Zubby Newsletter #167: Unexpected Challenges

Posted by Jim Zub on July 21, 2026 Leave a comment (0) Go to comments

Not the kind of thing you can plan for.

I didn’t want to go into details about this in public unless Stacy did, but now that she’s posted about it, I feel okay mentioning it as well.

In short, what should have been a same-day surgical procedure for Stacy turned into a four day stay at the hospital. From Wednesday morning through to Saturday night, we rode out a roller coaster of health stuff with her and, as you might imagine, it was confusing and scary. Thankfully, she’s now at home and on the mend so we’ll see what future tests bring. Fingers crossed.

As she said: “Thanks to a couple of stellar nurses, I was on the rebound by mid-Friday and able to come home Saturday evening. Thanks to the Canadian healthcare system, I never had to worry if I could afford the extra care.”

So yeah, not how I expected last week to go, but overall we’re okay. Stacy won’t be able to attend San Diego while she recuperates and my attendance was in question as well but, now that she’s home and recovering well (with family and friends available and able to help), I feel okay making the trek to California.

Zub at San Diego Comic Con 2026

Speaking of which, Comic Crom in on! I now have a separate post all about my SDCC 2026 schedule that I’ll keep up to date if anything changes. Otherwise, here’s a handy graphic:

This will be my 21st San Diego Comic Con and, as always, I’m heading into it with a mixture of excitement and nervous energy. I’m always thrilled to see friends and fans, but also know how intense and draining it will be, especially when it crashes right up against Gen Con happening next week.

Ask Me

While I’m in San Diego, I’ll be doing an on camera interview with Penguin Random House all about my work: specific projects, the writing process, legacy, and more!

Ask me a question (or two, or three) at the link and yours might be in the video!

Marvel Moves

While I was at the hospital, there were seizmic changes at Marvel Comics, with the announcement that their famous New York City offices will be moving westward to Burbank and that there’s a new Editor-In-Chief. Everyone online was buzzing about the big news and I was obviously too distracted at the time to comment.

CB Cebulski was Marvel’s EiC for the majority of time as I worked on a variety of Marvel projects and, though we didn’t personally interact much, he was supportive, collaborative and we got along. I remember him being in the conference room and quite active during our in-person Avengers Summit in 2018 to build the story that became Avengers: No Road Home and he was excited for us to jam all kinds of ideas and have fun with the story.

As for new EiC Steve Wacker, the only interaction with him I’ve had was short but positive. In early 2013, I sent him an out-of-the-blue email, introducing myself and letting him know how much I was enjoying the titles he edited at that time, namely Superior Spider-Man, Daredevil, and Hawkeye. He responded, which may not sound like a big deal, but if you’ve ever worked in comics you know how difficult it can be to get an editor’s attention, especially from a cold intro like that. Taking it even further, at San Diego Comic Con that year he set up a quick meeting to introduce himself and ask me what Marvel characters I was interested in. Keep in mind, I had only a handful of writing credits under my belt at this point and he was running the Spider-Man office, so it was quite a gracious move on his part.

Assuming I had no chance at writing any A-list characters, I pitched him a few oddball Marvel project ideas with second-stringers, and he thought they sounded okay but was also quite confused.

“Is that all you’re interested in? Just the weirdos?”

“Ah, no, no. I just didn’t want to get too far ahead of myself or sound cocky. I’m interested in a lot of different Marvel characters. A-Any in particular?”

“I mean, I edit Spider-Man…so maybe think about Spider-Man stuff, okay?”

We both laughed. It was awkward. I was coming off being fired from a DC project I thought was going to be career-making and instead turned into five months of ever-shifting edicts and long gaps of communication before being unceremoniously shown the door and was still feeling raw from that experience. I was incredibly nervous and I’m sure that’s what came across to Steve, but he was solid, classy, and probably doesn’t remember this interaction at all. Six months later, he was promoted to head up Marvel Animation and moved to Hollywood, so we never had the chance to work together.

Anyways, I know a lot of people who have worked with Steve and speak highly of him, so I’m curious to see what his vision as EiC will be and how Marvel changes with this big move west. I’m sure it will fuel a lot of gossip at San Diego, that’s for sure.

The “Just Us” League

Speaking of superheroes, getting to try out the new JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED TTRPG with Mark, Alex, Johann, and Peterson was a ton of fun. Watch the first half of our adventure as I play Wally West and bring my FLASH-fulness to this new adventure:

Current + Upcoming Releases

MAD About DC – 2nd printing – released June 3.
Conan the Barbarian #32 – released June 24.
Conan the Barbarian #33 – releases July 29.
Conan the Barbarian #34 – releases August 26.
Journey to the West: The Beginning – releases September 15.
Savage Sword of Conan #16 – releases September 16.
Conan the Barbarian vol. 4-6 Slipcase Set – releases September 16.
Conan: Tides of the Tyrant-King #1 – releases September 23.
Savage Sword of Conan vol. 1-3 Slipcase Set – releases September 23.
Wayward Compendium – releases September 29.
Conan the Barbarian #35 – releases September 30.

Upcoming Appearances

Jul 23-26, 2026	San Diego Comic Con	San Diego, CA, USA
Jul 30-Aug 2, 2026	Gen Con – Booth 1349	Indianapolis, IN, USA
Aug 15, 2026	Comics Assemble	Gloucester, England, UK
Aug 19, 2026	Dublin City Comics – Signing 5-7pm	Dublin, IRELAND
Aug 27-30, 2026	Fan Expo Canada	Toronto, ON, CANADA
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