CONAN OF CIMMERIA IS HAUNTED BY SHADOWS, LIVING NIGHTMARES CONNECTED TO A MYSTERIOUS EYE SYMBOL ETCHED IN BLACK STONE.
An unspeakable evil looms over the Hyborian Age and every age connected to it… and it will take more than a lone barbarian to stop its relentless march upon time, space, and sanity.
BATTLE OF THE BLACK STONE, an epic new CONAN EVENT from Heroic Signatures and Titan Comics, begins HERE, from Jim Zub (Conan the Barbarian, Dungeons & Dragons) and artist Jonas Scharf (Dark X-Men, Basilisk)!
In Shops: Sep 04, 2024
CONAN BARBARIAN #15
Story – Jim Zub
Artist – Doug Braithwaite
Colors – Diego Rodriguez
Cover A – Mahmud Asrar
Cover B – Jessica Fong
Cover C – Doug Braithwaite
Cover D – Fernando Dagnino
After leaving Cimmeria filled with wanderlust, a young Conan heads north in search of glory.
What he finds in that cold climate will change his outlook forever, setting him on the path that will make him a legend.
The triumphant new era of Conan continues in this tale of brutal heroic adventure from acclaimed creators Jim Zub (Avengers, Dungeons & Dragons) and Doug Braithwaite (Punisher, Justice)!
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree launches today! I was originally going to immediately dive into expansion content, then realized two days ago that the character I used to Platinum the game is on New Game +3, they haven’t slain the correct boss to get to the expansion on this current playthrough, and the new content cranked up to +3 would almost certainly smash me to bits, so over the next week or two I’ll be power leveling a new character build to play Erdtree, which is already garnering intense praise.
I also want to get ahead on writing, enjoy summer weather, and see family and friends… What I’m trying to say is that it’s hard to ‘git gud’ and also be a responsible adult.
(If you missed my previous newsletter where I raved all about why I enjoy Souls Games and the particular qualities that grabbed my attention, give it a read right HERE.)
In September – Battle of the Black Stone #1
Conan: Battle of the Black Stone #1 cover art by Sedat Oezgen.
Battle of the Black Stone uses story threads we’ve been weaving in right from the start, from last year’s Conan the Barbarian #0 Free Comic Day issue and our entire first year of stories. The mysteries and powers of the Black Stone are one of the pillars I put into my proposal for the series and, now that we have momentum, we can really go all out in telling this epic tale of pulp-inspired adventure across the ages.
Black Stone is a mysterious material that showed up in multiple Robert E. Howard prose stories, including the titular Black Stone horror story from 1931, and we’re using it to link not just Conan’s Hyborian age to Kull’s Thurian age, but other points in time and characters from those eras as well.
The art on Battle of the Black Stone is so damn good. Every time Jonas and Jão send pages in I’m ecstatic. Don’t tell anyone that I showed you this teaser of Solomon Kane-
Conan: Battle of the Black Stone #1 interior art by Jonas Scharf.
In this first part, we cover my nerdy origin story – reading and collecting comics, comic universe continuity, tabletop RPGs, bringing new people into gaming, the D&D Satanic Panic, gaming during the pandemic, making comics, the early internet, webcomics, and more! Such a fun and nostalgic chat. Make sure you give it a listen.
I’ll back be at San Diego this year and am currently getting my schedule figured out for Wednesday through Sunday. I’m really looking forward to seeing friends and celebrating another exciting year. Same goes for Gen Con in Indianapolis, which is the following weekend. Man oh man, two of the biggest conventions back-to-back…It’s going to be a ride.
• My friend Raina Telgemeier was recently on PBS News talking about her graphic novels. I’ve known Raina since I was working on my original Makeshift Miracle webcomic in the early 2000’s. Seeing her phenomenal success and acclaim has been such a pleasure.
