Jim Zub's Blog, page 23
June 14, 2023
Zubby Newsletter #15: Comics Kintsugi
John Romita Sr. passed away yesterday.
He was an absolute legend, with iconic imagery that defined generations. A giant even amongst his peers.
When I close my eyes and imagine Spider-Man, it’s almost always a piece drawn by ‘Jazzy’ John. Thank you for so many great memories, sir.
Comics Almost Broke MeQuite a few people in and out of the industry have asked if I’ve read posts from the #ComicsBrokeMe hashtag that’s been trending on Twitter.
Absolutely.
Unfortunately, barring a few extreme cases, a lot of this is not surprising to people who work in comics. I have a few stories of my own, just about everyone in the business does, and have managed to come out the other side with a career, so I have some advice but also need to stress that it’s deeply tempered with Survivor Bias–
A lottery winner telling people to buy lottery tickets is tainted by their good fortune. It’s easy to tell people not to give up on dreams when yours is happening.
A creative career isn’t as random as the lottery, but luck plays a part, so take everything I say with that in mind.
• Treat others the way you want to be treated. Heck, be better than that if you can.
Kindness, patience, and clarity won’t always be reflected back your way, but it does matter and will benefit you far more over the long haul compared to diva behavior, anger, or greed.
Being kind, patient and clear does not mean you should take bad gigs for substandard pay. Part of that clarity has to include understanding what your time and effort is worth.
• When you’re starting out and unproven, the effort VS pay equation will be badly out of whack, especially when you’re competing directly with so many other hopeful freelancers willing to work for less than what they should.
With that in mind, having a day job and starting slow is not something to be ashamed of. Your chances of success increase the longer you keep creating and having stable income is a big, big part of how you can keep at it.
Putting all your chips (effort, health, financial well-being) down on a career filled with so much uncertainty is a bad idea. I know it’s frustrating because you want things to happen as quickly as possible, but the risks outweigh the rewards.
Trust me – Slow but steady is far better.
I’ve watched quite a few creators rocket past me (and, of course, felt a flash of jealousy in the moment) only to see them quickly crash because they risked too much, burned themselves out, or treated others like shit and it caught up with them.
Your future in a creative field will almost certainly be built over time with occasional bursts forward. It does not come down to one roll of the dice, one opportunity, or one failure. If you treat it that way, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
• There have been quite a few times where I felt my comic writing career might come to an end.
Opportunities drying up. Editors not responding to messages.
You can’t control those things. All you can control is your response to it and build safety nets to carry on despite it.
There are times when you need to push yourself and deliver under duress, but you can’t sprint all the time. You are the only one who can properly gauge your limits and communicate them accordingly.
• Having stable income outside of comic freelance work means I’ve been juggling two careers for a long time. That can be tough at times and absolutely leads to some late nights working, but it also means I am never cornered into terrible gigs or contracts that would screw me over.
I am very, very fortunate in that way and I know that, but I also made distinct choices in terms of work and savings to maximize my options and bolster my ability to keep creating over the long haul. Contrary to the romanticized version you may have internalized, being a starving artist sucks. Desperation leads to terrible decisions, stupid working hours, and long term career damage far more often than it turns into success.
• Underlying all of this are also extremes in terms of skill and quality levels.
A lot of people who aren’t professional quality cannot see the gap they still need to clear to be viable.
A lot of very skilled people undervalue their abilities.
• Being a skilled writer or artist doesn’t mean you’re a strong negotiator, good communicator, capable self-promoter, intelligent with your finances, or well organized. In fact, the more focus you have on creative refinement, the more those other areas tend to suffer
If a person or company offers terms you don’t like, figure out your threshold and when the pay/opportunity isn’t worth the effort.
If a person or company offers an opportunity too good to be true, it probably is and that means they can also take it away in an instant. Plan accordingly.
• Companies aren’t loyal. People can be.
