Comic guide and TV creator Robert Kirkman’s new superhero present “Invincible” has been a very long time coming.
Kirkman, finest recognized for “The Walking Dead” franchise, penned the comics that function the idea for each exhibits in 2003 — however whereas “The Walking Dead” first hit the display in 2010, “Invincible” premieres Friday (March 26) on Amazon.
“It was a little bit more of an uphill battle,” Kirkman, 42, instructed The Post.
“There weren’t a lot of zombie shows before ‘The Walking Dead,’ but in the early 2000s there was already a ton of superhero movies in production, and superheroes broke out on TV in a big way. So it was always hard to find that space for ‘Invincible.’ I also was adamant about making sure that it wasn’t rushed or haphazard. ‘Invincible’ is as important to me — if not more — than ‘The Walking Dead.’ It was something that I spent a good 16 years of my life working on, and so I wanted to make sure that we did it right.”
The Amazon sequence, which Kirkman created primarily based on his comedian of the identical identify, is an grownup animated present centered on teenager Mark Grayson (Steven Yeun), who’s the son of highly effective superhero Nolan Grayson aka Omni-Man (J.Okay. Simmons). As Mark begins to develop his personal powers, he begins studying from his father and discovering secrets and techniques about his legacy.
“Doing it in animated form for television was the way that we were able to be the most faithful to what we accomplished in the comics,” stated Kirkman.
In addition to Yeun and Simmons, the present’s star-studded voice cast consists of Sandra Oh (as Mark’s mother Debbie) and Mark Hamill (as superhero costume designer Art Rosenbaum), amongst others.
“I’m fortunate that when people are like, ‘Oh, the guy that did ‘The Walking Dead’ is doing something else,’ that seems to get people’s attention, which is great,” stated Kirkman. “And also once you have somebody of Steven Yeun’s caliber, that gives other people comfort, like ‘If he’s going to be part of this, it’s safe for me to.’ He puts a tremendous amount of effort in building his characters. He really showed that on ‘The Walking Dead’ with his character Glenn. It’s hard to pick the actor that’s going to headline your show — if you chose poorly, it can sink the entire show. Steven Yeun was just one of the most talented actors that I’d ever worked with. I knew that he was the right guy.”
In addition to the animated sequence, there’s additionally a reside motion “Invincible” film within the works, with Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg connected to put in writing and direct (they’ll additionally produce alongside Kirkman).
“We’re planning on moving forward with that as soon as we can,” stated Kirkman. “It will be a completely different approach to the material [than the show]. It’s really exciting to be going into this animated series with Amazon and know how we’re going to adapt the comic book for that and how different it’s going to be from what we end up doing with the movie.”
Between “Invincible,” the ever-expanding “Walking Dead” universe and his ongoing comics, Kirkman isn’t certain what number of initiatives he has going on concurrently, he stated.
“I’d guess maybe double digits most days, which is a little alarming. But I enjoy what I’m doing. I don’t really keep track. I think if I actually had a number in my head, I would find it a little daunting and wouldn’t get work done. But I like to multitask. I’m bouncing from project to project throughout every day, which keeps me entertained and engaged.”
