Dungeons & Dragons posted a new 50th anniversary tribute video online and it was a nice little surprise to see Stacy and I briefly appear during a montage section of community moments.

I have so many incredible memories of that D&D Live event in Los Angeles. Mind boggling to me that it was almost five years ago.

At that moment, live TTRPG play games like Critical Role were taking off, Stranger Things was a cultural phenomenon, and it felt like the creative and corporate forces needed to shepherd a major brand like D&D were working in tandem, despite a growing awareness by the Powers That Be at Hasbro that they had a Golden Goose in their midst. I know that might just be pre-pandemic nostalgia, but the excitement and optimism that weekend really was contagious.

I hoped D&D Live would become an annual celebration I could be a part of, a way to bring together different fan and professional forces under a single tent of gaming and good times, but it didn’t work out that way. There’s still a lot to be proud of on the big anniversary, but quite a bit of melancholy as well. Controversies aplenty, impossible corporate benchmarks, and ruthless holiday layoffs have stolen some of the magic on what should have been a triumphant victory lap.

It’s also a distinct reminder to mark special moments when they happen, because they’ll slip through your fingers if you don’t.

Bound For Your Bookshelf

Speaking of marking big moments – This week, CONAN THE BARBARIAN Vol.1: BOUND IN BLACK STONE is available everywhere fine books are sold. Check out our new book trailer!

In bookstores you’ll find the cover by Dan Panosian. In direct market comic shops you can also choose covers by Stanley “Artgerm” Lau or Mike Mignola.

I know I sound like a broken record, but I am so incredibly proud of this book and thrilled at the response we’ve seen from readers, reviewers, and retailers. Thank you for reading and sharing your enthusiasm.

Traversing the Stars

I spoke to Jeff Haas at Traversing the Stars all about writing Conan – The character’s literary legacy, working with an icon, collaborating with incredible artists, and more.

“If you make a superhero and you make distinct choices, you’re making those choices in comparison to Superman. When you make choices about sword & sorcery and that singular hero, they’re in comparison to Conan. That’s a very powerful thing.”

Talking Around the Campfire

On Sunday, February 25th just after 2pm EST I’ll be chatting with writer Kurtis Wiebe (Rat Queens) all about storytelling and creativity as part of the Campfire Stories online convention he and his crew at Vast Vision Publishing are putting together.

Vast Vision has a new Discord community where they’re assembling all kinds of different creative people from publishing and other media and they’ve already posted up a great interview with Nick Pitarra and legendary artist Frank Quietly you should check out.

Bad Dinner Guests

On my Patreon you can now find the full script for DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: FORTUNE FINDER #2.

Finder’s mysterious journey continues, right into Dungeonland! There are over 300 scripts available in my Patreon archive, available for the price of a fancy coffee.

Clearer Skies

Bluesky, a Twitter alternative, is now out of beta and open to the public. I’ve been there for a while, so if you’re making the move you can find me HERE.

Current + Upcoming Releases

• Dungeons & Dragons: Fortune Finder #3 – released January 24th.
• Vampire: The Masquerade – The Complete Series omnibus – released January 24th.
• Batman: Urban Legends Vol. 6 tpb – released January 30th.
• Conan the Barbarian #6 2nd print – released January 31st.
• Conan the Barbarian #7 – released February 7th.
• Conan the Barbarian Vol. 1: Bound in Black Stone tpb – releases February 13th.
• Dungeons & Dragons: Fortune Finder #4 – releases February 21st.
• Savage Sword of Conan #1 – releases February 28th.
• Conan the Barbarian #8 – releases February 28th.

Upcoming Appearances

Links and Other Things

• The Glass Cannon Network crew played the Marvel Multiverse RPG again and I couldn’t make it, but it looks like they had a blast anyways. The system is so good! I hope I get a chance to bust out big Marvel action with them again.

• On Friday I made Broccoli Tempura and it turned out great. Ordering tempura for takeout or delivery is always disappointing because it loses crispiness so fast if you don’t east it fresh, so learning to make it at home is a nice addition to my cooking skillset.

Have a great week!
Jim

The above flowchart meme has been floating around and a lot of people empathize with it for good reason. It encompasses a common unhealthy cycle that creative people can get pulled into.

