Conan the Barbarian #5 Reviews

Posted by on November 29, 2023 1 comment

Conan the Barbarian #5 arrived in comic shops today. I don’t think I’ve ever received so many messages or reviews for the fifth issue of a comic I’ve written before. Thank you for the support and for sharing your enthusiasm far and wide! Let’s see what the critics thought of it-

• Amazon: “Are we absolutely sure there isn’t a secret story fragment they uncovered from Robert E. Howard that is fueling these comics? Because that’s how they feel”

• Big Comic Page: “Ably aiding the story-telling within this issue is the ‘diabolical’ Doug Braithwaite, whose pencils do a sterling job in portraying the squalor of Shadizar and the grotesque grimness of the Cimmerian’s route to the fortress’ Moratorium.”

• Comic Book.com: “Zub really finds a great rhythm here once he gets going. It’s paced much more efficiently than most of that first arc, with the heist element making things even faster as it goes along.”

• Comical Opinions: 8.5/10 “Zub’s picture of a more mature Conan gives the series the weight of continuity and importance, while the addition of Braithwaite on pencils/inks is a welcome change in style.”

• Comicon: 10/10 “Conan the Barbarian harkens back to the golden age of adventurers and captures the spirit of the Sword & Sorcery genre so completely that I feel transported back to the days of reading pulp books under the covers well past my bedtime.”

• Comics Beat: “The figure work is dynamic and full of weight. Everyone feels like a Frazetta novel cover, and I love that. Braithwaite employs a dynamic pacing by mixing up the layouts and does some interesting things with page composition that is a delight to read…it is a great jumping on point for Titan’s Conan. If you missed out on the series and want to check it out, this is an excellent place to start.”

• Get Your Comic On: 8/10 “A vibrant comic with strong illustrations, the story is more deep than you would expect and certainly will become a lot deeper as we continue. Conan is back strong with this new arc and I am ready for it.”

• Grimdark Magazine: “Conan the Barbarian #5 marks a promising start for the second story arc. Braithwaite has a very different visual style than his predecessor, but his gory theatrics a good fit for the series.”

• Hither Came Conan: “The new art team of Doug Braithwaite and Diego Rodriguez did a phenomenal job. Their style, their tone, it all works for Conan…This was a great kickoff to the new arc.”

• Infinity Flux: “Have no worries, the art is fantastic. Doug Braithwaite is a classic artist…Happy to say that Conan continues to be one of the best books on the shelf.”

• League of Comic Geeks: “I am consistently shocked by how much this series I never planned to pull or expected to love so much is one of the best indies I’ve been reading.”

• My Kind of Weird: 8/10 “It injects some much-needed life back into the IP of Conan the Barbarian…The story is solid and it makes me want to pick up another issue.”

• Pop Culture Philosophers: “The enthusiasm for Conan and his world and the meticulous nature in which it’s presented here absolutely rocks. This book has been so much fun. This book feels literary. This book feels exciting. This book feels like exactly what we need in comics right now!…Jump in if you haven’t already.”

• Sci-Fi Pulse: 9.7/10 “Jim Zub continues to deliver what feels like the kind of Conan Stories that are very true to the stories that were written by the character’s late creator Robert E. Howard.”

• Set the Tape: “The lyricism [Zub] brings to his characters here is excellent, creating a believable yet epic grandeur to their actions. His descriptions of the exotic sights manage to also pique the readers’ interest, making the job of new artists and colorists Doug Braithwaite and Diego Rodriguez that much easier.”

• Stygian Dogs: “Doug Braithwaite’s superlative debut continues the series’ excellence. Titan Comics and Heroic Signatures’ Conan the Barbarian continues to be the must read series.”

• Thinking Critical: “It was a whole lot of fun and really sets up a new adventure for Conan that’s going to feel different and unique…Once again, [Zub] paid tribute to the source material doing something that’s never been told before, but definitely felt like Conan.”

• Todd Luck: “Artwork is a big selling point for Conan and this is absolutely worth the price of admission…Titan Comics and the creators who are putting this out seem to have a very good grasp on what makes a very good Conan the Barbarian comic.”

• Wakazashi’s Teahouse: 8/10 “There’s some great dialogue and great narration. At times it feels like it’s falling off the pages of [Robert E.] Howard’s books.”

