Conan the Barbarian #18 -> Conan: Scourge of the Serpent #3
There’s a grand plan for the Conan the Barbarian series through to issue #50, using many of the original Robert E. Howard prose stories as pillars to build a larger mythic arc about men, gods, courage, sacrifice and storytelling. Each year we also have a 4-issue event mini-series that exemplifies and extends ideas from the monthly series, putting a button on broader themes and showing how adventures the Cimmerian has been part of echo outward, interacting with other characters in the ‘Howardverse’. My first Heroic Signatures editor Matt Murray and I generated this concept in brainstorming sessions long before the series launched, hopeful we’d get the chance to see it through and, as year 3 continues, it feels amazing to slowly unveil each major moment along the way.
Scourge of the Serpent #3 reveals the reality of a flashback first shown in Conan the Barbarian #18, built around the REH story God in the Bowl. Conan’s memories of that moment are hazy and I love the way artist Danica Brine‘s flashback version has a dreamlike quality while Ivan Gil‘s reality of that moment is more textured and horrific, even while both compositions are identical. Getting to plan all this out and see it executed so incredibly well by our team is a thrill.
With holiday shipping and distribution all jammed up, Scourge of the Serpent #4 has slipped to first week of January, but I promise that you won’t want to miss what gets revealed there, a big piece of the broader mythic puzzle.
Settling back in at home after our trip to the UK has been good, but last night was the first proper night’s sleep I’ve had since we returned. For days I was getting hit with waves of exhaustion in the early evening and waking up before dawn, but hopefully I’ve finally made the switch back to Toronto time.
This week is all about getting back into the groove – writing stories, proofing pages going to press, responding to emails and a multitude of meetings. Late November into December is always crunchy with tighter deadlines to make room for holiday time at the end of the year.
A Taste of Vengeance Begins in February
Conan the Barbarian #29 cover art by Martin Simmonds.
AIPT has the first look at solicits and covers for CONAN THE BARBARIAN #29, arriving February 2026, kicking off our eighth (!) story arc, which is called A Taste of Vengeance. The incredible Doug Braithwaite is back on art and we’ve created a brand new villain named The Son of the Tooth, a supernaturally-enhanced assassin sent to slay our favorite Cimmerian.
Doug’s character design for the Son looks great and the variant covers illustrated by other artists really hit the mark too. I can’t wait for all of you to dig in on this one in the new year. I think it’s one of our most visceral stories yet.
Between rounds of D&D in a Castle I met up with Doug when he and his wife toured me around Tynemouth, a coastal town about half an hour’s drive east of Newcastle. It was wonderful getting to wander with them and chat about storytelling, art, the comic industry and life in general. Whenver I talk with UK creators, they always mention Doug’s phenomenal drawing skills, but even more than that they talk about him as the kind of professional they aspire to be – kind, thoughtful, focused, and hardworking. He really is a legend, even if he doesn’t want to believe it.
Team Conan in Tynemouth.
Here’s a sneak peek at a panel from issue #29 – beautiful on its own and even more haunting in the context of the story we’re buidling.
Doug Braithwaite artwork from Conan the Barbarian #29.
At Thought Bubble, I spoke to Comic Talk Netherlands all about working on Conan the Barbarian, month after month. This was recorded on the second day of the festival, after two weeks of D&D gaming at the castle, so my voice is pretty hoarse and you can tell that I’ve been on the road a bit too long.
2026 convention announcements begin! Shows seem to be getting booked further and further out. I’m already talking about late summer 2026 possibilities, which feels extra weird with winter weather starting to take hold here in Toronto.
After 20 days on the road, Stacy and I are finally home. A double round of D&D in a Castle in Newcastle and then the Thought Bubble comic festival in Harrogate was one heck of a marathon. I had a wonderful time, but I’m also worn out and need some serious downtime to reorganize and recharge.
