[“I would like to do this book long enough to have Carl make it to adulthood . . . if I don’t kill him in the next issue.” [ everything was plotted out and everybody agreed that they liked everything, I got to go off and write my script and add some stuff to it on my own when I was by myself working. And then after I did that, I turned the thing in and we went over it all again. So it’s a much more communal process and I loved it. I thought it was really cool. CCI: You’re working with both Frank Darabont and Gale Anne Hurd and each of them have serious genre movie credentials. What’s it like working with both of them? RK: I learn something new every time I see those people. It’s really cool. Frank is a super talented director and just has an amazing body of work and is great at adapting things. I would get to sit with him and just talk about story and writing and different things like that and it was really cool. And then Gale has all kinds of great insight on moviemaking and how things are done. She’s just really on top of things and it’s cool seeing somebody that successful that’s still down to Earth. It’s just been a great experience working with both of them. CCI: Since season two won’t premiere until around Halloween again, do you have any idea what the schedule is like for 2011, and when do you start writing and filming? RK: We’re still nailing that down now. I think our plan is to debut in October
around Halloween at the latest. So we’re taking steps now to see if there’s any kind of wiggle room and if we can debut a little bit before then, but you know it’s a long process, and 13 episodes will be a little harder to do than the 6 episodes that we’ve already done. CCI: Do you have an ending in mind for both the comics and TV series? Do you know where this all ends? RK: I have an idea of how I would like to end it eventually, but we haven’t even really discussed that on the TV show, just because the TV show could go five seasons, it could go ten seasons, we don’t really know yet. So it’s not necessarily something we need to nail down, but we’ll probably be discussing how we might end it as we start planning out season two. But for the comic book series, yeah, I know how I would like to end it up, but I don’t plan on doing that any time soon. I really truly would like to pass 300 issues, and the whole goal is to see these characters change over time. I would like to do this book long enough to have Carl make it to adulthood and pretty old, if I don’t kill him next issue. And I don’t want to do that with any time jumps. I want to keep this series going for years and years. So I know how I might end it, but I don’t plan on getting there any time soon. I don’t have it pegged to a certain issue number. I’m not like, “Oh, #336— that’s where we’re ending it.”
Walking Dead art by Charlie Adlard; Invincible art by Ryan Ottley; Super Dinosaur art by Jason Howard Walking Dead © Robert Kirkman; Invincible © Robert Kirkman and Cory Walker; Super Dinosaur © Robert Kirkman and Jason Howard
CCI: Back in 2009 you delivered a controversial “mission statement” that explained why you left Marvel to do creator-owned books at Image and also touched on the need for comics for a younger audience. Two years later, how do you feel about that, and is Skybound, your new imprint for Image, going to fulfill some of that need for comics for a younger audience? RK: Actually we just announced a new book that I’m doing with Jason Howard called Super Dinosaur, which is very much aimed at all ages. So everyone from four years old to 100 should be able to enjoy it, and that’s something that I’ve had in the works pretty much since I did that message, my “online manifesto” or whatever anybody wants to call it. I’m excited that that’s finally coming out. Two years later I don’t know . . . I mean I feel like my message was validated. I think that we’ve got more people doing creator-owned books. I think that a lot of these books are doing a lot better than they had been. I feel like we’re starting to see a shift where readers are more open to new ideas and creator-owned books, and it seems like things like Morning Glories and Chew and Mark Millar’s books (Kick-Ass, Superior) are really catching on and much more so than it seemed like a few years ago. I think more people are going to do creator-owned books, and that’s very important. That’s still something that’s good for the industry, and I certainly
don’t take back anything that I said. I do wish that more people were doing younger reader-friendly books and that Marvel and DC were focusing on getting a new audience as opposed to servicing the audience we already have. But you know the market will change when it needs to, hopefully, and by doing my own all-ages book—if that’s successful—hopefully it will inspire others to do the same. CCI: The first Skybound book was Witch Doctor, which you announced at Comic-Con International back in July, and now you announced the second one in mid-December. Are there any more that you can talk about at this point? RK: We have a few things behind the scenes that we’re putting together, but right now our main focus is getting Witch Doctor and Super Dinosaur out and helping them reach as wide an audience as possible. We’re trying to remain small and be able to devote the time to our launches that we feel is necessary. We’ll be operating on that MO once Super Dinosaur and Witch Doctor are moving along and out, then we’ll start announcing more projects and getting those out. I think that too often people come out with a new line or they’re a new publisher and they just decide, “Hey, I’m going to do 10 books at once and hope they all catch on.” We really don’t want to do that. We want to kind of focus all
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