Robert Kirkman has announced Skybound, a new division of Image Comics that will publish Kirkman-penned titles The Walking Dead and Invincible, but will also provide up-and-coming creators handpicked by Kirkman the opportunity to publish their works as Skybound Originals.  Skybound will offer creators advance payments as well as marketing and publishing aid.  In return Kirkman will receive a percentage stake in all of Skybound’s properties.

The first Skybound title, Witch Doctor a horror-medical drama described as "House meets Fringe," was created by Brandon Seifert and Lukas Ketner.  Kirkman found Witch Doctor on the Internet and will introduce the property at Comic-Con and launch the comic series in early 2011.  A second series Thief of Thieves, a collaboration between Kirkman and Forgetless writer Nick Spencer, will also debut in the first half of 2011.

Kirkman appears to be in no hurry to expand the Skybound roster.  He told the New York Times: “I’d like to expand at the rate AMC has. They had Breaking Bad and Mad Men for a long time, but it was awhile before they started branching out to other things,” referencing the cable network that will expand its offerings this fall with an adaptation of Kirkman’s The Walking Dead, produced and directed by Frank Darabont (see “Two Walking Dead Volumes”).