Robert Kirkman Talks His Role In Invincible Vs

The upcoming Invincible VS is finally bringing the series' gory subversion of superheroics to the video game world. Given the incredible demand for such a take on the franchise, it's no wonder that a great deal of care is being taken to get Invincible VS right.

Quarter Up's Invincible VS, while it won't be on shelves for a while, is giving fans a great deal to chew on already. A steady flow of teaser content has come out on the game, and more and more fans are boarding the hype train. The Best War Games sat down with series creator Robert Kirkman, who spoke about his own involvement in the upcoming project.

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By Catherine Armecin Martin

Robert Kirkman Talks His Work On Invincible VS

Keeping Control Over The IP

Robert Kirkman created Invincible in 2003 in collaboration with illustrators Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley, and has stuck by the series since. Not only did Kirkman write all 144 issues of the comic (not including spinoffs), but he's also retained a writing position on the animated series in addition to his executive producer role. Walker and Ottley have stuck with the franchise in a similar manner, with the former working on the show as lead character designer and the latter as a consultant for the series.

This is uncommon for many adaptations of comic material, which is something that Kirkman acknowledged. In his discussion of his role on Invincible VS, he spoke about how he, Walker, and Ottley have all had input on Quarter Up's fighting game:

"With this game in particular, everything down to the key art that gets released when we're announcing characters, we're approving all that stuff. We're involved with every poly design and rough initial design, up to the final polish where, you know, 'Oh I think this guy has bigger calves' or 'I think this guy might have more prominent knees.' Corey and Ryan get in there and they're like, 'This line from this costume is wrapping around the body this way, it needs to be wrapped around the body this way.' I mean, regardless of media we're making sure that it's 100% an authentic experience for fans because we take all of this stuff very seriously, and we want it to be as good as we possibly can make it."

Furthermore, Kirkman spoke about the importance of keeping this level of creative control over the Invincible franchise. He went on to explain the details of his input over not just Invincible VS, but the entire breadth of the IP:

"Every day, it's just a barrage of like, 'Oh could you see how this action figure's going,' and 'We're doing this shirt,' and 'Here's this role-playing game stuff,' and you get to look through all of it and make sure that it's how you want it to be. In a world where, you know, Marvel and DC may or may not invite you to the premiere of the movie based on your thing, it's really gratifying to know that we have the freedom to do this stuff and have the seat at the table that we have anytime anything is done."

Many of the most iconic characters, locations, and storylines in the realm of comics have been crafted by creators working under work-for-hire agreements, leading to writers rarely reaping the benefits of extraordinarily successful ideas. It's unfortunate that the control that Kirkman and his collaborators have over the future of Invincible is the exception and not the norm for the industry, as many creators don't have the same "seat at the table," as Kirkman describes. Hopefully, the success of Invincible will inspire more writers and artists to look for greater representation and ownership, whether that be through collective bargaining in existing workplaces or the creation of new ventures—as was the case with Image Comics itself.

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