Robert Kirkman announces new series, Oblivion Song

Robert Kirkman’s first new comic book series in years is about one man trying to save the people left behind by the government in an apocalyptic world of death known as Oblivion.

It is difficult to think of any comic book creator that has seen such high success as Robert Kirkman. He is a stalwart respected name in the comic industry and the creator of the most watched series on television. His creator-owned series Invincible and The Walking Dead are among the longest running and best selling in all of indie comics.

This new series, Oblivion Song, will be published by Image Comics under Kirkman’s own company Skybound. He will be working alongside artist Lorenzo De Felici. Unlike the Walking Dead, this new story is not about our world overrun wcreator-owned Instead, this time the monsters are somewhere else and thousands of people are trapped there with them.

This is the official synopsis for the series:

"A decade ago 300,000 citizens of Philadelphia were suddenly lost in Oblivion. The government made every attempt to recover them but after many years they gave up. Nathan Cole… won’t. He makes daily trips, risking his life to try and rescue those lost, alone and afraid, living in the apocalyptic hellscape of Oblivion. But maybe… Nathan is looking for something else? Why can’t he resist the siren call of the Oblivion Song?"

Kirkman has said that he wants to explore an idea that is currently part of society today. “…it’s a situation not entirely unlike our relationship with North Korea. There’s the possibility of a nuclear missile attack, but it’s not going to keep us from buying groceries. They may be aware of the Transference and the fact that no one really knows what caused it and how it might happen again, but at the same time—it the sort of thing that no one can really prepare for.”

Image and Skybound have also recently released a video trailer:

At the center of the drama of this tale is this short attention span of the public and small amount of time that we actually focus on tragedies. Life inevitably goes on and everyone can’t stay focused on one thing. While the world builds memorials to the terrible things that happen and gets on with their lives, there are always those few people that can never move on like everyone else. Kirkman plans for this new series to continue for a long time, but he does already have the ending in mind.

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Those rescued by Nathan Cole can try to return to a more normal life once they have escaped this hellish alternate world. It looks like Kirkman is taking a somewhat more optimistic approach towards the apocalyptic nature of his work these days. He has stated that he wants to provide catharsis for comic fans and Oblivion Song will likely be more uplifting than most stories in the Walking Dead.

Oblivion Song #1 is scheduled to come out on Mar. 7, 2018, from Skybound and Image Comics.