Creator Spotlight: Jim Zub on Conan and Journey to the West
Jim Zub has spent well over a decade working both sides of the ownership line. He co-created Skullkickers at Image Comics in 2010 with artists Chris Stevens and Edwin Huang, then built Wayward with Steven Cummings, Tamra Bonvillain and Zack Davisson across thirty issues from 2014 to 2018. Since August 2023 he has written Conan the Barbarian for Titan Comics, a run launched with Roberto De La Torre and José Villarrubia that is now past thirty issues.
Two more of his books land this September. Manga Classics: Journey To The West – The Beginning, adapted with Char A and drawn by Julien Choy, arrives September 15, and the Wayward Compendium collects all thirty issues of the Image series in a single volume later in the month. We asked him about both, about the decisions he only gets to make on a book he owns, about what keeps a long Conan run moving when the lead is not the thing that changes, and about the advice he would hand a freelancer starting out now.
For readers who might not know your work yet, how would you describe what you do?
First and foremost, I'm a storyteller. I specialize in writing comics, but that storytelling side of me comes out when I'm teaching, at the gaming table, or just hanging out in person telling anecdotes. I love the power of stories, and my favorite thing is engaging and entertaining people.
Manga Classics: Journey To The West – The Beginning is out September 15, with Char A and Julien Choy. Wu Cheng'en's novel is enormous, and this volume is "The Beginning." What do you want someone who has never touched Journey to the West to walk away with?
Journey to the West has been reinterpreted so many times in so many ways and some are more literal while others take a lot of liberties. UDON wanted an adventure manga that used the original text as inspiration, so it's a bit like Journey to the West meets One Piece. There's lots of action and colorful characters taken from the source and reinterpreted here in ways manga readers will enjoy.
On a book adapting a text that old, how does the work actually split up between you, Char A and Julien?
The core story and pacing was built by Char A and Julien Choy with an eye on capturing manga feel and pacing, while I wrote narration and dialogue to give it more of a colorful fantasy feel and to play up the philosophical core of the story. For me it felt like I was using some of that lyricism I've been flexing on Conan the Barbarian, but in a different way.
Skullkickers launched at Image in 2010. Conan came to you at Titan in 2023. What changed most in that stretch about what it takes to get a creator-owned book off the ground?
I did do some comic work before Skullkickers, but Skullkickers was the series that really put me on the map for many readers and started to convince editors that I was a writer worth keeping an eye on. Skullkickers led to Pathfinder, which led to Samurai Jack and D&D, Marvel superhero writing and eventually Conan the Barbarian. Almost my entire writing career is a direct result of building Skullkickers with Chris Stevens and Edwin Huang, taking a bet on ourselves and making a series we would enjoy as readers, even if fantasy and humor weren't trendy at the time.
Now that I'm much more established, obviously, my career is in a completely different place, but the comic industry as a whole is too. Social media has boomed and busted, crowdfunding has become a solid way to make comics and other creative projects, and webcomics are just as viable as physical books, just as long as you can build an audience interested in supporting the work.
You've done both ends of comics for a long time: Skullkickers and Wayward at Image, and Conan the Barbarian, D&D, Samurai Jack and Avengers in other people's houses. What's a decision you get to make on a creator-owned book that simply isn't yours to make on a licensed one?
On a creator-owned title I only have to please myself and the artist/co-creator on a project, that's it. If we're happy with a decision, then it happens. On any licensed commercial book, there are various layers of editorial approval to get through and, even when everyone's in alignment, it requires more explanation and justification. I'm used to it by now, and a great editorial team can elevate the work, but it requires more organization and there are always hurdles to jump over.
I always say that our job is communication and entertainment and the first people we have to communicate with and entertain are our coworkers. If the team doesn't know why we're doing something or doesn't believe in the end goal, then it's going to be a lot harder to deliver quality.
The Wayward Compendium collects the whole run in one volume on September 29th, everything you, Steven Cummings, Tamra Bonvillain and Zack Davisson built, years after you finished it. What does a finished series look like to you now that it couldn't while you were still in it?
Wayward was a huge booster to my career that arrived at a formative time. There was a slate of new creator-owned titles getting traction thanks to the success of The Walking Dead and a feeling that any new title at Image might catch that wave and become the next big thing. Anime and manga were on a similar upswing as well, so having a series that bridged some of those indie and manga sensibilities, grounded in real Japanese locations and real Japanese mythology, opened us up to a lot of new readers.
Steven Cummings and I worked together at the UDON studio for years and wanted to collaborate on a project together. After I gained a bit of traction with Skullkickers I knew how to pitch another series to Image. My original idea was urban fantasy with a Euro-centric slant, but Steven wanted to draw Japanese ghost stories and I realized I could take that general idea and use it with Yokai and Tokyo instead. We collaborated closely to create the cast of characters and ground them in the look and feel of modern Japan.
