Zub Tales

Travel changes you.

I’ve told my students that for years and even now, after attending around 200 conventions all over the world, it still holds true. The moment you move outside the places you know and experience other countries and other cultures, you expand your understanding of our shared humanity and see how the place you grew up helped shape who you are.

Traveling to India for the first time was wonderful, but intense. If my schedule wasn’t so stacked right now I would’ve loved to stay longer and see more, but even this quick tour and convention was still a real eye-opener. Mumbai is a bustling, vibrant city jam-packed with colorful sights. It’s also summertime right now, so the weather was extremely hot and humid, which slowed us down on our tour day, but it still made a really big impression on me.

Great food, great conversations, and quite a few ‘How did all this even happen?’ pinch me moments. Six days across the world and back is a rough schedule and I know jet lag is going to have its grip on me for days to come, but it was worth it.

Mumbai Comic Con was absolutely wild. It was one of the busiest and most passionate shows I have ever experienced in my 20+ years of conventions. I am gob smacked at the fandom there. The economics of everything in India is different from North America, so as a creator you need to adjust expectations on that front, but as a social and travel experience it was top notch and incredibly enriching.

Unexpectedly, I was a huge draw at the show. I didn’t realize that the span of projects I’ve worked on would have such international appeal, but looking in the rearview mirror after the show it sort of makes sense – Marvel superheroes, Dungeons & Dragons, Conan the Barbarian, Rick and Morty, and Samurai Jack. Obviously I didn’t create those properties, but I’ve contributed to all of them and so fans from India came out in a big way to show their excitement and appreciation. In many ways, I was a one-stop shop for both younger and older fans. It was so crazy-busy on the show floor that volunteers had to form a human ring around Rob DenBleyker (Cyanide & Happiness, huge with the online crowd) and I to get us to our booths or out to the green room for lunch. I have never experienced anything like that before. I’m not stating that to brag, honestly, the whole thing was amazing and also mind-numbing.

The Comic Con India staff worked their butts off to keep the event running smooth and I could see a lot of shared values and bonds between them that reminded me of the original Calgary Expo crew, a show put together by one of my closest friends that earned its excellent reputation. That’s the best compliment I can give – the hospitality and hard work in Mumbai reminded me of some of my favorite convention experiences and is now right up there with them.

All in all, it was one heck of an adventure. I’m so thankful I was able to experience it and now have advice for other creators who might be interested in heading to India for conventions in the future.

Indian Comic Creators – Info and Links

One of the other nice surprises at the con was getting to meet other creators in India, both independant and commercial. I wish I had more time to explore and meet local creators at the show, but here are a few highlights:

• The crew at Black Sheep Comics and Yali Dream Creations had copies of Technicolour Lovers at the show and it looks absolutely top notch. Make sure you check out the preview pages and, if you’re as impressed as I was, snag a copy for yourself.

• Vivek Goel was inspired by Marc Silvestri‘s company Top Cow Entertainment and, since India reveers cows as sacred, his comic company is called Holy Cow Entertainment, and they have a slew of original titles worth checking out.

• Rosh is an award-winning artist and colorist and his wife Lilo is a fashion designer. Together they have a fantastic selection of sketchbook bags and other art supplies at their website LILOROSH.

• Tadam Gyadu is the artist of Spider-Man: India, producing amazing artwork locally and abroad. Check his art out!

• Aparna Chaurasia gifted me a copy of Soul Contract, her manga-style graphic novel and it looks great!

Twisting Loyalties and the Road Ahead

Today sees the arrival of Conan the Barbarian #20, the final part of our Twisting Loyalties story arc! Doug, Diego, and the rest of the team put their all into every damn page. I am so, so proud of our work here. Please grab your own copy and let us know what you think.

Now that we’re a month removed from the previous issue, I can spoil that Zula is back. He’s a fan favorite character from the original Marvel run who was adapted into a female version in the Conan the Destroyer movie. Like with introducing the iconic Atlantean Sword into comic continuity, I’m working to merge pop culture visions of Conan together into a somewhat cohesive whole, so expect to see multiple versions of Zula work their way into the story in ways readers may not expect. Issue #19 even has tabletop roleplaying game stats for Zula included, a bit of cross promotion with the Conan: The Hyborian Age TTRPG.

Twisting Loyalties is transitional in some ways, setting up chess pieces for future moves in the big mythic story I’m building in the monthly flagship book and yearly events, but I wanted to make sure that the adventures here also had pulpy power all on their own. That’s the tricky balance we’re trying to keep and so far readers are responding well.

Current + Upcoming Releases

With the sale of Diamond Distribution there have been shipping delays and hassles galore across the comic industry, but it looks like things are set to improve with new ownership and new options, including Lunar. We’ve been on time, production-wise, but to keep from having a gap mid-story arc as ownership changes hands, it looks like Titan is delaying the release of Conan the Barbarian #21 by one month, from May to June. Thankfully, with Free Comic Book Day we’ll still have a May release, our free Scourge of the Serpent Prelude issue. Don’t miss it!