Pay attention to good people you work with. Cultivate great working relationships. Celebrate successes. Commiserate over setbacks.
Be patient. Be kind. Be careful.
Build up your work, bit by bit. Slow and steady.
Hope for the best, but plan for the worst.
Comics almost broke me a few times over the years, but I’m not done yet.
Back in 2018, Sean Izaakse and I convinced the Powers That Be at Marvel to let us take the Champions to Weirdworld and, in the process, redesign each team member with a sword & sorcery-themed variant.
Champions #25 kicked off the storyline and it was a ton of fun.
Last week, Insomniac Games announced a Collector’s Edition of their upcoming Spider-Man 2 PS5 game and, lo and behold, our Miles Shadow-Spider outfit is one of the feature costumes. It looks so great!
If you want to read our Champions-fantasy tale with Shadow-Spider and friends, it was reprinted in the Champions: Weird War One trade paperback.
• Nathan Price did a deep dive review of Conan the Barbarian #0, analyzing the story structure, art, and broader themes. It’s nice and a bit humbling when someone really delves into your hard work like this.
• CBR has an exclusive look at our Conan the Barbarian #3 covers.
• Tom Brevoort’s latest newsletter here on Substack includes a ‘Welcome to Comics’ letter given to new freelance writers coming from other writing fields. Most of the advice in there is relatively obvious to experienced creators but if you’re just starting out it covers a lot of the basics quite well.
• Forgotten Realms creator Ed Greenwood has his own YouTube channel.
That should cover it for this time.
Jim
June 7, 2023
Zubby Newsletter #14: Clean Air Day?
Good news, everyone. Today is Clean Air Day in Canada. Meanwhile, wildfire smoke from the Great White North chokes the northeast-
Tomorrow I’m flying to New Brunswick for East Coast Comic Expo, June 9th and 10th. This appearance has been a looong time coming.
Back in the olden days of 2018, I was announced as a guest for ECCE, but a Marvel summit (the one where our team planned out Avengers: No Road Home) fell on that same weekend so I had to back out.
In 2019, I was announced as a guest again, but D&D Live: The Descent fell on that same weekend and I had to be there for crazy Dungeons & Dragons stuff.
2020 to 2022…well, you know…
Which brings us to now – 2023! Finally, after five years, I’m heading to Moncton and am really looking forward to seeing friends and fans on the east coast.
Good Listening!
Over on the Graymalkin Lane podcast, we talk about the strange history of Sapphire Styx and how she became a pivotal player in my plans for Betsy Braddock back in the MYSTERY IN MADRIPOOR mini-series from 2018.
Give it a listen here: https://redcircle.com/shows/graymalkin-lane-the-podcast
I’m also guest on the latest episode of the mighty CROMCAST, chatting up a storm about the CONAN THE BARBARIAN comic relaunch, Canadian whiskey, the Hyborian Age, sword & sorcery, TTRPGs, and more!
Give it a listen here: https://thecromcast.blogspot.com/2023/05/season-18-episode-9-conan-in-comics.html
CONAN #1: Final Order Cut-Off CoverSpeaking of Conan-
The legendary Jae Lee illustrated a special CONAN THE BARBARIAN #1 cover just released as we soar toward our July 3rd Final Order Cutoff, the last day readers and retailers can pre-order the first issue
Mind-blowing stuff, as expected. I’m honored to have so many cool covers on this book.
My pals over at UDON just released pics of the incredible translated Elden Ring artbooks they’re releasing in September (volume 1 and 2), including a limited edition foil slipcase edition. Daaaamn pretty. I am sorely tempted to add them to my collection.
The Iron Sheik passed away today at age 81. His words of wisdom stay with me always-
Okay, that’ll cover it this time. Have a good week.
June 1, 2023
Zubby Newsletter #13: Technology is Wonderful…Until It’s Not
On Sunday afternoon, I stared at my laptop in genuine shock as it showed me I lost over five hours of writing work.
I was so stressed I gave myself a headache.