• A bunch of my friends have contributed to the new Dungeons & Dragons Core Rulebooks, but I want to call special attention to Mike Schley‘s amazing new Greyhawk Map that is part of the revised Dungeons Master’s Guide. Gorgeous cartography work, as always.
Conan the Barbarian #13 art by Doug Braithwaite and Diego Rodriguez.
Over on Facebook Messenger I clicked through to ‘Message Requests’ and saw dozens of messages from readers and retailers who have enjoyed my work, artists wanting feedback, and writers looking for advice. It was awkward realizing that these people assume I’ve just ignored them all this time.
I don’t have time to mentor people one-on-one on their creative career or give extensive feedback (that’s why I put together 40+ free tutorial articles on my website), but getting a message to that effect is way better than someone sending material and feeling completely ignored. I remember what sending notes out into the void felt like and do everything I can to avoid doing it to other people.
Then, on a whim, I clicked the dreaded ‘Spam’ tab…
As expected, there were hundreds of useless ad messages and sex chat garbage, easy to spot with a half dozen or more people tagged on each one, but there were dozens of legitimate messages too, filtered there for reasons unknown.
• International fans excited about Conan.
• A convention runner asking if I wanted to be a guest at a show from over a year ago.
• Readers asking questions about Marvel continuity.
• Creators asking for signal boosts on their crowdfunding campaigns.
• Artist portfolios.
• Old friends touching base.
It’s humbling to see so many people reaching out, but also a bit overwhelming, especially finding them all at once. How is anyone supposed to keep track of all these outlets? How much time do I spend sending out little ‘sorry I missed this’ messages vs just plowing ahead on current projects/deadlines/commitments? I don’t know.
Anyways, if you’ve reached out to someone online and they didn’t get back to you – it might not be intentional. The algorithms that dictate so many of our online interactions may have just siloed it elsewhere.
Our team put everything they have into this relaunch and I want to make sure people know that Harvey-eligible titles are for books released from August 1, 2023-July 31, 2024, not just 2023 books.
Killer Covers From Mars
Legendary artist Joe Jusko has posted up the first three stunning covers for the upcoming release of the Barsoom Saga, the official reprint of the John Carter of Mars series being put out by the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate. They have a 20% off preorder promotion running now, so if those covers grab your eye, make sure you get on board while you can save.
Also, while I was at Howard Days last weekend I met Henry Franke, editor of The Burroughs Bulletin, and his excitement for pulp stories was infectious so if you’re a Burroughs fan make sure you check that out too.
• In a few days, my friend Sandra Tayler is launching a crowdfunding campaign for her new book Structuring Life to Support Creativity, a much-needed guide to project management and avoiding burnout. Definitely check this one out.
• Jordan Sorcery has a great video run through on the initial development of Warhammer 40,000. When I was a kid I thought the game looked incredible, but the price point of metal miniatures and daunting work involved in painting figures and assembling terrain kept me from playing until I was older, but it looked amazing right from the start.
• Legendary anime studio Gainax has filed for bankruptcy after financial mismanagement and controversy. Gainax was an anime studio built from convention fan films that evolved into auteur-centric work and a pop culture juggernaut. It’s strange to think of the studio not being around anymore, but we’ll always have the the Ballad of the Otaking to remind us of their greatness.
I’m home from four days in Texas – three in Cross Plains for Howard Days, the annual Robert E. Howard celebration at his home, and a quick half day stop at Fan Expo Dallas.
Howard Days was an informal gathering that began in 1986 with ten fans making a pilgrimage to Robert E. Howard’s home and is now an official two day event deeply tied into the town with several hundred attendees. There’s a small pavilion set up near the home for barbecues and hanging out, a dozen vendors selling books and other merchandise, tours of the house (which is now a museum) and local sites, discussion panels and signings at the community center, original manuscripts on display at the local library, gaming, poetry readings, a banquet, a silent auction, and more.
