Zub Tales

Skullkickers #5, the last issue of our first story arc, arrives in comic book stores today. All of us on the creative team are excited to hear from fans and retailers about what they think of the big action climax in this issue.

At the back of the issue is a special letter I wrote about the future of the series. You can check it out by clicking the thumbnail below –

Here’s the text:
Here we are – the first story arc of Skullkickers is complete!

The original “2 Copper Pieces” short story that Skullkickers is based off of was pitched to Image for Popgun v2 back in November of 2007. Just over three years later I’m writing this letter to you, our readers, as we wrap up the fifth issue of our ongoing series.

Yeah, ongoing. You can’t imagine how happy typing that makes me.

When I outlined the story for Skullkickers I made sure there was a back-up plan to wrap things up after five issues if sales came in where we expected them to. We’d tell one complete adventure of these two mercenary morons and that would be it. This issue is where things would have ended.

I probably don’t need to explain this to you, but the comic book industry doesn’t generally embrace new series with open arms. Titles launch all the time and the vast majority crumble under deadline or sales pressures. There was no reason to expect our book would do any better and I planned accordingly. As my Dad would say, “Plan for the worst but hope for the best”.

And the best is exactly what we received.

The best from the creative team, our publisher, reviewers, retailers and fans. Thank you, all of you. You’ve helped make creating this book an incredible experience and a highlight in my creative career.

Our little sword & sassery book has surprised a lot of people and done a pretty good job at carving out a tiny niche to call its own. The back-up plan has been filed away and is ideally never needed. Now we can dig in to a bigger epic story and poke holes in an even larger fantasy milieu. It’s gonna be a hoot.

Is there more depth coming? Yes, absolutely.

Now that the series is established we can plan ahead and do a lot more than I’d originally thought possible. A single ridiculous swashbuckling adventure is now the opening salvo of a much bigger story I have planned. Baldy and Shorty may not understand anything past the end of their weapons right now but a whole lot more is happening behind the scenes. These two monster killers are caught in a maelstrom of political and magical machinations that’s going to take them across this fantasy world and beyond. Just like this first chapter it’ll be big and loud, sarcastic and explosive.

The mercenaries will finally be named, the cast will grow, history will be explored, destiny will be foretold and monsters will have their brains squished in new and amazing ways. It probably won’t win us any awards for advancing the storytelling medium, but we’ll do everything we can to make it fun and well worth your $2.99.

I think comedy gets a bad rap. People feel guilty enjoying something goofy when there are deep and meaningful works they “should” be partaking in. Don’t get me wrong, I have a dozen ideas for stories that delve in to the depths of the human condition and make people cry bulbous tears of pure emotion, but Skullkickers is not that kind of book. This is a sugar shock of silly action carved out of my pre-teen enthusiasm for fantasy and over-the-top action movies. It’s built to make a 12 year old little Zub freak out with excitement and run around the house pretending he’s kicking an animated skeleton in the teeth.

Sincerely,
ZUB