Zub Tales

SURPRISE #1: My next creator-owned comic series has just been announced – OMEN-BOUND, a dark fantasy series co-created with artist Alberto Alburquerque launches in March 2027 at Image Comics!

SURPRISE #2: Alberto and I will have a special limited OMEN-BOUND PREVIEW EDITION comic available this week at our tables at New York Comic-Con (Artist Alley Tables A-33 and I-33) while supplies last!

Head over to Image Comics for the full press release and watch the OMEN-BOUND announcement trailer right HERE:

In a dark medieval-fantasy world, a skilled group of warriors and priests from a strict religious order have been tasked with escorting a dangerous prisoner back to the “Fayral”, an untamed primal realm of perilous elemental energy.

Their sacred charge is a mercurial and mysterious princess of the fay folk and, the closer the group gets to the land that powers her magic, the more difficult it will be to complete their quest. Worse still, at each step of this perilous journey secrets will be revealed about themselves and the history of their world that may save or damn them all.

Pretty sweet, right? This has obviously been in the works for quite a while and I’ve been keeping it a secret. Once I confirmed that I’d be at this year’s New York Comic-Con, I knew it was a great opportunity to get Omen-Bound announced there and start beating the drum for our big launch in 2027.

When my writing career started to gain traction, I told myself I’d always have commercial and creator-owned projects running simultaneously, betting on myself just as much as building credits with existing properties, but it hasn’t always worked out that way. Don’t get me wrong, it’s been wonderful, but creator-owned projects tended to get put on the backburner while other deadlines loomed. This whole year, I’ve been feeling the creator-owned itch and want to bring everything I’ve learned over the past 8 years since Wayward finished.

Omen-Bound is dark fantasy, mysterious and emotional with an old school Dungeons & Dragons-style ensemble party and evocative narration familiar to readers enjoying my run on Conan the Barbarian. To say this is a passion project for our team is an understatement. I can’t wait for you to see how far Alberto is pushing himself on every single page and, when that’s coupled with Misty’s colors and Marshall’s lettering, it really is magic.

Image has always had the best deal in creator-owned comics and it’s also where I feel most at home charting my own path. Building this new series with Alberto, colorist Misty Coats (Skullkickers) and letterer Marshall Dillon (Street Fighter), dear friends I’ve worked with before, it makes the whole project even more special.

I’ve said it many times, but every creative project is a time capsule. When I look at Skullkickers, Wayward, Glitterbomb, or Stonestar I know where I was and who I was. It’s time to make new memories and show people what we’re capable of in the here and now. I hope you’ll join us on this grand adventure!

Upcoming Appearances

This week at NYCC 2026, I’ll be at Artist Alley Table I-33 and on 3 panels:
Thurs, Oct 8 at 8pm : Roll for Romance – a Live D&D Love Story
Fri, Oct 9 at 12:30pm : Spotlight on Matt Dinniman
Sat, Oct 10 at 7:30pm : 3rd Annual PRH Murder Mystery Party

Other Links

• With the announcement of Omen-Bound, now is the perfect time to check out the artwork of Alberto J. Alburquerque, my artistic collaborator! Alberto’s Instagram page is packed with incredibly imagery and, now that Omen-Bound has been revealed, expect to see a lot more of that cast and world in the weeks and months ahead.

• A new digital comics platform called Sweet Shop launched just over a week ago and they have quite a few deals to kick things off. If you want to check out the Zub comics they currently have from several publishers, my profile is HERE.

• Host Shawn Curley, scholar Jeffrey Shanks, game designer Matt John, and author John C. Hocking have an extensive talk all about the classic Conan story The Tower of the Elephant. The deep dive they give the material helps contextualize why it’s such a staple of the sword & sorcery genre.

Jim