On Friday, a package arrived with the first volume of the new SKULLKICKERS Compact Attack Edition being reprinted by Oni Press! Each compact-sized volume collects two of the previous Image Comics trade paperbacks at a value-packed price, introducing a whole new generation of readers to the swords & sassery story that kicked off my comic writing career.

Skullkickers Compact Attack vol 1 is in stores February 17th.
Skullkickers Compact Attack vol 2 arrives March 17th.
Skullkickers Compact Attack vol 3 concludes the trilogy on April 21st.

I sent all the signed and sketched items to Zoop, so the special crowdfounded editions should be shipping to backers soon as well. Deep thanks again to everyone who supported that campaign.

It’s wild to think how much changed for me 16 years ago. I distinctly remember the chaos of planning my wedding at the same time as preparing to launch this creator-owned comic, while also teaching and managing creative projects at the UDON studio. I genuinely have no idea how I had the energy to juggle all that, but obviously I’m glad I did.

Omar at Near Mint Condition has a rundown of how this first volume turned out and, as you can see, it’s a beauty:

(Omar also recently put together a review of Conan the Barbarian vol. 5 + 6, which was great to see.)

Zubdarsky Live!

Making it a Near Mint Condition hat trick here, Chip Zdarsky and I chatted up a storm with Omar, Melanie and livestream viewers who asked us questions:

Here are some timecode-linked highlights:
• Talk show anecdotes
• The community of comic creators in Toronto
• Writing iconic characters
• The Sex Criminals TV show
• E.C. Comics and MAD Magazine
• Publisher contracts: exclusivity or not
• Long term story building
• Writing Spider-Man
• Writing Deadpool
• John Hickman’s story skills
• Robert E. Howard’s shared universe of characters
• Teaching students the fundamentals of art + storytelling
• Other comics or books we’re enjoying right now
• Tabletop roleplaying games
• Chip has never played D&D
• Gaming at an all-star table with Deborah Ann Woll
• Vertigo comics and why they were so great
• Banned books/Censorship
• Chip’s favorite Wu-Tang track
• Writing Wolverine
• Page count and writing ahead
• Meeting fans at conventions
• The infamous Mexican Spider-Man comics
• What we’re working on right now
• Letterers are the unsung heroes of comics
• Chip fluffs the Marvel Universe

So, yeah – We covered a LOT. Make sure you check it out!

Current + Upcoming Releases

• Conan: Scourge of the Serpent #4 – released Jan 7.
• Conan the Barbarian vol. 6: A Nest of Serpents – released Jan 7.
• Conan the Barbarian #28 – releases Jan 28.
• Conan the Barbarian #29 – releases Feb 11.
• Skullkickers: Compact Attack Edition Vol. 1 – releases Feb 17.
• Conan the Barbarian #30 – releases Mar 11.
• Skullkickers: Compact Attack Edition Vol. 2 – releases Mar 17.
• Mad About DC – releases Apr 1.
• Skullkickers: Compact Attack Edition Vol. 3 – releases Apr 21.
• Conan the Barbarian #31 – releases Apr 22.

Upcoming Appearances

This weekend I’m on the west coast for Fan Expo Vancouver.

Other Links

• Reasons To Stay is a website designed to reach people at difficult moments through anonymous letters written by volunteers. Every letter is written by a real person and delivered at random to someone visiting the site. The intent is simple but profound: to remind people that they are not alone, even when it feels that way.

• Keith Lehtinen from We Have Issues talks all about Wayward vol. 1: String Theory and how much the series meant to him when it first came out.

• Dave Bell‘s latest article on The Howard-Verse is an exhaustive rundown of the current CONAN comics (and related titles) being published by Titan Comics. Beyond the praises he gives our creative teams, it’s a solid overview of what’s coming out and where to start reading.

Jim

Last week’s newsletter was a monster, with lots of stuff to cover, so let’s keep this one more under control-

CONAN THE BARBARIAN #28 arrived in stores last week and I was thrilled to see how many reviewers had it as their Pick of the Week. Our team put their all into this wartorn storyline and I’m so glad readers keyed into what we were going for while we filled in a crucial gap of Conan’s history.

As we’ve been doing throughout the series (and how Robert E. Howard did it in the original Weird Tales stories in the 1930’s), we’ll keep jumping around Conan’s timeline, so our next story arc returns to pre-King adventures, but I definitely have big plans for future stories with the mighty monarch of Aquilonia.

One of the other things I’ve been seeing lately is the good word of mouth online leading to more readers getting on board with volume one and excitedly catching up. Having that clear entry point for the series and our whole publishing line is something that so easily gets lost with rebooted issue #1’s and I’m hopeful that if we keep going on this trajectory we’ll build something that lasts, a run worthy of the world’s greatest sword & sorcery hero.

Game Day

I spent yesterday in studio with the Dungeon Dudes filming a few episodes of a TTRPG Actual Play one-shot adventure, which was a fun way to start the week. More details and footage should be coming later this month.

Beyond spending a whole day gaming and laughing with great people, the other unexpected advantage was being too busy to check social media at all. I came home and realized how nice it felt, before reengaging in updates about the current merry-go-round of garbage that is world news.

Introducing Cap, As Only Chip Can

Last week I mentioned that Zdarsky was unable to attend the Captain America (1990) screening so I stepped in for him, but he also sent along a video introduction of his own, which is as Chip as you might expect-

At the same time, Amazon announced a Sex Criminals TV show, which is surprising, amazing, and about fuckin’ time (literally, it’s about people who stop time when they have sex and use the time freeze to rob banks), so big congrats to his Chipness and Matt Fraction.

Current + Upcoming Releases

• Conan the Barbarian #27 – released Dec 17.
• Conan: Scourge of the Serpent #4 – released Jan 7.
• Conan the Barbarian vol. 6: A Nest of Serpents – released Jan 7.
• Conan the Barbarian #28 – releases Jan 28.
• Conan the Barbarian #29 – releases Feb 11.
• Skullkickers: Compact Attack Edition Vol. 1 – releases Feb 17.
• Conan the Barbarian 30 – releases Mar 11.
• Skullkickers: Compact Attack Edition Vol. 2 – releases Mar 17.
• Mad About DC – releases Apr 1.
• Skullkickers: Compact Attack Edition Vol. 3 – releases Apr 21.
• Conan the Barbarian #31 – releases Apr 22.

Upcoming Appearances

I’m heading to the UK in August for a one day comic festival happening in Gloucester!

Other Links

• “Art is the means by which we become what we want to be.” – Author Brandon Sanderson‘s keynote speech has some great moments talking about art, AI, and what we might lose if we punt all our creativity to prompts.

• Uriah has a really good piece of tabletop RPG advice that cuts to the heart of player agency and interactive narrative in ways that completely make sense but also surprised me. Great stuff.

• Ever have that paranoid feeling that your smartphone was listening in on conversations and pushing ads your way based on what you said in private? Yeeeeah~ so now both Google and Apple are paying out many-many millions because it really was happening behind the scenes.

• Rob Liefeld is a contentious comic creator whose career has spanned multiple booms and busts in the comic industry. His Robservations podcast can be all over the map in terms of subject matter but, when it’s at its best, it’s filled with enthusiasm for the medium, insightful anecdotes, and deep cuts about some of the biggest names in the industry. His latest episode, an interview with Jim Valentino, is one of the more enjoyable ones I’ve listened to as they reminiscence about the founding of Image Comics.

Jim