Ryan Ottley prepares for his next big thing - a new creator-owned project at Image

Ryan Ottley is ready for the next big thing. The legendary artist is best known for his 127-issue run on Invincible, where he helped design many iconic characters such as Battle Beast and Conquest. This was followed by a thrilling run on Amazing Spider-Man, where he worked alongside writer Nick Spencer to create the terrifying villain Kindred. Recently, Ottley concluded a run on Hulk where he scripted and penciled some cosmic adventures for Marvel’s jolly green giant.

What’s next for Ottley? A return to Invincible, or something even greater? We caught up with Ottley this summern, where the artist shared some of his plans. Ottley discussed the possibility of returning to Invincible, his thoughts on the upcoming second season, the rise of AI, and more. Let’s dive in…

Popverse: We just finished your Hulk run, which was crazy in the best way. It was like this whole psychic mindscape thing, but also a space opera. What inspired you to go there? And obviously, you had to take over writing duties after Donny Cates left. What was that like?

Ryan Ottley: It's very different. It's a whole different part of the brain to write, but quite fun. Quite rewarding. And just a whole different mindset. I only had four issues left to finish the series for my contract. So we had to cut everything short. I had to stack seven issues into three issues time. I just wanted to answer every single question that the readers had, and what I had. I just kind of started tying things together. And that was really fun to kind of figure it out. I threw in Despair, as the antagonist.

You had the Hulk break a planet! That was awesome!

Yeah, I had to do that! I really wanted to show how powerful Titan was. I had a lot of fun. And then of course, since I'm writing for myself, I get to really write what I want to draw. The biggest scenes, the splash pages, and just however you want to go. It was pure freedom.

Now that Hulk has wrapped up, what's next for you?

The next up is something that's not announced yet, but I'm working on it now. And it's definitely something I've been wanting to do for a while. It's a blast. It is an Image comic, so I'm back on creator-owned work.

During your run on Amazing Spider Man, you helped co-create the villain Kindred. At the time, did you know who Kindred was going to be?

No, Nick Spencer didn't tell me anything about it. He just said he wants this kind of character, and this kind of villain. And I just went to town on it. I had no idea how it would end up at all.

Can you describe what