Dragon Con was absolutely wild. One of our friends casually called it “Nerdi-Gras”, and the description could not have been more apt.
Mild weather for Atlanta in August meant that the streets were absolutely crammed with people, and an impressive number of them were in costume and ready to party. Five linked hotels plus the Americas Mart convention center hosted booths, events and panels, and every square inch of downtown was overrun with excited pop culture fans. Even the internal hotel TV channels broadcast Dragon Con TV all week. Raucous parties, over-the-top costumes, pounding music, and late nights…It was an incredible (and incredibly exhausting) finish to the summer convention season.
Two years ago when I was at Dragon Con, we’d just launched the new Conan the Barbarian series and now, with so much wind at our backs, there was a steady stream of readers to meet and fans to chat with about the series along with die hard older collectors regaling me with stories about growing up reading the pulps or original comics. It was a constant reminder of the legacy I currently get to be a small part of.
Having so many conventions back-to-back meant that I was able to slip into drawing mode quicker than usual, which was nice. Lots of character sketches and remarques kept me on my toes between signing times and panels.
At this show I also bonded with the Comic Sketch Art team. One of the new team members, an artist named Finch Champion, was assigned to my table and she did a wonderful job, handling books and signing stuff throughout the show. Chatting with her about art, storytelling, publishing and conventions scratched a bit of my teaching itch, which is extra scratchy right now as we head into the Fall and I’m no longer a prof at Seneca.
The End Before The Beginning
At the end of the convention, artist Cory Smith gifted me the final page of our story from Conan the Barbarian #25 (released in late 2021).
This was the last page of Conan I wrote at Marvel and, at the time, I thought would be the last time I’d ever get to write the Cimmerian’s adventures (little did I know what the future held…)
When I read that last Marvel story, I’m immediately transported back to pandemic lockdowns and the surreal feeling of watching this dream project slip away with no way to stop it and far more important things happening around the world that I needed to be focused on. Conan’s words work for the story, but they’re also the coda I needed to hear at the time, a resolution to do my best under the circumstances and to try not to regret things out of my control. As you might imagine, having the original art for this page in my collection is really special.
At the time I proposed that issue #25 of Conan, final issue of the series and legacy #300, should be an epic done-in-one story to celebrate the character and his world. It’s even more surreal that four years later I’m about to release a completely different Conan the Barbarian #25 via Heroic Signatures and Titan, the exact kind of illustrated epic I hoped it could be. Full circle indeed.
Zubble Double
This week has two big Zub releases – SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN #10, an anthology issue with three separate stories that tie into the upcoming Scourge of the Serpent event, all written by me with stunning artwork by Doug Braithwaite, Mike Rooth, and Roberto De La Torre.
The second is SWORDS & LARCENY, a new prose anthology of swords & sorcery rogues and rapscallions. I have a new short story inside called Just A Bit of Smoke that I’m quite proud of.
Black Stone Action Figure – Animated!
Award-winning stop motion animator Justin Rasch put together this killer ad animation for the upcoming Conan: Battle of the Black Stone action figure. He used the figure’s crazy articulation to craft an incredible blast of action, with Conan squaring off against thrashing eldritch tentacles from beyond.
If you want your very own figure, pre-orders are NOW OPEN on the Heroic Signatures website. Tell ’em I sent ya.
Tales From The Table
Speaking of pre-orders, Target now has the full cover and preview pages for Stranger Things-Dungeons & Dragons: Tales From the Table, the exclusive scrapbook Stacy and I wrote (arriving in November) that chronicles bits of lore from the old school D&D campaigns run by the Hawkins heroes alongside era-appropriate artwork by Donato Giancola.
Current + Upcoming Releases
Upcoming Appearances
| Sep 27-28, 2025 | Chattanooga Comic Con | Chattanooga, TN, USA |
| Oct 16-19, 2025 | Gamehole Con XII | Madison, WI, USA |
| Nov 3-14, 2025 | D&D in a Castle | Newcastle, UK |
| Nov 15-16, 2025 | Thought Bubble | Harrogate, UK |
Other Links
• Thomas Flight‘s video documentary, Why The Movies Will Never Feel The Same Again, is an intense rundown of how movies and media have changed over the past 20 years.
• Over on the Thought Bubble blog, they have some tips for creators exhibiting at their festival (or any other convention). Most of the advice is straight forward for people who have been attending conventions for years, but it’s nice having recommendations like this all organized in one place.
• Want to own the original Frank Frazetta Rogues in the House painting? As I link this, there are still 9 days left and auction bidding is over 7 million…
Jim
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
Follow this blog's RSS feed
Makeshift Miracle
0 Comments.