Once upon a time, in the bygone age of 2023, I considered myself more or less done with Conan the Barbarian. I’d read Robert E. Howard’s original stories and liked them quite a lot, but once I finished, I felt little inclination to read the many follow-ups penned by other authors, suspecting none of them would have the same luster.
Then I came across Jim Zub’s epic new Conan the Barbarian comic series, and my preconceived notions went out the window. Feeling both classic and fresh, it quickly became one of my favorite ongoing comics, and reignited my interest in a certain skull-cracking Cimmerian, along with the return of the popular Savage Sword of Conan series. Recently, I was lucky enough to have a chat with Jim, in which he pulled back the curtain on these rip-roaring tales.
First of all, how did you get started writing comics?
I made a bunch of comics when I was a kid, all kinds of derivative superhero and action-adventure stuff, but the first comic I put serious effort into as an adult was one I both wrote and drew. It was a webcomic called The Makeshift Miracle that serialized online from 2001-2003.
I joined the UDON studio in 2003 and worked as an illustrator, editor, and art director on all kinds of different projects for animation, video games, advertising and comics. Through those projects I learned a lot about how these industries worked and what companies looked for when it came to art and story. I finally got the chance to start writing comics professionally with the Exalted comic series published by UDON and White Wolf in 2005, but far more readers started noticing my writing with either Skullkickers, a creator-owned sword & sorcery action-comedy series that launched in 2010, or Pathfinder, based on the best-selling tabletop role-playing game that launched in 2012.
And how did your current run on Conan the Barbarian come about?
I’ve written several Conan stories before the current Titan series. My first Conan writing credit was in 2015, teamed up with Gail Simone on the Conan/Red Sonja mini-series at Dark Horse. I also wrote quite a few Conan issues at Marvel from 2018-2022.
When Heroic Signatures, the rights holders to the Robert E. Howard character library, decided to partner with Titan Books for their new prose and comics, I was one of several writers they asked to pitch on the new publishing initiative. I pitched them a plan that included a flagship series for Mature Readers that hewed closely to the pulp source material while incorporating key elements from the classic comics that were a hit with fans in the 1970’s. When the crew at Heroic evaluated the pitches they’d received, they decided to go forward with my story plan and, thankfully, so far it’s done extremely well in terms of both retail sales and critical reviews.
How did you approach telling stories about a character as iconic as Conan? Where did your inspiration come from?
I’ve been fortunate to write stories for some iconic characters – Spider-Man, Batman, Iron Man, The Avengers, and quite a few others. In every case it all starts with research. Even if I think I know the character well it’s important to drill back down and read as many classic and current stories as possible to remind myself what is at the core of that character and what I like about them.
In the case of Conan, it was all about rereading the original Robert E. Howard pulp stories from Weird Tales magazine – all the Conan ones, of course, but a lot of other ones too, to try and tap into the foundational material that kicked off the sword & sorcery genre.
Reading for research is different from reading for pleasure. I have a notepad close at hand to jot down key text – names, phrases, and questions – everything that catches my attention as I read. From there I dug into essays from Robert E. Howard scholars and the classic 70’s comics as well. All that material helped form key ideas around the character, his world, and ways we might be able to keep a classic feel even as we pushed the narrative out into places I hadn’t quite seen before.
What were some of your favorite Conan stories?
It’s a pretty typical list in the fandom, but for good reason because they are some of the most iconic and evocative stories REH wrote – The Tower of the Elephant, The Frost-Giant’s Daughter, Queen of the Black Coast, and Red Nails.
Absolutely, the Hyborian Age builds on a core theme of “Civilization vs. Savagery,” that the ‘civilized’ world of governments and religions claim their superiority even while they can be incredibly duplicitous and cruel, while the ‘barbaric’ tribes are far more honorable and forthright in their words and deeds. Yes, Conan will kill and take what he needs to survive, but if he gives his word then that’s a bond he will keep to his dying breath.
We see Conan at various stages of his life, as a mercenary, pirate, thief, and king. Do you plan to tell stories from all those eras? Do you have a particular favorite to write?
Yes, and that process is already underway. Like the original Weird Tales stories, where Conan was already the King of Aquilonia in the first published story, The Phoenix on the Sword, the new Titan comic series jumps around the timeline, introducing new elements when they’re needed for the narrative and then paying them off down the road. Conan the Barbarian #25, arriving this Fall, is my first King Conan story and it won’t be the last.
