the comic book
is often just the starting point. The real money,
the real power is in managing how that story
flows into everything else. Precisely. And the
prime example, the absolute poster child for
the Skybound strategy has to be the Walking Dead
TV universe. He started producing the AMC show
back in 2010. Pilot directed by Frank Darabont
famously. And this is where that insistence on
control really paid off. You know how sometimes
comic creators get like a token consultant credit
and that's it? Yeah, happens all the time. Not
Kirk Mullen. He was deeply involved. He got writing
or co -writing credits on seven episodes of the
main show. Including some really key ones. Oh,
yeah. Like the season two finale, Beside the
Dying Fire, which he co -wrote with Glenn Mazzara.
Huge episode. Plus fan favorites like Vatos,
After, Strangers. His actual presence in the
writer's room helped ensure the show kept that
dark. character first tell from the comics. And
that success wasn't just contained to one show.
It blew up immediately. Allowed for instant expansion.
He co -created and executive produced the spinoff,
Fear the Walking Dead. And again, stayed involved.
Hands on. Co -wrote the pilot and the season
one finale, The Good Man, with Dave Erickson,
the showrunner. It just showed he could manage
this growing multi -show franchise. That's usually
like high level studio executive territory. He
used a similar playbook for his exorcism comic.
Outcast, right? With Paul Azacita on art. Yeah.
And the timeline for Outcast is really interesting.
Cinemax actually bought the TV pilot rights in
2013. That was a full year before the comic book
even launched in June 2014. Wow. So they bought
it based on the concept and Kirkman's name alone?
Pretty much. It shows how much clout the Kirkman
brand had by then. The industry had that much
confidence. And again, he wasn't just handing
it over. He wrote or co -wrote two episodes of
the TV show himself, keeping that creative thread
connected. Okay, let's swing back to Invincible,
because its road to the screen is like a whole
saga in itself, a masterclass in holding onto
your IP. It really is. Multiple attempts over
more than a decade before the animated show finally
hit big on Amazon Prime Video. Tell us about
the first attempt. Way back. It goes all the
way back to 2005. Paramount Pictures bought the
film rights. They even hired Kirkman himself
to write the screenplay. Okay. Sounds promising.
But here's the crucial part. The studio didn't
really move forward with it. It sat in development
hell for years. And because of how the deal was
structured... The rights eventually reverted.
They went back entirely to Kirkman. That's not
typical, is it? Usually studios lock that stuff
down. Often they do. But this was a key contractual
point. It protected him. He didn't lose his baby
just because the studio got cold feet or changed
priorities. He got invincible back. Ready to
find a better home. Smart. So what happened next?
Well, much later in 2017, a live action film
project got announced, this time with Universal
Pictures. And get this. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg
attached to write, direct and produce. with Kirkman
also producing Naturally. Okay, Rojan and Goldberg,
that's big. Is that still happening? Apparently,
yes. What's wild is that Kirkman confirmed in
2021 that this live -action movie is still a
separate thing moving forward alongside the animated
series. So potentially two huge adaptations of
Invincible running at the same time. That seems
to be the plan, which just speaks to the power
of the IP. And that brings us to the animated
series. Amazon Prime Video announced 2018. Yeah,
with Simon Racioppa as showrunner. And this one
just exploded. Huge critical hit. Huge fan favorite.
Got renewed for seasons two and three almost
immediately in 2021. And Kirkman's involvement
level. Deep. He's creator, executive producer.
He personally wrote or co -wrote the series premiere
episode. He wrote or co -wrote both season one
and season two finales. He did the Adam Eve special
episode. And he's credited on two episodes for
season three already. He is right there making
sure the core vision stays true. Skybound isn't
just adapting Kirkman's comics, though. They've
moved into producing original films, too. Right.
That shows the diversification. Their first feature
film as producers was Air, back in 2015, sci
-fi thriller, starred Norman Reedus from Walking
Dead, actually, and Jamon Hounsou. And more recently.
Kirkman himself pitched the original story concept
for that horror comedy Ranfield in 2023. You
know, the one about Dracula's assistant with
Nicholas Holt and Nick Cage. So by generating
original ideas for Hollywood and putting the
Skybound name on them, he's really establishing
the company as a creative engine in its own right,
not just an IP manager. So Skybound's established.