If something is a hobby or just experimentation, have fun exploring things without finishing them. Seriously– no worries or guilt required.

If you intend to make a career out of something – finishing is crucial.

Finishing things, releasing them out into the world, evaluating the results (of both the work and release), learning from it, and then doing more is the loop you need to look for. No one is perfect and there are times when you need to cut your losses and move on from a project, but wherever possible you want to complete the work to get the most from it.

I completely understand jokes about avoiding that step, and I’ve absolutely been there, but don’t let memes dictate your end result.

If you consistently struggle with completing the work, you may be starting too big. Make the scope smaller so you can see it through, and build up momentum for larger-longer projects.

At the start-
Short stories instead of novels.
Focused studies instead of large rendered images.

If it’s a collaboration with other people, this also gives you the chance to finish something together and evaluate how that worked – quality, communication, etc. It’s the equivalent of a couple dates before a long committed relationship.

If I want to be a marathon runner, I don’t buy running shoes and then immediately try to go 5km. People usually understand this when it comes to physical training, but rarely frame other skills, especially creative ones, in the same way.

Start small, build the habit and results, and then push forward with more ambition.

Sometimes the small thing becomes a ‘proof of concept’ for a bigger project. Other times you realize you just needed to get the small one out of your system and its fine on its own. Either way, you will benefit from a better creation cycle.

Transcribing The Process

That exact subject, building things and finishing them, is a big part of a discussion I had with Kieron Gillen a couple years ago. In the midst of lockdown I reached out to several comic professionals and chatted with them about their work and influences, and then posted those interviews to my YouTube channel along with other comic writing tutorials. The talk I had with Kieron is one of my favorites, but there’s always been a barrier for people when watching it – Between Kieron’s accent and the speed at which he talks, it can be dizzying at times trying to keep up.

Good news – over the past few weeks I painstakingly went through the auto-generated transcript for that video on YouTube and overhauled it so every comic, gaming or philosophy reference Kieron brings up is now clear in the closed captions.

We cover a LOT – the do-it-yourself culture of indie comics, getting started, the stresses of working on commercial properties, British comics, superhero books, the magic of tabletop RPGs, and I include samples of Kieron’s indie work no longer available and excerpts from some of his creator-owned comic scripts so you can see how he writes.

If you have some time, I highly recommend you give it a watch and, if Kieron’s going too fast, turn on the closed captions and enjoy-

The Ancestors’ Blessing

Over on my Patreon, I just posted the full script to Conan the Barbarian #21 (legacy #296), released in 2021. Part 3 of Land of the Lotus is jam-packed with action and supernatural fury, including this-

Learn how comics are made for the price of a coffee. There are over 300 scripts in my Patreon archive.

Ukrainian Comfort Food

In past newsletters I’ve included a few of my recipes. Click here and scroll down for –
Grandma’s Pierogies, Japanese Chicken Karaage, or Garlic Lemon Pasta with Salmon.

This time-

Cabbage Rolls (Holubtsi)

Over the weekend I went on a Ukrainian comfort food cooking binge. On Saturday, we made a huge batch of cheesy potato pierogis, and on Sunday, for the first time, I made cabbage rolls and they turned out really good! My pierogi recipe is pretty strict to my grandma’s method, while here on the cabbage rolls I went a bit rogue and amalgamated some techniques I saw in a few cooking videos into the mix.

Ingredients (14-16 rolls)

• 1 cabbage (Napa cabbage works really well, but any is fine)
• 3/4 lb. ground beef
• 1/4 lb. ground pork (or pork loin cut into tiny pieces)
• 1 and a half cups of white rice
• 3 cups of pureed tomatoes/tomato sauce
• Half a large white onion
• 3 cloves of garlic
• olive oil/butter
• spices: salt, pepper, basil, oregano, thyme, parsley, paprika