Every comic project I work on is a time capsule of who I was and who I got to work with and Wayward is incredibly special on every level because of that exciting time in comics and our careers. The whole team – Steven, Tamra, Marshall and Zack – was amazing.
You launched Titan's Conan the Barbarian with Roberto De La Torre and José Villarrubia, and you're past thirty issues now. A lot of long runs build on the lead changing over time, and Conan isn't that kind of character. What builds instead across a run that long?
Conan the Barbarian is a pulp icon, the foundation of the sword & sorcery genre and such a big part of what makes him special is that readers quickly understand who he is – his intent and consistency. The key then is not about changing Conan over the course of a story as much as it is about challenging him with unexpected threats – villains, locations, creatures, magic or situations that test him and force him to solve problems or endure great danger in ways we haven't quite seen before. Coming up with those is both the most fun and most difficult part of writing the character in the here and now. Keeping stories familiar in the sense that it feels like it fits the Hyborian Age, but isn't quite the same old thing readers have seen before.
You've published a lot of plain-spoken advice for freelancers on your own site over the years. What's the piece of it you'd most want someone starting out now to actually act on?
Don't try to build stories around a current trend. If you're even able to maintain excitement for it, by the time you get it done the trend will have passed. The biggest successes in creator-owned comics have always defied trends and been their own thing.
Create the comics you want to exist as a reader and hopefully you can find a readership with similar sensibilities. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Bone, Scott Pilgrim, Walking Dead, Saga and D'Orc were all passion projects that resonated with readers because the creators loved what they were making and that excitement shined through.
You taught in Seneca's Animation program for years before going back to freelance full-time. What did animation teach you about telling a story that you still use?
Traditional hand drawn animation, which is what I went to college for, is all about movement, clarity and appeal in drawing. My favorite comic artists have those same sensibilities, whether they have an animated style or not. Their work 'animates' on the page, capturing iconic moments that move us through each panel and page and communicate their ideas with confidence. I want to write stories that give the art team a platform to demonstrate those same concepts: movement, clarity and appeal.
What are you reading right now, comics or otherwise?
On the superhero front I'm particularly enjoying World's Finest, Deathstroke, Fantastic Four and Captain America. D'Orc and Something Is Killing The Children are great. I'm excited for the new Dungeons & Dragons series and Chainkata.
Since I'm weaving together material from a bunch of Robert E. Howard characters, I have a steady reading pile of old REH stories I'm reading for reference. Right now a lot of those are pirate and horror tales.
Do you have a shop you walk into, and what does that relationship look like these days?
The Beguiling in Toronto is my local comic shop and has always supported my work in a solid way, which feels great. They also manage the Toronto Comic Arts Festival each year, which has been a massive boon to independent creators here in Canada and abroad. I don't get a chance to stop by the store as much as I used to, but when I do it's always really nice.
What's a question you wish people asked you instead of the one they always ask?
Everyone knows you like Dungeons & Dragons and other tabletop role-playing games, but beyond just being a giant nerd, why do you like them so much?
And the answer to that is – Sitting down to create something new together with friends and family (heck, sometimes with complete strangers) is so much more entertaining than just passively reading or watching a pre-made story. The way you get to know each other, the bond you can build with others, and the memories you create at the table are irreplaceable.
The skills that TTRPGs taught me – collaboration, communication, storytelling, and entertainment – have filtered through to every other part of my life in a positive way. I would not be a writer or storyteller without it. I genuinely think that if more people played TTRPGs together, we would live in a better, more empathetic and enjoyable world.
What's next that you can talk about?
I have more Conan writing on comics and other media in the wings, more D&D Young Adventurer's Guides I'm developing with Stacy King and Andrew Wheeler, and a big new creator-owned comic series launching in early 2027, which has been a long time coming and I hope brings both longtime and new readers on board.
I'm having an incredible time writing and collaborating right now and am so thankful readers are enjoying what I put together. Thank you for the support!
Connect with Jim
Find Jim at jimzub.com, read his Zubby newsletter on Substack, follow him on Bluesky or Instagram, or support him directly on Patreon.Manga Classics: Journey To The West – The Beginning is out September 15, and the Wayward Compendium follows later in the month. Add Conan the Barbarian to your pull list to catch the monthly issues, or browse Jim's full bibliography on VerseDB.
Thanks to Jim for the time.
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About the author
Hey, I'm Michael! As the creator and developer behind VerseDB, I get to combine my love for building software with a serious comic book habit. While I enjoy collecting, I'm ultimately in it for the stories they tell. For me, it's all about getting lost in a great narrative and appreciating the artwork. I built this platform to give readers and collectors a clean, organized place to catalog the issues, runs, and art that mean the most to them. Log your favorites and welcome to the community!
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