To call Robert Kirkman and David Finch “legends” would be a major understatement. Kirkman’s written genre-defining hits including Invincible and The Walking Dead, and launched the Energon Universe with Void Rivals. Finch has drawn a number of superhero icons (including Batman and Moon Knight), earning a distinction for his grittier, detail-packed style. Now, the two are finally joining forces for Image Comics/Skybound’s newest fantasy epic, Skinbreaker.
Skinbreaker takes place in a world where a tribe of orc-like creatures live in a forest that’s teeming with all matter of strange plants and even stranger (and hungrier) creatures. The tribe’s leader, Enor, is slowly aging, losing his grip on the ancient weapon only known as Skinbreaker, and he wants another tribe member, Anok, to take his place. Anok is reluctant, but soon circumstances force his hand. If it seems like a magical enough story, it mostly started out as such.
Main cover by Annalisa Leoni and David Finch.. Courtesy of Image/Skybound.
“Gosh, that’s a really hard question…the ether?” Kirkman joked when asked about the genesis of Skinbreaker. “I had a raw nugget of an idea, of this primitive civilization and this struggle they’re going through. When I started talking to David about this series, I wanted something that would allow him to flex as an artist…and bring his own flavor to it. It seemed like a great idea to explore with him.”
Then, as Finch quickly added, “And then I weighed it down with every single leaf on every single tree!”
In all seriousness, Finch was happy to put his own spin on an entirely new world.
“It was incredibly gratifying,” Finch said. “The script was incredible, and that always makes such a big difference, when I can feel like I can really place myself there and go with the characters and feel what they’re going through. It had been so long since I’ve done anything that I was able to create from the ground up. Really, this is the most comprehensive creation from the ground up that I’ve done by far…I love drawing the superheroes, but getting a chance to do this was amazing.”
Courtesy of Image/Skybound.
In the same way that Finch had to get used to drawing Skinbreaker‘s world from scratch, Kirkman found himself tailoring his writing style to match Finch’s art style.
“I definitely tried to tailor everything to him. I’m a huge fan of comic book art, that’s why I got into this,” Kirkman said. “The idea of sending scripts to somebody like David Finch and being able to get pages back that I constructed in script form…that’s kind of the real joy of comics, being able to sit at the script stage and going, ‘Oh my God I can’t wait to see what this turns into or what that turns into’ I’m not writing a story so much to please myself as I am to please David. It very much is a process of lobbing the balls and let David knock them out of the park.”
Still, what’s truly amazing about Skinbreaker is that it took roughly eight years to get to comic book form,
“Personally, I would never release a comic if it was up to me…I love having the secret! Eight years of working on a project with David Finch that only I know about? That’s exciting! It’s a bummer that everyone knows about it now,” Kirkman said, adding that the process was amazing. Plus, in a world where most comics stick to an intense schedule it was great to have that time.
“There’s a luxury of taking our time and doing what’s right for the project instead of what’s right for the schedule,” Kirkman said
Courtesy of Image/Skybound.
Having such a big head start on the Skinbreaker creative process allowed Finch to dip into a realm he hadn’t usually illustrated – namely, fantasy.
“I’m a huge fan of Bernie Wrightson…there’s a lot of stuff that went into it, some movies, some historical things that I was able to bring to it,” Finch said, adding that it was a learning process for him to build a mostly organic world.
Kirkman and Finch also closed out the interview by saying that Skinbreaker was unlike any comic on the stands, with Kirkman describing the series as “a singular work that people will be talking about for decades.” Finch, meanwhile, put it up there with anything else from his rich catalog.
“It is an incredibly touching and resonant story,” Finch said. “I put everything I had into it. There’s no shortcuts. It’s the best work I could possibly do.”
Skinbreaker #1 will hit shelves on September 24, 2025. (The FOC is today, August 18.)
Courtesy of Image/Skybound.
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