Skybound Entertainment

History

Skybound Entertainment is the company behind the long-running comic series, The Walking Dead, created by Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore. Since the company’s founding in 2010, Skybound has developed properties in traditional and new media, including comics, gaming, television, film, and digital media series. The company has since launched into the virtual reality space, and in 2017, created an in-house digital studio for online content.

Subsidiaries

In 2016, Skybound Entertainment expanded internationally with the opening of Skybound North in Vancouver, led by former Lucasfilm Animation executive Catherine Winder.

In April 2018, Skybound created Skybound Games to publish indie games and license video games based on its intellectual property. In September 2018 it established Skybound Stories, a joint venture with Sky Group creating narrative videos games for mobiles.

In 2021, Skybound became the largest shareholder in the listed game developer 5th Planet Games. This strategic move was aimed at gaining better access to the European market. Two years later, in 2023, Skybound became the majority shareholder of the company.

Comics

In addition to the Eisner Award-winning comic book series, The Walking Dead, Kirkman’s other titles include long-running superhero comic Invincible, Outcast, Super Dinosaur, Oblivion Song, and Fire Power.

With a creator-owned driven platform, Skybound has also created other popular comic book titles that include fantasy adventure comic Birthright*,* by Josh Williamson, and the historical fiction comic, Manifest Destiny by Chris Dingess.

In 2017, Skybound released the revenge comic, Extremity, by creator Daniel Warren Johnson, and their first vampire horror comic, Redneck, by Donny Cates. Kill the Minotaur by writers Christian Cantamessa and Chris Pasetto, and artist Lukas Ketner is set to hit comic shops on June 14, 2017. Recently, they have also started "Skyward" from the writer of the TV show Lucifer. In April 2021, it was announced a five issue miniseries called Skybound X would launch to celebrate 10 years of Skybound, with the book featuring different stories per issue, with one story being Rick Grimes: 2000 by Kirkman and Ryan Ottley.

In February 2023, it was announced that Robert Kirkman and Lorenzo De Felici would launch Void Rivals, a new series that would kick-off a new shared comic universe. In June 2023, it was later revealed that the book would launch the Energon Universe and that it would publish comics based on Transformers and G.I. Joe. This would include Void Rivals by Kirkman and De Felici, Transformers by Daniel Warren Johnson (which debuted in October 2023), Duke by Joshua Williamson and Tom Reilly (which debuted in December 2023), and Cobra Commander by Williamson and Andrea Milana (which debuted in January 2024).

Skybound Comet

In 2021, it was announced that Skybound would start a new line entitled Skybound Comet, with graphic novels meant for YA and Middle Grade readers. The first of these books include Clementine: Book One by Tillie Walden in July 2022, Everyday Hero Machine Boy by Tri Vuong and Irma Kniivila in September 2022, and Sea Serpent's Heir Book One by Mairghread Scott and Pablo Tunica in October 2022.

Television and film

After Alpert and Kirkman's success with AMC’s The Walking Dead, the duo announced plans for their second television adaptation for Kirkman's comic, Outcast in October 2013. The series received a pickup order from Cinemax in February 2015. Outcast centers on protagonist, Kyle Barnes, played by Patrick Fugit, fighting a demon that has plagued his small Virginia town for decades. The series lineup includes Philip Glenister, Brent Spiner, Reg E. Cathey, and Wrenn Schmidt. The first season premiered on June 3, 2016 and it was renewed for a second season.

Skybound partnered with Viki to develop Korean pre-apocalyptic drama Five Year. The series will be shot in Korea as a K-drama with a local cast and crew, and the parties plan to distribute the first 16-episode season on Korean television. The series, based on an original story by Kirkman, centers on a family facing an impending apocalypse within the next five years. In 2017, Skybound announced a partnership with 360 Powwow to produce *Five Year *in various Latin American markets.

Skybound produced Robert Kirkman’s Secret History of Comics. This six-part docuseries explores a wide range of topics from the history and world of comic books and premiered on AMC on November 12, 2017.