Upcoming Appearances

Other Links

• Stacy is over the moon for the upcoming Murderbot TV series coming to Apple+ next month and has been feverishly watching the new trailer. I hope it’s just as sharp as the novella source material by Martha Wells.

• Superman writer Josh Williamson has a great chat with Sal over at Comic Pop. His straight forward advice and practical understanding of how the business works is bang-on.

• My buddy Ron Marz has a new campaign on Zoop for a Shinku comic series collection, a creator-owned book that came out not too long after Skullkickers back in the day. It’ll be nice to finally have as much of this story available as possible, with artwork by the late-great Lee Moder.

• Mike Dargie, one of my old friends from Calgary when I first started teaching animation, has a new book coming out called Brandjitsu all about creative branding and business.

Jim

16 hours travel time and I’ve arrived in India. I managed to get some sleep on the plane and feel a bit spacey but not too bad so far. I’m going to crash out early and try to reset in the morning to match local time as best I can. Fingers crossed.

Every time I’ve been fortunate enough to go on one of these international convention trips, the surrealness of it all really hits me. Traveling the world because of comics, stories, and games. It’s the kind of thing I didn’t even dream about when I was younger because it never even crossed my mind that it might be possible to do this as a career. As far as I could tell back then, in order to do comics you either had to live in New York City or be brilliant and British.

I’ve said it many times, but it’s still true – meeting the people who worked on superhero stories, or D&D, or Conan the Barbarian would have been mind-blowing enough for this kid. Actually doing this, year after year, and getting to meet fans and fellow creators in so many places – Let me never take this for granted.

Swords & Larceny Arrives in September

I have a short story in the upcoming prose anthology Swords & Larceny alongside a slew of amazing industry authors and friends, including John C. Hocking (Conan: City of the Dead) and Mark Finn (Blood & Thunder), with a cover by the amazing Todd Lockwood.

Make sure you PRE-ORDER now to ensure you get your copy in September!

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Even the most flawless plans have a way of unraveling. When the stakes are high and the odds are stacked, only the cleverest and most daring will make it out with the prize. Thirteen daring tales of fantasy heists and high-stakes capers—where charm is as sharp as steel, and the score of a lifetime is just one misstep away.

Conan Chatter at Comic Shenanigans

Always wonderful to chat with Adam at Comic Shenanigans. This time we dive in deep on Conan the Barbarian, Battle of the Black Stone, Scourge of the Serpent, other Robert E. Howard characters, Free Comic Book Day promotion, working with Jonas Scharf, Ivan Gil, readers getting their money’s worth every issue, the intensity of Frozen Faith, doing conventions with Comic Sketch Art, Skullkickers, Thunderbolts, and more!

You can listen to our previous conversations here: Episodes 368,794, 986, and 1022.

Traversing Epic Realms

I had a fun chat with Nick over at Epic Realms. We talk up a storm about growing up nerdy, how my love of comics and gaming are intrisincally tied together, Skullkickers, Dungeons & Dragons, the Thunderbolts movie and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, source material, Conan the Barbarian, and more!

Current + Upcoming Releases

Upcoming Appearances

Other Links

• My friend Karl Kerschl has a new crowdfunding campaign coming up for his creator-owned comic called Death Transit Magpie and he and Andy Belanger also have a new YouTube channel where they’re discussing classic comics and their influences that is a lot of fun.

• Legendary Dungeons & Dragons illustrator Jeff Easley has a big art book funding over on Kickstarter. His artwork for gamebooks through the 80’s and 90’s helped set the vision for D&D.

• If you enjoyed The Expanse as much as Stacy and I did, you’ll definitely want to check out the continuation being put together in graphic novels, the latest of which is being written by my friend Andy Diggle.

Jim

Luc Forsyth‘s video titled “If You’re Creative But Lazy, Please Watch This” is BANG-ON.

‘Action Over Everything Else’ is a critical attitude to have. Watch and learn-

My creative career leapt forward as soon as I started doing instead of stockpiling plans and looking for the ‘right’ moment to start. There is no inevitable success, but improvement and personal satisfaction comes from consistently doing and building good creative habits.

I’ve known way too many people who paralyse themselves with learning about learning or planning the plan and never finish anything, because they’re afraid of being judged on the result and coming up short. It’s a self defeating cycle because actual improvement only happens with experience and if you don’t do the actual thing, over and over, you are not building that experience.

Luc covers some absolutely crucial ways of looking at a creative skillset – finding time, setting realistic goals, building momentum and incremental improvement that leads to actual growth.

A lot of people seem to understand the importance of practice and habit when it comes to physical pursuits, being an athelete or dancer, but they have a blind spot around the same mentality for other creative pursuits – art, writing, music, acting, photography, filmmaking. It is the same. The sooner you get into the habit of creating on a regular basis, the sooner you will be able to see progress, no matter where that path may lead.