Zubby Newsletter #36: A Little Nod

Posted by on November 27, 2023 No comments


My writing schedule has been intense this Fall, but Stacy and I are slooowly but surely making our way through Baldur’s Gate 3. I’m in the final act of the game, wrapping up side quests and preparing to take things to the finish line as I relish each bit of fun character interplay and obscure bit of Dungeons & Dragons lore that the Larian crew has jam-packed into it.

After recruiting Minsc and Boo for my adventuring party (which is quite the task, I must say), I chatted with the butt-kicking Rashemen about his past and these two bits from my D&D comic run came up in dialogue-

“Did Minsc bravely fend off the seductive wiles of a succubus in the cloisters of Candlekeep?”

“Did he take a bath in the River Styx and temporarily forget himself?”

Minsc is notoriously brain-addled and forgets things all the time, so he’s not sure if those stories happened, but longtime fans know the truth. At the end of Dungeons & Dragons: Infernal Tides I did indeed have Minsc take a dunk in the River Styx and lose his memories so he’d be a ‘clean slate’ for the video game team since I knew BG3 was in development even though it hadn’t been announced to the public at that point.

This also leads to one of my favorite scenes at the end of the mini-series, where Boo (Minsc’s companion) tries to fill him in on his past adventures and he delights at hearing about his own legend-

Line art by Max Dunbar, colors by Sebastian Cheng, letters by Neil Uyetake.

Everyone likes to be acknowledged, even if it’s just a little nod.

Thanks, Team Larian! I really appreciate it.

Doing the research and making stories sync up helps it all feel personal and interconnected, which is one of the many reasons why people get attached to these characters and ongoing worlds in the first place.

(I went into this in more detail in Newsletter #4: Connectivity and Continuity, which is worth reading if you didn’t see it back in March.)

50 Years of Dungeon Delving

Speaking of D&D, I’m doing back-to-back conventions in March to celebrate 50 years of the world’s biggest and most famous RPG where it all began. I’ll be at both Founders & Legends (March 16-18) and Gary Con (March 21-24) in 2024.

In theory I’m a guest at both these shows (and will be on some panels and running some games) but, honestly, I’m heading there as a lifelong fan and really looking forward to hanging out with industry friends and meeting some of the amazing people who helped build the game that ignited so much of my creativity.

Spatch For The Win

It’s been a while since I covered a recipe here, so let’s correct that now – Spatchcock Chicken, do it!

Taking the back out of your bird of choice (chicken, turkey, duck, etc.) and roasting it in the oven is the best way to cook the whole thing at once, period. It’s way easier, much faster, and far tastier than you might think, and you can use the leftover bones for soup or gravy stock!

My local grocery store has specials on whole chickens – it costs less than $10 for a 3½ pound bird that turns into at least 4 meals for Stacy and I – roast chicken dinner, sliced chicken breast on a bun, chicken salad sandwich, and chicken soup. Plus, when I make soup stock the whole house smells like my grandma’s place did around the holidays, a flood of amazing sensory memories.

I cooked a 12-pound turkey in just over an hour using the same method back in 2021 (turkey-specific recipe video HERE) and it was one of the best I’ve ever had in my life. No more waking up at dawn to start the roasting and basting process where you have to babysit the bird all day. This approach solves it all.

Don’t be intimidated by a whole chicken or turkey. Follow this method and you can save money (whole birds are way cheaper per pound than separated breast, thighs, or wings) and make soup without stressing over whether the white meat will be dry or the dark meat will be undercooked.

I should have posted this recipe up last week, before American Thanksgiving. Oops!

Links and Other Things

  • Daniel Warren Johnson is doing stellar stuff in comics and his new Comics Journal interview is a lot of fun. My buddy Derek raved about Murder Falcon and Do a Powerbomb and I finally fell in headfirst and enjoyed the hell out of both of them. (I know, I know. I should have read this stuff many months ago.)
  • Wizards of the Coast posted a video where some of their staff posit on What D&D Monsters Taste Like, which is both amusing and awkward. In a fictional world you can absolutely have all kinds of unusual flavor options, but if a creature is capable of carrying on an intelligent conversation with you then it’s probably a fantasy form of cannibalism.

Okay, that’ll cover things this time. Have a fantastic week!
Jim

Zubby Newsletter #35: A Brutal Battle Looms

Posted by on November 21, 2023 No comments

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!

Peep that killer cover art by Ravishing Rob De La Torre!
Also, peep those weapons fanned out in front…
Can you guess their wielders?

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.

Kings of the Night title art from Weird Tales, November 1930.

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.