I re-opened my script file and it was from the day before.
Back-ups on my user profile roaming data were the day before.
Google Drive on the cloud was also the day before.
I checked and rechecked Word’s autosave folders and nothing was current. Absolutely maddening.
I imagined trying to explain to my editor and the art team that “my computer ate my homework” and how full of shit they’d think I was.
I tried to stay calm and methodically check every spot, but none of it was up to date. It was all from the day before and I was spinning in circles.
Finally, at my wit’s end I vent to Stacy. I’m so damn angry and don’t know how this happened.
Cool as can be, she says “Check OneDrive.”
“I don’t use OneDrive.”
“Check anyways.”
Wouldn’t you know it? Word switched the damn file over to OneDrive and didn’t save anything to my local machine.
I got the current file back, re-saved it to Google Drive and then emailed a copy to myself as a failsafe so I could stop my brain from whirling.
Crisis averted. Sanity returned. Deadline met. *whew*
Blood Will FlowThe Diamond Previews catalogue ran an interview with me about the CONAN THE BARBARIAN relaunch coming in July. I know I’m beating the drum like crazy here in my newsletter, but only because I’m so pumped for this launch.
Anyways, this summarizes our mission on the series and how easy it is to jump in-
In late 2013 I put together a blogpost discussing productivity that included a dorky bar chart showcasing how many comic pages I wrote each year from 2009-2013. A few weeks ago I decided to look at how my career and priorities have changed and what I’ve learned in the nine years since then.
Planning for the future is good, but looking back at the past with extra clarity is nice too.
Rule Breakers and Reprobates
Stacy and I don’t get a chance to watch much TV, but Ted Lasso has been a staple for us since it launched in 2020. As I mentioned in the past, that “screwed up characters doing their best with their heart on their sleeves” approach was a big inspiration for the Thunderbolts relaunch I wrote last year. It’s been a joy watching the characters and their dramatic turns play out on the screen.
Season 3 has been bumpy in terms of character development, pacing, and payoffs, but episode 11, Mom City, was a real high point for both this season and the series as a whole.
Coach Beard has been a character I haven’t been crazy about during the show’s run. Brendan Hunt is a compelling and capable actor, but Beard has always felt like the “weird wingman”, inscrutable and unflappable, both conservative and hedonistic without much rhyme or reason.
I didn’t understand why he had a laced-down work attitude that seemed rooted in logic but also ride-or-die backed up every strange decision Ted made. I didn’t understand his unbreakable loyalty for Ted mixed with the addictive and confrontational approach he had with other characters in the cast.
And then, in one amazing scene that seems to break all the rules by having a character flat-out tell us their past mistakes and current motivation, Beard became fully formed with way more depth than I imagined. It was so damn good that it rippled backward and made a bunch of key scenes from previous episodes far better, enriching the show on every level. I don’t know if the writers planned Beard’s back story like this from the start, and honestly it doesn’t matter, because it was just a knockout.
I have problems with some of the meandering plotlines and exaggerated characterization this season and worry whether or not the team can stick the landing in the final episode but, whatever happens, this piece was wonderful and left a real emotional mark on both of us.
Eisner VotingThe timeline for Eisner Award voting is quite tight and far more people in the comic industry are eligible to vote than many of them realize.
Voter registration ends on Friday, JUNE 2nd. The vote deadline is Friday, JUNE 9th.
Eligible voters include:
Comic/graphic novel/webcomic creators (writers, artists, pencilers, inkers, letterers, or colorists)Comic/graphic novel publishers or editorsComic historians or educatorsGraphic novel librariansOwners or managers of comic retail specialty storesClick here to head to the registration form.
If you’re qualified to vote in the Eisners and put a vote in for Moon Knight: Black, White, and Blood #3 for “Best Single Issue/One Shot”, I’d really appreciate it.