Deep Archives

Speaking of seeing progress, over on my Patreon there are now over 320 scripts in the archive, work from almost every major comic publisher in North America that you can check out and compare my script to the published version to better understand how comics are created, step by step. All those scripts, plus Q+A’s and other resources all available for the price of a fancy coffee. Check it out!

Upcoming Hyborian Adventures

Eagle-eyed Conan fans noticed that a few unlettered preview pages of Fernando Dagnino artwork were incuded with the pre-order listing for Conan the Barbarian Vol. 6: A Nest of Serpents and they’ve been excitedly posting them up on Conan fan groups, so I thought I’d put a link to those here so readers can see how wonderful the story arc coming in a few months is going to look.

Fernando is a massive Conan fan, he’s bringing his absolute best to the series, and I can’t wait for you to see how this story kicks off! Just this morning he sent over character designs for an upcoming issue and they are stellar. I feel so fortunate that I get to work with so many phenomenal artists and that they’re just as passionate about these stories as I am.

Talking to Black Gate

I spoke to Ismail Soldan at Black Gate: Adventures In Fantasy Literature all about working on Conan the Barbarian and the importance of the character’s legacy in prose and comics.

Current + Upcoming Releases

Upcoming Appearances

Other Links

• With economic struggles happening everywhere, we’re seeing more GoFundMe campaigns popping up for older American comic creators who have fallen upon hard times. I try to signal boost these fundraising campaigns when I can. Mike W. Barr (Camelot 3000, Batman and the Outsiders), Thomas Tenney (West Coast Avengers, Iron Man), and Peter David (Incredible Hulk, Star Trek) are all in need right now, so if you’re able to help and/or spread the word wider, please do so.

• Alex Segura, Sara Century, and Patrick Kennedy have a new comic online called The Forgotten Five, all about a strange new superhero group on the run from the government. It’s paced like a classic comic strip serial with a fun retro style to match.

• Bill Cavalier chats with the official Conan the Barbarian website all about how Robert E. Howard’s work influenced the creation of Dungeons & Dragons.

Jim

Last week I mentioned that I hoped Emerald City Comic Con would lift my spirits and, thankfully, it did that and a whole lot more!

The convention was hopping, with a ton of readers and retailers stopping by to chat about superheroes or sword & sorcery and the social scene was as strong as ever, with both small and focused chatter and big party blowouts. The world can feel divisive and cruel right now, but there’s also a lot of kindness if you seek it out and share it with others.

There was a nice balance of quick signatures and hearty handshakes alongside more in-depth conversations. After MegaCon, some of my industry friends joked that I’ve become “Everyone’s Dad’s favorite new comic writer” thanks to Conan the Barbarian and if that’s true it’s a badge I’ll wear with pride. Hearing so many heartfelt stories from collectors who are back in comic shops after 20+ years thanks to the series feels incredible.

I was also able to do some sketches for fans, which can throw some people off if they only know me from my writing work. Over the years I’ve done a few variant covers on series (notably Samurai Jack, Rick and Morty) and it’s something I’d like to do more of as time permits, but for now these quick ones at least make sure rust doesn’t build up on my drawing basics.

The March sprint continues with plenty of events and deadlines, and Seattle proved to be just the boost I was looking for. Thank you to all the friends and fans who stopped by.

This weekend is Toronto Comicon and I’ll be there on Friday and Sunday. My grandmother is turning 95 and there’s a big family get together on Saturday for her, so I won’t be at the convention that day.

The new SKULLKICKERS Collection campaign on Zoop has crossed the funding line and we still have 2 weeks left, so it’s definitely happening and you can join in!

Get this new printing of my first sword and sorcery story at a great price or get the books and other spiffy extras like signatures, sketches, original art, and other add-ons – It’s also a perfect gift for the sword & sorcery fan or TTRPGer in your life, so please check it out and share the link far and wide!

Talking Skullkickers All Over The Place

Plenty of Skullkickers-related interviews popping up in and around the Zoop campaign:

• I spoke to the Comic Book Yeti about my career in comics and there’s a big piece in there about balancing work and personal stuff, including my teaching career alongside freelance writing.

• I spoke to Geek Vibes Nation all about Skullkickers and the potential found in the digest format for bringing in new readers.

Current + Upcoming Releases

Upcoming Appearances

Just announced – I’m going to INDIA for MUMBAI COMIC CON on April 12-13!
Rob Den Bleyker (Cyanide & Happiness) and I are International Guests at the show and it’s going to be an incredible adventure.

Other Links

• The Comics Beat discusses the changing format of comic conventions – the types of fans and exhibitors coming to shows and what it might mean for the future.

• Omar at Near Mint Condition gets all caught up on the newest Conan the Barbarian trade paperbacks: Thrice Marked For Death, The Age Unconquered, Frozen Faith, and more!

• Legendary comic scribe Roy Thomas talked to the official Conan website all about coming back to write a new story for Savage Sword of Conan #7.

Jim