Jim Zub's Blog, page 14
May 30, 2024
Pitch Package Critique
Almost 12 years ago, I posted up a critique I gave someone on a pitch package I was sent because I felt that the feedback covered a lot of common mistakes I see and could help other people as well.
Recently, one of my former students reached out to get feedback on an animated series pitch concept they’d been working on and, in a similar vein, asked for unvarnished critique. I don’t normally have time for one-on-one feedback, but they’re a former student and, as soon as I looked over the presentation they’d put together, I could see a lot of fundamental issues and they needed a wake up call.
So…here’s what I sent them, with story and character specifics removed, so people who read my blog here can benefit from it too:
• First impressions are extremely important. The first slide of this presentation needs a logo that reinforces your story. That logo needs to stand out along with a piece of art that immediately engages the viewer. A bland font and a rough character head sketch is not the first impression you want to make.• When coming up with a title, you need to do research and make sure it isn’t already being used elsewhere. [Specifics about how their title is too close to something that already exists], and a studio will not want a story that is only one letter different from that.• Your core idea is quite generic and has been done many times before. A great story twist or an extremely engaging art style could help elevate it beyond that generic foundation and grab some attention, but you don’t have either of those things in your pitch package right now.• The stakes in your summary are much too vague. The “fate of humanity” sounds dramatic, but also feels impossible to measure. In many ways, smaller and clearer stakes can work better than vast “the world is in danger” stuff, especially at the start of a story.• Do not try to pitch a multiple season show right from the start, especially as someone with no prior experience running a show. Make an incredibly compelling first season concept that works on its own and generate compelling story threads that can be pursued for a possible second season.• Your description of technology doesn’t make sense and isn’t consistent. You need to be much clearer in terms of the tech level involved and how this setting is similar or different from our modern world.• What is the name of this place? Is it an existing city we know or a completely fictional world? “A massive city” is not good enough and doesn’t feel interesting. It’s all too vague.• Something that can “change the course of history and the fate of humanity” might be a secret for your audience, but it’s not something you can hide from the people you want to approve your concept and bankroll your show. If you have a really cool story twist, you need to tell us right in the pitch, otherwise it’s just hollow promises and a producer will see right through it and call you on your BS or reject the pitch outright.• Again, the stakes feel way too vague. What are the main character’s goals, short term or long term? Is the main character doing this for their family or just for their own ego? Is there an immediate need for this fame or money that makes any of this interesting or compelling right now?• Why do you have concept designs for secondary characters before your designs for the main character? These slides need to be presented in a logical order.• The sizing and silhouettes on most of the characters are far too similar, especially when we see them all together in the character line up. Their standing poses do not convey any sense of personality. Most of the clothing is equally bland and does not visually stand out.• The character expressions look okay, but the body posing is extremely bland. Characters just standing around tells the people you’re pitching to that characters in the show are just going to be standing around a lot.• Your section write ups need to be much shorter and more focused. Imagine an executive sees these slides projected on screen during a live pitch session. Are they going to spend time reading a pile of tiny text? Not a chance.• You have some sentences in present tense and others in past tense. Also, there should not be any spelling or grammatical errors. Your writing needs to be completely professional to help convince the executives you pitch to that the idea is worth investing in.• Ideally, the writing should give us a sense of personality and draw us into this fictional world. Your writing is not clear enough and doesn’t convey any feeling about the world or the characters.• You are pitching an entire season of a show but only have a synopsis of the first episode? That is not going to cut it. You describe the start of that episode in too much moment-to-moment detail and then rush through the second half instead of describing it all in a compelling and consistent way.What is the inciting incident that makes this first episode feel important and amazing? What kind of compelling surprise or cliffhanger can you create that pushes the audience to need to see episode 2 and beyond? There is nothing that happens in this first episode that your main character can’t just back out of and go back to their regular life. There is nothing special about this day or moment to grab our attention.