Last year, Rick and Morty VS Dungeons & Dragons Deluxe Edition was nominated for “Best Graphic Album-Reprint” and it was a lot of fun being at the ceremony, but the lion’s share of that was due to Sarah Rockwell’s wonderful design work on the book, so having my name front and center on the nomination felt a bit awkward. This year’s nomination is more focused on the comic itself – the story and art – so I’m even more excited.
That should cover it for this week.
Talking Sapphire Styx with Graymalkin Lane
Over on the Graymalkin Lane podcast, we talk about the strange history of Sapphire Styx and how she became a pivotal player in my plans for Betsy Braddock back in the MYSTERY IN MADRIPOOR mini-series from 2018.
Talking the CONAN Relaunch with the CROMCAST
May 24, 2023
Zubby Newsletter #12: Art and Inspiration
Our trip to the UK was a ton of fun, but it’s time to get back to business as summer projects and convention season ramps up in a big way-
Marvel’s Art of Storytelling
After San Diego Comic Con last year, I spent two days at the Proko art studio recording material for a secret project with Stan Prokopenko and his amazing team. This week that project was finally announced – Marvel The Art of Storytelling! This digital course goes through how comics are made, from story concept and writing through to design, finished line art, colors, lettering, and cover illustration.
Even before that video shoot, we built an extensive curriculum, structuring a workflow and series of assignments to give both newcomers and skilled artists lessons and clear objectives to improve their comic storytelling skills and broaden their understanding of the production pipeline.
Here’s a rundown of the major sections and which comic pros are involved:
Jim Zub – Storytelling and Story Structure
Ryan Benjamin – Penciling
Mark Morales – Inking
Mike Hawthorne – Basics of Cinematography and Perspective
Aaron Conley – Page and Panel composition
Alitha Martinez – Poses, Acting, and Performance
Sanford Greene – Character Design, Team Design, and Action
Daniel Warren Johnson – Environments
Matt Wilson – Coloring for Comics
Erik Gist – Comic Covers
I’m excited to see a new generation of comic creators dive into the program and learn from our experience. The first lesson drops July 12th, and if pre-order you save 20%.
Check out the trailer below-
My Fantasy Influences
People on social media have been sharing “Four fantasy books or series that had the biggest influence on you” and it’s been good fodder for discussion.
There are others, of course, but the four listed below are a bi~ig part of my fantasy DNA. When I write sword & sorcery I lean into the feeling these series evoked in me as a young reader-
• The CONAN series by Robert E. Howard showed me “low fantasy” – grit and violence in a world full of unknowable and dangerous magic with gods and devils who use mankind as tools in their cosmic machinations or ignore them altogether as kingdoms rise and fall.
With each new story I get to write in the Hyborian Age, I dig back into the source material trying to capture that same excitement and intensity.
• The FAFHRD AND THE GREY MOUSER series by Fritz Leiber delivered a similar “magic beyond understanding” bent, but the warrior and thief duo had their own flair for troublemaking and problem solving that stuck with me.
Skullkickers, the sword & sorcery series that helped propel my writing career, plays with the same kind of adventuring duo who somehow triumph against foes way beyond them in scope and power and that’s definitely by design.
• The DRAGONLANCE series by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman is high fantasy in the Tolkien/Lord of the Rings vein, but it arrived at the perfect time for me when I was young – a new epic trilogy that made Dungeons & Dragons ‘real’ – bringing the abstraction of game rules and encounters to life with memorable characters and lots of heart.
Although my Legends of Baldur’s Gate heroes aren’t involved in the same kind of world-shattering threats as the Heroes of the Lance, I’m always looking to channel the warmth and comradery Tracy and Margaret brought to their adventuring party.
• The FIGHTING FANTASY series by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone clicked for me, with its choose-your-own-adventure structure and TTRPG-centric combat, but DEATHTRAP DUNGEON towers above the rest. A labyrinth full of ingenious traps and its competitive gladiatorial spectacle drove my imagination into overdrive.
