I’m thrilled to announce that DUNGEONS & DRAGONS comics make their triumphant return in April and I’m writing the new series! The gang at Wizards of the Coast have been incredibly supportive and we have tons of great stuff planned. Make sure you pre-order it from your local comic retailer.

Here’s the solicitation to the first issue:

Dungeons & Dragons #1

Writer: Jim Zub
Artist: Nelson Daniel
Cover: Max Dunbar

MINSC AND BOO ARE BACK and things have never looked more dire, as mysterious forces draw the legendary ranger and his crew of adventurers to RAVENLOFT, the Realm of Terror… where they find themselves face to face with undead horrors in the land of eternal night!

Full Color • 40 pages • $4.99

• Jim Zub (Wayward, Samurai Jack) returns with a perfect jumping-on point, continuing the adventures of the team introduced in the hit Legends of Baldur’s Gate!
• Introducing the dramatic style of artist Nelson Daniel (Judge Dredd)!
• Minsc and Boo are cult favorite characters from the best-selling Baldur’s Gate video game series which has sold millions of copies around the world.
• Variant cover of amazing Ravenloft art featuring Count Strahd von Zarovich!

Samurai Jack #20, our final issue, arrived in comic shops last week. I posted some of my thoughts previously, but hearing from reviewers that they feel we hit the mark is wonderful too.

• IGN: 9/10 “Samurai Jack #20 finally gives this story the conclusion it deserved.”

• Comic Bastards: 8/10 “…although I am sad to see to this tale go, I also think readers will be left with a great feeling about our favorite warrior.”

• Comics Beat: “great for fans of the comic, but also perfectly suitable for fans of the animated series, even if they skipped the previous nineteen issues. It impressively offers closure without necessarily being a final chapter. Highly recommended.”

• Goodreads: 5/5 “This issue was both superb, and meaningful…gently closing the book on Samurai Jack and the myriad of characters we’ve met along the way.”

• I Reads You: “Zub and Suriano proved that they can produce a high-quality comic book that is true to the original Samurai Jack”

• Infinite Comix: 10/10 “They succeed in delivering a finale that both celebrates all the stories that have come before and continues developing the titular character, keeping the door open for future tales while presenting a satisfying endpoint to Jack’s epic adventure.”

• Moar Powah: “Samurai Jack #20 is the ending to the series I didn’t know I wanted, but am glad I received.”

• Outhousers: “This issue is the culmination of everything that Jim Zub has wanted to say about Samurai Jack. He’s always been a symbol of hope and faith for humanity and it has never been more evident than now.”

• Rock! Shock! Pop!: “The series was hitting high notes from the start and it consistently did that for the duration. This last issue sends things out on a high note for sure – take a bow, guys – here’s to a job well done.”

Arriving in August…pre-order now!

Samurai Jack Vol. 4: The Warrior-King
Jim Zub, Andy Suriano (w)
Sergio Quijada, Andy Suriano, Christine Larsen (a)
Andy Suriano (c)

Jack has traveled far and wide in order to find his way back to his own time. His journey continues as he tries to infiltrate the compound of the secretive man known as the “Master of Time.” Plus, battles with the spirits of the dead and the story of a scribe named Mako, chronicler of Jack’s possible legacy or his future? Collects issues #16–20.

TPB • FC • $19.99 • 124 pages • ISBN: 978-1-63140-380-4

The critically acclaimed series concludes!

Offered Again:
Samurai Jack, Vol. 1 • FC • $19.99 • ISBN: 978-1-61377-894-4
Samurai Jack, Vol. 2 • FC • $19.99 • ISBN: 978-1-63140-131-2
Samurai Jack, Vol. 3 • FC • $19.99 • ISBN: 978-1-63140-245-5

Samurai Jack Vol. 4 The Warrior-King (issues #16-20) Jack has travelled far and wide in order to find his way back to his own time. His journey continues as he tries to infiltrate the compound of the secretive man known as the “Master of Time.” Plus, battles with the spirits of the dead and the story of a scribe named Mako, chronicler of Jack’s possible legacy or future?

PRE-ORDER Amazon.com Barnes & Noble Book Depository Chapters-Indigo

The collected trade paperback for Dungeons & Dragons: Legends of Baldur’s Gate arrives in comic shops this Wednesday and will be in major bookstores and Amazon a week or two after that.

The single issue sales on the series were okay, but didn’t set the world on fire, so our ability to create more Baldur’s Gate comics rests on the sales of this spiffy high quality collected edition. Every issue received rave reviews from multiple comic and gaming sites (issues 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5), so I think it’s more a visibility issue than one of quality.