Last November when I completed my first D&D in a Castle DMing adventure, I mentioned that I wasn’t sure if I would go back or not. It was an incredibly intense experience, 26 hours of gaming over 4 days plus being “on” even when you’re not running an adventure, and with my current workload and obligations I honestly didn’t know if I could carve out the time to do it again. I also feared that part of the joy might have come from the “newness” of it all and that if I did it again it wouldn’t have the same impact.
Stacy knew I was going to return to the castle before I did. Every time my friends or colleagues asked about how it went and I started regaling them with stories about the amazing people and adventure I ran she could see that it sparked something special in me.
So, wanting to see if that gaming magic was repeatable and also wanting to intensely playtest a new adventure I was cooking up, I signed up for two campaigns in a row – two weeks at the castle with two different groups going through the same adventure…well, “same” in the sense that major set pieces and enemies were reused, but a big part of the adventure was woven through character backstories given to me by the players, so each one ended up having around 30-40% different material and, even when something similar happened, the motivation behind it was quite different.
I’m happy to report that D&D in a Castle once again delivered the goods. Two very different groups, each with their own approach, but both were there to game up a storm and we had a blast!
Moments before Round 2 introductions, the Dungeon Masters gather.
The first group of six players skewed older, with most of them having started D&D with first edition the same way I did. They were, in the best way possible, “old school” gamers who wanted to dungeon delve and kick ass, laughing out of game even while their characters were enduring harrowing experiences in game. It reminded me a lot of gaming in high school, but with better focus and decidedly higher production values at the table. Friendships formed fast and everyone seemed comfortable right from the start. The one younger player in this group (who received this vacation as a high school graduation gift from his parents and came on his own) was ‘adopted’ by the whole crew and they made sure his experience was so fun that he ended up staying on for a second round at a different table.
Round 1 Group: Roark, Erik, Clint, Kevin, Chris #1, and Chris #2.
The second group of six had a decisive split – three players who skewed toward strategic play and three who were there to role-play scenes to the hilt. One of them had barely ever played any TTRPGs at all but had been at the castle last year, saw how much fun her husband had and wanted to be part of it this time. Two of the players were last minute additions when another Dungeon Master had to bow out, and thankfully they were solid additions to the team dynamic.
Round 2 Group: Dan, Roger, Kerry, Nina, Ashley, and James.
The adventure I put together, called Darklords’ Gambit, took place in the Ravenloft campaign setting. I kit-bashed some enemies, NPCs, items and locations from old sourcebooks and modules (while avoiding anything from Curse of Strahd, the most famous adventure in the setting) but made a new core plot that was all its own so players wouldn’t be able to guess what was coming next, even if they recognized some of the classic material.
Running the same adventure back-to-back meant I could immediately learn what worked (or didn’t) with the first group and lean into the strengths of it while also trying different beats and encounters. Finishing both playthroughs, I now have a solid adventure to use in the future if I ever want to run it again.
Last time I wrote about D&D in a Castle, I mentioned the concept of “emergent storytelling”, the unexpected narrative that forms through character choice alongside the randomness of dice rolls and I was able to test out ideas around promoting that again here in a much more deliberate way. Each character received a Tarokka card (the Ravenloft version of a tarot deck) and a few lines of horoscope-like verse I custom wrote based on their backstory that they received early in the adventure. Some of them immediately leaned into the ’prophecy’ they were given while others railed against it with all their might – either way, it helped drive storytelling at the table and kept them motivated even as they worked to unravel the overall mystery of the adventure.
Sneak peek at a couple Tarokka cards and poetic bits of prophecy.
Although I planned out quite a bit, I wasn’t afraid to improv as well. Some enemies became unexpected allies, some throwaway NPCs became important fixtures in the adventure, and many moments became surprisingly poignant based on a particularly strong or weak dice roll at the ‘right’ time. Eight hours of gaming per day is an intense narrative exercise that kept me on my toes, problem solving in real time while trying not to let players see too much of the duct tape and happy accidents that held it all together.