Each piece of the festival was quite small but when you put it all together it made the whole thing feel expansive, especially considering that Cross Plains itself has a population of less than a thousand people. Dozens of regulars return to spend time together, year after year, alongside a host of new people like me making the trek for the first time. I thought coming down from Canada would make me the furthest visitor for the event, but I was wrong – there were people who came in from France, Italy, Spain, Mexico, and Norway.
Jeff Shanks, the Howard expert who writes the essays in the back of each issue of Conan the Barbarian, told me it was a family reunion and I was part of the family, and I joked that I was more like a long lost cousin who showed up out of nowhere carrying a deed for an important tract of land. That said, the Howard Days core made me feel incredibly welcome and their excitement for the future of the fandom came through in every interaction.
This year, Robert E. Howard’s original writing desk had been restored and replaced the stand-in they’d been using for decades at the museum. I was one of the first people to stand at the desk returned to its rightful spot and, as you might imagine, it all felt pretty surreal. Honestly, the whole week was surreal, as I chatted with literary scholars, locals, friends, and fans.
Jeff Shanks, John C. Hocking, Howard Andrew Jones, and me.
I filmed interviews and signed hundreds of comics while walking around the small town grounds where the sword & sorcery genre came to life. Shawn Curley from Heroic Signatures was there filming material for the official Conan the Barbarian YouTube channel and, as it all gets compiled, edited, and posted, I’ll be sure to share it in future newsletter installments. The legacy and gravity of it all washed over me a few times, but then a few minutes later we’d all just be laughing and hanging out, looking for respite from the intense Texas heat or hunting for bug spray to handle the mosquitos.
Fan Expo Dallas on Sunday was a breakneck pace, especially in contrast to the previous three days. I woke up at dawn and drove almost 3 hours from Cross Plains to Dallas, arrived at the convention center, signed for two hours, hosted a Conan panel, signed for another hour and then had to dash so I could return my rental car and head to the airport. Lots of Conan, Dungeons & Dragons, and Marvel fans there and it was really nice even though it was so short and rapid fire.
I’m finally home and spending today unpacking, reorganizing, and decompressing. The whole week was really special but I don’t know if all of it has really sunk in yet.
CONAN THE BARBARIAN: BOUND IN BLACK STONE won this year’s Costigan Award at Howard Days!
“Awarded for original creative writing that carries on the spirit and tradition of Robert E. Howard, to better recognize and celebrate his influence on future generations of writers.”
Comics are rarely nominated and an original one based on a Robert E. Howard property has never been nominated in the literary category before.
Rob De La Torre and José Villarrubia also won the Rankin Award for Artistic Achievement, so Bound in Black Stone won in both categories we were nominated in.
I know for people on the outside it may seem obvious that a Conan book wins a Robert E. Howard-related award, but the Foundation is not directly tied to the company that owns Conan, it’s an independent panel of scholars and archivists focused on the legacy and literary merit of Howard’s works. I’ve been writing Conan-related comic stories since 2015 and this is the first time the Foundation has given my work any kind of acknowledgement, both with the nomination and now the award.
Bill Cavalier, one of the Foundation board members and a key organizer of the festival, handed me the award and said- “Congrats! We don’t normally give ’em to the funny books, but you and the boys did a fine job. Keep it up.”
Thank you to the Foundation and our readers. It’s an honor.
Doom Is Coming…and It’s Going To Be Great
Shawn Curley has posted a Conan News video on the official Conan the Barbarian Youtube channel and it’s packed with exclusive sneak peeks at artwork from CONAN THE BARBARIAN #12, the next Conan prose novel, Savage Sword, a sneak peek of the Heroic Signatures office, and more. I also make a brief appearance at the 5:40 mark to help hype the end of our first year on the relaunch.
Jim Zub – Voice Actor?
The latest grad films from Seneca Animation are starting to get posted online and first out of the gate is Fly Away, Froggy Boy, a wild and weird noir story about an anthropomorphic fly seeking revenge against the frog mob.
