The Infinite, the much ballyhooed collaboration between Image Comics founder Rob Liefeld and Image Comics mainstay Robert Kirkman, is apparently over after just four issues because of differences between its chief creators. Originally solicited by Diamond Comic Distributors for October, The Infinite #5 was rescheduled for February, but over the weekend, when queried about the future of The Infinite, Liefeld tweeted simply, “It’s over.”
Originally announced last March (see “Kirkman and Liefeld Team Up for ‘The Infinite’), The Infinite was one the new initiatives for Kirkman’s burgeoning Skybound imprint, which is published through Image Comics. Though he was an original founding member of Image, Liefeld departed the independent publisher after a series of disputes in 1997, only to return ten years later with a new Youngblood series written by Joe Casey. Liefeld has continued to work on various projects for both DC and Marvel, and several of his Extreme Comics properties have been re-launched by other artists.
Kirkman on the other hand was not a founding member of Image, though his creation, The Walking Dead is far and away the most potent Image property. In 2008 the founding Image partners recognized Kirkman’s importance by granting him “partner” status (see “Robert Kirkman Made an Image Partner”), and in 2010 Kirkman founded his Skybound imprint (see “Robert Kirkman’s Skybound Imprint”) that is published through Image Comics.