Last year I played a one-off game with Jason Azevedo and was impressed with the elaborate soundscapes he used to pull players into his game, but worried that setting up something similar would take a ridiculous amount of time and require me to act like a “DM DJ” at the table, constantly cueing up sound effects and music instead of paying attention to the game itself. Jason showed me how to use Syrinscape, an RPG-specific sound application, to build simple atmospheric sound loops I could tee up and fade between without needing a lot of babysitting. It’s not the kind of thing I would have thought to do for a home game, but the deluxe castle environment pushed me to work with it and I’m really happy I did. I don’t think I’ll ever go whole hog with specific battle/creature sounds and spell sound effects, but even just atmospheric sound running in the background helped to set scenes and make it clear to players that we were diving back into the game after each break.
Some of my Syrinscape Custom Moods.
Being way more comfortable with the staff, location and overall format and heading to the castle before Thought Bubble meant I was way less stressed than last year (when I did MCM Expo London and multiple comic shop signings before slamming into Castle Days) and better able to appreciate how amazing everyone on the Castle team really is. There were eleven Dungeon Masters on hand each round with six players at their table, plus support staff and the actual castle-hotel staff as well – almost a hundred people in total (along with Poppet, the Castle Cat) all working and playing together. From the outside it might seem a bit outrageous but when you’re in the thick of it, the event is impressively all-encompassing and I can see why around a third of the players attending are repeat customers.
Stacy and I had a few nights in the Queen Anne Suite, which was pretty posh.
I didn’t want to commit myself to any 2026 Castle dates until I finished this experiment and that may mean I miss out entirely next year. The castle team has booked dates further out than before and most of their Fall 2026 calendar is already locked in, but with a bit of luck I’ll be back for another campaign at some point and, when I do, I’ll let all of you here know about it.
Reversing the order of operations this year by going to a comic event after a double dose of castle time meant that I arrived in Harrogate pretty wiped out, energy-wise. Thought Bubble was a great time and I got to meet a ton of UK friends and fans, but there were times when I thought I was going to fall asleep at the table as my energy level crashed. By Sunday night and festival wrap up, Stacy and I had dinner with old friends and then crawled into bed at the hotel, barely able to keep our eyes open until 9pm.
Thought Bubble’s Redshirt Hall.
That said, I signed a lot of comics over those two days and had wonderful conversations with established pros and young creators alike. Like TCAF, Thought Bubble is comics and creator-centric and that meant books and art were at the forefront of every interaction. It’s obvious why so many UK creators say it’s their favorite show of the year.
After Thought Bubble, Stacy and I took a train to London. Despite our overall exhaustion, we managed to see some engaging exhibits at the British Museum and had a couple good meals before heading to Heathrow airport and making the trek home.
Finally back in my studio, I have a ton of catching up to do but thankfully I don’t have any more trips planned for 2025. I burned hard attending so many events this year and have enjoyed almost all of them, but next year I need to be more careful about how filled up my calendar gets.
A Little Milestone
Epic artwork from line artist Fernando Dagnino and colorist Diego Rodriguez.
While we were on our whirlwind UK adventures, Conan the Barbarian #26 arrived in comic shops and the response to the first part of The Conquering Crown has been amazing. Between rounds of D&D in a Castle I visited with Conan artist Doug Braithwaite and at Thought Bubble Doug, letterer Richard Starkings and I had a wonderful breakfast meet up. I know I keep saying it, but everyone involved is so proud of the work and motivated to deliver their best and it really does show through when we meet in person.
Issue 26 is also a little milestone for me. When I was writing Conan the Barbarian at Marvel my run ended at issue 25, so it feels extra-good to push past that barrier and keep sprinting onward, month after month. This is the kind of long run I’ve always wanted to create in comics and, despite the intensity of the monthly deadlines, I enjoy the process and the momentum. I know at some point it will come to an end, but for now it feels good to collaborate with such an incredible team and have it recognized by both readers and retailers.
Breakfast before Thought Bubble Day 2, with Richard Starkings and Doug Braithwaite.
