Seven years after he wrapped up the original series, Invincible creator Robert Kirkman is returning with a new comic focused on one of the superhero title’s most popular characters. Invincible Universe: Battle Beast is a new ongoing series written by Kirkman and drawn by Ryan Ottley.
“What can I say? I just can’t get enough of the Invincible Universe!” said Kirkman in a statement. “Moving from the comic series directly to the animated series, I haven’t really had a break. That said, while adapting the series to animation, I’ve been itching to do something new! Longtime fans will know there’s a massive gap in Battle Beast’s appearances in the series between Invincible issue 19 and issue 55. There’s a lot of story to tell and I couldn’t be more thrilled to have Battle Beast co-creator Ryan Ottley on board to tell it with me!”
Check out the opening few pages of the first issue in the gallery below.
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“When Robert and I first created Battle Beast way back in Invincible issue #19 as a way to increase Invincible’s Rogues gallery, I wasn’t sure if he’d be a big character who’d come back throughout the series, or a character who’d die a terrible gory death right away,” said Ottley about the new book and the character he designed. “Robert always kept me and the readers on our toes, he could command a death at any moment, and you know I’d always jump at the chance to carry out the visual execution! Luckily, Battle Beast became a fan-favorite and lived to tell a larger tale! It’s amazing to be working with Robert again in the Invincible Universe. A while ago I was telling him I wasn’t sure what project to do next, and when he mentioned us doing a Battle Beast series together, I jumped at the idea of being back on a creator-owned book, enlarging the Invincible Universe even more! I’m really happy to be back at Image Comics and Skybound, and can’t wait for you to see the story we are fleshing out in this series! I haven’t had this much fun since Invincible!”
“Fans have been literally begging for this series for years,” added Skybound executive editor Ben Abernathy. “This book is going to blow minds as Robert and Ryan are putting an insane amount of effort into making the most badass comic possible!”
The new comic will also debut with what Skybound is saying is a first-of-its-kind blind bag program that “allows fans a chance to get ANY of the solicited covers.” The interesting thing here is the comics included the blind bags “may or may not be related to Battle Beast or the Invincible Universe” and that there will be surprise comics that haven’t been publicly announced in advance that will show up first in readers’ purchases. Godspeed comics collectors!
Invincible Universe: Battle Beast #1 debuts from Skybound/Image Comics in April 2025.
Last year Robert Kirkman launched Void Rivals and the Energon Universe. He told us about it in an exclusive interview.