The creator of The Walking Dead gets his game on in this series of video interviews.
An invigorated Kirkman joined forces with artist Cory Walker to pitch Science Dog to Image Comics. Though it was initially rejected, that pitch garnered enough attention that Kirkman and Walker were invited by Larsen to write and draw his Savage Dragon spin-off, SuperPatriot.
Soon after, Image agreed to publish Tech Jacket, an all-new title he created with artist E.J. Su, that solidified Kirkman’s place at the indie publisher as a creator more than capable of generating a steady stream of fresh ideas.
First among those was Invincible in 2003 with Cory Walker, followed that Fall by The Walking Dead, drawn after issue six by Charlie Adlard- who continues as the artist to this day. The Walking Dead proved to have the most impact on Robert’s career, and all because of a simple idea rooted in his lifelong love of horror films.
"I pitched The Walking Dead as the zombie movie that never ends, the sequel to virtually every zombie movie ever made, because I never liked the endings," Kirkman explained. "I always wondered, 'What do those people do next?' I wanted to see them foraging for food, building a house and keeping their children safe. Basically, I came up with a survival drama about what happens to people in an extreme situation. A good survival story is applicable to practically anything. It could be a natural disaster or a nuclear war. It just so happens that in this case, it’s a world overrun by zombies."
Robert’s success at Image made other comic book publishers take notice. Attracted by the success of The Walking Dead and Invincible, industry titan Marvel Comics began offering Robert work. By mid-2004, Kirkman was writing a brief stint on Captain America, which led to work on numerous other Marvel titles, including Marvel Team-Up, Ant-Man, Marvel Zombies, and Ultimate X-Men, but even though his work on those titles raised his profile within the comics community, he increasingly realized that his Image comics, especially The Walking Dead and Invincible, were thriving both creatively and financially due to the unprecedented amount of control he had over them.
