354 KITCHEN SINK PRESS
his buff oon sidekick Jesus H. Christ, this series not so discreetly exemplifi es Kirkman’s
approach to comics: superfi cially a parody, the series attempts to recapture the
whimsicality of early superhero stories by juxtaposing the pastiche anti-hero Pope with
purposive obnoxiousness and pseudo-serious plot. Eventually republished by Image
Comics , Battle Pope was adapted as a cable television cartoon series for Spike TV in
2008.
Stepping next into a series of short-lived jobs at Image, in 2003 Kirkman and artist
Cory Walker collaborated to create the critically acclaimed Invincible. Part family drama,
part adventure series, Invincible represents the fruition of Kirkman’s original project for-
mulated in Battle Pope —that is, Invincible faithfully re-imagines the innocence and awe
of Golden and Silver Age superhero narratives. Ryan Ottley took ongoing charge of
pencils with issue #8.
Kirkman bottled lightning twice in 2003 at Image, collaborating with Battle Pope
artist Tony Moore to create the zombie -horror series Th e Walking Dead. An increas-
ingly popular revision of the George A. Romero zombie mythos, the story claims no
central character or pre-ordained mission. Because of this, Kirkman often shakes
reader expectations through eliminating important characters and disrupting develop-
ing storylines in an attempt to refl ect a more realistic zombie apocalypse survival story.
Issue #7 fi nds artist Charlie Adlard assuming interior art duties, though Moore stayed
on to provide his Eisner -nominated cover art through issue #24.
Seeing his popularity and marketability rise, Kirkman was tapped by Marvel to
become a contributor to several limited and ongoing series in 2004. Th ese include a
stint writing Captain America (2004), a Fantastic Four limited series (2005), and a
long run on Ultimate X-Men (2006–8). Perhaps his most notable contributions to the
Marvel universe are the tongue-in-cheek Marvel Zombies (2005) and Marvel Zombies 2
(2007) limited series and the Marvel Zombies: Dead Days (2007) one-shot. With in-
terior art by Sean Phillips and sought-after cover art by Arthur Suydam, the line of
Marvel Zombies titles was an immense commercial success and solidifi ed Kirkman’s
popular credentials.
Despite this success (and an exclusive contract), Kirkman grew unhappy working
within the constraints of Marvel’s editorial system. He subsequently left Marvel in
2008 to become the fi rst non-founding partner at Image Comics. From this position
Kirkman has advocated for an increased number of creator-owned properties in the
marketplace; in late 2008 Kirkman instigated a semi-serious debate with fellow comic
book writer Brian Michael Bendis on the merits of creator-owned properties versus
corporate-owned properties.
Joshua Plencner
KITCHEN SINK PRESS. Founded in 1969 by underground comics artist Denis
Kitchen, Kitchen Sink Press was one of the fi rst of the underground publishers started
within months of Rip Off Press and Last Gasp. Kitchen published his own work,
Mom’s Homemade Comics , and began to publish other underground artists. Located in
