The Walking Dead's Creator Has a Comic Out There He Never Wants You to See

Robert Kirkman is among the most prolific comic book creators of the last twenty-five years, responsible for both The Walking Dead and Invincible, two franchises that have become staples of popular culture; yet there is one comic he wrote, purportedly about professional wrestling, that he once assured readers will never, ever, see the light of day.

In the letters section of Invincible #43, written by Kirkman, with art by Ryan Ottley, the author was asked, "did you write a wrestling comic?", with the fan also questioning whether it would ever be reprinted.

Kirkman responded that it had never, in fact, been published in the first place, and further, that it never would be. "Trust me," he wrote, "you DON'T want to see it." In retrospect, however, this does leave open the question of how the fan knew about the unpublished comic, and what was so bad about it.

Robert Kirkman Wrote A Wrestling Comic That You'll Never Get To Read, Sorry

Invincible #43; Written By Robert Kirkman; Art By Ryan Ottley; Released In 2007

As Kirkman put it, the reason for his negative opinion of this unpublished wrestling comic stemmed from the fact that he illustrated it himself, rather than handing it off to one of his many talented artistic collaborators. Beyond that, however, nothing else is known about this comic, other than the fact that its creator disavowed it. "I don't even like to show it to people," he admitted in the letters page of Invincible #43, though certainly, rather than discouraging people from wanting to read it, this makes it all the more intriguing to fans of the author's work.

That is, readers can trust Robert Kirkman to know quality work from bad; his lauded work, on the long-running The Walking Dead and Invincible comics in particular, is the product of significant literary talent. Consequently, the idea of Kirkman humbling himself by drawing a bad pro wrestling comic that will never come out is actually somewhat charming. Curiously, other than this brief exchange in the back of Invincible #43, there is seemingly no other evidence of this "lost" Kirkman comic, making it a deep-cut relic of his historic career.

Robert Kirkman's Wrestling Comic Is Probably Buried For Good, As Much As Fans Want To See It

The Walking Dead/Invincible Creator's Closely Guarded Secret

All fans can do is speculate when it comes to Robert Kirkman's wrestling comic, and hope that maybe a future panel appearance or interview will shed some further light on it. There is a good chance it is buried somewhere deep in Kirkman's personal archives, Raiders of the Lost Ark-style, and while it is highly unlikely that it ever becomes public, there is still the remote possibility the author could pull it out of mothballs and share it with fans of The Walking Dead and Invincible one day, as embarrassing as it might be.