• Your biography is too long and doesn’t come across as confident or focused. You can’t just tell a company you have ideas, you have to prove that those ideas are better than anything they could come up with on their own. Do you have a website with a portfolio of other work? Do you have experience on other projects or films?• None of the concept art is finished so, in turn, the concept doesn’t feel properly fleshed out. Why should a company spend thousands, possibly millions of dollars, when you can’t even give them a clear vision of what this story might look like?I know the above points are harsh, but I need you to understand that this isn’t just about getting a passing grade on an assignment anymore. If you want to compete in a professional environment, especially if you are looking to lead a production, expectations are way, way higher.
In its current form, none of this pitch package is ready. If you want to make a stronger impression, you need to reevaluate this pitch and get to work overhauling every aspect of it.
Transitioning from student work to professional output can be extremely tough, especially when you’re trying to jump into a leadership role by pitching a brand new project.
The only way to get better is to build things, finish them, learn from them, and then keep building, over and over.
If you found this post helpful, feel free to let me know here (or on Twitter), share the post with your friends, check out other tutorial posts I’ve written (including a whole series of articles on pitching), or sign up for my email newsletter.
May 28, 2024
Conan the Barbarian #11 Reviews
• Comic Culture: “It’s a very primal book…One of the best, most consistent books out there right now.”
• Comical Opinions: 9.5/10 “…a grim, gritty, epic entry in the series. Jim Zub packs in a plethora of twists and turns to tie the past and present together in a surprising way, and Robert De La Torre’s art is gorgeous.”
• League of Comic Geeks: 10/10 “Gotta be my favourite book on the shelves! I love everything about this run!!! Story, art & colour all on the same page! Just so flipping fun!”
• Pop Culture Philosophers: “The story is really cool. Conan is back in time, he’s met Kull, they go to Atlantis, there’s a big twist at the end here…This book is beautiful, I frickin’ love it!”
• Stygian Dogs: “The success of this book is all in the team and the team remains so in the pocket. If this is what Heroic Signatures continues to offer us in its curation of Robert E. Howard’s characters in comic book form, I remain all in.”
• Thinking Critical: “Book of the week…The finale of this comic book and the huge reveal on the last page had my jaw on the floor, it was absolutely phenomenal. Roberto De La Torre was made to illustrate this comic book character in this series.”
• Todd Luck: “The artwork by Robert De La Torre continues to be very, very solid, very good stuff…This has been a very solid series so far.”
May 26, 2024
Zubby Newsletter #64: Drunk Mecha Pilot
Stacy and I arrived home from our 3 week Japan trip on Thursday just before midnight and, after two rough flights with no sleep across 16 hours, we crashed hard.
I woke up on Friday morning feeling surprisingly good and, as I unpacked and started reorganizing, I thought maybe this time I might ride out the jetlag well and be able to enjoy the long weekend before diving back into work, but no such luck. By dinner time I was hit with waves of deep exhaustion, the kind that just shuts you down for hours at a time, and bouts of hunger or an upset stomach and that’s kind of been the last two and a half days – bursts of feeling okay smashed up against long bouts where I feel like a tiny drunk mecha pilot maneuvering my own shambling corpse.
It’ll pass, it always does, but it’s part of getting back into international travel that I’d memory holed a bit.
Now that I’m home, I need to dive right back into writing and prep for Howard Days in a couple weeks. No rest for the wicked.
Japan-age
Quite a few people reached out to ask where Stacy and I went during our trip. It’s a bit hard to encompass it all, but here’s the overview (and some photos):
• We stayed in Tokyo for the first few days, which covered my Free Comic Book Day signing and shopping in Ikebukuro, Akihabara, and Nakano.
• We went to Nagoya to explore a city we’d never been to before and experience the new Ghibli Park.
• Our next stop was Osaka to enjoy the food and night life, more shopping and exploring. Key spots included Dōtonbori, Kuromon Market, Denden Town, and Shin Sekai, along with the new Universal Japan theme park to check out Super Mario World.
• We took a day trip to Nara to spend time with the deer in Nara Park and show our friends Todaiji Temple.
• Back to Tokyo for the final leg of our trip – TeamLab Planets and TeamLab Borderless, the Design Festa indie art convention along with exploring Ginza, Asakusa, Odaiba, Yūyake Dandan, and Shinjuku.
