Jim Zub's Blog, page 121
April 30, 2015
Conan Red Sonja #4 – Now In Stores!
Yesterday saw the release of CONAN RED SONJA #4, wrapping up our sweeping crossover story.
I’m so honored to have been be a part of this with Gail Simone, Dan Panosian, Randy Green, Dave Stewart, Rick Ketcham, and Comicraft. Growing up a Conan fan (the novels, the comics, the movies) and seeing my name on one of them now is a gloriously surreal experience.
A deep thank you to Dave Marshall, our glorious Editor, and the rest of the team at Dark Horse Comics who kept the whole project rolling forward.
An additional thank you to Gail Simone, my co-writer and friend, who brought me aboard this delightful adventure and made the story shine.
Gail and I treated this mini-series like our first and last chance to give these two characters an appropriately epic story worthy of their legend. It was a wish list of bombastic situations and action-packed set pieces in every chapter. I’m really proud of the final result and feel like this is a career milestone for me. Thank you to everyone who has picked up a copy and let me know that they enjoyed it.
In August Dark Horse is releasing a hardcover collection of the mini-series. I can’t wait to put it on my shelf.
Conan Red Sonja
(issues #1-4)
Gail Simone and Jim Zub team up to bring together legendary warriors–Conan and Red Sonja! Spanning 3 eras in the lives of these classic characters, Conan and Red Sonja must become comrades to take down a twisted sorcerer-priest hell-bent on creating a new age in Hyborian warfare!
PRE-ORDER
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Chapters-Indigo
comiXology
TFAW
April 29, 2015
Crowdfinders Interview
I was interviewed by David from the Crowdfinders podcast. We talk about my career, getting my start, working on commercial and creator-owned properties, and a bunch more. Give it a listen.
April 28, 2015
Audio Interview on The Comic Shoot
The gang at All-Comic interviewed me at the Calgary Expo and we chat about Wayward, Skullkickers, Samurai Jack, creator-owned comics and more.
SFX – POP! on Comics Alliance
Over on Comics Alliance I’m one of four creators interviewed about our stories in Vertigo’s latest comics anthology called POP! Click on through to check out my thoughts on sound effects and to see an exclusive preview of my short story “Little Medals”, illustrated by Matt Rockefeller.
April 27, 2015
Wayward – The Original Pitch, Redacted
Several people have asked me to post up my pitch document for Wayward like I did with Skullkickers. I’ve avoided doing that because the Wayward pitch is filled with story spoilers, but Rob Xara suggested I redact all the bits no one can see yet and that sounded fun… so here’s the original Wayward pitch with big spoiler sections blacked out like a classified military document.
Enjoy!
You’ll notice the whole thing is only 6 pages and the core of it is really just this one summary page. Yeah, it’s lean and mean. As I’ve said before, keep pitches short and focused. If a publisher likes it they’ll ask for more.
Normally you’d also include finished comic pages with a pitch package, especially if you’re new to the industry. In this case both Steve and I were established with a solid body of work and the publishers we were pitching to knew we could deliver pro quality so that wasn’t required.
If you’ve never read Wayward before and the pitch material above has you intrigued, find out more about it by clicking HERE!
Wayward Vol. 1
String Theory
(issues #1-5)
Rori Lane is trying to start a new life when she reunites with her mother in Japan, but ancient creatures lurking in the shadows of Tokyo sense something hidden deep within her, threatening everything she holds dear. Can she unlock the secrets of her power before it’s too late?
Amazon.com
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Chapters-Indigo
Cheap GNs
comiXology
Forbidden Planet
Instock Trades
Midtown Comics
TFAW
Third Eye Comics
Exploring Tokyo in Wayward
Chase Magnett has written a new article all about the way Steve Cummings and I present the city of Tokyo in Wayward and the details we put into it. He’s included a nice photo of Ikebukuro station from Wayward #1. Give it a read!
April 21, 2015
Wayward #10 Solicitation
Arriving in July. Pre-order now!
WAYWARD #10
STORY: JIM ZUB
ART / COVER A: STEVE CUMMINGS & TAMRA BONVILLAIN
COVER B: HANZO STEINBACH
JULY 29 / 32 PAGES / FC / M / $3.50
The second arc ends. The future revealed. Welcome to the next level.
COVER A is part 5 of a five-part panorama by STEVE CUMMINGS and TAMRA BONVILLAIN. Buy all five issues of this story arc to fit them together into a massive WAYWARD illustration.
COVER B is a variant by online fan favorite Hanzo Steinbach.
Skullkickers Vol. 6 Solicitation
Arriving in July, pre-order now!
SKULLKICKERS VOL. 6: INFINITE ICONS OF THE ENDLESS EPIC
STORY: JIM ZUB
ART: EDWIN HUANG & MISTY COATS
COVER: EDWIN HUANG & ESPEN GRUNDETJERN
JULY 8 / 144 PAGES / FC / T / $16.99
In this volume the SKULLKICKERS story comes to an end, but it’s not going out without a fight!
Beer, blood, and battle collide in the ultimate brawl to end it all!
“If you like action or humor, no one is doing it better than these guys.” -The Weekly Crisis
Collects SKULLKICKERS #31-33 & #100.
Skullkickers Vol. 6
Infinite Icons of the Endless Epic
(issues #30-34)
Introduction by Joe Zub
The Skullkickers story comes to an end, but it’s not going out without a fight! Beer, blood, and battle collide in the ultimate brawl to end it all!
PRE-ORDER
Amazon.com
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Book Depository
Chapters-Indigo
April 20, 2015
Zub on Word Balloon – The Comic Conversation
John Siuntres and I had a wonderful in-depth conversation about my career and the changing face of the comic industry. It’s one of the most extensive interviews I’ve done and covers a lot of ground I haven’t tread elsewhere. It is quite long, so I put together a breakdown of what subjects we cover in case you just want to zero in on a few sections instead of listening to the whole thing.
0:00:00 John’s Introduction
0:04:18 Interview Start: Talking about Canada
0:11:03 Convention Culture
0:15:40 The changing comic industry
0:20:24 How I got my start doing webcomics
0:28:43 Working at UDON
0:34:19 Starting Skullkickers
0:41:48 Working with Edwin Huang
0:44:25 Skullkickers’ final issue
0:51:50 Skullkickers complete Omnibus?
0:54:10 Tutorials, Economics and Working with Image
1:00:56 Working with Retailers
1:06:33 Wayward
1:14:14 Manga sales in North America
1:17:49 Wayward’s touchstone character and the big story
1:22:46 Samurai Jack
1:40:47 Conan and Red Sonja
1:52:57 Teaching and Animation History
2:02:59 Conventions and Travel
2:15:29 Role-Playing Games and Creativity
2:18:35 Wrapping Up
April 14, 2015
Newsarama Interview About the End of Skullkickers
I talked to Chris Arrant over at Newsarama all about the impending end of Skullkickers and what it feels like to wrap up five years worth of work. Give it a read!