This isn’t art from Black Stone, I just want to show off Jonas’ inspiring inkwork.

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!


I spoke to Perch all about the Conan relaunch and incredible response we’ve seen from readers and retailers. It’s a fun interview with lots of enthusiasm about where we’re at and what’s coming up.

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

Zubby Newsletter #34: Something Savage Stirs

Posted by on November 17, 2023 No comments

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

Free Comic Book Day 2024: Conan the Barbarian

Posted by on November 17, 2023 No comments

Heroic Signatures and Titan Comics are pleased to announce that CONAN THE BARBARIAN will feature as part of FREE COMIC BOOK DAY, May 4, 2024. Written by Jim Zub with art by Jonas Scharf, this issue will launch a BATTLE OF THE BLACK STONE event, which will roll out through late Summer and into the Fall, building on plotlines introduced in the critically acclaimed CONAN THE BARBARIAN ongoing series.

CONAN OF CIMMERIA is haunted by shadows, a nightmare of events glimpsed beneath dark waters of the past. The unspeakable evil foretold by THULSA DOOM looms over the Hyborian Age and every age connected to it…and it will take more than a Barbarian-King to stop its relentless march upon time, space, and sanity.

Heroic Signatures’ and Titan Comics’ CONAN THE BARBARIAN has been a critical and commercial hit, becoming the highest-selling issue in Titan Comics history. With the series in its second year, CONAN THE BARBARIAN: FCBD EDITION will give readers a taste of what’s to come, including art by brand new CONAN artist, Jonas Scharf.

“In May 2023 we kicked off a brand-new era of the Hyborian Age and used Free Comic Book Day as our first charge to reach thousands of new and lapsed readers. Now, a year later, with record-breaking sales for Heroic Signatures and Titan and an energized readership, we’re back and bigger than ever,” says series writer ‘Grim’ Jim Zub.

“There’s never been a Conan the Barbarian event book before, but that changes in 2024 with BATTLE OF THE BLACK STONE! The mythic power at the heart of Robert E. Howard’s legendary storytelling will be unleashed. Our Free Comic Book Day prelude issue is perfect for new readers as it sets the stage for high adventure, visceral action, and eldritch horror.”

Free Comic Book Day takes place every year on the first Saturday of May. With over two thousand stores and several comic book publishers participating, the event gives readers a chance to grab a free comic and meet fellow comic readers. Readers can find their local participating store HERE.

Look out for more news on Free Comic Book Day 2024 from Titan Comics, as well as everything CONAN. You can follow Titan Comics on Facebook,X, and Instagram.

Zub Comics Arriving January 2024

Posted by on November 11, 2023 No comments


CONAN THE BARBARIAN #7
Writer: Jim Zub
Artist: Doug Braithwaite
Colorist: Diego Rodriguez
COVER A: Alex Horley
COVER B: Patch Zircher (Connecting Cover)
COVER C: Jessica Fong
Publishers: Heroic Signatures and Titan Comics
$3.99, On sale January 24, 2024

WARRIOR. THIEF. PIRATE…

After adventures on the high seas, CONAN returns to shore to find himself haunted by his memories of BELIT, captain of the Tigress and Queen of the Black Coast. Can a high-stakes heist draw him out of his tortured past, or will it plunge him deeper into the chaos that has always been waiting for him?


DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: FORTUNE FINDER #3
Writer: Jim Zub
Artist: Joe Jaro
Colorist: Adam Guzowski
COVER A: Max Dunbar
COVER B: Joe Jaro
Publisher: IDW
$3.99, On sale January 24, 2024

Finder is now a Herald of the Dust and still has amnesia, but that’s far from his biggest problem. A series of corpses found around Sigil have traces of a strange magical energy that’s tearing the fabric of reality itself, and if the murderer isn’t stopped soon, Finder won’t have a chance to find out who they really are before the end of everything. The mystery deepens in the series inspired by the new Dungeons & Dragons sourcebook!

Zubby Newsletter #33: Now and Then

Posted by on November 6, 2023 No comments

Last week the music world was abuzz with the release of the “last” Beatles song, a cassette-recorded demo called Now and Then by John Lennon completed by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr with contributions by George Harrison (from a late 90’s recording session where the trio tried to make it work.)

The song itself is simple but carries a wistful, almost haunting quality, especially in the context of how it was finished and its place as probably the last time these four will make music together…even though that collaboration happened decades after half the band are already gone.

Which got me thinking about the power of nostalgia, good and ill.

