Following this week’s release of Skybound’s new series, Terminal, Robert Kirkman took to the stage at San Diego Comic-Con to shed some light on the future of the series, the success of Invincible, and what’s going on in the Energon Universe. Kirkman was joined by Terminal artists Andy Kubert, Arthur Adams, and David Finch for what was, essentially, the general Skybound panel.
Kirkman began his panel talking about the launch of Terminal and its blind bag which gave readers the chance to pull issues #2, #7, and #10. He asked, “Have you ever seen such an insane thing done in comics?”
Kirkman then welcomed the team of artists for Terminal: Kubert, Adams, and Finch. Kirkman noted this is Andy Kubert’s first time working on creator-owned comics outside of Marvel and DC. Kubert made note that one of the best things about working on a creator-owned project is having a good amount of time to develop the book. Throughout the panel, Kirkman likened his pitch for Terminal to both ’90s-era X-Men and early Image books.
One way in which the Terminal team is trying to capture the early Image magic is by having artists melding their styles by changing duties on different issues. The panelists revealed the teams for the first year of the book.
Terminal #1-5 will be done by Kubert and Dave McCaig; issue #6 will be Adams and McCaig; issues #7-9 will have Finch on pencils, Sandra Hope on inks, and McCaig on colors; issue !10 will be Adams and McCaig again; and finally issues #11-12 will have Kubert pencils, Finch inks, and McCaig colors. Kirkman also added that he is “very bullish” on the series and hopes to see it run for at least 100 issues. He hopes it to be another Invincible or The Walking Dead.
After the Terminal artists took their leave, Kirkman jumped right into news on Invincible, confirming season 6 with Jack Quaid as Gravitator. He also announced that after Invincible Universe: Battle Beast #12, the series will be on hiatus until March 2027.
Next, Kirkman talked about the comic book debut of Ella Mental, who first appeared in the Invincible VS video game. The Ella Mental backup story, which started in Capes #7, is written by Kirkman and drawn by Cory Walker. Finally, Kirkman announced he had reached “peak sellout” with a sneak peek at upcoming Invincible merchandise—including branded kettlebells, card games, and an air hockey table.
Continuing with Transformers, Kirkman announced that starting with the new arc launching in October’s issue #37, guest artist Karl Kerschl will be taking over art duties. This new arc will focus on Elita-Prime and take place on Cybertron.
In other Energon news, the upcoming arc in Kirkman’s own addition to the mythos, Void Rivals, will feature art by Frank Mazzoli starting in issue #37. Kirkman also talked about Rom’s debut in #33 including his new companion, Carpet.
To conclude, Kirkman launched into rapidfire updates about other upcoming Skybound projects. These included a new arc in Blood and Thunder #19, The Walking Dead Deluxe plans to continue ’til the end, and then Skinbreaker Deluxe Edition (both black and white and color editions) hitting shelves on October 7.
The Q&A portion of the panel included many interesting questions from fans, which revealed tidbits about Skybound’s upcoming plans. One attendee asked if Kirkman plans to bring back Invincible, to which he replied that he wants to tell more stories like Battle Beast to flesh out the world, but does not intend to return to the original series.
Another attendee asked if there were any artists that he would like to work with and Kirkman replied with Jorge Jimenez, Stuart Immonen, Olivier Coipel, Steve McNiven, Becky Cloonan, and Bilquis Evely. Kirkman also revealed he may already be in talks to work with some of these artists.
The final questions asked about the future of Invincible video games following the release of Invincible VS. One attendee asked if Kirkman would ever do a community livestream and play the game with fans. Kirkman said he “doesn’t need anyone else to see how bad he is.” The final question asked if future Invincible games were in the works, and Kirkman confirmed that they are: “Invincible VS is the first… We had to do something of a manageable size but that’s always the goal.”
Stay tuned to The Beat for more news from SDCC ’26.