• The places we went were amazing, and just diving back into Japan after six years away was a joy, but it was also wonderful traveling with a couple of our friends from Alberta, touching base with old friends we have in Japan, meeting new people (including an evening where I chatted with a Robert E. Howard scholar living in Yokohama and another night where I ran AD&D in a pub for a group of old school gamers), and unexpectedly running into a couple former students while we were on the road.
Celebrating my birthday and kicking off my teaching sabbatical with this whirlwind trip was incredibly special…and worth the jet lag. 
As part of the long term Heroic Signatures publishing plan for Conan, we’ve talked at length about how best to honor the canon source material of Robert E. Howard while also incorporating elements that are recognizable and appealing to the wider pop culture audience Conan has built in the 90+ years since he was created.
Conan is an icon, he’s the Superman of Sword & Sorcery, and just like Superman, there are aspects of the character and his world that came later but have become intrinsically linked to how he’s now recognized. Superman didn’t fly in the original stories, there was no Kryptonite, and he didn’t work for the Daily Planet, but almost everyone would agree that these elements are now important parts of the canon.
With that in mind, in this week’s Conan the Barbarian #11 we surprised readers by bringing the iconic ATLANTEAN SWORD into Conan’s ongoing continuity for the first time. The sword and its distinctive look by Production Designer Ron Cobb is already inextricably linked to Conan and we believe it’s time to make it a formal part of his story.
If you haven’t had a chance to check out this issue, the penultimate piece before we wrap up our epic first year on the relaunch, do not miss it. Rob De La Torre and Diego Rodriguez are delivering incredible art on every page and we’re paying off plot material set up at the start.
• A slew of friends and fans sent me Alain Seguin‘s fan animated trailer for Conan: Tower of the Elephant. Seeing our favorite Cimmerian in a classic animated style here is a treat.
• When I started this newsletter just over a year ago Karl Kerschl had a crowdfunding campaign going for Death Transit Tanager, and now he’s back with a campaign for part 2. Karl’s a friend, I love his artwork, the first one rocked. Done and done.
• On the flight home one of the films I watched was a documentary called Soviet Bus Stops, and I’m glad I did. It’s about a Canadian photographer who has been taking pictures of obscure bus stops across the former Soviet Union, immortalizing their ambitious or strange architecture and showing how artistic and ambitious they were at a time when the country’s culture and construction were being homogenized in service to the state. It’s a fascinating bit of oddball history that echoes larger themes about art and rebellion, well told and whimsical.
I hope your weekend has been a good one with zero jet lag.
Jim
May 24, 2024
Zub Comics Arriving in July
CONAN THE BARBARIAN #13
story JIM ZUB
art DOUG BRAITHWAITE
colors DIEGO RODRIGUEZ
cover A – DAN PANOSIAN
cover B – AMANDA CONNER
cover C – DOUG BRAITHWAITE
cover D – GIL AGUDIN
cover E – GREAG BROADMORE
cover F – GIADA MARCHISIO
A brand new Conan arc begins! 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!
LIFE OF WOLVERINE #1
story JIM ZUB
art RAMÓN F. BACHS
cover RON LIM
LOGAN’S LIFE STORY – IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER FOR THE FIRST TIME!
WOLVERINE has been mindwiped, manipulated and given false memories so many times, what is the truth of his long life? Now, as a journey into his own past becomes paramount to the survival of mutantkind, delve into the TRUE story of LOGAN’s life, from his earliest days in the late 1800s, to the many wars he’s fought alongside comrades like CAPTAIN AMERICA and SABRETOOTH, to the WEAPON X procedures that changed his life forever, his days on the X-MEN and more! All IN CONTINUITY, this includes some adventures and links to the past never before revealed, giving the most complete picture of WOLVERINE’s history EVER ASSEMBLED! In print for the first time!
40 PGS./ONE-SHOT/Parental Advisory …$4.99
May 19, 2024
Conan: Battle of the Black Stone Prelude Reviews
The CONAN: BATTLE OF THE BLACK STONE prelude issue arrived on Free Comic Book Day (and is now available for FREE online right HERE), kicking off an event mini-series that will run this Fall. What did critics think of this teaser issue?
• Bottalk: 9/10 “If you’re a fan of Jack London’s The Star Rover you’ll love this comic and it’s free! Go get it! Download it! It is spectacular.”
