Robert Kirkman is not new to creating deeply layered mythologies set in foreign worlds. His pantheon of original characters and planets stretches across the outer reaches of new galaxies and timelines, giving readers a glimpse into cosmic, blood-soaked realities. He builds macrocosms with a few novel ideas and a pen.
This is extremely apparent in the pages of his newest series, Terminal. The comic’s first issue follows Marilyn Howe as she desperately searches for her missing sister, Alessandra, and discovers a secret war between two opposing factions of metahumans that each blur the line between good and evil. Co-written with Joe Casey of Uncanny X-Men fame and featuring art by Andy Kubert, Terminalissue #1 hit shelves July 22, just in time for San Diego Comic-Con 2026 attendees to snag a copy from the massive Image Comics vendor stand in the San Diego Convention Center.
“[Terminal] is similar to Invincible where it’s a very complex universe,” Kirkman tells Den of Geek. “There’s a massive cast of intertwined characters and a lot of cool subplots and. It’s gonna be another evolving story. So hopefully when you’re reading issue 25, and you’re reading issue 50, you’ll be like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe issue one of this series is the same book. Everything has changed so much along the way.’”
Kirkman and Casey’s “much darker” and “much more violent” new creation is indeed going to expand into an ornate narrative, drawing inspiration from the edgy, action-packed comic runs of the ‘90s while maintaining a very human emotional core. In particular, Kirkman lists Rob Liefeld, Jim Lee, and Chris Claremont, alongside a slew of other X-Men writers and artists, as “firing on all cylinders” during the notably controversial phase of comic book history.
“The ‘90s comics were so focused on staying energetic and exciting and in your face and that’s something that we’re trying to bring back to comics,” Kirkman says. “I think as things have gotten more writer driven, things have gotten a little bit more intellectual, and when I hear ‘intellectual,’ I hear ‘boring.’ We’re trying to broom the boring out of comics as best we can.”
In addition to being the architect of an entirely new world, Kirkman is also bringing momentum to a decades-old intersection of franchises tinged with nostalgia. With the Energon Universe, Skybound Entertainment’s successor to the Hasbro Comic Book Universe, Kirkman is building on keystone properties such as G.I. Joe andTransformers and bringing their legacies to new readers.
Kirkman made waves with his Transformers run when he had Optimus Prime voluntarily release the Matrix of Leadership to Elita One after she challenged his leadership and Earth-centered approach to fighting the Decepticons. Optimus is now no longer a Prime, and Elita Prime is born with immediate plans to bring the fight against the Decepticons back to Cybertron.
The starlit intergalactic space opera that is Kirkman’s Transformersrun unfolds just as any longtime Kirkman fan would guess: with twists, turns, and a complicated story. His writing style fits perfectly in the already epic Transformers mythos. What happens on each side of the galaxy, from Cybertron to Earth, will affect both ends of the universe as he delves further into the run. “I love the Transformers, and we’ll keep surprising and introducing new elements and doing some crazy stuff as we keep moving,” Kirkman says.
In addition to being a driving force behind the Transformers comic arc, Kirkman is also very much in the driver’s seat of his original EU title, Void Rivals. Void Rivals has been the ideal ongoing series for Kirkman to not only flex his worldbuilding muscles, but also recruit up-and-coming artists to bring characters from a plethora of famous franchises to life. Specifically naming Void Rivals co-creators Andrei Bresson and Lorenzo De Felici, current artist Connor Hughes, and incoming artist Frank Mazzoli, Kirkman praised the comic’s varied art teams.
“Between [Bresson] and [De Fellicci] who did the first 18 issues, it’s just some of the best art teams that I’ve ever worked with on that series, and [Mazzoli] is a worthy addition to that list.”
Just because Kirkman is taking his time to be thoughtful about the worlds he’s orchestrating doesn’t mean he’s forgotten to keep the hordes of Invinciblefans fed. On top of working on the highly- anticipated fifth season of the Prime Video series, he’s also using spinoff comic series and the Invincible VS video game to carve a grisly path across the galaxy.
Kirkman keeps his cards close to his vest when asked what the Viltrumites are doing on Earth after Mark and Thragg’s tense truce at the end of season 4 and says (with a hint of irony) that they’re enjoying high-stakes poker. When asked whether we could see a new Invincible Universe comic centered on another character similar to Battle Beast, he only teases “We’ll see what the future holds,” and that he and Invincible co-creator Ryan Ottley “are having such a great time” fleshing out this relatively removed science fiction corner of their original comic.
What details Kirkman was able to share, though, will be extremely exciting for longtime Invincible fans. The ongoing comics — Invincible Universe: Battle Beast and Capes, written by Benito Cereno and drawn by Mark Engler — are sticking around for more stories; Invincible VSis getting new characters, potentially a DLC, and comic appearances from Ella Mental are on their way to Capes
Most intriguing is Kirkman’s enthusiasm for Invincibleseason 5, though. It’s palpable in the air when he talks about it, even if he can’t share specifics.
“When you want to tell a long-form story over many, many seasons the way we do with Invincible, it’s great to kind of key in and find those things that it’s like, ‘OK, I know we’re on season 5, but now we’re doing this,’ and it’s very different, it’s very exciting, and it’s bringing new elements into the series,” he says before segueing into a litany of jokes about the fandom’s muted response to season 4’s standalone Damien Darkblood episode. “Season 5 of Invincible, it’s called Invincible: Damien Darkblood.”
The process for adapting the comics for the show’s modern audience has been rewarding for Kirkman. He describes bringing the various story arcs and characters from the pages of Invincibleto the screen as viewing theonal stories. He assures fans of his and Ottley’s brainchild that, indeed, they will be bringing what readers loved in print to life
“We’re following the comic book series,” Kirkman says. “Anything that you love about that series that you’re just dying to see adapted, you will see that adapted.”