1. Cook up a batch of rice and let it mostly cool off.
2. While that rice is cooking, chop up the half onion into a small dice and mince the garlic.
3. Sauté the onion in olive oil or butter in a non-stick pan for 4 minutes, then add the minced garlic and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Set aside.
4. If you’re using Napa cabbage, carefully peel off 16-18 outer leaves and blanch them in a pot of simmering water for 10 minutes. If you’re using regular cabbage, you’ll need to carefully cut the root-core out and dunk the cabbage top-down in a pot of boiling water and cover the top, simmering it for 10-12 minutes.
5. While the cabbage is steaming, mix together your cooked onion and garlic with the raw ground meat, cooked rice, a 1/4 cup of tomato sauce, and spices galore – pepper, salt, basil, oregano, thyme, paprika, and a big swack of chopped up parsley. If you’re worried about your ability to measure the filling equally, portion them out into mounds based on how many cabbage rolls you want to make.
6. Carefully pull the cabbage leaves from the water and shake off excess water. If it’s a regular cabbage, you’ll need to carefully peel the leaves off at this stage.
7. Pre-heat your oven to 350° F.
8. In a 9″ x 12″ baking dish (or any casserole dish/oven safe dish), ladle in 1/4 cup of tomato sauce on the bottom.
9. Lay a leaf out, add a mound of filling about 1/3 of the way into the cabbage leaf, then tuck in the sides and roll it toward the 2/3 section, like a very small burrito. For me, this is where the Napa cabbage leaves prove their worth because their long shape makes rolling very easy. Place that roll in your casserole dish and, as you finish each one, tuck it in next to the others until your dish is packed.
10. Ladle the rest of the tomato sauce over the assembled rolls.
11. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and place it on a baking sheet (just in case it bubbles over) and then place it all in the 350° F oven.
12. Bake for 90 minutes.
13. Pull your baking dish out of the oven, remove foil, and let stand for 5 minutes or so before scooping each roll out and serving!

Leftovers can be wrapped in aluminum foil and frozen, so you can just pop the foil back in the oven to reheat and enjoy again.

Current + Upcoming Releases

• Conan the Barbarian #6 – released January 3rd.
• Dungeons & Dragons: Fortune Finder #3 – releases January 24th.
• Conan the Barbarian #6 2nd print – releases January 31st.
• Conan the Barbarian #7 – releases January 31st.
• Dungeons & Dragons: Fortune Finder #4 – releases February 21st.
• Conan the Barbarian #8 – releases February 28th.

Links and Other Stuff

• Colleen Doran continues to post all kinds of incredible advice in her newsletter, most of it framed through her experiences in the comic industry over decades of hard work. Her recent ones about the perils of fame and people’s assumptions are top notch.

• Samwise pointed me toward The Cybrarian, a YouTube channel with dramatic readings of pulp stories by Robert E. Howard. I’ve only had time to listen to a couple so far, and they were quite sharp.

Have a wonderful week,
Jim

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I hope your holidays have been prosperous and that the new year is looking bright.

I haven’t updated my YouTube channel in quite some time, and with everything that’s been going it’s not something I’ve had time to concentrate on, but I put together a video on January 1st thanking fans for reading and teasing what comes next.

Please watch and share-

In my Year In Review message I mentioned how excited I am for 2024, and a solid part of that centers around-

The Age Unconquered Begins in March!

Comicbook.com has the exclusive announcement and cover art for the third arc of Conan the Barbarian and it’s going to be huge!

Rob De La Torre is back for Conan the Barbarian #9-12 and we’re absolutely blowing the doors off in terms of story and visuals. An epic adventure to cap off the first year of our relaunch!

Conan #0-12 is our mission statement for what classic pulp-inspired sword & sorcery can be in the modern era. You’ve made 2023 a winner for our team and I can’t wait to show you what we have planned for 2024 and beyond.

CONAN THE BARBARIAN #9

– Writer: Jim Zub
– Line Art: Roberto De La Torre
– Color: Dean White
– Letters: Richard Starkings
– On sale date: March 27th, 2024

BEYOND FLESH. BEYOND DEATH. BEYOND TIME.

Conan has traveled far and seen much in his legendary journeys, but nothing he has experienced thus far can prepare him for a quest to lands beyond to answer dark riddles of the past. Unexpected allies await, fierce enemies loom, and the strange power of the Black Stone stirs in THE AGE UNCONQUERED!