In 2017, it was announced that a film based on Kirkman's second longest running comic series Invincible was being developed by Universal Pictures, with Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg set to write/direct/produce the film with Kirkman serving as an executive producer. In 2018, it was announced that an adult animated series also based on Invincible was being developed for Amazon Prime Video featuring Steven Yeun as Invincible and J.K. Simmons as Omni-Man. The series is executive produced by Kirkman, who, in addition to serving as the creator, wrote the pilot and the season finale, with Simon Racioppa, David Alpert, Catherine Winder, Seth Rogen, and Evan Goldberg serving as co-executive producers. The series was released on March 26, 2021 to general acclaim and was renewed by Amazon for a second and third season, with the second season released in two parts; the first part released in November 2023 and the second part in March 2024. Following the second season finale the series was renewed for a fourth season on July 26, 2024. The third season released in February 2025. The company's other film projects include the feature film AIR*,* starring The Walking Dead’s Norman Reedus and Academy Award-nominated actor Djimon Hounsou. That same year, it was announced that Spin Master Entertainment and Atomic Cartoons would make an animated television series based on Super Dinosaur, a comic that Kirkman created alongside Jason Howard in 2011. The show launched in 2018.

In 2019, Universal Pictures announced the development of Renfield, a horror-comedy film about the character of the same name based on a pitch by Robert Kirkman, with Chris McKay set to direct. The film was produced by McKay, Kirkman, David Alpert, Bryan Furst, and Sean Furst in a joint-venture between Skybound and Universal. It released on April 14, 2023.

In November 2023, Skybound announced that it had acquired the Spike and Mike's Festival of Animation.

Digital

In 2015, Skybound released the first-ever narrative virtual reality series, Gone, for Samsung's Milk VR platform. Gone surrounds the disappearance of a young girl from a playground, and the family's journey in learning what happened. The series was filmed in 360 degrees and includes shifting perspectives with "hotspots." "Hotspots" are used as clues, offering a fully immersive experience. Gone was directed by J.T. Petty

As of 2016, Skybound is set to produce a horror VR series, Lies Within, the first project out of Skybound’s partnership with interactive theatrical company *Delusion. *

In 2017, Skybound opened an in-house studio to create and expand original digital content. Since the opening of the space, Skybound developed a Live.me series focusing on diversity in TV and media hosted by Yvette Nicole Brown. Other original content filmed in the studio include the weekly series Skybound’s Happy Hour. Happy Hour features special guests every week to create The Walking Dead inspired cocktails. Former guests have included Ross Marquand and Michael Traynor.

Skybound Games

In April 2018, Skybound announced the formation of Skybound Games, a publishing division focused on indie games, while also forming a mobile division Howyaknow, LLC. Coinciding with the announcement, the company also signed publishing deals for console versions of the games Slime Rancher and The Long Dark.

In October 2018, due to the collapse of Telltale Games, Skybound Games announced they would be working on finishing up the final two episodes of The Walking Dead: The Final Season, "Broken Toys" and "Take Us Back", to end the game adaptation of their series. In addition to continued digital release, Skybound Games also released physical editions of the game for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.

In February 2019, Skybound Games announced plans to release the remastered versions of six classic Dungeon & Dragons games: Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gate II, Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear, Icewind Dale, Planescape: Torment, and Neverwinter Nights, developed for modern computers by Beamdog, as console versions (both as physical and digital) later in the year. In 2020, Skybound Entertainment raised a new round of funding from the gaming company Com2uS Studios. The two companies signed a deal to develop a The Walking Dead mobile game.

In June 2025 the tag fighter Invincible VS was announced, with a planned released date in 2026.

License and merchandise

Skybound's party game, Superfight, kickstarted in 2013. Superfight is a game where players battle made up superheroes against each other, in ridiculous, and often heated, hypothetical arguments. In 2014 Darin Ross partnered with Skybound to publish the game. Superfight has 19 expansion packs to date.

In 2017, Skybound signed a deal with Druid City Games for release of its game The Grimm Forest, which raised over $400,000 on Kickstarter.

Titles

• The Astounding Wolf-Man
• Battle Pope
• Battle Beast
• Before Your Eyes
• Birthright
• Brit
• Clone
• Cobra Commander
• Dark Ride
• Dead Body Road
• Destro
• Demonic (from Pilot Season)
• Die!Die!Die!
• Duke
• Extremity
• Fire Power
• Ghosted
• G.I. Joe
• G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero
• Gone
• Goodnight Universe
• Guarding the Globe
• Green Valley
• Hardcore (from Pilot Season)
• Heroes and Villains: The History of Comics
• Horizon
• Homestead Arcana
• The Infinite
• Invincible
• Invincible Universe
• Kill the Minotaur
• Kim-Joy's Magic Bakery
• Kroma
• Lies Within
• Manifest Destiny
• Murder Falcon
• Oblivion Song
• Outcast
• Outpost Zero
• Oxenfree
• ''The Outer Darkness'''
• Redneck
• Rainbow Billy: The Curse of the Leviathan
• Scarlett
• Science Dog
• Skybound X
• Skyward
• Stellar (from Pilot Season)
• Stillwater
• Tech Jacket
• Thief of Thieves
• Transformers
• Ultramega
• Void Rivals
• The Walking Dead
• Witch Doctor
• Downward