If I had to choose only one era to write in, it would probably be younger Conan, the impetuous thief and barbarian tackling the civilized world for the first time, the troublemaker who is too naïve and headstrong to be afraid.
I’ve always loved the King Conan era, so I’m thrilled to hear you’ll be exploring that side of the character. So far, we’ve seen Conan cross paths with some other Howard characters, like Kull in The Age Unconquered, and many more in Battle of the Black Stone. How did you approach those crossovers?
It’s not that much different from the other characters – lots of research, with the added challenge of looking for synergies within the cast, similarities or differences I could play off of on this epic journey they’d be undertaking and trying to tie in a few extra moments from each of their canon adventures. In Battle of the Black Stone I also wanted to make sure that each character got a big moment or two to really stand out.
What’s the artwork process like?
The artists I’m working with have well-honed instincts for classic Conan-style storytelling. Rob De La Torre was my top choice to draw the series, so getting him on board for the launch was a victory right from the start and bringing on other incredible artists like Doug Braithwaite, Danica Brine, Jonas Scharf, and Fernando Dagnino has made our team even even stronger. Their line work has a special power that feels like the Hyborian Age. It’s pulpy and powerful in all the right ways.
When Rob and I initially talked about how we could work together, he really wanted to cut loose on the storytelling and, based on the jaw-dropping Hyborian-themed commissions and covers he’d already done, I was happy to go that route. We’re working old-school plot style instead of me handling full script.
I outline the issue using a few paragraphs to describe the core action and key dialogue on each page and then the artist uses that as their guide to draw as many or few panels as they want to represent those story beats. Once the art comes in, I put together a separate lettering script with dialogue or captions as needed, busting out the most lyrical prose I can to live up to their striking visuals. It’s a way of working I haven’t done very often before, but the results have been extremely dynamic and organic. I think readers are going to be surprised by how well it flows across the page.
From there, Diego Rodriguez or Joao Canola color the pages to stunning effect and the legendary Richard Starkings and Tyler Smith letter it all beautifully, while Chris Butera and Ashley Hodgkins, our intrepid editors, keep everything on schedule and make sure we deliver stories compatible with the established Howard canon.
You wrote a prose story for The Savage Sword of Conan. Do you have any plans to write more of those? Would you ever be willing to tackle a Conan novella/novel?
Writing “Sacrifice in the Sand” in the first issue of the new Savage Sword of Conan was such an incredible experience, intimidating but also an absolute honor. Getting to use Joe Jusko’s cover illustration, his first new Conan art in almost twenty-five years, and basing the story on those visuals, was absolutely surreal. That said, that prose story was way more time-consuming than writing a comic script and the current slate of comics I have to write will keep me from writing more Conan prose for now. I’m not against the idea of writing another Conan prose story down the road but right now I need to keep my eyes focused on the monthly comic, our events, and related comic stories for Savage Sword.
Without spoilers, what does the future hold for our favorite barbarian? Any future storylines you can tease?
This fall we will have our Scourge of the Serpent event miniseries, which we teed up in our Free Comic Book Day Prelude issue (which everyone can read and enjoy for free right here: https://titan-comics.com/news/download-the-conan-fcbd-issue-here/ )
Like Battle of the Black Stone, Scourge will be a four-issue epic that utilizes several Robert E. Howard characters, but not in the same way we did before. I want to keep readers on their toes in terms of format, pacing, and where it all leads. I don’t want any of it to feel stale or for people to easily guess what happens next. Across time and space, there are huge ramifications that will ripple forward to future stories while the monthly Conan the Barbarian series keeps plugging away, raising the stakes.
After our oversized twenty-fifth issue spectacular, we’re pivoting to a rarely explored time in Conan’s life, and after that we introduce a brand new villain to the Hyborian Age. Lots of great stuff on tap for 2025, 2026 and beyond!
And I will be reading it, I can assure you. Jim, thank you so much for doing this interview, I really enjoyed shooting the breeze about Conan. Before we wrap things up, do you have any social media handles, or anything else you’d like to pass along to our readers?
I’ve had the same website for over twenty years and all my social media, my newsletter, a complete rundown of my books, and tutorials on how to write comics and work with artists are linked there: www.jimzub.com
Thank you for reading and supporting my work.
