Zubby Newsletter #148: Emerald Energy

Posted by Jim Zub on March 10, 2026 Leave a comment (0) Go to comments

Emerald City Comic Con signaled that convention season has started once again and, as always, Seattle was very good to me. Long time fans stopped by, new readers met me for the first time, and time with industry pals reminded me why I love these events.

Obviously, Conan the Barbarian was central to every signing, but Skullkickers, Wayward, Dungeons & Dragons and my superhero stories were a steady source of discussion and excitement as well, which was really nice.

On Thursday I was part of the LitRPG OMG panel alongside Matt Dinniman (Dungeon Crawler Carl) and Tao Wong (A Thousand Li), and it was an absolute blast. I went into the panel with some trepedation because, although I write TTRPG stories and game material, it’s not exactly LitRPG and that I’d be out of sync with the room. On top of that, Matt’s Dungeon Crawler Carl series has become such a phenomenon that I imagined a scenario where every time he wasn’t talking the audience (jam-packed with his fans) would be annoyed. Thankfully, my fears were quickly put to rest. Even though I met Matt and Tao for the first time 30 seconds before the panel began, we instantly gelled and it felt like hanging out with old friends, playfully riffing with eachother and the standing room-only crowd. The energy in the room was joyous and we all left feeling like a million bucks.

Best of all, the panel had the effect you always hope for (but rarely get) where a substantial number of people were introduced to me there and then went out of their way to track me down at the show and pick up a book.

*With Matt Dinniman, Tao Wong, and our moderator at the LitRPG panel.*

Katie Cook wasn’t able to make it to ECCC this year, so I held down the fort on the 14th annual Convention Horror Stories panel by myself, filling 60 minutes with anecdotes about embarassing situations that have popped up in the more than 200 conventions I’ve been to around the world. In open mic or stand-up comedy situations, people talk about having a “tight 10” (10 minutes worth of well-tested material) or a “tight 20”, but at this point I have enough ridiculous stories to fill a half dozen HBO specials, which is amazing and bewildering at the same time.

Thursday was extremely busy, on Friday and Saturday the crowds came in waves, and Sunday was a relaxed wrap-up, with longer discussions and bleary-eyed good-byes (especially after the Spring forward time change stole an hour from our souls). The show was great, people were excited, and I am exhausted in a satisfying way.

Now I’m catching up on work emails and trying to nail down convention/travel plans for the rest of the year. Looking at the calendar, it’s going to be busy but not quite as crazy as 2025 was, which is a very good thing.

Popverse‘s Grant DeArmitt covered some highlights from the LitRPG panel, which you can check out over on their site.

Code-X Interview

Dan over at The Code-X Station interviewed me about my comic career – How I started as a comic reader, kicking off my creative career, launching Skullkickers at Image, breaking in with other publishers, Marvel projects, the strange dynamics of a creative career, relaunching titles, writing Conan the Barbarian, and more!

Current + Upcoming Releases

Skullkickers: Compact Attack Edition Vol. 1 – released Feb 17.
Conan the Barbarian #29 – released Feb 25.
Skullkickers: Compact Attack Edition Vol. 2 – releases Mar 17.
Conan the Barbarian #30 – releases Mar 25.
Mad About DC – releases Apr 1.
Skullkickers: Compact Attack Edition Vol. 3 – releases Apr 21.
Conan: Tides of the Tyrant-King Prelude – releases May 2.
Savage Sword of Conan #14 – releases May 6.
Conan: Scourge of the Serpent TPB – releases May 6.
Conan the Barbarian Vol. 7: The Conquering Crown TPB – releases May 20.
Conan the Barbarian #31 – releases May 27.
Savage Sword of Conan Vol. 4 TPB – releases May 27.

Upcoming Appearances

Mar 19-22, 2026	Megacon Orlando	Orlando, FL, USA
Apr 23-26, 2026	Calgary Expo	Calgary, AB, CANADA
Aug 15, 2026	Comics Assemble	Gloucester, England, UK