Zub Tales

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.)

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In September – Battle of the Black Stone #1

Comic Book Resources has an exclusive first look at the solicit and covers for CONAN: BATTLE OF THE BLACK STONE #1, arriving in September! This four issue mini-series, running parallel to the monthly Conan series, unleashes an epic across the ages, with stunning art by Jonas Scharf and Jão Canola.

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-

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Thrice Marked, One Volume

I spoke to David Brooke at AIPT all about Thrice Marked For Death, the second arc of Conan the Barbarian, arriving in trade paperback on July 16th. This interview covers the Hyborian Age, the nature of Conan, and my favorite era of the character. Give it a read!

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Talking To The Corner Box

I had a great time talking to my friends John Barber and David Hedgecock on their podcast.

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.

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Deep Script Archives – How Deep?

How many scripts are in my Patreon writing archive?
Currently 318!

That doesn’t even count outlines, tutorials, Q&A’s and more. The latest scripts posted are CONAN: SERPENT WAR #4 and DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: FORTUNE FINDER #5.

You can learn how comics are made for the price of a coffee.

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Current + Upcoming Releases

Conan the Barbarian #11 – released May 22nd.

Dungeons & Dragons: Fortune Finder – TPB released June 5th.

Conan the Barbarian #12 – releases July 3rd(previously June 26th).

Life of Wolverine – One Shot – releases July 3rd.

Savage Sword of Conan #3 – releases July 3rd.

Conan the Barbarian Vol.2: Thrice Marked For Death – TPB releases July 16th.

Conan the Barbarian #13 – releases July 24th.

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Upcoming Appearances

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.

July 25-28, 2024	San Diego Comic-Con	San Diego, CA, USA
Aug 1-4, 2024	Gen Con Indy	Indianapolis, IN, USA
Aug 16-18, 2024	Fan Expo Chicago	Chicago, IL, USA
Aug 22-25, 2024	Fan Expo Canada	Toronto, ONT, CANADA
Oct 17-20, 2024	Gamehole Con	Madison, WI, USA

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Links and Other Things

• My friends Jamie McKelvie and Kieron Gillen are crowdfunding a deluxe artbook for the cover illustrations for The Wicked + The Divine. Well worth investing in.

• My friends Marcus To, David Brothers, and Chip Zdarsky have a new creator-owned series coming out called Time Waits that sounds fantastic.

• 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.

• John C. Hocking, who I just met a couple weeks ago at Howard Days, has a great interview talking about the nearly 30 year journey to see his second Conan the Barbarian novel published. Conan: City of the Dead is now available wherever fine books are sold, and it includes new illustrations by my friend Richard Pace. Read it!

• A Brazilian publisher is crowdfunding the Portuguese version of Mark Finn‘s Robert E. Howard biography Blood and Thunder. I know a lot of foreign Conan fans follow this newsletter, so if you want this in Portuguese, don’t miss out.

Otherwise, I hope you’re looking forward to the weekend!
Jim