The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman is also well-known for his Invincible comic book series, an adult, grounded look at the superhero world. It’s now a new Amazon Prime Video series with a truly star-studded voice cast. The first three episodes of Invincible premiere this Friday March 26th, and Kirkman is humbled by this opportunity to give superhero, comic book and animation fans an exciting, dramatic series.

Jackson Murphy: The comic book series ended in Feb. 2018 after 15 years and then a few months later, the announcement was made that Amazon greenlit this series. So what was that transition like for you – going from the end to the beginning?

Robert Kirkman: Well it was almost no transition at all for me because while it was announced after the comic book series ended, I knew it was happening almost a year before the comic book series ended. So I knew that as we were wrapping up the comic book series, we were gonna be ramping into the animated series, and I was very excited about that because it meant that I wasn’t gonna be missing these characters. I knew the comic had reached its natural conclusion, and I was very excited to be there, but I was also a little upset about not getting to tell stories in this world anymore. So it’s really great to be able to just move right into the animated form and do it all over again!

JM: (laughs) And you do it so well. And what’s unique about it right out of the gate is that it’s 44-minute episodes. Did you always want it to be 44-minute episodes?

RK: Yeah. I thought that would be a really cool way to make it stand apart from other animated superhero series and other live-action series because it’s kind of a mix of both. All the animated series are 22 minutes and all the live-action series are 44/50. So I thought it was a cool way to make it different. But more than that, you really get to tell a lot of story in that time and it allows us to open up scenes and really get to the drama of things and really have fun with things and have things breathe.

JM: And it helps it feel grounded, too. Did you ever feel like you had to cut anything out because of the length?

RK: Not really. There’s a fair bit of cutting that happened in the adaptation process where we knew, “Well, we wouldn’t really have room to explore this so let’s not do that.” And there’s some storylines from the comics that aren’t getting moved into the show that you probably get a sense of when you watch the first three episodes, if you’re familiar with the comics. But yeah, there definitely hasn’t been a time when we’re like, “Oh we don’t have enough space!” (pauses) And as I say that, there were a few times where we were like, “Yeah, how are we gonna get this in one episode?” So it varies from episode to episode.

JM: The voice cast is insane. How did you approach getting all of these A-listers on board?

RK: Luck, I guess. Our casting director, Linda Lamontagne, would bring us these lists and we’d be like, “You’re a liar! This is never gonna happen!” And there wasn’t a casting process. We’d just be like, “Okay. This would be a great… Cecil. Call him [Walton Goggins] and see if he’ll do it!” That’s one of the things that helped us out. We never really asked anybody to audition. I can’t believe the cast that we got. I’d be making these calls and be like, “This is never gonna happen.” And then it would happen and I was like, “What? Really? This is crazy.” It’s the absolute best cast that any television show has ever had in the history of anything ever. So it’s a really great place to be.

Robert Kirkman (left) and Jackson Murphy

JM: I can’t disagree with that. And Walton Goggins is so good in this with the grit that he has.

RK: Oh. Just the best.

JM: And he’s great on The Unicorn. Steven Yeun voices Mark. [Yeun is now an Oscar nominee for his performance in Minari.] What surprised you the most about what he’s able to do with Mark?

RK: He puts everything he has into every role. He pulled me aside in one of the early recording sessions and was just like, “Hey, is it okay that I’m playing this so naive. I didn’t wanna alarm you but I know where this character goes. And I wanted to be able to grow as a character over time, so I wanted to pull him down and make him as naive as possible because that’s gonna change. Is that okay with you?” And I was like, “Putting more care into the crafting of this character than I ever did? Yeah, I’m okay with that. That’s great.” Knowing that he is thinking of every different aspect of his character and how they’re gonna grow along the way and seeing what he was able to do with Glenn on The Walking Dead. That’s another character that grew and evolved to an insane degree over the life of that series. Knowing that he was gonna be able to do that again as Invincible is really cool. I just love that guy and I hope to always be working with him.

JM: Yeah.

RK: I know that once he wins an Oscar it’s probably not gonna happen but whatever! (laughs)

JM: (laughs) And then you’ll have “Academy Award Winner Steven Yeun” as the billing for your next project, or at least “Nominee”.

RK: He’ll never speak to me again.

JM: (laughs) Speaking of Academy Award winners: J.K. Simmons. I’ve loved listening to his voice performances in a lot of animated films and series over the years. What were your goals and his goals with Nolan / Omni-Man?

RK: J.K. is known for his very volatile characters. But what people don’t really realize is that there is a warmth and a fatherly glow that comes from him that he has in a lot of performances, but people know him for the big explosions and things like that. I knew he was gonna be able to bring that nurturing fatherly aspect to Nolan, but anyone who’s aware of the comic book series knows that we go into some pretty interesting directions with this character. And to a certain extent, J.K. has to be many different characters within the same role, and I knew he was gonna be able to handle that just because of the wide range of different performances he’s had in his character. He’s the absolute perfect Omni-Man.

