I was a guest on this week’s War Rocket Ajax podcast with Matt Wilson and Chris Sims. We talk extensively about Wayward, juggling multiple projects, the awesomeness of Charles Soule, Waffle House, and more. Give it a listen. My interview starts at the 36 minute mark of the podcast.
Wayward #2 arrived in stores last week and, once again, all of us on the creative team are blown away by the response from retailers and readers alike. Thank you so much for the praise and support. Keep telling others about the series as we continue to crank away making it the best we can.
• Bleeding Cool: “The new high school experience, the language differences, and exploring of a stranger world within a strange world, yeah, definitely the comic of the week.”
• 13th Dimension: “There is no question that the slowly unfolding series is brimming with promise and, in the meantime, if Zub can continue to regale us with Rori’s adventures in Tokyo, the series should continue to be an essential read.”
• All-Comic: 5/5 “Wayward is only on its second issue, but has instantly become one of most vibrant and fascinating titles in Image’s stable.”
• Big Glasgow Comic Page: 4/5 “Wayward is still a very, very open book: anything could happen.”
• Black Ship Books: “Rori continues to be a fascinating character and Cummings’ art alone is well worth the cover price. Don’t miss it.”
• Comic Book Bin: 10/10 “Wayward does indeed look to be one of the year’s best new comic book series and one of the best fantasy comic books period.”
• Comics: The Gathering: 9/10 “Wayward continues with an incredibly strong second outing that is vivid and eye-catching. Don’t miss this one.”
• Comix I Read: “Supernatural beings, a deep and confused main character and fantastic art make Wayward issue #2 a must read for this week.”
• Con Freaks & Geeks: 9/10 “As Rori’s story continues on, her powers manifest even more. Wayward’s story is progressing very strongly and is leading to something very big.”
• Emertainment Monthly: “Wayward has an incredibly unique take on both monsters and Japanese culture and Zub does an excellent job of establishing—and quickly fleshing out—his characters.”
• Fangirl Nation: “Anyone who is a fan of the fantasy/supernatural element would be interested in this comic. It is compelling, beautiful, and full of creatures that most people outside of Japan never heard of.”
• Four Color Bullet: “This is fast becoming one of my favorite books, both for content, and a nice price tag.”
• Geeked Out Nation: 8/10 “When everything is said and done you do have to take notice of the attention put into Rori’s relationship with her mom and how there are things about both of their lives that they don’t discuss for the sake of not burdening the other.”
• Iron Violet: 5/5 “I cannot express how much I love the artwork for this series! Its that rare enigma of being the perfect blend of comic book art with manga influences that doesn’t have too much or too little of either.”
• Major Spoilers: 9.5/10 “Wayward #2 is a visually stunning as the narrative is engaging. Cummings, Ruach and Zub are all on their A-game and work together effortlessly.”
• Mind Capsules: 4.5/5 “After two issues, this book has become a keeper and one to definitely pick up if you are not doing so already.”
• OmniJerBear: 10/10 “I really think it’s going to do great.”
• Pop Culture Company: “Image has another huge winner on their hands here”
• Pop Culture Maven: “Zub is not rushing things along. Cummings artwork is one of the key things that is really driving the book.”
• Reading Pictures: “Thus far, Wayward has shown it’s in a real class of its own with its hybrid version of a Japanese coming-of-age tale. Zub, Cummings and the rest of the team have something going strong and this book is just plain fun to read.”
• Reading With A Flight Ring: “I can’t believe I’m such a big fan of this book already it’s that much fun to read.”
• Rhymes With Geek: 9/10 “How nice to be able to say that Wayward is a series that only gets better in the second issue.”
• Shadowhawk’s Shade: 9.5/10 “What can I say, another mindblowing issue from a great team.”
• Talking Comics: “This art is absolutely stunning. It is beautiful, and grounds the story in the real world.”
• Unleash The Fanboy: 9/10 “Two issues in and I can say that this is something that deserves a spot on your pull-list. Highly recommended.”
• We The Nerdy: 87% “Issue 2 is continuing the trend of building and following a character worth reading about. As a reader, I can’t ask for much more than that.”
• What’cha Reading: 4.5/5 “I love Wayward more and more each issue. Rori is identifiable and the right combination of fragile and strong.”
• Word of the Nerd: 8/10 “The art is marvelous and so are the colors.”
Samurai Jack #12, the second part of our “Quest of the Broken Blade” 5 part epic. What does the online peanut gallery think?
• IGN: 9/10 “This may just be the best issue of Samurai Jack yet.”
• Comic Bastards: 4/5 “I hope you can make some time for this story arc, because it has a lot of things I love about comics all rolled up into it.”
• Rock! Shock! Pop!: “This second instalment has done a very fine job of building on the first, giving us every reason to have high hopes for the next one.”
• The Outhousers: “The saying goes, it’s always darkest before dawn and things can only go up from here for Jack.”
• Comicosity: 7.5/10 “Zub, Suriano and Beavers have got a fun thing going on in Samurai Jack #12. Fans of the show should love this comic, and it’s a safe read for younger audiences as well.”
• Comic Attack: “Jim Zub has been making sure that we enjoy Samurai Jack in comic form just as much as the cartoon. He’s also taking Jack to places that we haven’t seen before both as a character and in his adventures.”
• Shadowhawk’s Shade: 9.5/10 “Whether it is Jack skulking through a city controlled by Aku or out on the run or anything, the artists capture him quite well again and again.”