My first Conan the Barbarian story arc, called “Into the Crucible”, is an homage to Deathtrap, plunging our favorite Cimmerian into a similar lethal tournament with the added challenge that he’s also in a foreign country where he doesn’t speak the local language.
I spoke to Jed Keith at Freaksugar in-depth about my work on the Conan the Barbarian relaunch, over 2000 words covering my previous Hyborian Age writing, how the new series came about, and more. Check it out.
Links and Other ThingsI’ve been checking out episodes of the Cromcast , a podcast dedicated to Conan and other pulp adventure stories and in a few weeks I’ll be a guest on the show. It’s fascinating listening to early episodes where the hosts are just starting to dig into the original Conan prose stories with very little knowledge of the lore and compare that to more current ones after 18 seasons worth of episodes analyzing these classic tales and joking around with each other.Last week I made Pasta alla Zozzona , an obscure pasta sauce that combines elements and flavors from 4 different classic pasta dishes, and it turned out great!
Okay, that should cover it this time.
Jim
May 20, 2023
Conan the Barbarian #2 Arrives in August
CONAN THE BARBARIAN #2
Writer: Jim Zub
Artists: Roberto De La Torre, Dean White
Publishers: Heroic Signatures & Titan Comics
FC, 32pp, $3.99, August 23, 2023
CONAN and his new ally, BRISSA – a deadly Pictish scout, fight back-to-back against a savage horde…only to discover that each success creates a new obstacle to victory over the “ARMY OF THE LOST.”
COVER A: ALAN QUAH
COVER B: ROBERTO DE LA TORRE
COVER C: GERARDO ZAFFINO
COVER D: E.M GIST RETRO THEME
COVER E: DAN PARENT
COVER F: FOIL ROBERTO DE LA TORRE VIRGIN
May 18, 2023
Zubby Newsletter #11: Forty-Seven
Today’s my birthday. 47.
Things are good.
Stacy and I are still in the UK, spending a few days sightseeing in London after a fun trek to Wales for the Swansea Comic and Gaming Convention. It’s our first overseas trip since October 2019 and feels both familiar and strange getting back to it.
I relish these times where we get to wander and explore, chat and laugh, prioritizing just the two of us for a little while. I want to carve out more time for that in the days ahead.
• Moon Knight: Black, White, and Blood #3 was nominated for an Eisner Award. That was an unexpected little birthday present. If you’re qualified to vote and willing to send one our way for ‘Best Single Issue/One Shot’, our whole team would appreciate it.
• IGN has lettered preview pages for Conan the Barbarian #1. So damn proud of this book. If you haven’t pre-ordered yet, remember to pop the series on your pull list at your favorite local comic shop or online retailer. These Days of High Adventure are going to be something special.
Short and simple this time.
Be good to each other.
May 11, 2023
Zubby Newsletter #10: Hither Came Comics
BLUESKY: Thanks to a kind reader, I’m now set-up on Bluesky social. If you’re on the new platform, you can find me there at: jimzub.bsky.social
Free Comic Book Day at Third Eye Comics was bonkers, easily one of the most amazing comic events I’ve ever been a part of. From 8:30am to 12:30pm I signed over 1200 copies of Conan the Barbarian #0 and a couple hundred other books (my creator-owned series, super hero stories, and D&D aplenty) bought or brought by readers. At the same time, my social media was blowing up with excited messages from readers at other locations who picked up the prequel issue and enjoyed it as well. What a rush!
Here’s the last sprint of signatures I did before wrapping the signing up-
With all the hard work our team has been putting into the series, getting this kind of enthusiastic response really makes it all worthwhile. Thank you for reading and spreading the word about Conan’s return. I’m even more excited for our issue #1 launch coming in July.
If you want to get a signed Conan #0 and won’t be seeing me at an upcoming convention, Third Eye still has some copies available for mail order.