(I like the track, by the way. It feels like something unearthed from the 1970’s rather than an over polished modernization of the Beatles sound.)

I’m in an unexpected nostalgia vertex right now because my latest and largest ongoing project is built on the distinct foundation of what’s come before – the legacy of Robert E. Howard’s seminal sword & sorcery hero and formative barbaric work by comic legends Roy Thomas and John Buscema

Wait a sec – You mean Conan wasn’t bare-chested in the original stories?

When people tell me I’m doing ‘right’ by Conan on the new comic series, they mean that these new issues deeply remind them of the look and feel of comics from 40 years ago – the poetic caption work of Roy Thomas and dynamic action of John Buscema.

Rob De La Torre’s linework has been compared to Big John’s so much that I worry readers won’t recognize or appreciate the masterful page layouts and subtle interplay of light and shadow that’s also at the heart of Rob’s top notch work, qualities above and beyond the nostalgic way he draws the Cimmerian’s body or stoic expressions.

Make no mistake – Being compared to absolute legends is an honor now and always will be. Being mentioned favorably in the same breath as people who helped ignite my imagination is a thrill.

When we first started working on the new series, I worried that it might come across as just a shrewd business move – trying to milk nostalgia bucks from the Conan fandom because we didn’t have anything new to bring to the table.

Do I want the series to sell? Of course, but the aesthetic choices we’ve made are not just a sales tactic. It’s about reestablishing a baseline of trust. Proving we could deliver old school storytelling with modern fidelity; Big picture mythmaking that acknowledges the past and then marches forward without losing the intrinsic elements that made it so special in the first place.

Our inaugural story arc had to remind readers that Conan was must-read comic entertainment and can be again.

Splash pages – Conan the Barbarian (1970) #75 and Conan the Barbarian (2023) #3.

Summoning the same visceral excitement I had when I first read Conan.

Celebrating key qualities of a seminal era of comics.

I’m learning a lot from Robert E. Howard and Roy Thomas, but I’m still me. I still break stories in my own way and work to please myself in terms of character, voice, plot, and payoff.

I put together story beats that feel right for our big picture plan for the series, whether REH or Roy would have done the same thing as I try to bridge the narrative gap between the 1930’s, the 1970’s, and the 2020’s. It’s a challenge and an honor, one I’m thrilled that people are responding to with high praise and solid sales so far.

Conan vs undead Cimmerians.

So yeah, that new-old Beatles song is interesting. It conjures a lot of feelings from the past and reminds us why the band was so good. For some fans it’ll be exactly what they need in this moment, and for other people it might be too twee, trying to recapture things that have already slipped away.

The song itself is solid but, honestly, the new music video almost breaks the spell for me. The use of poorly composited video cutouts from the past, old Beatles footage awkwardly dancing and interacting with the present comes across as ghoulish instead of glorious. It’s the remix calling too much attention to itself. Desperation instead of delight.

There’s a fine line that can be crossed, when nostalgia moves from engaging and fun to treacle fawning over the past. We shouldn’t pretend the media of our youth was flawless or that the present has nothing worthy to offer. We shouldn’t lionize or exorcise the past…and saying that is infinitely easier than actually doing it.

Where is the line between loving homage and vapid facsimile?

When does remixing lose the magic of the original?

How can we measure quality when it’s so tightly wound up in our warm feelings of the past?

All good questions. Your answer will vary wildly depending on personal taste.

My instincts and helpful feedback from our publishing team seems to be keeping the new Conan series respectful but not trapped in a retread of what’s been done before. So far, so good. Wish me luck as we get even more ambitious next year.

(You may be thinking “Holy crap, this dude is comparing himself to one of the greatest prose authors in genre fiction, one of the finest writers in comics, and the most popular band of all time. What an asshole!” I don’t have a swelled head about this, I swear. I just saw a throughline of nostalgia in the current pop culture conversation – something I could talk about in the constant tug of war between past and present, creative and commercial.)

Links and Other Things

That should cover it this time. Have a great week!
Jim

Conan the Barbarian #4 Reviews

Posted by on October 30, 2023 No comments

Bound in Black Stone, our first story arc for the new series, comes to an epic conclusion in CONAN THE BARBARIAN #4! What did the critics think?

• Comical Opinions: 9.5/10 “Conan the Barbarian #4 ends the perfectly crafted first arc on a high note with action, mythos, adventure, and excitement. Zub should be proud of his near-flawless take on the world’s most famous barbarian, and De la Torre’s art is an exquisite pairing.”