The triumphant new era of Conan continues in this brand-new tale of brutal heroic adventure from acclaimed creators Jim Zub (Avengers, Dungeons & Dragons) and Rob de la Torre (Invincible Iron Man, King-Size Conan)!

– Cover A: Mike Deodato
– Cover B: E.M. Gist
– Cover C: Roberto De La Torre
– Cover D: Chris Moreno
– Cover E: Blank Sketch Variant

Some Frequently Asked Questions I’ve been getting since that info went out to the public:

Wait a sec, is that Yag-Kosha?
You’ll have to read Conan #9 to find out.

Is this a new adaptation of Tower of the Elephant?
No. This is a new story that builds on the canon Robert E. Howard stories and elements introduced in Conan #1-8.

Will we see Doug Braithwaite and Diego Rodriguez return in the future?
Yes! I’m thrilled to confirm that Doug and Diego are working on Conan #13-16, our fourth story arc.

What is best in life?
Working on this series with this killer creative team.

Almost every page, especially the action scenes, have major story spoilers (seriously), so it’s hard for me to tease what’s coming up… Hmmm~ how ‘bout this?

That’ll have to do for now, my friends.

Land of the Lotus

Over on my Patreon, the full scripts for part 1 and part 2 of the Land of the Lotus storyline published in 2021 are now up. Learn how comics are made for the price of a fancy coffee. There are over 300 scripts in my Patreon archive.

I learned a lot on this arc and refined my ‘voice’ for Conan and the pulp-fueled narration that makes his comics feel quite distinct. At the time I was hopeful we’d be able to build momentum toward issue #25, (which was also legacy #300 for the series) and carry on from that anniversary issue. Obviously that didn’t end up happening, but all of it led to where I’m at now, which I’m thankful for.

Current + Upcoming Releases

• The Murderworld That Time Forgot – released December 5th.
• Conan the Barbarian #5 2nd print – released December 27th.
• Dungeons & Dragons: Fortune Finder #2 – released December 27th.
• Conan the Barbarian #6 – releases January 3rd (originally Dec 20th).
• Dungeons & Dragons: Fortune Finder #3 – releases January 24th.
• Conan the Barbarian #7 – releases January 31st.
• Dungeons & Dragons: Fortune Finder #4 – releases February 21st.
• Conan the Barbarian #8 – releases February 28th.

Links and Other Things

• Tegan O’Neil has a wonderful profile on Sergio Aragonés from last April I missed. Give it a read!

• I received a copy of Renegades & Rogues: The Life and Legacy of Robert E. Howard by Todd B. Vick for Christmas. It’s a quick read but I quite enjoyed it as it covered some aspects of his life I wasn’t aware of before.

Have a great week!
Jim

Heroic Signatures and Titan unleash the power of Conan on Free Comic Book Day again in 2024, and this time it’s also the first part of an epic event we’re calling BATTLE OF THE BLACK STONE!

The press release went out late last week, but with the Savage Sword relaunch covers and solicit info released one day earlier I wanted to make sure I gave this announcement extra space here in my newsletter.

Bound in Black Stone is the first arc of the new Conan the Barbarian comic series and, in addition to acting as our ‘mission statement’, it set the table for some big mythic ideas we want to dig into outside the monthly title.

Conan creator Robert E. Howard wrote 21 canon Conan stores (along with a series of unfinished fragments), but he also wrote several hundred other pulp stories across many genres – mystery, horror, historical adventure, westerns, and, of course, sword & sorcery. A lot of these stories are completely separate from each other, but some have unexpected connectivity between them-

The shared timeline with Kull the Conqueror’s Thurian Age predating Conan’s Hyborian Age is well known in fan circles, but less well known are threads like an Atlantean necromancer (who seems to line up with Thulsa-Doom) being resurrected into the ‘modern’ era in the 1929 noir story Skull-Face, Kull of Atlantis being pulled through time to team up with Bran Mak Morn in the 1930 story Kings of the Night, or Thoth-Amon’s fabled Serpent Ring at the center of a 1934 horror story called The Haunter of the Ring.

Whether these crossovers were intended as part a larger plan or were just Two-Gun Bob reusing elements and names he liked, they tease the potential for a rich tapestry of pulp adventure that spans the ages.