I was a guest on this week’s episode of the Bleeding Cool Podcast. We talk about working in comics and the titles I’m working on, but we also have an extensive review/rundown of Six-Gun Gorilla published by BOOM. It’s a good chat that covers a lot of the creative process.
Teacher Paul Hart dropped me a line to let me know how much his kindergarten class loves the Figment comic series, along with photos of class artwork and some questions his kids asked me to answer. Needless to say, I was delighted!
“Our kindergarten class loves the Figment comic and Figment is our favorite character!”
Question: Sarhenitie wants to know how did you and Mr. Andrade get the book to be so colorful?
Answer: The comic is made by several different people. I write the story, Filipe draws the pictures, and our colorist Jean-Francois Beaulieu adds the beautiful colors like how you would in a coloring book, only he uses a computer.
Filipe and Jean-Francois are a really good team and they’ve been working together for quite a while, so he chooses colors that work very well with Filipe’s imaginative line art. In my story I sometimes recommend color choices, but the final colors are decided by Filipe and Jean-Francois.
Question: How were you able to match the words to the pictures? Did you and the illustrator talk about it before writing?
Answer: The book publisher, Marvel Comics, asked me to come up with the story of Dreamfinder and Figment, so I had to explain my ideas to them for approval before I started the actual writing.
Writing a comic is a bit different than writing a storybook. For the comic I write something called a “script” that has descriptions of the pictures the artist will draw, dialogue the characters will say in the word balloons, and the sound effects on the page too. Filipe reads the script and imagines what that would look like in his mind, then illustrates that on the page. At each stage we send ideas and notes back and forth to make sure the whole team knows how it will look when it’s finished. It takes a lot of time and teamwork to make Figment, but we’re very proud of the final result.
Question: Zariyah wants to know if Figment needs anything special to fly super high and fast?
Answer: Even though Figment’s wings are small, he’s also very light so it’s easy for him to fly really high and very quick. That’s just part of his nature as an inspiration dragon.
Question: Room 101 wants to know if only Illocrant and Blair can use the thinking cap, or can Figment, Chimera and Fye use it too?
Answer: Good question! I think anyone could use the Mesmonic Convertor Helmet, though it might be tough to fit it on their head if they’re extra-big or extra-small. The helmet creates things they deeply wish for, but not always how they expect.
Question: Marvin wants to know what made you think or inspired you when writing Figment?
Answer: When I was 12 years old I went to Walt Disney World and it was a really exciting trip. There’s an attraction there called Journey Into Imagination that’s all about Figment and how each one of us has wonderful ideas deep inside. I’ve always remembered that, so when I was asked to make a new Figment story I used that idea, that we can all make new things if we dream big enough, as my inspiration.
Question: Tyroneccia loves Figment and her question is how do I make a comic book like Jim Zub?
Answer: I’m so happy to hear you want to make comics! If you like to draw then you can make your own stories and pictures at the same time. If not, then you should team up with one of your friends to make it together. Come up with a fun idea, draw each picture panel, and then add dialogue coming from the characters with word balloons. Comics are all about art and words working together so it’s a great way to tell all kinds of fun stories.
“Our weekly literacy bulletin board.”
“Made by Kamren during free writing! He is flying!”
“Sarhenitie made a picture of her camping with Figment during free writing! They love Figment!”
“This is from Tremayne. It’s Blair and Figment getting away from a sprite! He used word bubbles!”
“Armani made Figment’s grandpa, ‘Faffi’! The little green friend is ‘Disney’!”
It’s my first time attending Rose City Comic Con in Portland, Oregon!
I’ll be there both days at TABLE C-12 promoting Wayward, Skullkickers, Samurai Jack, Pathfinder, Figment, and all the other comic titles I’ve worked on.
I’m a Special Guest of the show and they’ve put together a special show-exclusive variant of Wayward #1 with cover art by Erik Larsen (Savage Dragon) and John Rauch (Invincible). Erik did the cover art in a Kirby-esque style so I did up the trade dress to match and I’m really happy with how it turned out.
If you’re in the Portland area I hope you can make it out to the show!
Arriving in December… Pre-order now!
MAKESHIFT MIRACLE Vol.2 HC: The Boy Who Stole Everything
Story: Jim Zub
Art: Shun Hong Chan
Colby has fallen into a surreal realm of dream and imagination in his search for answers about Iris, the strange girl who fell into his life from out of the blue. What he discovers about the link between them will change both their lives and leave one of them with the ultimate decision of life or death.
The hit online comic concludes in a beautiful graphic novel, perfect for teen readers and manga fans.
5.75×8.25″, 128pgs, Full Color, Hardcover, $24.99
ISBN-13: 978-1-927925-28-7
ISBN-10: 1-927925-28-2
Arriving in December… Pre-order now!
WAYWARD #5
story: JIM ZUB
art: STEVE CUMMINGS & JOHN RAUCH
cover A: STEVE CUMMINGS & TAMRA BONVILLAIN
cover B: MARGUERITE SAUVAGE
DECEMBER 17 / 32 PAGES / FC / M / $3.50
IMAGE COMICS’S SUPERNATURAL SENSATION!
The first story arc ends. Revelation and sacrifice.
Kalman Andrasofszky now has a high quality art print available of his alt cover piece for Wayward that was used as the Fan Expo variant cover for issue #1.
If you love that illustration, here’s your chance to get a spiffy high quality version of it unmarred by logos/trade dress.
Innerspace, the pop culture news show on Space Channel here in Canada, did a segment all about Wayward and I was interviewed on air by host Morgan Hoffman. Click here to watch the segment!
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Makeshift Miracle