JM: Yeah. There’s definitely different sides of the character. And he says something in the third episode that’s very true and I’ve related to most of my life. He says, “You have to balance what you WANT to do with what you NEED to do.” Does that statement really apply to your life as well?

RK: Yeah. I mean, you don’t WANT to do all the interviews, but you NEED to do all the interviews, for the sake of the show. To get the word out there so people will watch it! You don’t enjoy them. No, I’m kidding! (laughs) I’m enjoying this immensely. But I think that line applies to almost every aspect of life, whether you’re a student or an adult – whatever’s happening. There’s always things you’re gonna need to do in life that aren’t necessarily the thing that you wanna do in that moment. Being responsible is learning to do those things.

JM: Absolutely. In looking at the animation itself and designing all the costumes and the colors for them (and maybe not trying to repeat any of the colors). What went into all of that?

RK: That was Cory Walker’s world. Cory Walker is a co-creator of the comic book series and is our lead character designer. All of that was filtered through his brain. There’s a great advancement – a lot of differences [and] a lot of changes that are made from the comics to the show that are just him as a designer. He’s evolved over time. He’s gotten a lot better at his craft. He looks back at those old designs from the comics and he’s like, “Oh good Lord! I messed up. I can do better!” And we’re benefiting from that growth in the show. He’s got a great eye for how superhero costumes should look, and we ended-up with an extremely unique and amazing looking show because of his involvement.

JM: It’s interesting that you bring up this ‘second chance’ element of getting to go back and do this. Not many people get to do something for a second time and wanna change it up in a new way. How did that feel for you… to take advantage of this opportunity?

RK: It’s a lot of fun. I’m very proud of what we were able to accomplish with the comic book series, but at the same time, it was something that I started writing when I was 23 years old. And it’s not something, for me, that’s set in stone. It’s great to be able to go in there and kick the tires and try to take something that was probably pretty good to begin with and make it a little better. It’s great to revisit all this stuff and go, “Oh. That’s funny. This is how I handled things when I was 23 and 24 and 25. Now I have a little bit [of a] better sense of how stories should work and how characters behave – and I can improve this this way.” It’s a really rewarding experience, and I’m lucky enough to have gotten to do it a few times.

JM: This is an adult show with language and violence. There’s some memorable violent moments in this. Did you ever think, “Gosh, are we pushing this too far with the animation graphics of some of the gory, bloody moments?”

RK: No. I don’t think we’re pushing it far enough. This is a world that doesn’t shy away from that aspect of superhero action. If you look at this realistically, people that can crack a school bus across their knee are going to be doing serious damage to each other, especially when you have superheroes that have varying power levels that are interacting. I think that portraying this realistically is what makes our show stand apart, and the drama that comes from that is the lifeblood of this show. There’s gonna be times where Invincible accidentally, severely injures people just because he doesn’t understand what their power levels are. Seeing the horror on his face and the regrets of his actions is gonna be character-defining and adds this emotional weight to our show that is, unfortunately, not present in a lot of superhero stories.

JM: You’re right about that, including with a moment in the third episode. Amazon is putting out the first three episodes on the first day and then one a week for the next several weeks. People are gonna react to those first three and be like, “I want them all!” How has it been working with Amazon?

RK: Working with Amazon so far has been absolutely great. They haven’t given us any content restrictions. They’ve allowed us to do our crazy formatting. We’re an hour-long animated show. We have very graphic content. We’re pushing a lot of boundaries in a lot of different ways and they’ve just been nothing but supportive along the way. It’s been great. You’ve seen what they’ve been able to do with The Boys, and I couldn’t feel more at home on this platform knowing that Invincible and The Boys are gonna be co-existing side by side. It kind of makes for an engaging environment that knows you’re gonna be allowed to push boundaries.

I think the release format is the best of both worlds, between the weekly release and the binge format. I strongly feel like you need time to digest these episodes. You need time for the overall audience to catch up to each other so there can be this communal experience of, “Oh my God? Did you see this episode? Oh my gosh? Can you believe this happened?” That’s something we’ve lost in the time of binging where the conversation about every show is, “What episode are you on? I’m on 4. You’re on 5. Let’s talk later.” And that’s the extent of the conversation. You want people to be able to go, “Oh my God! I can’t believe this happened!” So we’re gonna be able to accomplish that.

JM: I think that worked with another recent superhero series on another platform with the whole “one a week” thing. And speaking of Amazon, not only The Boys but the success of [The Marvelous] Mrs. Maisel being on Amazon and the Emmys it has received. How would you feel about Emmy consideration for this [in just a few months]?

RK: Look, I’m not getting my hopes up or anything but I think that would be amazing – just to know that the community actually responds to what it is that you’re doing. To get that recognition for what we’ve accomplished. Everybody on this show has been working extremely hard to bring this thing together. It would be amazing to get any kind of Emmy consideration.

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Jackson Murphy

Jackson Murphy is a movie critic and entertainment columnist. He is the creator of the website Lights-Camera-Jackson.com, and has made numerous appearances on television and radio.

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