Feature films

Television shows

References

References

1. Couch, Aaron. (2022-01-11). "Skybound Animation Sets Marge Dean as Studio Head".
2. (2018-10-18). "Announcing Skybound Galactic!".
3. Milligan, Mercedes. (2023-11-30). "'Invincible' Studio Skybound Expands to Japan with Focus on Anime & Local IP".
4. Ntim, Zac. (2023-06-07). "Skybound Entertainment & 5th Planet Games To Acquire 'The Minister' Producer Sagafilm".
5. Gardner, Eriq. (4 April 2016). "Robert Kirkman Seeks to Stop a "Hijack" of 'The Walking Dead'". [[The Hollywood Reporter]].
6. "THE WALKING DEAD Trademark of TWD Productions LLC - Registration Number 4429084 - Serial Number 85030452 :: Justia Trademarks". trademarks.justia.com.
7. [https://imagecomics.com/faq Frequently Asked Questions – imagecomics.com]
8. Crecente, Brian. (17 October 2018). "'The Walking Dead' Video Games: An Oral History". [[Penske Business Media, LLC.]].
9. Gaudiosi, John. (26 November 2012). "Skybound Entertainment Founder Robert Kirkman Talks Comics, Video Games And The Walking Dead". [[Forbes]].
10. [https://www.skybound.com/announcements/skybound-north/announcing-skybound-north Skybound North]
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12. Lanier, Liz. (13 September 2018). "New Venture Skybound Stories Will Create Mobile Narrative Experiences". [[Penske Business Media, LLC.]].
13. (9 September 2021). "Skybound Entertainment made a US$10.5 million investment in Danish developer 5th Planet Games-". [[breakinglatest.news]].
14. (2021-04-13). "Announcing Weekly Comic Skybound X – Featuring Rick Grimes and Clementine!".
15. (2023-02-24). "ROBERT KIRKMAN & LORENZO DE FELICI LAUNCH A NEW SHARED COMICS UNIVERSE IN VOID RIVALS #1".
16. "SURPRISE! TRANSFORMERS & G.I. JOE LAUNCH A NEW SHARED COMIC BOOK UNIVERSE TODAY".
17. (2021-06-24). "We're Launching a New Star-Studded YA & Middle Grade Graphic Novel Imprint: Skybound Comet!".
18. Graeme McMillan. (November 4, 2013). "Report: Valiant Pushes Robert Kirkman's 'Outcast' Toward New Name". The Hollywood Reporter.
19. Ben Lee. (February 13, 2015). "Cinemax orders Robert Kirkman's Outcast to series". Digital Spy.
20. Wu, Valerie. (November 4, 2023). "Skybound Entertainment Acquires Historic Animation Festival Spike & Mike's With Plans for Revival".
21. Sarto, Dan. (November 4, 2023). "Skybound Entertainment Relaunches Iconic 'Spike & Mike's Festival of Animation'".
22. Sarkar, Samit. (4 April 2018). "Skybound gets into the indie game publishing business". [[Vox Media, Inc.]].
23. Liptak, Andrew. (October 7, 2018). "Skybound Games will finish the final season of Telltale's The Walking Dead". [[Vox Media, Inc.]].
24. Wales, Matt. (February 4, 2019). "The Walking Dead: The Final Season's last episode gets a confirmed March release date". [[Eurogamer]].
25. Takahashi, Dean. (February 7, 2019). "Walking Dead creator Skybound Games will publish Beamdog's classic RPGs to consoles". [[Venture Beat]].
26. (29 January 2020). "Com2Us invests in Skybound Entertainment for new The Walking Dead mobile game".
27. "Invincible VS".
28. (August 22, 2016). "Best Shots Reviews: SUPERGIRL: REBIRTH #1, POWER MAN & IRON FIST #7, DEMONIC #1". [[Purch Group]].
29. (December 19, 2018). "Hardcore #1 Had Potential but Failed to Live Up To Its Namesake". [[Avatar Press]].
30. "Great British Bake-Off Finalist Gets a Tabletop Game".
31. (May 29, 2018). "BRET BLEVINS Returns To Co-Pilot IMAGE's STELLAR With JOE KEATINGE". [[Purch Group]].