The adaptation machine is humming. What's next?
Kirkme and company seem to be constantly looking
for new frontiers, global markets, revitalizing
old IP. Yeah, the global push is really interesting.
Take a project called Five Year. What was that
about? It was this ambitious, pre -apocalyptic
drama designed specifically for the Korean market
and broader Asian audiences, too. A co -production.
Exactly. A joint venture between Skybound and
Viki .com, you know, that big streaming service
that specializes in Asian dramas and stuff. Right.
So Five Year was about a family dealing with
a meteor that's going to hit Earth in five years.
Planned to be filmed in Korea, streamed globally
on Viki, they got an initial order for 16 episodes
with a five -season plan. That shows a really
aggressive move into international co -production
and distribution, way beyond just the U .S. comic
shop. They're definitely expanding the footprint.
But the biggest recent news, the thing that got
everyone talking, brings us right back to comics.
And it signals this huge power shift to the Energon
universe. Okay, break that down. What is the
Energon universe? Well, it started kind of sneakily
in 2020. Kirkman launched a new series with artist
Lorenzo Di Felici called Void Rivals. Looked
like a cool original sci -fi thing. But there
was a twist. Huge twist. Inside the first issue,
bam, Jetfire shows up. A Transformer. it was
revealed that void rivals was actually the secret
launch pad for a whole new shared comic universe
called the energon universe and it involves in
june 2023 the full picture emerged skybound kirkman's
company had secured the comic book publishing
rights to two of hasbro's absolute biggest most
iconic properties transformers and gi joe wow
so the company founded on a zombie comic kirkman
had to literally lie to get published is now
the official home for Transformers and G .I.
Joe comics, linking them together in one universe.
That's a statement. Massive. But before we get
too carried away celebrating that, we do need
to touch on the less glamorous side, the legal
realities of creation. There was that lawsuit
with Tony Moore back in 2012. Yeah, I got to
address that. It's a crucial part of the story,
even if it's uncomfortable. When something like
The Walking Dead generates that much money, those
early agreements, they get put under a microscope.
So Moore sued Kirkman. He did. It was very public.
Moore alleged that Kirkman had essentially tricked
him into signing away his rights to The Walking
Dead comic and by extension, the TV show Millions
back in 2005. What was the specific claim? About
how he was tricked. Moore claimed that Kirkman
got him to surrender his co -creator rights in
exchange for certain payments, payments which
Moore alleged never fully materialized or weren't
what was promised. Basically, the accusation
was that Kirkman took advantage when the project
was young, before anyone knew it would be this
big. That's a serious allegation. How did Kirkman
respond? Kirkman's side was that the contracts
were totally legitimate. that Moore was misrepresenting
things. He countersued, and his public statements
basically said, look, we both had lawyers seven
years ago. Moore initiated and approved this
contract, and now he's trying to break it. Kirkman
also argued Moore was paid fairly and continues
to be paid for his contributions. It got pretty
messy, played out in the press. It did. Showed
the harsh side of creator -owned success. When
the stakes get that high, friendships and partnerships
can get strained by the financial pressures and
legal complexities. But it resolved fairly quickly
in the end. Yes. Surprisingly fast, actually.
Within a few months, by September 2012, they
put out a joint statement. Said they'd reached
a settlement to everyone's mutual satisfaction.
The terms weren't public. Nope. Confidential.
As these things usually are. But the whole episode
really underscores that navigating rights, ownership,
contracts, it's just a fundamental, unavoidable
part of being a major creator in the multimedia
age. Okay. Shifting gears to something less fraught.
A personal note, Kirkman didn't always live in
L .A., right? No, he and his wife and son were
based in Kentucky for years until 2011. And 2011
is right when the Walking Dead TV show is exploding.
Skybound is really getting established. Exactly.
That year, they made the move. Relocated the
whole family to Los Angeles. Which feels like
more than just a change of address. It's like
cementing that shift in identity. Yeah, moving
from comic book writer in Kentucky to... Major
player in the entertainment industry, right there
in the heart of it all in LA. A strategic move,
you could say, mirroring his professional ascent.
And Kirkman's impact, it's not just measured
in deals and dollars, it's reflected in the awards
and recognition he and his projects have racked
up. He's gotten some significant individual honors.
