Robert Kirkman's Comic Book INVINCIBLE is Getting An Animated Series Adaptation at Amazon
The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman has set up his first series at Amazon Studios and it will be an animated adaptation of his comic Invincible, which was launched in 2003. Amazon ordered a first season of eight hour-long episodes based on the comic that recently wrapped up its run after 144 issues.
This will be an adult-style animated series, the story of which revolves around Mark Grayson, "a normal teenager except for the fact that his father is the most powerful superhero on the planet. Shortly after his 17th birthday, Mark begins to develop powers of his own and enters into his father’s tutelage. The series is suspenseful, action-filled and emotion-packed, yet builds upon poignant and heartwarming moments of love, friendship and humanity."
The series is being produced by Kirkman and his Skybound shingle, with Simon Racioppa (Teen Titans) set as showrunner. David Alpert (The Walking Dead) and Catherine Winder (Star Wars: The Clone Wars) are attached to executive produce. Justin and Chris Copeland (Ultimate Spider-Man) will serve as supervising directors.
Invincible is also being developed as a feature film at Universal Pictures with Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg writing the script and directing.
Sharon Yguado, head of scripted genre programming at Amazon Studios had this to say in a statement:
"Robert has an uncanny talent to predict the zeitgeist, and we are incredibly excited to see him break boundaries in an animated one-hour format. In a world saturated with superhero fare, we trust Robert to subvert expectations while encapsulating a story filled with heart and adrenaline. We love his ambitious plan for the show and believe it will look like nothing else on television."
Kirkman added:
"I couldn't be more proud of the series Cory Walker, Ryan Ottley and I did together for over 15 years. To know our characters will live on in multiple iterations in other media is almost too exciting to bear! What Amazon is allowing us to do in animated form is nothing short of ground-breaking, and I can't wait for our rabid fan base to experience it!"
Invincible will be Kirkman's fourth scripted series on the air. It will join AMC's The Walking Dead, and Fear the Walking Dead as well as Cinemax's exorcism drama Outcast.
Invincible tells a solid story and I think it will make for a great animated series, so I'm excited to see how that turns out. I personally think it will work better as an animated series than a movie.