• A conversation about old video games from my youth prompted me to look up a video of BARBARIAN from 1987. My brother and I had this game on our Commodore 64 and played the heck out of it. Imagine if I could have told young Zub what a barbaric future he had in store. Jim
Stacy and I are south of Newcastle (1) at Lumley Castle (2) in the midst of D&D in a Castle (3)! As I type this, I’m setting up my Dungeon Master area for my second campaign and guests will be arriving at Lumley in about ninety minutes, so it’s a bit of a scramble, but exciting as well.
The amazing staff are all zipping around, dropping off terrain, miniatures, or handouts we’ve requested, setting up mood lighting and testing speakers for music while I double check my adventure notes and get dressed up for opening ceremonies. Round one went really well so I’m feeling weirdly relaxed despite the chaos.
Artwork from Conan the Barbarian #26 by Fernando Dagnino. Colors by Diego Rodriguez.
This week sees the release of CONAN THE BARBARIAN #26, part 1 of a 3-part epic we call The Conquering Crown, showing how Conan earns the crown of Aquilonia amongst political machinations, armed conflict, and rebellion. I’m excited for readers to dive into this War of the Roses-esque Hyborian tale.
Heroes Journey
On the CBR Heroes Journey Podcast, I spoke to Sean O’Connell and Sierra Nutkevitch all about breaking into comics, writing stories for iconic characters, research, theme, and Conan the Barbarian in prose, comics and movies. It’s a really fun chat, so check it out!
Conan the Barbarian #28 cover art by Gerardo Zaffino.
This week sees the release of CONAN: SCOURGE OF THE SERPENT #2, as Set’s grand plan coils its way across time (and I would post some interior art here, but almost every page is a story spoiler), but there’s also a lot to talk about in the flagship monthly series as we charge forth into year three.
CONAN THE BARBARIAN #26-28, arriving in stores from November 2025 to January 2026, is our seventh story arc and it’s called “The Conquering Crown”. These issues will show how our legendary Cimmerian earns the crown of Aquilonia and how it changes him forever. It’s a wartorn epic with clashing kingdoms, political intrigue, and armed conflict on a scale we haven’t shown in the series before, like Conan the Barbarian by way of Prince Valiant, and artist Fernando Dagnino and colorist Diego Rodriguez have gone above and beyond the call of duty illustrating it all.
A few fans have asked me why the Titan series jumps around the timeline instead of starting at the beginning of Conan’s journies and moving forward from there. Both Marvel and Dark Horse took a chronological approach (with occassional mini-series or specials that popped out of sequence), so I felt like that had been done before and done well. Our approach is more like the original Conan prose stories in Weird Tales magazine, with stories instead arriving in dramatic order.
Readers get information they need when they need it as we move back and forth through the Cimmerian’s legendary life. The team and I keep track of the timeline, locations and sequence of events, you just need to settle in and enjoy each tale as it unfolds across the Hyborian Age. Each story arc is its own entertaining adventure that also adds to a broader tapestry we’re slowly weaving. The more you read, the more you’ll see how it all fits together, thematically and symbolically. It’s a fun challenge for me and keeps each arc fresh for our whole creative team.
My event schedule is finally slowing down as we move closer to the end of 2025. Stacy and I fly to the UK later this week for our last trip of the year.
• This interview with professional gamer/Dungeon Master Brennan Lee Mulligan shows how thoughtful and appreciative he is while riding out a surge of popularity. Three years ago I had the chance to play with Brennan during a charity stream, along with a slew of other incredible gamers who you will probably recognize if you’re into online TTRPG shows, (PART 1 and PART 2) and was blown away by how great he was, both in character and out. Jim
Gamehole XII was an amazing tabletop convention cram-packed with good gaming and great friends. My only regret was that I wish it hadn’t kicked in right after New York Comic Con because I started things off already half-exhausted and the con crud I fought off ended up taking root in Stacy as we arrived in Madison, Wisconsin, knocking her flat for half the trip. Thankfully, she bravely powered through and ran her scheduled game on Saturday.
Even with those setbacks, it was a really good time. The games Stacy and I ran (Stacy with a new D&D adventure she created, and me with Shadowdark and Conan: The Hyborian Age scenarios) went really well and social time with some of my favorite people in tabletop gaming recharged my creative batteries even while we ran down our stamina with late night stories and celebratory libations.
