Invincible Comics Are Back! The Return of Battle Beast with Robert Kirkman and Ryan Ottley - The Short Box Podcast Ep. 458
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In this episode of The Short Box. Gosh, why now? Ryan was available and wanted to work with me again. I guess this is the main reason. You know, it doesn't hurt that the Invincible series is as popular as it is. think the, you know, the show's firing on all cylinders and people seem to be really enjoying it and we're having lot of fun working on it. But, you know, to be able to do a comic again, to be able to tell more stories with Battle Beast, Ryan and my is like pretty much favorite character.
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in the invincible universe. you like invincible in any form, this book is going to be pretty cool.
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intro music plays
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Yo, Short Box Nation. Hello again. Welcome back and happy new comic book day. You know the deal by now. It's another Wednesday. It's another new podcast. Thank you for pressing play today. If you're new, welcome to the show. My name is Badr and this is the Short Box Podcast, the comic book talk show that brings you the best conversations about your favorite comics with the creators that put their blood, sweat, and tears in the making them. This is episode 458. And you know what makes today or this week so special is that this episode is dropping on the same day.
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that the best new superhero series in the universe is debuting. Okay, it's not quite about a superhero per se, but nonetheless, I'm talking about Battle Beast number one. It's in comic shops right now if you're hearing this. It's the most in-demand invincible story of all time, and it's reuniting superstars Robert Kirkman and Ryan Ottley together once again for more invincible goodness. And what's better than that? Actually, I'll tell you what's better than that. How about having said superstar comic creators on the short box to talk about the new Battle Beast series?
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If that sounds good to you, let's waste no time in bringing in our esteemed guest, Short Box Nation. Without further ado, let's welcome Robert Kirkman and Ryan Ottley to the show. Robert, Ryan, welcome to the show. How are y'all doing today? We're good. Good to be here. Hell to the yeah. Look, I know that you guys have a very busy media day going on, so I'm just going to jump into my questions. Just know that it is amazing that you guys are here. I know the listeners right now are probably losing their mind. They're like, holy shit, how did Botter not f this up?
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Wow, he actually did something good this time. this one is for you. Considering that this is the first Invincible comic that we've had in close to seven years, the first time we've seen Battle Beast in maybe just as long, how long have you had this story in mind? And why would you say now is the right time for it to see the light of day? And I guess can you let us know, what can Invincible fans of new and old expect from this series? Gosh, mean, why now?
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Ryan was available and wanted to work with me again. I guess this is the main reason. You know, it doesn't hurt that the Invincible series is as popular as it is. I think the, you know, the show's firing on all cylinders and people seem to be really enjoying it and we're having lot of fun working on it. But, you know, to be able to do a comic again, to be able to tell more stories with Battle Beast, you know, Ryan and my's like pretty much favorite character in the Invincible universe.
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You know, it's a lot of fun. I think that, you know, fans who are going to be picking this up, it's a regular monthly series. We've got some cool stuff planned. think that, you know, if you're looking at issue one, you've got no idea where this series is going to go. It is going to introduce all kinds of new aspects of the Invincible Universe. A lot of stalwarts of the Invincible Universe are going to be showing up when you least expect it.
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If you like invincible in any form, this book is going to be pretty cool. So I highly recommend people check it out. Please, please dear God for me buy this comic. Look, a hundred points off the bat for that very detailed and amazing answer. I would also give you the same amount of points if you were just said more Battle Beast. Enough said that would have been it right there. But thank you. Can we get this down to that? I can see what I can do in post for you.
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Ryan, this next one is specifically for you. You've gone on record saying that you created Battle Beast specifically to like beef up Invincible's rogue gallery. He needed more rogues, so you created this badass character that has kind of gone on to like have a cult following. I guess in your mind or in your words, like what is it about Battle Beast that you think has garnered such like acclaim? Like what is it about this character that he deserves his own series?
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What was going through your mind when you were creating the character? Were you drawing on any inspirations or anything specifically? Well, just to be clear, it's Robert and I co-created Battle Beast for sure. So yeah, it wasn't just me. That's for sure. Hashtag writer cred. Everybody always forgets the writer. Yeah, everyone always forgets the poor writer. They're always left out of all media. We don't have that picture. There's a long history of neglect right there. Poor writers, Yeah, mean, Kirkman gave me a call.
