Robert Kirkman, creator of comics like The Walking Dead and Invincible, may have started his career at Marvel Comics, but he hasn’t had much good to say about his time at the House of Ideas over the years. In a memorable 2020 interview, the writer and producer said that during his time at Marvel, he thought that company officials resented his indie success and that he did not feel like he “needed” Marvel.

Kirkman, who is now a partner at Image Comics, has never been shy about his frustration with Marvel, his relationship with the publisher, and how he says it treats talent more broadly. In 2023, he did a podcast episode with Image co-founder Todd McFarlane, in which he shared some of the stories from his time at Marvel with CBR.

McFarlane has never been shy about sharing his own criticisms of Marvel and DC, who dominate the U.S. comic shop market but who provide little in the way of job security or benefits to the artists and writers who make up their creative force. But Kirkman has more specific, granular complaints than that.

Robert Kirkman Did Not Enjoy His Time at Marvel Comics

The Creator Also Had Two Major Creator-Owned Hits at the Time

Speaking with ComicTropes in 2020, Kirkman said everything changed when he reached out to then-Marvel-editor-in-chief Joe Quesada to clarify details for an assignment. Quesada reportedly misunderstood the question, believing that Kirkman was worrying about royalties instead of the story, and sent a rude response to the writer. Kirkman claimed that Quesada wrote in an email, “Why don’t you just focus on the writing? What’s wrong with you?” Kirkman admits that he did not lash out at the time, although the interaction was key to driving him away from Marvel later on. Kirkman told ComicTropes that he immediately had thoughts.

I’m making nickel and dimes from you a–holes. I’m making crazy money at the time from Invincible and Walking Dead and my collections are doing great, I’m working for nickels over here at Marvel and I’m getting treated like crap and get yelled at all the time for just trying to put an extra level of care in the book. They resented the fact that I didn’t need them.

Kirkman decided at that point that he couldn’t trust Marvel and that it would be foolish to think of them as reliable work.

That wasn’t his first issue, either; in the 2023 podcast interview, he discussed his work on Sleepwalker. Originally planned as a series, only one issue was ever published after Marvel abruptly canceled it, leaving Kirkman with some unpublished and unpaid work. The writer said that while he continued to work for Marvel after Sleepwalker‘s implosion, he decided at that point that he couldn’t trust Marvel and that it would be foolish to think of the publisher as reliable work. McFarlane, of course, was on board with that interpretation, having said dozens of times over the years that he never trusted Marvel because of how Jack Kirby was treated.

Image Comics Became Robert Kirkman’s Home in 2008

Kirkman Is the Only Image Comics Partner Who Isn’t a Co-Founder

McFarlane and six other superstar artists founded Image Comics in 1991 with a mission to allow comic writers and artists to keep the rights to their creations. It almost immediately became the third-largest comics publisher in the U.S., and in the decades since, Image has released hit titles like Spawn, Saga, and Deadly Class, in addition to Kirkman’s own Skybound titles. Kirkman launched both Invincible and The Walking Dead in 2003, and both became near-instant hits, with buzz around Invincible from Hollywood almost immediately. By 2008, Kirkman had become such a key part of the Image operation that he was invited to become a partner.

Kirkman last worked for Marvel in 2009, publishing a five-issue The Destroyer miniseries with Invincible‘s Cory Walker. While most of the Image founders have returned to Marvel at one point or another, Kirkman has not. With his movie and TV money, especially after the success of The Walking Dead, Robert Kirman certainly never needs to work for Marvel or DC, so it’s unlikely that he’ll head back to the Big Two unless something truly shocking happens.

The Walking Dead is available now from Skybound / Image Comics.