Jim Zub's Blog, page 63

WAYWARD Board Game Arrives First at Barnes & Noble!

If you saw my photos of the WAYWARD BOARD GAME from Gen Con and want to get your own copy, the first place you can get it is at Barnes & Noble!

IDW Games has a special exclusive with B&N, offering the Wayward Board Game first through their online store and retail outlets.

Order online and have it shipped to you, or you can order and then pick it up at your local B&N!

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/toys-games-wayward/33774566

The Wayward Board Game, designed by Jon Gilmour (Dead Of Winter, Dinosaur Island), is for 1-5 players. It’s a cooperative strategic game where you take on the role of a teenager struggling to understand their new powers as Yokai, the spirits and monsters of old Japan, try to destroy you before you take your rightful place in the new supernatural order.

• Five characters, each one with different abilities and upgrade trees.

• Five scenarios, each one with different victory conditions and style of play.

I know it’s been a long time coming but now, finally, Wayward is ready for your tabletop!

Dynamic Forces Interview: Black Panther and the Agents of Wakanda

I spoke to Byron Brewer at Dynamic Forces all about the upcoming Black Panther and the Agents of Wakanda series. Give it a read!

Vintage RPG Podcast reviews the Young Adventurer’s Guides

The Vintage RPG Podcast has a nice overview/review of the first Young Adventurer’s Guides, Monsters & Creatures and Warriors & Weapons. Scroll ahead to the 33 minute and 30 second mark of their latest podcast episode to hear what they think about the series so far-

“What I love about these books is that it really does give you a leveling of the playing field. You could just read through these books quickly and understand more of what the game is really about and not worry about the rules and the stats.”

DIE RPG Session at SDCC 2019

Shaun Manning at Comic Book Resources put together a write-up about the DIE tabletop RPG test game Kieron Gillen ran after this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. Check it out to get a sense of how DIE’s meta game-within-a-game structure works and how our one-shot session played out.

Penguin Random House Interview

I spoke to the Penguin Random House crew about how the Dungeons & Dragons Young Adventurer’s Guides came to be and how our team developed the series. Give it a read.

Jim Zub at Gen Con 2019!

It’s time again for North America’s largest tabletop, card, and board game show, GEN CON in Indianapolis, Indiana!

Howard Tayler (Shlock Mercenary, Writing Excuses) and I will be set-up together at BOOTH 1749 in the main exhibit hall, ready to sign and sketch for readers.

If you’re headed to Gen Con, it would be great to see you there! It’s one of my favorite shows each year. Getting the chance to promote my comic work and also dig into the latest and greatest the gaming industry has to offer is a wonderful opportunity.

In addition to signing copies of Dungeons & Dragons, Rick and Morty VS Dungeons & Dragons and the D&D Young Adventurer’s Guides, Gen Con 2019 will be your first chance to get an advanced copy of the WAYWARD BOARD GAME! This co-op board game designed by Jon Gilmour (Dead of Winter, Dinosaur Island) and published by IDW Games has a ton of strategy and a variety of missions to test players as they battle Yokai in Tokyo. Our booth will be carrying a limited number of pre-release copies of the game which will be available at retail exclusively first through Barnes & Noble (at their online store starting August 10th and in their retail stores starting August 20th).

On Friday night, I’ll be participating in the Wordbuilders Gen Con Party. Buy a ticket to join Worldbuilders and friends for an evening of games, food, drinks, and mingling with some awesome authors, game designers, podcasters, and creators. Sign up to play games with the celeb of your choosing in a relaxed environment and participate in the silent auction for a chance to win some cool geeky prizes. This is a charity event and all proceeds will go towards Worldbuilders and you will also walk away with a swag-filled bag worth over $100!

At the Worldbuilders Party I’ll be running A Fake Artist Goes To New York and The Thing: Infection at Outpost 31!

Rick and Morty VS Dungeons & Dragons II #2 in October!

RICK & MORTY VS D&D II PAINSCAPE #2

(W) Jim Zub (A/CA) Troy Little

It’s Rick Sanchez VS The Tomb Of Horrors, the deadliest dungeon in D&D history!

Meanwhile, Morty and Summer face forgotten freaks from the Folio of Flawed Failures. If they flub this fight, they’re f**ked.

Fan favorite RPG-ist Jim Zub (Samurai Jack, Savage Sword of Conan) re-teams up with Eisner-nominated art mage Troy Little (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Powerpuff Girls) to magic-up Adult Swim’s pop culture mega-hit and smash it into the best-selling role-playing game that recently became cool again.

In Shops: Oct 16, 2019

SRP: $3.99

D&D Young Adventurer’s Guides Reviews!

The first two Dungeons & Dragons Young Adventurer’s Guides are now available everywhere fine books are sold! All of us on the team are incredibly proud of these introductory guides to D&D and the response from readers and reviewers so far has been stellar.

Want to find out more about the series? Check out the FAQ I put together.

• Bell of Lost Souls: “Reading through these books is an absolute treat. They capture so much of what makes D&D feel magical–and they’re just lovely. The art is gorgeous and inviting, they’re a nice size; exactly the sort of thing you’d want to sit back with a cup of tea and enjoy.”