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He just said, Hey, we need a bigger rogues gallery for issue 19. So a big white lion with some kind of Jack Kirby s type of armor samurai type thing. Normally when I hear that I try not to look up any, anything that they say that he says that it's like that. So it says Jack Kirby stuff, ignore Jack Kirby stuff, because I don't want it to look like I don't want people to look at it and go like, Oh, wow, it's kind of with the cool because Jack Kirby has amazing design and I don't want it to look like that needs to look like some
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thing, you know, but yeah, just went with this weird design, which actually morphed as you, you know, in issue 19, it was that certain design. And then once we drew them again, what was it like four or five years later with issue 55? Yeah, it's back in the story. And there's some elements I just didn't like, I gotten better at that time. And so I tweak things and I do that throughout throughout the whole series where I'm like, I don't like the way I designed it, I'm gonna some of the tweaks here and there. And I don't remember if I've answered your question or not. So there you go.
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No, A plus answer on that one. All right, so the last time we got, Invincible ended in 2018. And then from there, you guys have both kind of gone on to have amazing careers. You know, worked on plenty more comics, worked with other creative teams, et cetera. I guess thinking in the creation of this new Battle Bee series, did it feel like just wearing like an old jacket? Like, was the process the same as when you guys were, you know, in the core days of Invincible? Did you come to the table, I guess, any new ideas or new skills or tools based on just having worked on so many more comics?
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pass invincible? mean, I'll jump in and say, I think one of the cool things about this is that Ryan is inking himself, which is something that he did sporadically on invincible, never like consistently for a long duration. And so seeing him complete the pages all on his own and the different level of inking techniques that he's incorporated into his work and, you know, just how, you know, complex and detailed the pages have become.
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was pretty awesome, you know, to go so long without working with him and then for him to come back with this like extra level of like craft and be stronger, bigger, better than what he was before was pretty exciting for me. But yeah, mean, you know, we have a shorthand. You know, I've developed this with all of the artists that I work with regularly, but, you know, it's nice to be able to
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uh, you know, like do kind of somewhat sporadic, like sparse sparse is the word I look for sparse scripts that, uh, that I know Ryan is going to be able to kind of turn into, uh, you know, absolute awesomeness. So I don't have to, you know, I can say, uh, you know, battle beast is, uh, breaking a spaceship over his knee. I don't have to say battle beast is
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throwing the ship down over his knee and the ship is splitting in half and the pieces are flying and there's debris and blah, blah, blah. It's like, there's certain levels of script I write for people I haven't worked with. And then once we get into this working relationship, I know what they bring to the page and I don't have to ask for certain things because I know Ryan is just gonna do it. And so that's very freeing. And it's also a fun back and forth. Ryan's very vocal.
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on what he wants to draw and what he doesn't want to draw. over the years, I've keyed in on that. And I do feel like I'm in his service to try and make him as excited as possible to draw the pages so that my excitement will transfer to his excitement, will transfer to the reader's excitement. And so that's something that we try to do. But if there's ever a sequence that Ryan feels like he needs to punch up or that I haven't quite delivered to his liking.
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He's a phone call away and we always work through it. We've added some scenes and beefed things up with his ideas on this series. It's been a lot of fun collaborating to that level and feeling like we're working in tandem to craft the best comic possible. Nice. Ryan, did you want to add anything to that? Has your process changed, I guess, any after all these years being away from the property, coming back to Battle Beast? Not changed too much.
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I found a really good way of doing doing this, you know, while I was doing invincible, used to be like a bunch of layers, like five different layers that have to work on where it's like, you know, this is before digital. And so it would be like, you know, thumbnail sketch, and then I would draw it on the bigger page with the HB or a blue pencil, and then the HB layer on top of that, and then another final pencil, and then ink and all that stuff. And the whole goal is to, you have to get faster, and you have to get better.
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And so that's probably one of the most difficult things to do, right? And so you have to try to drop those layers down. So now I've got, you know, I do the digital layer and then I print it out and I do quick pencils and then I ink over that. And I don't get super detailed with my pencils. And that's what for me makes it so fun because I get to get really creative with the inking process. So, and I've always, I think like I always ink my own covers on invincible.
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I got an anchor around issue, what was it, 52? So like, you know, I inked myself on the first 40 issues and it was so nice. issues before you, I forgot completely. Yeah, Oops. Yeah, it was very difficult. And so you have to get this deadline style down as I think Todd McFarlane coined that phrase, which is very true. You have to get a deadline style. And this Battle Beast, can go, I spent a little more time on these. So hopefully we can.
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definitely keep up once these arts go. I think we're gonna be fine, but it's definitely more detail, more ink slinging and just some crazy, crazy shit. Yeah. I'm excited. Ryan, if I may extend a compliment to you, yesterday I reread the issue where Alan and Nolan do the jailbreak scene and then, you know, they obviously free Battle Beast 2 and you ink that issue. And I gotta say it is one of the, I don't know when that particular issue came out, years now.
