Zub Tales

Huge thanks to everyone who reached out with birthday well wishes after last week’s newsletter. It’s a weird feeling hitting one of those milestone numbers that society perceives as getting old and still just feeling like me, but I guess that’s the trick of it all. It was nice hearing from so many old friends and fans.

This week finally sees the release of CONAN THE BARBARIAN #31, the climax of our 3-part story centered on the new assassin called ‘The Son of the Tooth’. When I came up with the concept for this confrontation, I pitched it to editor Chris Butera in pretty simple terms-

“If manga can have fight scenes that stretch on for 100+ pages, we should be able to do a 22-page wall-to-wall fight issue of Conan.”

And he excitedly agreed, so get ready for a knockdown, drag-out, mano a mano battle of brutality between our supernaturally-charged killer and the world’s most famous sword & sorcery hero. Artist Doug Braithwaite and colorist Diego Rodriguez delivered another stunner that is viscerally violent right up to the finish line.

You obviously want to see how this sequence plays out, don’t you?

Head to your favorite comic shop this week and find out!

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Catching Up in Collection

As if that wasn’t enough excitement, this week also sees the release of our CONAN: SCOURGE OF THE SERPENT and SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN vol. 4 trade paperbacks. Couple that with last week’s release of CONAN THE BARBARIAN vol. 7: THE CONQUERING CROWN and you are set for sword & sorcery in the month of May, my friends.

Fun fact: This is my first volume 7 of any series I’ve written. Previous runs have all capped out at volume 6 or less.

Feels good, and there’s a lot more to come in the Hyborian Age. Huge thanks to the whole creative team and the crews at Heroic Signatures and Titan Comics. It’s an honor to be part of this team.

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Conan is Running Out of Time

I had an amazing time chatting with Shawn Curley over on the official Conan the Barbarian YouTube channel all about the past, present, and future of our Conan publishing plans. Lots of anecdotes that cover planning and production, working with our team, and how exciting it is to have all this momentum while our third year of publishing roars onward.

I also put together a 1-minute sneak peek from the interview you can check out HERE.

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Talk, Talk, Talk!

Lots of interviews popping up online last week.

I did a 60-min livestream interview with World At War Comics that was a lot of fun.

And then an interview I recorded a few weeks ago finally surfaced on the Dollar Bin Bandits YouTube channel as well.

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Draw Your Weapons at Gen Con!

Last week also saw the announcement that I’ll be one of the special guest stars for DRAW YOUR WEAPONS Live at Gen Con in August, alongside wonderful gamer nerdlebrities Alicia Marie, Anjali Bhimani, and Jason Charles Miller with Game Master Josh Knapp! Want to get a feel for what it’s all about? Watch the trailer for the series HERE.

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Current + Upcoming Releases

• MAD About DC – released Apr 1.
• Skullkickers: Compact Attack Edition Vol. 3 – released Apr 21.
• Conan: Tides of the Tyrant-King Prelude – released May 2.
• Manga Classics: Journey to the West Prelude – released May 2.
• Savage Sword of Conan #14 – released May 6.
• Conan the Barbarian Vol. 7: The Conquering Crown TPB – releases May 20.
• Conan the Barbarian #31 – releases May 27.
• Conan: Scourge of the Serpent TPB – released May 27.
• Savage Sword of Conan Vol. 4 TPB – releases May 27.
• Stranger Things VS Dungeons & Dragons HC – releases May 27.
• MAD About DC – 2nd printing – releases June 2.
• Conan the Barbarian #32 – releases June 17.
• Conan the Barbarian #33 – releases July 29.

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Upcoming Appearances

Jun 12-13, 2026	Robert E. Howard Days	Cross Plains, TX, USA
Jun 14, 2026	Madness G&C 11:30-3pm	Plano, TX, USA
Jul 23-26, 2026	San Diego Comic Con	San Diego, CA, USA
Jul 30-Aug 2, 2026	Gen Con	Indianapolis, IN, USA
Aug 15, 2026	Comics Assemble	Gloucester, England, UK
Oct 15-18, 2026	Gamehole	Madison, WI, USA
Nov 12-15, 2026	D&D Weekend	Lake Sinclair, GA, USA
Jan 14-16, 2027	Philadelphia Area Gaming Expo	Philadelphia, PA, USA

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Other Links

• Stacy and I have been thoroughly enjoying watching the new Witch Hat Atelier anime based on the incredible manga by Kamome Shirahama (who some of my longtime fans may remember from the incredible variant cover she illustrated for Wayward way back when). Bug Films have posted by a behind the scenes piece on their animation production for the series and it’s well worth checking out.

• Artist Hardy Fowler‘s rundown on memorable landmarks for drawing the face is both focused and helpful. I like the way he goes through the process with easy to remember visual examples to make sure they stick in your mind for future use.

• Want to save money on buying chicken at the grocery store? Learn how to break down the whole bird quick and easy with this process video from TriggTube. It’s a skill I learned when I worked as an assistant butcher at a grocery story back in college and I’m glad I did. The technique is easier than you think and really useful.

Have a great week!

Jim