EXCLUSIVE: Robert Kirkman Reveals What’s Inside Those ‘Battle Beast’ Blind Bags: Early Issues, Invincible, And… Spider-Man???

One of the wilder promotional pushes of the past few years, at least when it comes to comic books? Skybound’s Blind Bag program for Invincible Universe Battle Beast #1. The comic, written by Robert Kirkman, with art by Ryan Ottley, returns the duo to the massively best-selling superhero universe. And to celebrate, beyond the requisite variant covers, there are also blind bags that contain not just those variants, but also some wild surprises. And Comic Book Club can exclusively reveal what those surprises are. You ready?

Along with the solicited covers A through I, on sale (randomly) in those blind bags are, per PR provided to Comic Book Club:

• A new printing of Invincible #19, the first appearance of Battle Beast!
• A special advance edition of Invincible Universe: Battle Beast #2, allowing fans to read the next shocking issue in its entirety
• And, in partnership with Marvel Comics, a reprint of Marvel Team-Up #14, the historic first meeting of Invincible and Spider-Man—and features art by Invincible co-creator Cory Walker!

Yeah. Seriously. They’re reprinting a Marvel comic, with the Image Comics logo, and selling it on stands on Wednesday, May 14. Wild!

“I just want to do things that excite people, and I want to make going into the comic shop a revelatory experience,” Kirkman told Comic Book Club about the inspiration behind the blind bag program. “I want you to be getting things that are unexpected and getting things that excite you. And I want you to have a new experience when you go into the comic shop.”

While Kirkman is aware that blind bags are nothing new — after all, they’re the whole M.O. behind trading cards, and toys have been leaning into blind boxes for years. “But bringing it into comics, it just seemed like a cool thing,” Kirkman continued. “On the surface, you could get the one in 1000 cover that your retailer is selling for crazy amounts of money, in the blind bag. You could get the one in 50, you could get various rare covers. And that’s pretty cool.

“But the extra stuff? The foil facsimile edition of Invincible #19, Battle Beast’s first appearance. People aren’t expecting that. That’s in the blind bag. A foil cover advance edition of Battle Beast issue two, completed. That’s my favorite. Totally in the blind bag. I love that, because it’s like, I want to buy Battle Beast #1. I open the bag. I got Battle Beast #2, I go back. I buy Battle Beast #1. I got the first two issues. On the day of launch, I get an advanced look at what’s happening in this series. That’s super awesome. The weirdest one, though… We got the rights to reprint Marvel Team-Up #14, so you can open a Battle Beast #1 blind bag and get Marvel Team-Up #14 with a foil cover with an Image “I” in the top left hand corner. That’s where Invincible and Spider-Man met. Is it related to Battle Beast? Not really. Is it the coolest thing? I’m so excited about this.”

Retailers seem excited, too, having ordered nearly 400,000 copies of the first issue, including those sneaky blind bags. The issue sold out at the distributor level, and a new printing will be coming in June, presumably timed to the release of issue #2 (unless you already got it in a blind bag) with new cover art by Ryan Ottley, Jason Howard, and Ryan Sook.

“Doing things that are fun, off the beaten path, taking people by surprise… Super cool,” Kirkman concluded. “And I don’t think anybody’s going to be expecting to get a Spider-Man comic out of these blind bags. So hopefully it’ll get people talking and get people excited about going into comic shops.”

Well, I guess they’re expecting it now! You can get a first look at the three blind bag surprises below. And Invincible Universe Battle Beast #1 is in stores on May 14, 2025.

The full list of covers is below, via a press release from Skybound:

• Battle Beast #1 Cover A by Ryan Ottley & Annalisa Leoni (Lunar Code: 0125IM287)
• Battle Beast #1 Cover B by David Finch (Lunar Code: 0125IM288)
• Battle Beast #1 Cover C Blind Bag: Various (Lunar Code: 0125IM289)
• Battle Beast #1 Cover D (1:10 Incentive) (Connecting) by E.J. Su (Lunar Code: 0125IM290)
• Battle Beast #1 Cover E (1:25 Incentive) by Kael Ngu (Lunar Code: 0125IM291)
• Battle Beast #1 Cover F (1:50 Incentive) by Arthur Adams & Tanya Lehoux (Lunar Code: 0125IM292)
• Battle Beast #1 Cover G (1:100 Incentive) (Foil) by Jonboy Meyers (Lunar Code: 0125IM293)
• Battle Beast #1 Cover H (1:1000 CGC Signed/Graded) (Foil) by Ryan Ottley & Annalisa Leoni (Lunar Code: 0125IM294)
• Battle Beast #1 Cover I Blank Sketch Cover (Lunar Code: 0125IM295)
• Battle Beast #1 Cover J (Battle Beast Die Cut Mask Cover) (Foil) ($4.99) by Ryan Ottley, Andres Juarez & Annalisa Leoni (Lunar Code: 0125IM296)
• Battle Beast #1 Cover K (1:2000 Ryan Ottley Original Art Sketch Cover) by Ryan Ottley (Lunar Code: 0125IM297)

And fans can pre-order copies of Invincible Universe: Battle Beast #1 Second Printing (Lunar Codes Below | SRP: $3.99), which will hit comic shops and digital platforms including Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, and Google Play on Wednesday, June 11, 2025.

• Battle Beast #1 Second Printing Cover A by Ryan Ottley (Lunar Code: 0125IM940)
• Battle Beast #1 Second Printing Cover B by Jason Howard (Lunar Code: 0125IM941)
• Battle Beast #1 Second Printing Cover C by Ryan Sook (Lunar Code: 0125IM942)

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