Invincible Creator Slams Marvel and DC Over Huge Fan Concern

The quickest way to piss off Robert Kirkman, it seems, is to ask him about the Big Two. The legendary creator of The Walking Dead and Invincible has a very real bone to pick with Marvel Comics and DC Comics, and he's not leaving any meat on the bone lately.

Kirkman is known for his unique brand of storytelling that often involves the evolution of his characters, and that's where he feels Marvel and DC are falling short. In his latest scolding of the Big Two, Kirkman took the gloves off to make sure everyone understands his biggest gripe in the current landscape of mainstream comics.

Invincible Creator: Marvel, DC 'Freezing' Spider-Man, Superman, Batman

"I love writing continuing stories. The fun of it is slowly evolving characters over a long period of time," he said on The Walking Dead Deluxe #123, via ScreenRant. "I LOVE comics, but Marvel and DC's mostly frozen-in-time characters never really appealed to me. I guess that's more of a Savage Dragon influence creeping into my work."

He continued: "Erik Larsen's plan for that series was to do a continuing superhero series, but have it progress in real time. For most of the run, an issue would sort of represent a month in Dragon's life. It was neat to watch the characters age and change and grow over time."

It's far from the first time Kirkman has made this accusation, previously levying the complaint to PopVerse in April.

“Things have their day and then settle down,” he said. “I sometimes think the original sin of this industry, the thing that holds it back the most, is that we as an industry often refuse to move on. Batman was created in the 1930s. Spider-Man was created in the 1960s. Transformers was created in the '80s. Invincible was created in the 2000s. All of these started as new ideas. They had their peaks in popularity, and they’ve had new peaks and new valleys to varying degrees of success ever since.”

Image Comics Believes Superman Has An 'Invincible Problem'

The co-creator of Image Comics, Rob Liefeld, a Marvel Comics legend who created Deadpool and who recently went viral due to a co-sign of a controversial Marvel and DC rumor, recently took Kirkman's criticism and ran with it like a baton.

“I say this with the greatest respect for Superman, but I believe now in the same way that when Star Wars came out, suddenly Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon had a Star Wars problem,” Liefeld said on Robservations with Rob Liefeld. “They were not defining the space anymore, and they were certainly not at top of mind. Suddenly, everything in the science fiction room was trying to be Star Wars. I was there. I watched it in '78, '79, and '80. Battle Beyond the Stars, Battlestar Galactica, and Buck Rogers. Everything had this aesthetic.”

He continued: “I believe Superman has an Invincible problem now. I believe the tables have 1000% turned, and I mean, I really do believe the space of this style of superhero is now being defined by what [Robert Kirkman] ... and what the show is doing, and it’s up to Superman to somehow adapt."

On one hand, an argument could be made to support their point(s) but, on the other hand, series such as Absolute Batman and the Spider-Verse fly in the face of allegations of "frozen" characters. In the end, it's for audiences/readers to decide which side of the track contains the correct train of thought.

Season 5 of Invincible is scheduled to premiere on Prime Video in early 2027.