CONAN #0 online for FREEIf you missed your chance to grab a physical copy of Conan the Barbarian #0 from your favorite local comic shop, fear not, adventurers – you can enjoy the digital version absolutely FREE right here:
Kindle/comiXology – CONAN THE BARBARIAN #0
or here:
TITAN Comics – CONAN # 0 PDF Download
Please share those links everywhere you can!
Now that our zero issue has been released, there’s a fan mail address listed in the back for the upcoming letters page. If you read our pulp-infused prequel, please send a message to Heroic Signatures via chainmail@conan.com to let them know what you think of it!
Last week saw the release of D20 or Die!: Memories of Old School Role-Playing Games From Today’s Grown Up Kids, a book of essays about discovering tabletop role-playing games in the 70’s and 80’s. I wrote the Foreword and it’s a tale in which my first D&D character, a little dwarf with grand ambition, learned a grim lesson about paying attention…er, I mean, I learned the lesson, he just paid the price for it.
I have so many great memories and ridiculous stories thanks to TTRPGs and it was fun waxing nostalgic here.
Appreciation and InsightI recently did an interview with Tess Curious from the Curiosity Project and was really impressed with the engaging variety of questions we covered. Even though I’ve done a couple hundred podcast interviews over the years and thought I was ready for just about any kind of question I might get, this interview includes some unexpected and genuinely thought provoking ones that will stick with me:
• What are the three things you value most in life?
• Tell me a memory that shaped you.
• Tell me about something that once existed, but now does not.
• What, if anything, is perfect?
• What do you suck at?
• What are you great at?
• Do you say “I love you” too much or too little?
• If you could name a hot sauce, what would you call it and why?
• What are you most proud of?
• How do you deal with failure?
• If you were on a starship, what position would you hold?
• If you could give just one piece of advice, what would that be?
Jamie Colville recorded the panel at TCAF that Ryan North (Fantastic Four), J. Torres (Teen Titans Go!), and I were on where we spoke to moderator Mark Askwith (Space Channel) all about our comic writer careers – How we got our start, the many ways the industry has changed, indie projects VS commercial ones, quitting the day job, failed pitches, and more. Give is a listen.
Eike Exner has some fascinating insights about the origin of manga, demystifying a few historical assumptions that have been erroneously repeated many times over the years.
Kenzo and Mayko at Love Life Drawing have an archive of great tutorials focused on their namesake on their YouTube channel and website. With my current crazy schedule I haven’t had time to do any life drawing for several years, but I want to dive back into it, so the material here will be really helpful.
Until next time-
May 9, 2023
CONAN THE BARBARIAN #0 Reviews
The new Conan comic series launched on Free Comic Book Day and there’s a lot of excitement.
What did reviewers think?
• Comicon: 10/10 “…a masterpiece in the making, judging from this issue alone. A promising primer that is both honourably homaging the past greats who have worked on Conan in comics, while forging a new path too.”
• Hero Press: “I was left with a palpable sense of excitement and optimism for the character’s (hopefully very long-running) tenure at Titan Comics.”
• Kabooooom: 10/10 “The Conan comics franchise is in good hands based on this first outing. I’ll be looking forward to the first official issue come July and I doubt I’ll be alone in that.”
• League of Comic Geeks: 10/10 “Every aspect of this book was on point! The Buscema-inspired artwork from De La Torre couldn’t be more perfect. Jim Zub’s writing would make REH proud.”
• Pop Culture Maven: “If you’re a Conan fan, this was definitely worth checking out. I was really surprised by this.”
• Tennessee Fats: “They chose an art style that specifically speaks to Conan…That style of art speaks to you as a reader. It speaks to me as a reader. It speaks to people who are going to be picking this up from scratch…I think they really knocked it out of the park for issue zero.”
• Todd Luck: “This looks like something that just leaped out of Savage Sword. I was so floored when I saw this…this reads like a great Conan comic. The text in here could have been written by Roy Thomas or Robert E. Howard. It perfectly captures the character, especially the wanderlust.”