The Conan the Barbarian monthly comic series is firmly rooted in classic sword & sorcery adventure (and always will be as long as I’m writing it) but with an event like Battle of the Black Stone we get the chance to explore epic pulp concepts (fantasy, noir, historical adventure, eldritch horror, and more) and a cast of engaging characters across different time periods and milieus.

Jonas Scharf has been turning heads on books like Dark X-Men, Avengers of the Wastelands, and The Witcher, and I am so pumped to have him drawing our Free Comic Book Day special and Battle of the Black Stone event mini-series. His moody page art fits the Robert E. Howard pulp atmosphere to a tee. I know readers are going to love the way he depicts the Hyborian Age and many other ages as well.

Conan has crossed over with other characters before but he’s never really fronted an event until now. Given the character’s 90 year prose publishing pedigree and 50 years in comics, I think it’s more than overdue.

I’ve always wanted to write a long run on a comic series and also been champing at the bit to build a big event story. Getting to do both with some of my favorite fictional characters is a dream come true.

Obviously I’ll have a lot more to say about Battle of the Black Stone (BoBS?) in the weeks and months to come, but it’s nice to finally have this Free Comic Book Day issue announced so everyone can see why we’re so excited for 2024 and beyond.

Conan Conquers – Let’s Talk About It!

This is the fourth time Perch, Joe Corallo, and I have chatted about comics on his channel and each interview covers great material in terms of the wider industry, the creative process, marketing, strange anecdotes, and more.

If you want to check out our previous interviews, here they are: first, second, third.

Into the Crucible Concluded Three Years Ago

Now on my Patreon – the full script for Conan the Barbarian #16 from 2020, the final part of Into the Crucible: patreon.com/posts/conan-barbarian-92363454

Also included in this update are my outline-pitch for the story and the Uttan ‘vocabulary’ I created so the language stayed consistent even though Conan (and our readers) couldn’t understand it.

Putting our hero in a place where he couldn’t comprehend the local language was something I hadn’t seen in a Conan story before. The Cimmerian has to use his intuition and guile just as much as his sword arm. Building up threats and constructing this language was a difficult-but-fun writing challenge.

The Conan comic relaunch at Heroic Signatures/Titan is getting a fantastic response and I’m incredibly thankful. If readers check out some of my earlier Conan comic writing work because of it as well, that’s really cool too. Despite problems we had around the original release (2020 was a rough ride, as you all know) I’m still really proud of these stories.

Links and Other Things

• Colleen Doran’s new posts where she looks back at her career in comics and delivers helpful advice about publishing and publisher contracts are a must read for any industry professional. Very Bad Publishers Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. I also recommend you subscribe to her newsletter so you won’t miss any newer posts as it continues.
• On the new Second Wind channel, JM8 has some great analysis about level design in the Souls games and what a lot of other video game developers get wrong when they try to emulate it in their own Souls-like titles.
• Samwise Didier, the iconic concept artist from Blizzard, announced his retirement from the company so he can focus on his own original creative projects. I’m excited to see what he has cooking.

That should cover it for this week. Thank you for reading!
Jim

Big. Bold. Black & White.

Cover and solicitation info have been revealed by ComicBook.com for the grand return of SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN in February 2024, including this stunning cover by legendary illustrator Joe Jusko–

THE SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN #1

Writer(s): John Arcudi, Patch Zircher, Jim Zub
Artist(s): Max Von Fafner, Patch Zircher
$6.99, 80 pages, black & white, on sale February 28, 2024

THE SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN IS BACK from Heroic Signatures and Titan Comics!

Featuring a new CONAN epic from John Arcudi and Max Von Fafner, the rousing return of SOLOMON KANE written and drawn by Patch Zircher, an electric prose story from Jim Zub, spectacular art pin-ups, and more, the SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN issue #1 heralds a new era of adrenaline-fueled adventure.

• COVER A: JOE JUSKO
• COVER B: GERARDO ZAFFINO
• COVER C: MAX VON FAFNER

—
Yes, you read that right, I’m writing a new Conan prose short story (that ties in with Joe Jusko’s killer cover art) as part of the premiere issue! It’s an absolute honor to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Savage Sword with this magazine-sized relaunch and craft pulpy prose like Robert E. Howard did for Weird Tales.