• Comicon.com: 10/10 “Conan The Barbarian feels like you are reading an undiscovered pulp classic for the first time and an actual new installment to a landscape you have tread a thousand times before”

• European Lore: “It is everything you want from a Conan the Barbarian story…This is the best comic book experience of 2023.”

• Geek Hard: “It has everything you want in a classic literary story with all the blood and guts you expect…I’m just really blown away by the artwork and story on this one.”

• Grammaticus: “Well done, Titan Comics. Two thumbs up on this one. I really liked it a lot. This is a super strong comic on a super strong series…This comic line is going to go down as one of the great Conan comic books.”

• Hither Came Conan: “Holy s**t! This was such a great freakin’ story and a damn good start to this new Titan run. This is one of those stories that people refer to as an ‘instant classic’. I don’t think it’s going to take too long before people are talking about ‘Bound in Black Stone’ the same way they talk about ‘Red Nails’, ‘The Tower of the Elephant’ and ‘The Phoenix on the Sword’.”

• League of Comic Geeks: 9/10 “This issue had a good balance of action to world building and just makes me want to know more about where this will be headed.”

• Negromancer: “Artist Roberto de la Torre has brought Zub’s script for this final chapter to comic book life in a veil of magic, smoke, and mysticism…if you love Conan comic books, you will hate yourself for denying yourself this new Conan the Barbarian.”

• Pop Culture Maven: “Zub’s done a really nice job of capturing the spirit of Conan in comics and De La Torre’s artwork is just gorgeous. It’s really a good book.”

• Pop Culture Philosophers: “It’s dark, it’s horrific, it’s filled with barbaric violence…These are people who care about this property, these are creators who understand what Conan represents and the fans of this world of Cimmeria, and they nail it every single time. I love the f**k out of that book!”

• Sci-Fi Pulse: 9.5/10 “Roberto De la Torre produces some brilliant artwork for this issue…Jim Zub’s first story arc of Conan with Titan comics comes to a crushing conclusion with Conan and his men doing what must be done.”

• Set the Tape: “With this first story, Zub, Torre, and all the other contributors have proven that a Conan title doesn’t just ‘work’, but can become a must-read title.”

• Stars My Destination: 8/10 “Zub creates a narrative that connects with the way comics were created in the 60s and 70s, with abundant prose that adds a poetic touch to the story.”

• Stygian Dogs: “The chance to see Roberto De La Torre draw an absolutely epic 4-issue arc of Conan the Barbarian, something that seems as if it was always meant to be yet was never guaranteed and now realized and informed by lineage, his work sets a new standard for the barbarian’s comic depiction…This new series has me excited for comics again.”

• Tennessee Fats: “The key takeaway that really makes this story arc successful is the marriage of the art style and the writing. Both of them are well done in their own right, but it’s the fact that these two things together work so well that carry this.”

• Thinking Critical: “Jim Zub, four issues in a row. He nailed it. Told a great complete story and the art in this is just beautiful, a truly great homage to the Bronze Age…If you’ve never read Conan before, this is a perfect jumping on point.”

• Todd Luck: “It has a cameo in the last issue that is very well done, a major cameo and I really enjoyed it and look forward to seeing what they do with other Robert E. Howard properties.”

Zubby Newsletter #32: Halloween Magic

Posted by on October 29, 2023 No comments

What’s your best/most memorable Halloween costume?
Here’s mine, from 2007–

When Stacy and I started dating she pulled out all the stops and offered to build me a Halloween costume from scratch, any character I wanted. I picked a comic book accurate Master of the Mystic Arts and she absolutely crushed it with a handmade Cloak of Levitation, screen printed tunic, and custom Eye of Agamotto amulet. I swooned (I still do, honestly).

I know nowadays it’s common to see high quality cosplay at conventions and online, but 16 years ago that was not the norm. Stacy’s craftmanship still shows strong in 2024, and in 2007 it blew people away.

We went to three different Halloween parties that year, including the classic Silver Snail-o-Ween gathering where a bunch of the Toronto comic community showed up in grand style. Stacy and I swept in and took first prize in the costume contest.

It was pure magic.

Back then I had to dust my sideburns with white to get the salt and pepper hair look of Stephen Strange. If I did it again I’d need to darken the top. *sigh*

Big Plans in the Hyborian Age

I spoke to Sam Stone at Comic Book Resources about wrapping up the first arc of CONAN THE BARBARIAN – planning the new series, working with Rob De La Torre and what comes next, including an exclusive first look at Doug Braithwaite‘s incredible art from arc 2, Thrice Marked for Death!