Running games for strangers at conventions is an enjoyable challenge. In 2-3 hours we super charge a bond at the table, coming together to see how narrative choices and die rolls play out and make memories. Even when things go “all wrong” and a group ends up doomed, it can create unexpected comradery and, in fact, some of my favorite game sessions are ones where things go off the rails. It’s better to have a memorable gaming session than one that feels too straight forward without any surprises.
A few quick highlights from the weekend:
• Seeing Ben from Questing Beast on the showfloor, losing him in the crowd before I could tell him I liked his YouTube channel, then heading to my first game session and seeing him already there signed up to play my adventure.
• A player in my second Crucible game failing almost every single roll of the session, taking his Cleric through a tragi-comedy crisis of faith none of us could have foreseen.
• Michaël Croitō Ryū running a first edition Legends of the Five Ring scenario for a few of us after hours. My young Crab Clan warrior, dubbed the “Crab Rocket” by end of the session, brought a bit of chaos to the proceedings.
• Running my Conan game in the New Holland building, which heated up a lot in the midday sun – “As you traverse the desert, the sun looms large and its heat is stiffling and oppressive…which I’m sure all of us can empathize with right about now.”
• Late night chatter with Luke Gygax about the nature of the business and how thankful we are for all these opportunities while Once in a Lifetime by the Talking Heads played in the background – “Well, how did I get here?” indeed.
Now that Stacy and I are home, we need to rest up while hitting our next slate of writing deadlines before our big UK trip for D&D in a Castle and then Thought Bubble takes us to the well-earned finish line of Convention Season 2025. Wish us luck!
The Robert E. Howard Museum Needs Your Help
After over 110 years, the home of Robert E. Howard requires serious repairs: its foundation and piers are rotting and collapsing, there is termite damage to a large section of an outside wall, and many of the floors are starting to buckle and drop. While the hard-working folks of Project Pride in Cross Plains have restored and cared for the house since acquiring it back in the 1980s, their small volunteer army cannot address the extensive repairs that are needed. Professional restoration is required for this 100+ year old home on the National Historical Register, and it is needed now, before damage gets worse.
If REH’s work has left an impact on you over the decades, please consider donating to the cause-
New York Comic Con 2025 ripped through like a storm (though I managed to avoid the actual storm that hit Manhattan on Sunday evening) and I came through it dizzied but also energized. Since I wasn’t at the show last year, I felt a distinct upsurge in the number of people who stopped by to see me and I signed plenty of comics. I was only at the show three out of four days, but still felt like I’d been there for the full run by the time I got home and celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving with my family.
Yesterday I was completely wiped out and worried that Con Crud was going to take me down, but a couple deep sleeps and some herbal tea is helping me recover just in time to make the trek to Madison, Wisconsin for Gamehole this weekend.
A couple Conan sketches.
I didn’t have time to do as many sketches this year, but that was just the nature of the show – running around for meetings, signings, and other events.
Other quick highlights:
• Catching up with friends and industry peers on the showfloor and after hours, including planning for my next creator-owned comic series.
• Watching the Blue Jays wrap up their series against the Yankees at a New York bar, quietly enjoying a pint while the locals saw their playoff chances slip away into the night.
• Playing the victim during the Random House 80’s-themed Murder Mystery Party with a half-dozen authors and 70 fans coming together to try and solve my murder. They failed to catch the killer, but it was still a fun time for all involved.
• A late night karaoke session to celebrate Daniel Kibblesmith‘s birthday. Many souls were sacrificed on the altar of rock.
Conan the Barbarian #25 – 2nd Print, cover art by Alex Horley.
Speaking of CONAN THE BARBARIAN #25, I just found out that less than a week after release the issue has SOLD OUT and is being rushed back for a second printing to meet reorder demand.
Make sure you get your order in with your favorite comic shop now. Issue #25 2nd print (with cover art by Alex Horley) will arrive in stores alongside Conan the Barbarian #26 on November 12th!