Like the Inkpot Award in 2012. Right. The Inkpot's
a big deal in the comics and genre world, recognizes
major contributions. But maybe more telling was
that Special Innovator Award he got at the Saturn
Awards, also in 2012. Yeah, because that one
wasn't just for writing comics. The Saturn Awards
specifically cited his work adapting his comics
to the screen and serving as executive producer
on The Walking Dead. It explicitly recognized
that bridge he built between comics and TV film
production. Validating that whole strategy. Exactly.
And his reputation is global, too. In 2020, he
got the Faux of Donner, basically a lifetime
achievement award at the Angoulême International
Comics Festival in France. That's arguably the
most prestigious comics festival in the world.
But the biggest cultural splash, you have to
say, came from The Walking Dead TV show's success.
Oh, for sure. I mean, critically, it was huge
early on. The American Film Institute, AFI, named
it Television Program of the Year. Not just once,
but twice. 2010 and 2012. And technically, the
show delivered on his vision, too. Right. The
look and feel. Totally. It won two Emmys back
to back in 2011 and 2012 for outstanding prosthetic
makeup. That's for making those zombies look
so horrifically real. That award shows the quality
of execution. Plus major nominations. Yeah. Nominated
for Best Television Series Drama by both the
Writers Guild of America and the Golden Globes
in 2011. That means his indie horror comic adaptation
was competing head to head with the biggest,
most acclaimed dramas on TV. Just incredible
reach. And to wrap up his bibliography, it's
important to stress. He didn't just rely on Walking
Dead and Invincible. He kept creating other long
-running series. Absolutely. He's a workhorse.
It's not just about landing two home runs. He
consistently built other properties for Skybound's
future. Outkast ran for a healthy 48 issues.
Oblivion song. 36 issues. His martial arts series
with Chris Samney, Firepower, just wrapped up
its planned run after 30 issues. So he's constantly
developing new IP, keeping that pipeline full.
It shows he didn't just get lucky with one or
two hits in coast. Not at all. It's a long -term
strategy of creation and cultivation. Always
building the next thing, ready for adaptation.
Okay, so let's try and synthesize all this. We
followed Robert Kirkman's whole journey. What's
the big takeaway here for you listening? What
does his story tell you? Tell us about building
creative success today. I think the takeaway
is it's actually pretty straightforward, but
incredibly hard to pull off. Kirkman's career
is basically the modern blueprint for how a creator
can achieve. like total creative and financial
control in today's media world. Going from that
self -published satire, Battle Pope. Right, to
being a partner and COO at Image and running
this sprawling global company, Skybound, that
manages his empire. He proved beyond any doubt
that original creator -owned ideas can have massive,
enduring cultural impact. They can compete directly
with the biggest corporate -owned characters
out there. He didn't just write a great comic.
He built the whole system around it to protect
it, to control it. to make sure the rewards flowed
back to the source. That's the crux of it. For
you listening, the lesson is maybe that creative
leverage. It often boils down to the fine print
in the contract and the absolute commitment to
owning your work. That invincible rights reversion
story is key there. Exactly. Learning that lesson
that you need safeguards against studio inertia
or control, that's what fueled the creation of
Skybound. That control is the difference between
having a hit comic and having a self -sustaining
multi -billion dollar media franchise that you
steer. Which brings us perfectly to our final
provocative thought for you to mull over. Something
that connects his early struggles right up to
his current status. Think about that Energon
Universe deal. Yeah, really chew on this trajectory.
The guy who had to literally make up an alien
invasion story just to get his zombie comic published
is now the head of the company that Hasbro, a
giant corporation, has entrusted with the comic
book futures of Transformers and G .I. Joe. These
aren't just comics. They're massive, global,
multi -generational brands. So the question is,
does this represent the ultimate win for the
creator -owned model? Is it proof that the independent
spirit, the success validated by walking dead
and invincible, is now seen as the best, maybe
even the safest? place to handle these huge legacy
properties. Does it suggest that the real innovation,
the smartest strategic thinking in comics today,
has actually shifted, moved away from the traditional
corporate giants and landed firmly with the creators,
like Kirkman, who fought for and maintained control
from the very start? It really feels like a monumental
shift in the landscape. Something to think about
next time you're looking at the credits page
of a comic. Definitely. A huge thank you for
joining us for this deep dive into the rise and
reign of Robert Kirkman.