The crew at Heroic and Titan want to deliver brand new visceral stories every two months, bringing back classic Conan artists and also showcasing newer talent whose work will grab attention in bold black & white.

Richard Pace and I are building an intense story of survival and sacrifice that will either be in issue #2 (April) or issue #3 (June). I also have other plans for future issues as we hammer out the ongoing schedule.

There’s even more Conan news just announced as part of Free Comic Book Day 2024, but I’ll save that for my next newsletter installment so I can go into more detail.

Fortune Found

Dungeons & Dragons: Fortune Finder #1 arrived in comic shops and online this week!

My latest D&D comic story is a wild one that introduces readers to the wonderful setting of Planescape, a place where anything and everything can happen. There’s a mystery afoot as our main character has amnesia and needs to piece together who they are and how they’re connected to the grand forces that dictate reality before it’s too late.

Artist Joe Jaro is doing a delightful job presenting the strange and scenic sides of D&D’s most ambitious setting and colorist Adam Guzowski hones each expressive page with fantastic atmosphere.

If you’ve enjoyed my other D&D comic stories, you’ll find a lot to love here. If you’ve never read one of my D&D comics before or even played D&D the game, Fortune Finder #1 is 100% new reader friendly. Finder is searching for answers, so you’ll learn everything you need right alongside them.

Marvel Heroes On Stage in the Big Apple

The Marvel YouTube page just posted up the live play video from the Marvel Multiverse Tabletop Roleplaying Game session I was part of at New York Comicon! It’s a whirlwind Halloween-themed session with our team of Merry Marvel heroes played by the Glass Cannon crew and Marvel editor Nick Lowe. I played Captain America, Sentinel of Liberty, and had an absolute blast!

The new Marvel TTRPG is really well put together and I’ve been impressed at how well it handles superhero-themed gameplay at the table with lots of fun combat maneuvers and teamwork built right in, and you’ll get a great feel for that in the live play session here-

Quite a few people have asked if I’m going to be contributing to any future Marvel TTRPG sourcebooks or adventures and, all I can say right now is, there might be some exciting news to announce in the weeks ahead… 🙂

Original Art at Your Fingertips

The Conan: Colossal Edition crowdfunding campaign is running on Zoop right now and the book looks absolutely amazing, with reproductions of original art at their original production size. I’m not directly involved in this book, but will definitely be adding it to my collection.

If you’re a collector, it’s a must. If you’re an artist, these Artist’s Edition-style releases are incredibly useful because you can see the exact marks made in pencil, ink, or paint to better understand the methods involved and how they translate from that larger size when they’re shrunk down on each final printed page. When you see a finished page published it can be easy to forget the deep craftsmanship involved, especially using traditional media, and having a page right there in front of you as if you’re holding the original art board in your hands gives you a much better understanding of line detail, texture, spacing, composition and even the mistakes made and corrected by the artist. I find the primacy of it really inspiring and helpful.

My good friend John Barber (a guy I first met over 20 years ago when we were both making webcomics) is the editor on this project and he’s done two really good video interviews about it you can check out HERE and HERE.

Links and Other Things

• Larime Taylor is a comic creator and artist struggling with one of the toughest years imaginable. Help directly if you can and share the GoFundMe campaign page on your social media if at all possible.
• I don’t know who Bobby Fingers is, but the videos he puts together as he builds incredibly detailed dioramas of strange pop culture moments are pure entertainment. His voice drones on in a strangely appealing way while he matter-of-factly constructs unexpected scenes using top quality materials and pro quality craftsmanship. It’s pure internet WTF that is oddly inspiring.
• Matt Colville’s excitement for Baldur’s Gate 3 mirrors my own and his new video about how to incorporate similar ideas into your own tabletop RPG games is really sharp. And don’t worry if you haven’t played the video game yet – He doesn’t spoil any major plotlines.
• Tristan Penafiel has an in-depth article all about How to Deprogram a Conspiracy Theorist that I found really compelling and discussion-worthy.

Thank you for reading!
Jim