• Javi has a great art tutorial all about shape visualization and execution, an important skill for taking drawing skills to a higher level.
• Matt Levin has another great comic culture and history video, this one detailing the history and massive influence of Jean Giraud Mœbius. I finally had a chance to meet Matt in person at New York Comic Con and let him know how sharp his videos have been.
Conan the Barbarian #25 oil painted art by Alex Horley.
It’s a big week here in Zubville – CONAN THE BARBARIAN #25, our special fully painted anniversary issue, arrives in stores tomorrow and New York Comic Con kicks off starting Thursday! Getting ahead on writing deadlines and prepping for upcoming trips has been a lot to juggle, but I really am looking forward to seeing friends and fans in the Big Apple. Last time I was there (two years ago, time is flying) we were in the afterglow of the Conan launch and now we’re roaring forward into year three of the series.
I’ll be at NYCC on Thursday through Saturday, three days instead of four, because it’s also Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend and I want to be home for it. In past years I’ve missed Thanksgiving by staying at the convention through Sunday and always regretted it. Don’t get me wrong, the show is good, but there’s nothing on the last day that’s worth missing that time with family.
Otherwise, check HERE for details on my schedule at the show – Where I’m at, signings, and other events and if you get a chance to check out issue 25 this week please let me know what you think of it!
I’m back on Casually Comics, chatting with Sasha all about our second year of Conan the Barbarian – our extra special 25th issue, the Scourge of the Serpent mini-series event, sales, fans, and more!
• Jackson’s Art Store has an article that covers the history of the pencil. Mundane sounding, I know, but the sequence of events are pretty interesting.
Team Conan Chattanooga – with Tyler Smith and Richard Starkings.
I had a lot of fun in Tennesee, meeting new readers and old collectors, and hanging out with industry friends and current collaborators. Over the summer I attended so many four day shows that doing an event that was only Saturday and Sunday felt luxurious and gone in a flash. Good times!
On Sunday, I had breakfast with Richard Starkings and Tyler Smith at Comicraft, who letter all the Conan comics. Richard is the guy who pioneered digital lettering techniques back in the 90’s and I’m thrilled to have him on our series, bringing such depth of knowledge and care to each issue. With so many projects on the go, Tyler is at the forefront working with me on the initial lettering pass and edits, with Richared involved in complex scenes, problem solving, and special font design.
Comic lettering isn’t understood by many comic fans. When lettering works properly it effortlessly guides the reader through each panel and page and we are usually too caught up in reading to appreciate the care that goes into where that lettering is placed, fonts and color choices, or how balloons or caption boxes stack to create clarity, but when lettering is done poorly it is the only thing we notice because the reading process gets derailed.
Conan the Barbarian is unusual in that there are practically no sound effects at all. Writer-Editor Roy Thomas realized right from the first issue in 1970 that endless panels of slashing and screaming onomatopoeia would not effectively translate the power or poetry of Robert E. Howard’s prose to the comic page, so more atmospheric narration was used instead. That lyrical approach, which I continue to use to this day, gives scenes a tension and gravity all their own and makes Conan stand out amongst its peers. It’s a challenge to come up with new and interesting ways to describe sensory information beyond what we see in the artwork, but it’s also worth the extra effort.
Here’s a lettering example from our most recent issue on the flagship series, Conan the Barbarian #24:
Artwork by Fernando Dagnino and Diego Rodriguez.
8 text callouts on an action-oriented page is a good balance of reading and visuals. If there’s a lot of action on the page I will throttle text back even more and let the art do the ‘talking’. That said, dialogue scenes can certainly get more dense in terms of lettering. Here’s a page from Conan: Scourge of the Serpent #1 with 18!
Artwork by Ivan Gil and João Canola.
Having each number correspond to the lettering script makes it easy for everyone to reference the document and compare. It also makes it much easier to ask for changes (“Can we add a new line between #4 and 5?” or “Let’s cut balloon 8 entirely because it’s no longer needed”).