• Eternal Crusader: “It will be exciting to see how this Howardverse develops and how much it will be the focus of future Conan publications…The artwork is bold, flashy, and colorful.”
• Gary B the Casual Comic Guy: “Just a fantastic start, certainly intriguing, and seeing all these characters being drawn in makes me anticipate the coming story.”
• Grimdark Magazine: “The Jonas Scharf artwork in this issue appeals…Foreshadowing an exciting event, this issue is engaging for existing fans while simultaneously providing a gentle introduction to newcomers to Conan the Barbarian.”
• League of Comic Geeks: “Thoroughly enjoyed this, serves its purpose of both an introduction and kick off spot for new and existing readers alike. Exactly what a FCBD issue should be.”
• Stygian Dogs: “Jonas Scharf’s art looks great. It’s something distinct from what Rob De La Torre and Doug Braithwaite have been giving us and Jao Canola’s seem bolder that we’ve seen in the ongoing monthly series.”
• Todd Luck: “I think this is a really good comic to pick up if you are a Conan fan.”
May 18, 2024
Zubby Newsletter #63: Forty Eight
Today’s my birthday. 48.
Things are good!
Stacy and I are still in Japan, at least for a few more days. The friends we were traveling with headed home Thursday so it’s just the two of us now. Getting back here at last has been wonderful, but I can definitely feel a difference deep in my bones. Exploring all day wipes us out faster than it used to. There have been several days where we’ve run around in the morning and early afternoon, literally had a midday nap back at our hotel, and then rallied for more social stuff in the evening. We’re not in our twenties anymore.
That said, tons of walking and great food has also been good for us, even if my feet are sore and muscles ache. As always, there’s so much to see and do.
For my birthday we braved the line at Mutekiya, a famous no reservation restaurant and one of my favorite food spots in Tokyo. Incredible ramen and then cocktails at a nearby pub with the love of my life. A fine start to 48.
I posted up a gallery of photos from The Ghibli Park in Nagoya on Facebook and Twitter and will have other galleries for the Super Mario World theme park, Design Festa 59 and other locations once I have time to filter through the hundreds of photos we’ve taken.
Alien Gods and the Hyborian AgeJeff Shanks, the Robert E. Howard scholar who writes the amazing essays in the back of each issue of the monthly Conan comic, talks up a storm about the literary and spiritual references that helped build the Hyborian Age, plus lots of interesting background on pulp writing in the 1920s and ’30s.
The official Conan the Barbarian YouTube channel is doing a great job creating original material for fans to dig into.
Current + Upcoming Releases
• Five years ago on my birthday, I played Minsc the Mighty alongside an all-star cast at Dungeons & Dragons Live: The Descent. It was a milestone in so many wondrous ways, near and dear to my heart. If you haven’t watched the old liveplay video, it’s still on the official D&D YouTube channel.
• I mentioned playtesting and enjoying Keith Baker‘s GLIM game a couple months ago and it’s now on Kickstarter, so check it out.
• My buddy Ian Moss has designed a new board game called EVERBLOOM also worth checking out.
• Veritasium‘s video all about game theory and the Prisoner’s Dilemma is well worth watching.
I hope the rest of your weekend is a blast!
Jim
May 11, 2024
Zubby Newsletter #62: Near and Deer
Greetings from Nara Park. The deer here are as friendly as ever.
Tokyo, Nagoya, Nara and Osaka. Our vacation in Japan continues. It’s been a great time to engage much-missed experiences and discover new ones. Our friends are on a 2-day temple retreat over the weekend while Stacy and I enjoy exploration and amazing meals in one of Japan’s most vibrant cities.
This whole trip has been a gift, but it’s time to give all of YOU a gift as well…
Battle of the Black Stone Prelude – FREE
Last weekend was Free Comic Book Day and Titan released our CONAN: BATTLE OF THE BLACK STONE prelude issue to shops but, if you missed it, I’m happy to point you toward the FREE PDF DOWNLOAD now available from Titan’s website and Amazon Kindle!