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But it is still such a beautiful comic book. think you inking your stuff, you just have a knack for what certain weights and the lighting and just the angles. I I'm excited to hear that you're also inking Battle Beast. So looking forward to that. But that issue was awesome. Rereading it again. We also had F.C.O. Placencia on colors for you. And he just makes it look very pretty. Absolutely. OK, this is a question for both of you. And Robert, maybe you take this one first.
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Battle Beast in the animated series is voiced by Star Trek royalty, right? Mr. Wharf himself, Michael Dorn. And the show in general is stacked with some amazing actors voicing characters from Invincible. I wonder, do you have a favorite voice actor on the show? Is there like a specific character or actor that matches or closely matches the voice that you had in your head when you were doing Invincible and creating these characters?
12:23
I mean, a favorite voice, like, come on, man, I can't answer that. These are, I know these people, and I have to work with these people regularly to single one of them out on some kind of public interview would be, like, can never say that Walton Goggins is my favorite. Like, it's ridiculous. What you guys talking about? But no, I don't know. I mean, I think that there's so many great actors, and I purposefully try not to.
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get too married to what I'm picturing voice wise when I'm writing a comic or to have too solid of a thought of what the audio version of their voice should be because I like being able to be open casting wise and see who's available and see what would be the best fit. I think, I don't know, mean, it's...
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It's worked out great. think that we couldn't have found a better cast for the show. yeah, we always approach each character as, know, like, oh, like, you know, who could we get? Could it be this person, it be that person? And kind of discovering the voices that way. I think one of my favorite aspects of the show is kind of going into every episode blindly and just, you know, seeing if I could recognize a voice. You know, when I heard Mahir al-Ashali,
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speak. It was like, Whoa, is that who I think it is? And know, you pause the episode and Amazon lets you know, like, Yeah, buddy, it is who it is. Robert, even though you didn't say it, I do want to say Walter Goggins as machine head is one of my favorite voices in the show as well. Sir, Jeffrey Donovan. Oh my god, Cecil. Cecil, I'm sorry, Donovan plays machine head. How dare you? I'm out of here. Ryan, same question to you. Who are some of your favorite voice actors of the show? When I read the book, I
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you have these certain voices that you're reading, but it's never anything like these actors. And so to me, this is all better. mean, Seth Rogen, as only it's just awesome. It's so perfect. And I'm like, oh, now I want to read the whole thing over again and just kind of imagine those voices and all of them. I bet it's a totally different, better experience. So yeah, he's great. They're all great. So many great ones. yeah, too long, too many to choose from, at least for the short interview. All right, I'm gonna move on and I want to
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kind of zoom out to talk about Image really quick because two weeks ago was the 33rd anniversary of the first comic released by Image Comics, being Rob Liefeld's Youngblood. And it got me thinking about some of my favorite Image Comics and just characters throughout the years. And I ended up having a debate with my co-host here about who would end up being on like the Image Comics Mount Rushmore. And we went between maybe having it as a creator Mount Rushmore or a character Mount Rushmore.
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But I would just be curious to hear for your personal Image Comics Mount Rushmore, whether it be you could choose creator or do a character, who would be on that Mount Rushmore? So four slots. Four slots? Damn. I could do a fifth one, but my answer is pretty simple. was the originator. Rob was the guy who named Image Comics. He was the guy who kind of got the ball rolling. Ball rolling? He got the ball rolling. I've been talking for like seven hours.
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But it works. He got the ball rolling and initiated the whole thing. so he, you know, legendary creator. He's definitely up there. And then I think the other guys are the guys that, you know, stood the test of time and, you know, are still very much a huge part of the company. It's the remaining founders, which are, you know, Todd McFarlane, Mark Silvestri, Eric Larson, and Jim Valentino.
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I think that you can't downplay Eric Stevenson's importance in the entire history of Image Comics. From his work with Jim Valentino very early on to then Rob Liefeld and Extreme Studios, and then coming back as the marketing director in the early 2000s and being instrumental in kind of ushering Walking Dead into existence and helping that book find its audience. then...
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you know, essentially being co-publisher with Eric Larson during his tenure and then becoming publisher when Eric, you know, ended his run. And he's now been the publisher for well over 10 years. I don't keep track of time very well, maybe longer than that. He might be the longest tenured publisher of the company. But yeah, I don't know. And, you know, I don't know. You got Brian and Fiona doing Saga. You've got Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips doing absolutely legendary work.
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I'm just going to keep talking. It's very hard for me to, you know. It's an ongoing debate here on the show. Those are very solid answers. Ryan, I'll look to you and maybe I'd like to hear if you could create a Mount Rushmore of image comic characters, your favorite image comic characters, who would be on that Mount Rushmore? Well, man, I'm terrible at favorite questions because, yeah, like Robert said, it's kind of hard just to pick four, but I mean, the top ones.