• Bleeding Cool: “this book is creative idea fuel. WotC and Ten Speed really hit it out of the park with these books and it makes me happy to see Dungeons & Dragons approached in a different manner that kids between the ages of 8-14 could grab this and pick up on very easily.”

• Comics Now: “These books strike a great balance, in that they’re aimed at younger readers but are still great resources for older fans as well. They have enough information contained within their pages that you could easily jump into a D&D game after you’ve finished reading”

• d20 Diaries: “Taken on their own, the Young Adventurer’s Guides have a nice layout, easy to read text, beautiful art, and are well organized. They’re approachable, interesting, engaging, and clearly written for kids, but, at the same time, the books don’t talk down to the reader.”

• Fanbase Press: “These books are absolutely fantastic for children, and, frankly, anyone brand new to D&D could probably stand to read them. Even if you don’t know the first thing about Dungeons & Dragons, these books are a great fantasy resource. I’d say that if you have even the most passing interest in fantasy, these books are a must buy.”

• Game Vortex: “…a great primer on what a young, aspiring adventurer would need to know if they hope to don some armor, pick up arms, and seek their fortune as an adventurer, presenting information that a rogue or fighter just starting off would likely know about weapons, armor and equipment.”

• Gayme Master: “If you’re thinking of getting a young reader you know hooked on fantasy and introduce them to the wonderful world of Dungeons & Dragons, Monsters & Creatures is the ideal starting point! It’s definitely a critical hit!”

• Geek Dad: “These are small, 100+ page hardback books filled with colorful art and specifics of the game that a young player will find useful. (And to be honest, these books are totally suitable for adults, too.)”

• Geekerati: “The Warriors & Weapons book gives a good overview of a number of D&D races and classes and has a useful flowchart to help young players decide what kinds of characters they want to play.”

• Geek Tyrant: 8/10 “…if you’re new or someone you know is new and possibly interested in playing, especially if they’re a middle school or high school aged person, then this is a great way to get an easier to read version of the flavor text from the Player’s Handbook. “

• Geeks of Doom: “With wonderful guides such as Warriors & Weapons, it is broken down to its core pieces, enabling younger players or would be players to grasp the nuances and feel more at ease.”

• Goblins and Growlers: “This is a fantastic little book that will rope younger would-be D&D players into a world of adventure and, hopefully, leave them antsy to play the game for real.”

• How Do I DM?: “It’s perfectly set up to let younger players use their imagination…The book is so well done. I can’t say it enough.”

• Outright Geekery: 8/10 “Hardcover, with a good binding. Quality paper stock and a lot of fantastic illustrations…as a veteran of a few campaigns, I found plenty of use with these for when my kids start their own D&D campaign.”

• Reluctant Artsy: “The way that it’s laid out is absolutely amazing. No statistics, just descriptors…I’ve been playing since the early 80’s and I find this just as valuable now as reading the Player’s Handbook.”

• The Nerdy Girl Express: “No matter how old you are if you have ever had an interest in D&D these Young Adventurer’s Guides are something you need to check out.”

• Vintage RPG: “I love this approach to teaching RPGs – it removes everything new players find intimidating (which is stuff a lot of experienced players tend forget have steep learning curves, even in 5E) and allows them to get a feel for the fun. These are perfect for RPG playing parents looking for a way to introduce their kids to the games.”

Young Adventurer’s Launch!

I know a bunch of you love it when I post charts and graphs, so here goes-

Remember the incredible sales spike when the Rick and Morty VS D&D trade came out in March?

Well, I just checked out our D&D Young Adventurer’s Guides launch last week on Bookscan…

You people REALLY like D&D!

“I don’t see why publishers chase after the book market.”

This is why.

“Who cares about kid content?”

Readers and the book market do.

“The market is dying.”

In some areas, yeah, it’s rough.

In other areas, it’s growing at an incredible rate.

Talking About Champions

Once the October solicits arrived online, I knew discussion would start around our current run. It’s with a heavy heart that I let all of you know CHAMPIONS will be wrapping up with issue #10.

I built this new take on the team as a way to try and bridge classic teen superheroic drama with an eclectic cast of characters – old school Marvel brought to the present with a new generation of heroes.

I took a risk with the book and it didn’t click the way we hoped, so my long-term plans for the series have been cut short. That’s the way it goes sometimes.

It hurts. Dressing that up any other way would be disingenuous. I wish it had worked out. I’m sorry I let you down.

The readers and reviewers who keyed into what we were going for were incredible. Their excitement kept us going month after month. If you didn’t get a chance to read the current run, I hope you’ll consider giving us a shot in single issues, collections, or digital.

Big thanks to our whole creative team – Steven Cummings, Marcio Menyz, Clayton Cowles, Juanan Ramirez, Kim Jacinto, and Rain Beredo. An even deeper thank you to editors CB Cebulski, Tom Brevoort, Alanna Smith, and Shannon Andrews for letting me run with this idea in the first place. The risk didn’t pay off this time, but the only way we can build new classic stories is to push out into the unknown and see what’s possible.

If you’re reading this and lamenting the future of your favorite young heroes, I can tell you that there are big plans for Marvel’s teens in 2020. I’ve heard about the next stage of the Champions story – It’s exciting, vibrant, and absolutely worthy of the House of Ideas. I’m a bit wistful that it’s not mine to tell, but also hopeful for the future of these inspiring young heroes.

Thanks for the support,

Jim