Comic-Con: Robert Kirkman talks Invincible season 2, more Walking Dead

Comics and TV juggernaut Robert Kirkman has been working for decades as the co-creator behind the epic Invincible and Walking Dead franchises, and he’s no stranger to San Diego Comic-Con. This year the writer invited virtual attendees into his home to ask questions and get the lowdown on what is in store for his fictional creations and his imprint, Skybound Entertainment.

Kirkman opened with Skybound X, a series celebrating 10-years of Skybound publishing, with a new story about The Walking Dead’s Rick Grimes drawn by artist Rick Ottley, and a big thank you to fans for making the Invincible animated series a massive success.

The show’s popularity has prompted Amazon Studios to renew it for two more seasons. Kirkman says there’s a lot of exciting stuff on the horizon in addition to seasons 2 and 3, including additional books and live-action adaptations. But he kept tight-lipped about details, saying, “It wouldn’t be fair.” But there were some things he could share.

“The show will progress about the way season 1 did. Future seasons will sometimes hue closely to the comic and sometimes stray,” he said, adding, “We’re making plans to do the entirety of the comic in a cool way. We want to plus up and change stuff in a big way, as we did with the fight between Invincible and Omni Man in season 1.”

Kirkman also revealed that Mark’s classmate and sometimes-girlfriend, Amber Bennett (Zazie Beetz), may have an ongoing role to play in the series, which would be a big change from her character from the comic book. Kirkman also recently teased that the portal-creating Angrstom Levy would appear in season 2 on Twitter. At his home, he promised fans even more bad guys for Invincible to take on, including the cybernetic Conquest. “Hopefully, we’ll be seeing more of Conquest in season 2. I’ve got the perfect actor in mind, but I ain’t saying nothing.”

For the latest The Walking Dead updates, Kirkman says the 11th and final season will begin soon on AMC. “In comics,” he said “I think The Walking Dead will exist in a different way.”

One of those different ways is Skybound’s recently announced middle ages and young adult imprint, Skybound Comet. The imprint will publish original graphic novels aimed at readers aged eight and above.

Comet’s first graphic novel, Clementine Book One, will tell the story of fan favorite character Clementine — created for Telltale’s The Walking Dead — as she and a young boy named Amos travel across the country to build a new settlement away from threats of all kinds. Clementine is planned as a trilogy, with art by the Ignatz award-winning Tillie Walden (On a Sunbeam).

Fans also asked about updates for the long-rumored The Walking Dead feature film. Speaking about the lack of news, Kirkman says, “There’s exciting stuff happening behind the scenes. I miss seeing Andrew Lincoln (Rick Grimes) running around. All I will say? We don’t want a bad Rick Grimes movie. Do we? We want a good Rick Grimes movie! We want this to be worth the wait.”

Kirkman closed the Q&A session by talking about his new comic C.O.D.E., with artist Jason Howard (Big Girls) for Image/Skybound to launch in August. C.O.D.E. (or, Combat Orb Defense Engines) follows seven orb healers from six warring factions as they team up to help save humanity, in a sci-fi twist on Avatar: The Last Airbender. C.O.D.E’s first appearance will feature in Skybound X #5  on Aug. 4.