Invincible creator Robert Kirkman believes his animated series can help build the manga-to-anime pipeline in America.
While delivering a keynote at ComicsPRO 2026, Kirkman spoke about the popularity of manga and how it remains huge in Japan, which serves as inspiration for him.
“What I’m seeing with Invincible, and the way that the animated series is fueling the sales on the trades in the direct market, is something that to me is signaling that there’s a potential to build something really exciting in this industry that will sustain us for years and years and years,” said Kirkman.
“Everybody talks about manga and how successful manga is, and the thing that makes manga so successful is the manga to anime pipeline,” he added. “And with Invincible, we’re seeing that you can with American comics basically do the exact same thing.”
Kirkman continued on, explaining how the sale of Invincible trade paperbacks has grown since the animated series on Amazon Prime began, which he believes could be a template for future comic book shows.
“Invincible is an animated series that adapts the comic book very closely, and it is doing really well, and all of the streaming services are so excited about adult animation that they are rolling out entire divisions trying to do that,” Kirkman explained. “And I think that as more comic books are adapted in this way, because having done Invincible, comics being adapted into animation really is the most seamless transition, and I feel like the two mediums are just made for each other.”
“And so I think that there is a future where we can have a comics to animation pipeline that will fuel this entire industry in a completely unprecedented way,” he added. “And we’re already seeing the beginnings of it now.”
Invincible has received critical acclaim ever since the animated series premiered in 2021. Kirkman previously co-created the comic in 2003. A fifth season of the show has been announced; it previously wrapped up its fourth season last month.
Invincible recently expanded into video games, too, driven by the success of the comic and show. The fighting game Invincible VS came out on Apr. 30.
