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Invincible’s Robert Kirkman Compares Adapting An Animated Series Versus The Limitations Of The Walking Dead In Live Action

Invincible creator and executive producer Robert Kirkman talks about what he learned from The Walking Dead and the differences between adapting his comics in live action versus animation
invincible

Fans are eagerly awaiting the new Amazon animated superhero series, Invincible. The comic it’s based on ran for 144 issues from 2003 to 2018 and was co-created by Robert Kirkman who also created The Walking Dead.

The Illuminerdi was able to participate in a roundtable interview with the Invincible creator and executive producer about the upcoming series. Given the success Kirkman has had at adapting his other popular comic book series, Robert Kirkman was asked about what he learned from working on The Walking Dead television series that he brought into the Invincible animated series.

“Definitely the experience of having the show made on Walking Dead has given me a certain number of skills I guess and things to expect. So, that I’m a little bit more well versed in this world of adapting something when it comes to Invincible which I think will help us make this a little bit more of a smoother process as we go.”

Robert Kirkman On The Walking Dead And Invincible

Having the experience of adapting The Walking Dead into a series likely helped the process of bringing Invincible to life on the screen. Robert Kirkman was also asked about the difference between adapting one of his comics into an animated series versus a live-action series.

Robert Kirkman's Invincible

 “I think there’s a difference in limitations that I think is the biggest difference. I think that there are certainly many times on Walking Dead where they’d be like, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah this is a cool scene but you know 200 zombies instead of 2,000 zombies.’ And there’s not any sense of that in Invincible. There possibly should have been more limitations on Invincible, but we wrote the hell out of these scripts. And then we just kind of had to figure out how to make the animation studios make it work and they really stepped up and did an amazing job.

But I think that just the scope and scale that we’re able to accomplish in Invincible we never would have been able to do in live action…But also it looks super cool and it’s a little bit truer to the comics and we’re able to have some of the short hand and creativity that exists in the comics like exist in a more true adaptation in animated form so it’s kind of cool all around.”

Robert Kirkman's Invincible

RELATED: ZAZIE BEETZ AND GILLIAN JACOBS REVEAL WHY INVINCIBLE’S CONSQUENCES MAKE IT A DIFFERENT KIND OF SUPERHERO SHOW

Invincible having less limitations due to the fact that it’s an animated series will undoubtedly mean bigger action sequences and amazing moments brought to life from the comics on screen. Robert Kirkman’s experience on The Walking Dead likely helped in bringing the story from the page to the screen and fans will undoubtedly appreciate what he brought from his previous experience into the new animated series.

INVINCIBLE OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS AND TRAILER

From The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman, and based on the Skybound/Image comic of the same name by Kirkman, Cory Walker, and Ryan Ottley, Invincible is an hour-long, adult animated superhero show that revolves around seventeen-year-old Mark Grayson (Steven Yeun), who’s just like every other guy his age — except that his father is the most powerful superhero on the planet, Omni-Man (J.K. Simmons). But as Mark develops powers of his own, he discovers that his father’s legacy may not be as heroic as it seems.
 
Invincible will also star Sandra Oh (Killing Eve), Seth Rogen (This is the End), Gillian Jacobs (Community), Andrew Rannells (Black Monday, Girls), Zazie Beetz (Deadpool 2), Mark Hamill (Star Wars: The Last Jedi), Walton Goggins (Justified), Jason Mantzoukas (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), Zachary Quinto (Star Trek), Mahershala Ali (Moonlight), Melise (The Flash), Kevin Michael Richardson (The Simpsons), Grey Griffin (Avengers Assemble), Khary Payton (The Walking Dead) and more.
 
Invincible is produced by Skybound and executive produced by Kirkman, Simon Racioppa, David Alpert (The Walking Dead, Fear the Walking Dead), Catherine Winder (The Angry Birds Movie, Star Wars: The Clone Wars) with Supervising Director Jeff Allen (Avengers Assemble, Ultimate Spider-Man), and Linda Lamontagne serving as casting director. Invincible, Kirkman’s second-longest comic-book series, concluded in February 2018 after a 15-year run.

The first three episodes of Invincible premiere on Amazon Prime March 26, 2021 with subsequent episodes debuting every Friday. Are you excited to watch Invincible? What do you think of what Robert Kirkman had to say? Leave your thoughts in the comments below or on our social media.

KEEP READING: INVINCIBLE: ROBERT KIRKMAN EXPLAINS HOW AUDIENCES ARE PRIMED FOR UPCOMING SERIES AND “CONQUEST” STORYLINE IN NEW REVEAL

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Caitlin Tyrrell

Caitlin Tyrrell

Features Manager & Producer with The Illuminerdi. Caitlin has a deep love for storytelling of every kind. She is a huge fan of television, animation, and film, but Star Wars, the MCU, and Critical Role hold a special place in her heart.