Zub Tales

Conan the Barbarian #5 arrived in comic shops today. I don’t think I’ve ever received so many messages or reviews for the fifth issue of a comic I’ve written before. Thank you for the support and for sharing your enthusiasm far and wide! Let’s see what the critics thought of it-

• Amazon: “Are we absolutely sure there isn’t a secret story fragment they uncovered from Robert E. Howard that is fueling these comics? Because that’s how they feel”

• Big Comic Page: “Ably aiding the story-telling within this issue is the ‘diabolical’ Doug Braithwaite, whose pencils do a sterling job in portraying the squalor of Shadizar and the grotesque grimness of the Cimmerian’s route to the fortress’ Moratorium.”

• Comic Book.com: “Zub really finds a great rhythm here once he gets going. It’s paced much more efficiently than most of that first arc, with the heist element making things even faster as it goes along.”

• Comical Opinions: 8.5/10 “Zub’s picture of a more mature Conan gives the series the weight of continuity and importance, while the addition of Braithwaite on pencils/inks is a welcome change in style.”

• Comicon: 10/10 “Conan the Barbarian harkens back to the golden age of adventurers and captures the spirit of the Sword & Sorcery genre so completely that I feel transported back to the days of reading pulp books under the covers well past my bedtime.”

• Comics Beat: “The figure work is dynamic and full of weight. Everyone feels like a Frazetta novel cover, and I love that. Braithwaite employs a dynamic pacing by mixing up the layouts and does some interesting things with page composition that is a delight to read…it is a great jumping on point for Titan’s Conan. If you missed out on the series and want to check it out, this is an excellent place to start.”

• Get Your Comic On: 8/10 “A vibrant comic with strong illustrations, the story is more deep than you would expect and certainly will become a lot deeper as we continue. Conan is back strong with this new arc and I am ready for it.”

• Grimdark Magazine: “Conan the Barbarian #5 marks a promising start for the second story arc. Braithwaite has a very different visual style than his predecessor, but his gory theatrics a good fit for the series.”

• Hither Came Conan: “The new art team of Doug Braithwaite and Diego Rodriguez did a phenomenal job. Their style, their tone, it all works for Conan…This was a great kickoff to the new arc.”

• Infinity Flux: “Have no worries, the art is fantastic. Doug Braithwaite is a classic artist…Happy to say that Conan continues to be one of the best books on the shelf.”

• League of Comic Geeks: “I am consistently shocked by how much this series I never planned to pull or expected to love so much is one of the best indies I’ve been reading.”

• My Kind of Weird: 8/10 “It injects some much-needed life back into the IP of Conan the Barbarian…The story is solid and it makes me want to pick up another issue.”

• Pop Culture Philosophers: “The enthusiasm for Conan and his world and the meticulous nature in which it’s presented here absolutely rocks. This book has been so much fun. This book feels literary. This book feels exciting. This book feels like exactly what we need in comics right now!…Jump in if you haven’t already.”

• Sci-Fi Pulse: 9.7/10 “Jim Zub continues to deliver what feels like the kind of Conan Stories that are very true to the stories that were written by the character’s late creator Robert E. Howard.”

• Set the Tape: “The lyricism [Zub] brings to his characters here is excellent, creating a believable yet epic grandeur to their actions. His descriptions of the exotic sights manage to also pique the readers’ interest, making the job of new artists and colorists Doug Braithwaite and Diego Rodriguez that much easier.”

• Stygian Dogs: “Doug Braithwaite’s superlative debut continues the series’ excellence. Titan Comics and Heroic Signatures’ Conan the Barbarian continues to be the must read series.”

• Thinking Critical: “It was a whole lot of fun and really sets up a new adventure for Conan that’s going to feel different and unique…Once again, [Zub] paid tribute to the source material doing something that’s never been told before, but definitely felt like Conan.”

• Todd Luck: “Artwork is a big selling point for Conan and this is absolutely worth the price of admission…Titan Comics and the creators who are putting this out seem to have a very good grasp on what makes a very good Conan the Barbarian comic.”

• Wakazashi’s Teahouse: 8/10 “There’s some great dialogue and great narration. At times it feels like it’s falling off the pages of [Robert E.] Howard’s books.”