Jonas Scharf‘s line art is sublime, Jao Canola‘s colors are intense, Richard Starkings‘ letters sing, Jeff Shanks‘ essay is enlightening…and the story is pretty good too.
Please share that download link far and wide, my friends. I want to get it in the hands of as many people as possible as we ramp up for more Conan adventures through 2024 and beyond.
Nerd Chatter
During the Calgary Expo I chatted with Chris Doucher from GeekNerdNet and the interview is now available on his site. We cover Conan aplenty and conventions.
• Gale Force Nine is crowdfunding The Adventures of Conan with dice-rolling action and asymmetrical gameplay. I haven’t had a chance to play it yet, but the previews look solid and I’m eager to give it a try. There’s still 4 days left if you want to get in on the ground floor on this one.
• Conan the Barbarian letterer and all-around amazing creator Richard Starkings is crowdfunding Elephantmen: Yvette, a new 48-page special issue and the campaign has some fun extras worth checking out. Richard talks more about Conan connections here in this Facebook post.
I hope your weekend is going well!
Jim
May 6, 2024
Zubby Newsletter #61: Back In Japan
I’m typing this little newsletter update from a Shinkansen (Japanese bullet train) as we head to the second stop on our Japan vacation. The past four days have been a whirlwind of exploration and fantastic food. It feels so good to finally be back after six years. As always, there’s some jetlag and a bit of culture shock in terms of transit and geography, but it’s all coming back to us now and we’re having a blast.
The Free Comic Book Day signing at Verse Comics in Ikebukuro went really well. I’ve never started a signing before where the line-up clapped when I entered the room, which was an unexpected little surprise. Lots of great little conversations with Marvel fans, D&D players and, of course, Conan readers aplenty. With the time zone change, the people here in Japan were some of the first to get their hands on the CONAN: BATTLE OF THE BLACK STONE prelude issue and, when I told them that they were even more excited to dig in.
I hope that wherever you are, you managed to snag our freebie from your local comic retailer and that it’s whet your appetite for big adventures to come. Jonas Scharf and Jao Canola did a stellar job on the art and they will be continuing that excellence on the event mini-series that kicks off this Fall. The response I saw online was incredibly gratifying and I am so glad we have so much support and enthusiasm from readers everywhere.
Some other interesting stuff:
• Beyond the giveaway prelude, the books I signed the most at Verse were Avengers Tech-On, the Bandai-Marvel collaboration I worked on with Jeff ‘Chamba’ Cruz. I also managed to snag a copy of the Japanese language edition of the book for my collection.
• According to a game translator I met, Call of Cthulhu is the hottest tabletop RPG right now in Japan. I’ve been seeing the official translated books and unofficial fan material prominently displayed in every game shop we’ve been to.
• The funniest interaction I had with a reader at the signing was a guy who brought a bunch of my Champions comics and excitedly exclaimed “You are the first one to kill Ms. Marvel, even before Zeb Wells!”, which is true, but the way he excitedly said it made us all laugh. He genuinely enjoyed Champions: Beat The Devil and said the story was very emotional and one of his favorites.
The official CONAN THE BARBARIAN YouTube channel kicks off with a great summary of the character and his legacy and I’m thrilled to be a part of it:
In addition, Shawn Curley and I did an extensive interview all about the Cimmerian himself – the books, the original movie, Conan’s pop culture footprint, my current comic writing and big plans for the future. If you haven’t subscribed to their channel, give this one a watch/listen and get all caught up:
Have a wonderful week!
Jim
May 4, 2024
Savage Sword of Conan #2 Reviews
• Amazon: “This is horror-themed, raw, provocative, and painful–in a good way…Not to be too morbid, but this takes Conan to a place we haven’t seen him in a while and it’s done well.”
• Comic Book Dispatch: 9.2/10 “Richard Pace’s primitive art is as rough and brutal as the Hyborian Age. Furious slashes and angry lines show Conan’s battles with animals and monstrous warriors.”
• Comic Culture: “Clearly the best book of the week…Every single page is beautiful. I just love it. What a blessing this book has been.”
• Comical Opinions: 8.8/10 “Jim Zub and Patch Zircher are at the top of their game, building upon Robert E. Howard’s legacy…Savage Sword of Conan #2 is a dream for Robert E. Howard fans with two stories showcasing Howard’s greatest characters by creators who love them.”