Here’s a crucial piece from the interview–

I’m extremely proud of the Conan stories I wrote at Dark Horse and Marvel, but an even deeper dive into research is helping me find even more inspiration as the Heroic Signatures-Titan series charges forward.

Speaking of charging forward, AIPT has the first look at cover artwork for CONAN THE BARBARIAN #7, arriving in January!

Over on my Patreon- The full script for CONAN THE BARBARIAN (2019) #13, the first issue of my original run and part 1 of Into the Crucible, with Conan caught in a death contest in a strange land.

Learn how comics are made for the price of a coffee

This is the 296th script I’ve posted up on my Patreon. Creeping ever closer to 300…

Class is in Session

Stacy, Andrew, and I spoke to Tom and Dan at Teachers in the Dungeon all about the D&D Young Adventurer’s Guides, especially our newest volume Places & Portals, and how the series is built to engage young readers and expand their vocabulary.

You can listen to the interview on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

Links and Other Things

  • If you enjoy board games and have caught the game collecting bug, this straight forward video on 10 Pitfalls to Avoid will hit the mark. Lots of good tips and bad habits in there that I’ve definitely fallen into at times.
  • Here’s another video with solid tips about hobby gaming (especially miniature painting) you may not know if you’re just getting started.
  • Monolith Games has a notification page up for Red Nails, their next Conan board game expansion.
  • Arrow Video is releasing Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Destroyer with a newly restored 4K UltraHD Blu-Ray in January. US orders should go here. Canada here.

Trick or treat-
Jim

Zubby Newsletter #31: Big Jam

Posted by on October 24, 2023 No comments

Twice a year, Character Design instructor Jim Graves organizes a drawing meet-up he calls Sketch Jam. Instructors and students from Seneca’s art programs hang out, draw for fun, and socialize. It started in late 2004 with a couple instructors and approximately a dozen students and has continued ever since. No marks, no assignments, just making art for fun.

We haven’t had a big Sketch Jam meet-up since Covid and I could tell Jim was worried it was going to fade away so I beat the drum hard last week, encouraging current students, especially our new first years, to make an appearance and be part of the tradition.

On Saturday, the students came out in force and it was amazing.

The 2023 Fall Sketch Jam crew walk to Union Station before heading to the pub.

At least 40 students and alumni showed up at St. Lawrence Market for afternoon sketching and more than double that met up with us at the pub after for After-Jam drinks and celebration.

I enjoyed college and made a lot of friends while busting away on my drawing and storytelling skills, but there aren’t many of my profs I would have wanted to spend time with outside of their required lectures. The fact that so many of these students and grads come out in droves to hang out with us, year after year, kind of blows my mind.

They tell us about their work and creative projects, they regale us with their victories and setbacks, they wax nostalgic about their time in Seneca’s Animation program and how much they miss being on campus.

I joke that they’re our “kids”, even though they’re adults, but it’s even more surreal when they bring their own kids to celebrate with us-

Lynn and Andrew met at Seneca and have been married for ten years.
Now they have two beautiful daughters. I’m proud and feel absolutely ancient.

It’s my 19th year teaching at Seneca, so there are 16 years worth of grads out in the industry, creating art and telling stories. When I have a moment to think about that, and when I see first hand how excited they are to reconnect – it fills my heart right up.

Killer Comics

Speaking of former students, David Yu is one of them and he has a new comic coming from Scout called TOTAL PARTY KILLER arriving in comic shops late December.

I’ve read the full story and it’s a ton of fun, especially if you play tabletop or video game RPGs.

Killer Art

Speaking of former students, Jorge Molina is one of them and he has a new Patreon where he shows off the illustration and design techniques that have made him a top notch artist for Marvel and DC.

Bound in Black Stone – The Conclusion!

CONAN THE BARBARIAN #4 arrives in comic shops tomorrow, on Wednesday, October 25th, wrapping up the first story arc of this bold new era. I’m nervous and excited to hear what people think.

Once issue 4 arrives, readers will have a complete ‘mission statement’ for the new Conan series and Heroic Signatures imprint and can let us know via social media or by emailing chainmail@conan.com if we delivered the goods:

  • Grand mythmaking
  • Visceral storytelling
  • New stories with respect for the past

Links and Other Things

I hope your week is going well!
Jim