Chatting With Sal
I couldn’t believe it had been more than two years since I chatted on camera with Sal Crivelli from Comic Pop, so when the opportunity came up I jumped at the chance.
It really felt like no time has passed at all and the conversation that rolled out was as fun and energetic as always. Anecdotes and info galore. Make sure you check it out.
• Over the years there have been rumors and tall tales spun about how He-Man and Conan are connected, but Shawn Curley is on the case, unravelling the truth from the lies with info right from the source.
• I didn’t know artist Skottie Young had his own YouTube channel, but now that I do know I’m subscribed and digging into all the older videos.
This week sees the release of CONAN: SCOURGE OF THE SERPENT #1, the first part of a 4-issue time-twirling mini-series with Conan the Barbarian, Kull the Conqueror, and Dr. John Kirowan confronting snake-sent threats in their respective times and how those events echo and ripple through each other. It’s an epic sword & sorcery adventure using key elements from three different Robert E. Howard short stories to create something new. It also carries the torch from plotlines introduced in last year’s BATTLE OF THE BLACK STONE event mini-series, so if you’ve been following along you’ll see where the larger mythic story arc I’m building goes next.
Artist Ivan Gil has been working in the French comic market for many years on intensely detailed historical graphic novels and now brings those skills to bear on our ‘Howardverse’, and the results when paired with João Canola‘s colors are really breathtaking.
Artwork from Scourge of the Serpent #1.
Ivan’s pages are imbued with a deep sense of “place”. His environments are lush with detail but in a way that doesn’t distract readers away from the story, it wraps them up in it. Every time new artwork comes in from Ivan I’m impressed by the thought and care he puts into each panel, building rock solid environments while staging both drama and action with intent.
Look at this sneak peek panel from Scourge of the Serpent #2 – seven characters (and a corpse) in an intricately-presented setting and yet all of it is instantly readable and communicates exactly what’s needed for the scene. What a pro!
Line art from Scourge of the Serpent #2.
Working with incredible artists like Ivan (or Roberto, or Doug, or Danica, or Fernando, or Alex, or so many others) is such a pleasure because I see the thought and care they put into every page. It doesn’t matter how good the story I write is, without visuals that communicate it well, the whole thing would be sunk.
Scourge is a complex story with three narratives in three different time periods and, as we move through each one, they build in intensity and emotion. It was a real challenge to set up the plot this way, but even more of the work is on Ivan and João to clarify and accentuate each story beat…and this week readers get to dig into our first chapter and let us know how we did. 🙂
Hunting This Week
Also in stores this week is PREDATOR: BLACK, WHITE and BLOOD #3. I have a ripping short story in this anthology issue called Demon of the Deep. It’s Predator VS Pirates with artwork by the amazing Pat Boutin and Matt Milla.
Yo ho ho, and a bottle of blood.
Haunted Z’s
In the latest Zdarsky Comic News (#15), Chip interviewed me about Conan the Barbarian and the accompanying illustration is…well, it’s something.
Memorable (even when you wish it wasn’t). Bewildering…Haunting.
The interview is pretty good though.
ZCN is available wherever fine comic books are sold, or a digital version is available if you subscribe to Chip’s newsletter.
Comic Watch
I spoke to Chad and Matt at Comic Watch about all things Conan, including some exclusive sneak peeks at artwork from Scourge of the Serpent and Conan the Barbarian #25.
Figuring It Out
Shawn at Heroic sent me a prototype Conan: Battle of the Black Stone Action Figure (available for pre-order until Oct 10th) so I can bring it to upcoming conventions and, even though I’ve seen a lot of photos and videos of it, it feels extra-surreal having one right here in my office. I’m not even a big toy guy and this is ridiculously impressive:
A slew of other outlets received figures as well. Here are links to their reviews:
Zub on Amazon
Zub on BlueSky
Zub on deviantART
Zub on Facebook
Zub on GoodReads
Zub on Instagram
Zub on Patreon
Zub on Substack
Zub on Tumblr
Zub on Twitter
Zub on YouTube
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Makeshift Miracle