• Hobbies of a Man: 9/10 “I think they did a great job improving on the concept from last time. I think they did a great job in printing.”
• Pop Culture Philosophers: “What a great issue of Conan…A classic nice, bold and savage Conan tale…A lot of bang for your buck.”
• Stygian Dogs: “This feels like the best Conan story in years. In Zub’s story of dark horror, vengeance and a stubborn Cimmerian’s instincts for survival, artist Richard Pace pursues an almost primitive approach in the way he depicts these primal moments and, as the story addresses the innocence of childhood, Pace’s technique remains effective.”
• Wakizashi’s Teahouse: 9/10 “You can tell the people making this comic are enjoying themselves. That’s good to see. It comes across on the pages.”
April 29, 2024
Zubby Newsletter #60: Summertime Chill
As expected, this year’s Calgary Expo was a wonderful time. The crowd in Alberta is always enthusiastic and it was a joy to see familiar faces and new fans at the show. Following the recent trend, there was a lot of Conan excitement and D&D buzz as well.
As I finish typing this, Stacy and I are staying at our friend’s place outside Calgary, slamming through work emails and finalizing a couple project hand-ins while we repack our bags and get ready to fly to Japan for vacation.
(Wait – vacation?! Jim doesn’t take vacations, does he? What strange times indeed…)
Frozen Faith Begins in July!
In July, CONAN THE BARBARIAN #13 kicks off the second year of our new era of Hyborian adventure. 90 years ago was the original publication of Gods of the North, also known as The Frost-Giant’s Daughter, one of the most famous and beloved Conan stories written by Robert E. Howard.
Frozen Faith, our fourth story arc, is a celebration of Frost-Giant’s Daughter, but it’s not just a direct adaptation of that seminal tale. I’ve been clear in interviews that I don’t want to just retread existing Hyborian canon because we’re not a cover band here to replay the hits. Keeping the world’s most famous sword & sorcery hero vibrant requires new and unexpected narratives. I didn’t want to explore Frost-Giant’s Daughter material unless there was something fresh and exciting we could bring to the mix and, thankfully, I found an approach I’m really excited about. No spoilers, especially at this early stage, just know that Doug Braithwaite is drawing the best damn pages of his career (along with four glorious connected covers) and I am ecstatic at how it’s all coming together. I think it’s going to be really special.
Speaking of Frozen Faith, variant cover artist Gil Agudin has posted a breakdown of his Conan the Barbarian #13 cover illustration process on Artstation. It’s a combination of 3D model work in Zbrush and Photoshop digital painting.
Fighting Fantasy on My Phone
After doing a bunch of research while designing a new 1st edition D&D adventure I put together for Gary Con, I’ve been enjoying the Fighting Fantasy Classics app by Tin Man Games, reliving the wondrous DEATHTRAP DUNGEON and other old school gamebooks on my phone.
Now that I’ve been pulled back in, it got me thinking that some day it would be a ton of fun to write a Fighting Fantasy book and complete my full circle sword & sorcery triumvirate of inspiration – Dungeons & Dragons, Conan the Barbarian, and Fighting Fantasy made me the fantasy-flinging nerd I am today.
Current + Upcoming Releases
• Chris Cantwell passed me an advance look at the second arc of Briar, the fairytale fantasy epic he’s weaving with Germán García and Matheus Lopes. The art is perfect for the moody and tragic tale that unfolds on every page. Wonderful work.
• Another rockin’ fantasy comic coming up is Heartpiercer by Rich Douek and artist Gavin Smith. The first issue sets the stage for a premise full of potential.
• Mark Evanier‘s rundown of the recent controversy around who created Wolverine is a multi-part series called Claws For Debate that is well worth catching up on, packed with information and context aplenty on issues around credit and legacy that creatives and the general public should be more aware of.
• Spike Trotman recently posted a link to a 2008 Supinfocom animated short called Yankee Gal that I’d forgotten about. A great little piece worth revisiting or watching for the first time.
Have a great week. My next newsletter will be sent from Japan – the return of #GaiJim!
Jim
