Robert and I created Battle Beast way back in 2004 for issue 19 of Invincible. Robert wanted a badass white lion buff warrior samurai type with a hint of Jack Kirby design sense, I ignored looking up anything from Kirby since I didn’t want it to be reminiscent of a Kirby drawing. I just wanted to use my design sense. So I simply tried to create an otherworldly type of lion warrior with different weapons. And yes, I do update him as time goes by, as my anatomy and design sense gets a little better. Those boots make zero sense.
15 years in between the making of these two images. I drew the first one for Invincible 61, and the second image I drew for Invincible Universe: Battle Beast 9. Conquest is back, kinda. The entire Battle Beast series is all happening before the first image in this post.