If you’re a tabletop gamer (as I am) or loved the original Baldur’s Gate video games I think you’ll really enjoy the fun adventure story Max Dunbar and I put together for Wizards of the Coast as part of D&D 5th Edition launch. Please consider ordering a copy for yourself or snag one as a gift for your gaming friends so Minsc and Boo can continue their righteous quest for justice.

Dungeons & Dragons: Legends of Baldur’s Gate Graphic novel tie-in to Dungeon’s & Dragon’s new 5th Edition role-playing game! Generations have passed since the original Heroes of Baldur’s Gate saved the city and the Realms. Now a new threat rises and an unlikely group of misfits are thrust into adventure with Minsc, the legendary Ranger do-gooder with a heart of gold, brain of lead, and hamster of pronounced wisdom.

Amazon Barnes & Noble Book Depository Chapters-Indigo

After a shipping delay, Legends of Baldur’s Gate #5, wrapping up our story, has finally arrived. Let’s see what reviewers thought of it…

• Bleeding Cool: “I can only hope that this isn’t the last time we see this fun team together.”

• Fanboy Comics: “The story sings, and it’s a fight that we’ve been waiting for from the first moment we heard the word Dragon, and it doesn’t disappoint.”

• Fanboy Nation: “Legends of Baldur’s Gate has been a blast. Here’s hoping that issue #5 is not the end!”

• Geeks With Wives: 8.5/10 “Once again, Zub nails the script and dialogue. The conversations and narration were wonderfully done, and captured the spirit of the source material.”

• Merric’s Musings: “Legends of Baldur’s Gate has been a beautifully written and drawn comic, and Jim Zub makes sure Minsc manages to get some of his best known and iconic lines in this issue.”

• Nerdy But Flirty: “This issue marks the satisfying end of the arc, and I very much hope that the series continues.”

• Reading With a Flight Ring: “the interiors are simply stunning to behold. If you need proof pick this up and flip through it the visage of the Dragon on any page is a thing of beauty.”

Arriving in May. Pre-order now!

You can read more about my thoughts on the comic series ending HERE.

SAMURAI JACK #20
Jim Zub (w)
Andy Suriano (a & c)

FINAL ISSUE.

A scribe named Mako has heard many strange stories of the great hero known only as “Jack.” Mako’s journey to record the truth of the samurai reveals a fascinating look at his legacy and possible future: Jack the King. Jack the General. Jack the Legend.

FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Okay, so here’s the news and it’s better if I just get this out of the way up front:

SAMURAI JACK the comic series will be ending with issue #20, arriving in May.

Yeah, I’m sad too.

It’s hard for me to explain how wonderful it’s been to create a new official “season” of Samurai Jack, working with the unbelievably skilled art team of artist Andy Suriano, colorist Josh Burcham, and letterer Shawn Lee, along with a host of other amazing guest artists including Brittney Williams, Ethen Beavers, Andy Kuhn, Sergio Quijada, and Christine Larsen.

Working on Jack has been a project that felt just as creative and expansive as any creator-owned work I’ve done. Almost every single idea we pitched was enthusiastically approved by IDW and Cartoon Network. We told the stories we wanted to tell the way we wanted to tell them and, from everything I’ve seen and the people I’ve met, the fans thoroughly enjoyed them too. That’s a rare and wonderful thing and I won’t take it for granted.

We launched pretty strong, strong enough that our five issue mini-series was almost immediately bumped up to “ongoing” status, but we’ve hit a point in the natural single issue sales attrition cycle where IDW isn’t guaranteed to see profitability on #21-25 so they decided to end it at #20 and make sure we weren’t cut off midway through a story line. I absolutely respect that and appreciate the heads up so we could make our last issue extra special.

Speaking of which, I have to admit I got wistful when I read the recent Comics Alliance article heaping high praise on the work we’ve done with Jack. Chris Sims had no way of knowing it, but I was putting the finishing touches on the final script the day that article went up. It gave me an extra burst of energy to carry me over the finish line.

If “The Quest of the Broken Blade” story we did in issues #11-15 was our epic battle of mind, body, and soul, then Samurai Jack #20 is as final a spiritual statement as I can put on the Jack legacy.

In the third season of Samurai Jack there’s an episode called “Jack and Travelling Creatures” where, after trials and tribulations aplenty, we catch a glimpse of a possible future for our wandering hero; we see Jack as an older Warrior-King, a veteran of an untold number of conflicts. We’re embracing that awesome vision of Jack in a very heartfelt done-in-one story called “Mako the Scribe”.