I lent my voice to the Frogfather, the main villain of the cartoon and it was a lot of fun snarling, grunting and screaming my way through the script. Give it a watch and let me know what you think of my performance and the hard work of my students.
Back In School With Teachers In The Dungeon
Stacy and I returned to the Teachers in the Dungeon podcast, chatting with Tom Gross and Dan Reem all about ARTIFICERS & ALCHEMY, the latest Dungeons & Dragons Young Adventurer’s Guide, discussing what goes into making the books, igniting the imagination of new gamers, fun details, future plans, and more!
• Conan scholar Jeff Shanks is chatting up a storm lately, and his latest interview with Stygian Dogs is fantastic, covering many different aspects of Robert E. Howard literary and fandom circles.
• Asa Wheatley is crowdfunding the next volume of Sagas of the Shield Maiden. I’ve enjoyed the previous anthology volumes and am looking forward to this one.
While we were in Japan, Stacy and I went to a cafe where they had the menu available via QR code on coasters at each table and I thought the same kind of thing could work well at conventions, be durable and also be easy to pack in with luggage. This morning I picked up these spiffy laser cut wood coasters from a shop near our place and they turned out great!
I’m looking forward to using them at my upcoming signings.
Signing at Fan Expo Dallas
Speaking of signings, since I’m flying in and out of Dallas for Robert E. Howard Days on June 7-8, I figured I might as well stop by Fan Expo Dallas at the same time.
If you’re heading to the show, I’ll be there only on Sunday, June 9th from 11am-3pm at the Comic Sketch Art area in Artist Alley (Tables P-00 to P-11). We’ll have a limited number of books and variants for sale and I’ll of course be signing any comics or other books people bring by.
A Critical Eye
On my website I just put up a new tutorial post. It’s an unvarnished rundown on problems with a pitch, and hopefully some helpful reminders for new creators trying to organize their ideas and get attention from a producer/publisher.
Give it a read and, if you find it helpful, share far and wide.
CONAN THE BARBARIAN #14 continues Frozen Faith, the fourth story arc in our relaunch. With this arc we’re celebrating the 90th anniversary of the classic Robert E. Howard story The Frost-Giant’s Daughter by looking at it and surrounding events in a different light and I’m excited for readers to see it all come together.
Doug Braithwaite is drawing the best damn pages of his career on this one. About a week ago, Doug sent us a beautiful finished two-page spread and then, a few days later, he sent a completely new version redrawn from scratch that was even better. Just stunning dedication and and amazing artwork coming from the whole team.
SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN #4 is a special Battle of the Black Stone tie-in issue with six different short stories that set up key plotlines for-
CONAN – story by me, art by Fernando Dagnino
BRISSA – story by me, art by Dean Kotz
CONRAD & KIROWAN – story by Jeff Shanks, art by Eryk Donovan
DARK AGNES – story by Fred Kennedy, art by Andy Belanger
EL BORAK – story by Ron Marz, art by Mike Perkins
SOLOMON KANE – story and art by Patch Zircher
It’s been a blast coordinating with this crew in and around the upcoming event mini-series. Can’t wait for you to see this one.
Eisner Nominations for Conan
Thrilled to see that letterer Richard Starkings and colorist Dean White received Eisner Award nominations this year for their amazing contributions to Conan the Barbarian.
Congrats, gents! You both helped make the new series a stunner that has won over old fans and new readers alike.
If you’re an industry professional or comic retailer, make sure you vote and help our Hyborians bring home the gold!
• Tony Diterlizzi, one of my favorite fantasy artists, has been doing a dive into his past work on the Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual release in 1993 and it’s a fascinating look at his work history and process at that time – PART 1 and PART 2 are up so far.
• Ernie Smith has put together an alternate home page for AI-free Google searching called &UDM=14. Here’s hoping it keeps working and that the tidal wave of generated garbage data gets swept aside in the future.
I hope your June is starting strong – Happy Pride Month to all my friends and fans! Jim
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