Rob Liefeld declares, "SUPERMAN HAS AN INVINCIBLE PROBLEM."

In the latest installment of Robservations with Rob Liefeld—the no-holds-barred podcast where the Deadpool and Youngblood co-creator holds court with comics royalty—Rob Liefeld sat down for a marathon conversation with Robert Kirkman, the visionary behind Invincible and The Walking Dead. What began as a deep dive into Image Comics history, creator-owned risks, and the brutal economics of the direct market quickly veered into sharper territory: the state of superhero storytelling in 2026 and why the industry is sleepwalking into creative quicksand.

Liefeld didn’t mince words. Pointing to the inescapable cultural dominance of Invincible—both the long-running comic and its record-shattering Prime Video adaptation—he delivered a line that’s already making the rounds in editorial offices and convention bars: “Superman has an Invincible problem.”

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He wasn’t talking about who would win in a fistfight (though Kirkman has repeatedly and gleefully asserted that Omni-Man would fold the Man of Steel like a cheap lawn chair, with the creator bluntly stating in interviews that “Superman sucks” in such matchups). Liefeld was diagnosing something far more insidious: the way Invincible has become the default template for what a “serious” superhero book is supposed to look like in the eyes of too many publishers, editors, and writers.

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“Invincible is the top dog right now,” Liefeld said during the interview. “It’s not just successful—it’s definitional. Brutal, funny, emotionally raw, family drama cranked to eleven, with consequences that actually stick. That’s a hell of a thing. But instead of sparking new ideas, it’s turning the industry into a bunch of unoriginal lemmings. They see the acclaim, they see the sales charts, they see the streaming numbers, and suddenly every pitch sounds like ‘Invincible, but…’”

The TV series on Prime Video has been a juggernaut, consistently topping charts as one of the platform’s most-watched shows worldwide, with Season 4 maintaining near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes scores (often 99-100%) and dominating streaming rankings in the U.S. and multiple countries.

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Liefeld drew a straight line back to 1986 and the shadow cast by Watchmen. Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ masterpiece didn’t just deconstruct the superhero genre—it rewrote the rules for what “mature” comics could be. The result? A decade of grim-and-gritty knockoffs. Creators chased the acclaim rather than the innovation.

Sound familiar?

“History is repeating itself,” Liefeld continued. “Watchmen gave us the dark, cynical deconstruction. Invincible gave us the ultra-violent, emotionally honest family saga with superpowers. And now? Watch the flood. We’re already seeing it in the pitches, the variants, the ‘mature readers’ lines that are just Invincible cosplay with different costumes. Dull-minded creators aren’t trying to top it—they’re trying to clone it. Same structure, same shocks, same ‘what if the hero’s dad was a monster’ beats. It’s lazy, it’s safe, and it’s killing originality.”

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The comic’s sales have surged dramatically since the show’s 2021 debut, with trades and issues selling better than ever as new readers— including many anime and manga fans—flood into comic shops. Artist Ryan Ottley has publicly noted the boom, crediting the series for bringing fresh audiences to the medium.

Kirkman, to his credit, took the critique in stride—laughing at the sheer bluntness of it while acknowledging the double-edged sword of success. After all, Invincible spent its first few years scraping by on the Image rack, nearly canceled before the Omni-Man betrayal arc even landed. The TV show changed everything, turning a cult favorite into a mainstream phenomenon. But Liefeld’s point landed like a gut punch: when one book becomes the gold standard, the industry’s instinct isn’t to innovate—it’s to imitate.

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And the evidence is everywhere. Scan the current solicitations from the Big Two and the indies alike. You’ll spot the pattern: dysfunctional hero families, graphic dismemberments played for both laughs and horror, long-form storytelling that rewards patience, and a willingness to let characters stay broken instead of resetting for the next crossover. It’s not homage anymore. It’s formula.

The franchise continues expanding, with the brutal 3v3 fighting game Invincible VS launching in 2026, bringing the hyper-violent world to consoles and PC.

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Liefeld, never one to pull punches, framed it as a warning rather than a takedown. He praised Kirkman’s craft, the risks he took, and the genuine love for the genre that shines through every issue. But he also reminded listeners that the great leaps in comics—Jack Kirby’s Fourth World, Steve Ditko’s Spider-Man, Moore’s own Watchmen, and yes, Kirkman’s Invincible—didn’t come from following the leader. They came from refusing to.

Meanwhile, the classic Superman archetype—hopeful, powerful, and often portrayed as an untouchable icon of truth and justice—stands in stark contrast to Invincible’s grounded, consequence-heavy approach. Many see the “Invincible problem” as a challenge for DC’s flagship hero: how does the ultimate boy scout compete in a market craving raw emotional stakes and unflinching violence?

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The comic book industry has always been a lemming parade at its worst. Trends rise, everyone piles on, the market saturates, and the cycle resets with the next hot thing. Liefeld’s interview is a timely flare gun: Invincible earned its throne the hard way. Don’t cheapen it by turning it into the new safe playbook. Superman doesn’t need to be “fixed” to compete with Mark Grayson—he needs creators brave enough to tell stories that couldn’t exist in any other universe.

Because if the only response to greatness is imitation, then the real problem isn’t Superman.

It’s an industry that’s forgotten how to fly on its own.