I don’t have any definitive information on whether there will be more Samurai Jack animation down the road but, if there isn’t, I wanted to make sure this story gave at least some sense of closure to the many, many fans of the series. I would never say that I speak for Genndy or the rest of the Jack animation team. This is just my own small addendum to the top notch art and storytelling they put together. (Oh yeah and Genndy, feel free to animate any of our comic stories if you want. I’m 100% A-Okay with that 🙂 )

That said, I don’t want us to just slip away quietly into the night with this one. If you haven’t read Samurai Jack the comic and experienced our “fifth season”, I’d be thrilled if you considered ordering the trades or buying the digital issues to give it a shot.

If you have read the comics and enjoyed what we put together, I’d deeply appreciate if you let IDW and Cartoon Network know what you thought of it and if you pre-order issue #20 to let retailers know that we’re going out strong.

Thank you to Carlos Guzman, our editor at IDW, for tirelessly sheparding these new stories through art and production. Your enthusiasm for our work has been a real booster.

Thank you again to Andy Suriano for being such a passionate and creative collaborator. You rock, buddy, and I’m so proud to have worked with you on this.

Thank you to IDW Publishing and Cartoon Network for your confidence in bringing me aboard to write the series. It’s been a blast.

Thank you to Genndy Tartakovsky, Phil Lamarr, and the whole Jack team for trailblazing such a wonderful series in the first place.

I feel incredibly fortunate to be able to tell these stories. Thank you for your support.

SAMURAI JACK #20
Jim Zub (w)
Andy Suriano (a & c)

FINAL ISSUE.

A scribe named Mako has heard many strange stories of the great hero known only as “Jack.” Mako’s journey to record the truth of the samurai reveals a fascinating look at his legacy and possible future: Jack the King. Jack the General. Jack the Legend.

FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Both IDW series I’m working on had new issues arrive last week. Let’s see what critics thought of Legends of Baldur’s Gate #4 and Samurai Jack #16…

• Bleeding Cool: “Jim Zub’s script continues to be incredibly well written, and intense. There’s really never a dull moment.”

• Comics Online: 4.5/5 “There’s a reason that fantasy comics are dominating my pull-list, and his name is Jim Zub.”

• Fanboy Comics: “Dunbar is keeping it tight with the visuals as usual. He’s got such a keen sense of drawing combat; there are no wasted panels or energy, every strike makes complete sense, and the subtlety of maneuvers is stellar to witness.”

• Fanboy Nation: “Dungeons and Dragons: Legends of Baldur’s Gate continues to be a tremendously fun sword and sorcery book recommended to all fans of the genre.”

• Geeks With Wives: 8.5/10 “The creative team isn’t just telling us a story and leaving it at that, they’re beautifully and completely describing and coloring the details of Baldur’s Gate for us to explore with our eyes.”

• Merric’s Musings: “The story kicks into high gear with this instalment, getting ready for the Big Finale in issue #5.”

• Nerdy But Flirty: “There’s an awesome fight sequence in the last section of the book, and I love how Max Dunbar can make static images have a feeling of motion/action.”

• Reading With a Flight Ring: “There’s no doubt in my mind that this is exactly what comics are about and it should be read by all.”

• Shadowhawk’s Shade: 9.5/10 “Legends of Baldur’s Gate is, first and foremost, a story about a band of misfits and screw-ups who come together under some really extraordinary circumstances.”

• Comic Bastards: “I didn’t think that Samurai Jack could get better than the last story arc, but I think the Master of Time could give Aku a run for his money.”

• IGN: 8.6/10 “New artist Sergio Quijada fits right in with the book’s general aesthetic, bringing a real sense of energy to Jack’s quest and plenty of visual gags for good measure. “

• Rock! Shock! Pop!: “All in all, another great chapter – bring on the next installment!”

• Shadowhawk’s Shade: 10/10 “The dialogue is, as ever, sharp and to the point with Jim wasting not a moment on any inconsequentials along the way.”

Chris Sims at Comics Alliance has posted up a new editorial all about the Samurai Jack comic series. I’m thrilled with the praise he gives our team for the hard work we put into the series and the way it carries on the legacy of the award-winning cartoon. Give it a read!

“‘Epic’ is a word that gets tossed around a lot, but Samurai Jack lives up to it. It’s a vast adventure that works on multiple levels, and if you haven’t been reading the series, it’s absolutely worth catching up.”