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Also, next time we go to a con, Scottie Young's going to be like, didn't even mention... I am honored that you think Scottie Young is listening to the show, but maybe this episode is the one that he decides to tune in on. mean, let's see, Savage Dragon, Spawn. I like it. I mean, Pit, The Max. Okay, there's the Rush mark. I'll just stop there. Sorry, everybody. Sorry if I pissed off anyone. All right, gents, I want to move on to a special question that I've been saving.
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Any opportunity that I get to bridge the gap between creators like yourself who are putting their blood, sweat and tears into making said comics and maybe bridging the gap with retailers who are doing, you know, putting the blood, sweat and tears into selling the books and, you know, building a comic community. I try my best to fit in that role. And in this case, the next question comes from the owner of my favorite comic shop. His name is Ben Kingsbury. He's the owner of Gotham City Limit Comic Shop here in Jacksonville, Florida. He's got a question for you too about the new series. And here he is. Hey, Robert and Ryan.
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I'm Ben Kay, owner of a local comic shop in Jacksonville, Florida, Gotham City Limit. Thanks so much for taking the time to answer a quick question. So you both have created incredible worlds like Walking Dead, Invincible, Grizzly Shark and more. then comic fans love to spot hidden gems or Easter eggs that you've snuck into these stories. Can you each share a moment of your favorite Easter egg?
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personal reference or comic in joke that comes to mind immediately? I'll leave you to answer this question. Thanks again for making amazing worlds. We literally couldn't do it without you. And remember short box nation, always take it to the limit. I mean, the first thing that comes to mind for Easter eggs, because he brought up grizzly shark. And so I did put a few, actually quite a few grizzly shark Easter eggs in invincible, like on, you know, movie marquees or even on the cover on issue one.
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38 or whatever with Markey, he's got the shark and it says GS, know, a little grizzly shark thing. So yeah, I'd always shout out a bunch of weird stuff. yeah. Hell yeah. Robert, what about you? Favorite Easter egg? Gosh, I mean, does it count as an Easter egg that we tied in the issue 33 to the Marvel team up 14 story where Invincible met Spider-Man and see like a little bit of spider webbing in the Invincible comic like that. That was kind of fun.
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That was the best. I feel like there's like, I don't know, man. I feel like I forget so much stuff. Yeah, me too. I don't know. I'm sure, I'm sure there's other Easter eggs and stuff. mean, most of it is stuff that Cory or Ryan like drew into the pages that I didn't have anything to do with. You know, there's Charlie Brown and Jan's Island, Bob and the characters from Venture Brothers and like various different, like little, little unauthorized cameos that show up here and there. That's a, that's a lot of fun. But, but yeah.
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I don't know. Now I feel like I'm rambling too much again. Damn it. I'm going to stop. No, if anything, you're bringing me back to some fond memories of going into the comic shop, you know, a new issue Invincible dropped and everyone kind of talking about like, Oh, did you catch that? Did you catch that? What about that Easter? Spider-Man, you know, all of that. So I think it just it's the fun of Invincible on top of the action, the story, the characters is like just the extra thought and just those, you know, those minor details. And I guess in closing to wrap up on Battle Beast, right now, there's only four issues solicited.
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I'm not sure if it's going to be ongoing or past that, but I would like to know, what is your favorite issue of this series that you cannot wait for fans to get to? Gosh, there's stuff in every single issue that I cannot wait for people to see. Yeah. I can't say it because it'd be a spoiler. Yeah, issue four is pretty exciting. It introduces some pretty awesome new characters. I think there's some pretty...
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cool stuff at issue six that I think people are going to be excited about. very, very excited for people to see issue seven. This is a regular series. We're going to be going for a long time. I think the stuff that starts happening in issue 10 is people are really going to like that. If I have to separate issue 10, think is probably going to be the most anticipated issue for Ryan and I.
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that people are really gonna like. So I don't know, we'll see, we'll see. Issue 53 is gonna be... Ryan's like, wait, I don't think I signed off for that part, but hell yeah, I'm looking forward to it. Well, Jess, thank you so much for your time. I know you guys got a busy schedule and day. Thank you for chatting about Battle Beast. I've already got it on my pull list and I can't wait to finally get some invincible goodness back in comic book form. You guys are awesome. Oh, hey, was great being here. Thanks for talking to us and yeah.
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Thanks for supporting the book. Good to meet you. There you have it, ShortBikes Nation. That's the end of the show. Thank you for hanging out. Thanks for being here. And a special shout out if you made it this far. If you enjoyed this episode and you have some thoughts or comments that you want to share with us, write us at theshortbikesjaxx at gmail.com. And if you really liked this episode, help us spread the word. Share this episode with a friend or someone you know that loves comics as much as we do.
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and continue to make mine and yours short box. I'll catch you soon. Peace.
