Zub Tales

What’s your best/most memorable Halloween costume?
Here’s mine, from 2007–

When Stacy and I started dating she pulled out all the stops and offered to build me a Halloween costume from scratch, any character I wanted. I picked a comic book accurate Master of the Mystic Arts and she absolutely crushed it with a handmade Cloak of Levitation, screen printed tunic, and custom Eye of Agamotto amulet. I swooned (I still do, honestly).

I know nowadays it’s common to see high quality cosplay at conventions and online, but 16 years ago that was not the norm. Stacy’s craftmanship still shows strong in 2024, and in 2007 it blew people away.

We went to three different Halloween parties that year, including the classic Silver Snail-o-Ween gathering where a bunch of the Toronto comic community showed up in grand style. Stacy and I swept in and took first prize in the costume contest.

It was pure magic.

Back then I had to dust my sideburns with white to get the salt and pepper hair look of Stephen Strange. If I did it again I’d need to darken the top. *sigh*

Big Plans in the Hyborian Age

I spoke to Sam Stone at Comic Book Resources about wrapping up the first arc of CONAN THE BARBARIAN – planning the new series, working with Rob De La Torre and what comes next, including an exclusive first look at Doug Braithwaite‘s incredible art from arc 2, Thrice Marked for Death!

Here’s a crucial piece from the interview–

I’m extremely proud of the Conan stories I wrote at Dark Horse and Marvel, but an even deeper dive into research is helping me find even more inspiration as the Heroic Signatures-Titan series charges forward.

Speaking of charging forward, AIPT has the first look at cover artwork for CONAN THE BARBARIAN #7, arriving in January!

Over on my Patreon- The full script for CONAN THE BARBARIAN (2019) #13, the first issue of my original run and part 1 of Into the Crucible, with Conan caught in a death contest in a strange land.

Learn how comics are made for the price of a coffee

This is the 296th script I’ve posted up on my Patreon. Creeping ever closer to 300…

Class is in Session

Stacy, Andrew, and I spoke to Tom and Dan at Teachers in the Dungeon all about the D&D Young Adventurer’s Guides, especially our newest volume Places & Portals, and how the series is built to engage young readers and expand their vocabulary.

You can listen to the interview on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

Links and Other Things

• If you enjoy board games and have caught the game collecting bug, this straight forward video on 10 Pitfalls to Avoid will hit the mark. Lots of good tips and bad habits in there that I’ve definitely fallen into at times.
• Here’s another video with solid tips about hobby gaming (especially miniature painting) you may not know if you’re just getting started.
• Monolith Games has a notification page up for Red Nails, their next Conan board game expansion.
• Arrow Video is releasing Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Destroyer with a newly restored 4K UltraHD Blu-Ray in January. US orders should go here. Canada here.

Trick or treat-
Jim