The Barbaric Art Of Twisting Loyalties — Jim Zub Talks ‘Conan: The Barbarian’

Welcome to the table,

I’ve been a fan of Conan for as long as I have conscious memory. There is just something compelling about the sullen sword swinging Cimmerian and his extensive lore that brings a smile to my face. The sword & sorcery landscape would not be what it is today without the character in it, and I would not be the person I am today without those stories giving me inspiration and strength when I was a kid.

I recently had the amazing opportunity to talk to Jim Zub, pop culture mover and shaker, and the man at the helm of Titan Comics’ Conan series and the web of stories that twist and turn into and out of its shadow.

You can find my full conversation with Jim below.

 

Anton: Hello, Jim! As a game designer, Conan fan, and the Editor-in-Chief of a sword & sorcery magazine, I’m well-versed in your library work and titanic contributions to the pop culture landscape. For our readers who may not be as aware of all the wheels you turn across various fandoms and hobbies, can you please tell us a little bit about yourself before we dig in?

Jim Zub: Thanks so much for the high praise! It really is an honor working on Conan the Barbarian and all kinds of other sword & sorcery and superhero stories.

I’m a Canadian writer, artist and art instructor who has been creating comics for over 20 years. I went to college for traditional hand-drawn animation and worked in the animation industry for a few years before pivoting to comics, moving from coloring and illustration to editorial and finally, where I’ve always wanted to be, writing! It has been quite a journey, but I learned a ton along the way and all of those experiences have helped inform my work.

Anton: Today, we are talking about Titan Comics, Conan: The Barbarian Vol. 5; Twisting Loyalties. My review of the first issue touted it as being “everything I wanted from a Conan story.” I can say with full confidence that this comic still maintains that level of quality over two years later. What do you attribute to the success and consistent authenticity you have been able to bring to this iconic character and his storied setting?

Jim: Such a huge part of our success is the team at Heroic Signatures, the rights holders to Conan and the rest of the Robert E. Howard character library. When I was brought on board for this new Conan publishing initiative with Titan back in 2022, Heroic were looking for a creative partner to build long term stories over multiple years. Their commitment to quality gave us the runway we needed to launch strong, and their continuing dedication to quality means that I can write ahead, much further than any other monthly book I’ve worked on before, which in turn gives the art teams we work with the time they need to deliver their best every single month.

My editor Chris (Butera), assistant editor Ashley (Hodgkins), Shawn (Curley) and Mei (Ng) who handle marketing and merchandise, plus Fred and Jay who head up Heroic. The whole team is amazing. Their respect for the creative process has built a schedule and budget that gives us the ability to pull out all the stops and that makes all the difference. We have time for more research, tight collaboration, and higher overall quality.

Anton: The stories contained within this volume collect Conan the Barbarian #17-20 and heavily feature the Pirate Queen, and Conan’s paramour, Bêlit. Aside from Howard’s Queen of the Black Coast, where did you draw inspiration for her personality from?

Jim: Queen is obviously at the forefront since that’s the only canon Bêlit story written by Robert E. Howard, but I read all kinds of his other pulp stories as well –pirate, horror, and supernatural tales that help keep me in a ‘Howard mindset’ as I work.

Even though we know Bêlit’s story comes to a tragic end, I wanted to give readers a clear sense of why she has such a strong impact on the Cimmerian and how her fervent intensity and charisma won over the crew of the Tigress to make them all so loyal to her cause. She’s the kind of person who visualizes lofty goals and then actualizes them through sheer force of will. The unwavering passion she brings to every interaction is what makes her so alluring and also so dangerous.

Anton: The first of what I would consider the twin tales that make up this volume focuses on a band of rogues who, once having their numbers cut down to a single thief after a botched robbery, form a shaky alliance with Conan and Bêlit to steal an ancient Stygian artifact from an antiquarian who works within the city they all find themselves in. When you set out to script these stories that weave so many elements of lore together, both published and uniquely your own, is there a mindset or process you have to slip into? What does a typical writing day for a Conan story look like for you?

Jim: I grew up playing a lot of Dungeons & Dragons and other role-playing games and, honestly, they feel like a secret weapon in my writing arsenal because so much of what I do is role-play. I set up scenarios and then mentally ‘play’ my way through them, moment by moment and scene by scene, writing down pieces and pushing them around until they fit together well – How do these characters deal with the threats laid out before them?

How can I make things more difficult to generate more engagement, more emotion, more intensity? Sometimes I’m the character doing my damnedest to win and other times I’m the ‘Dungeon Master’ putting these characters through their paces. I’m a structural writer and comics is quite a structural medium because we all know ahead of time exactly how many pages we have to work with.

The art budget and format is pre-built around the page count, so I can plot out a story arc, figure out what happens in each issue, what scenes need to happen in order for it all to make sense, how many pages each scene needs to deliver that information or action, and even what kinds of ‘reveals’ happen when the reader turns the page. All that gets built before I start scripting each issue.

So, in short, I start with the structure and then ‘role-play’ through each scene to fill in smaller moment to moment details. For some artists I will write “full script” with every panel and piece of dialogue or narration completed before they see it and for others I write “plot style” and just outline major moments and leave the text until the artist finishes their pages, fitting my words in and around their artwork. I can work either way, so it’s up to them to tell me their preferred working method.

Anton: Another element within the first story that struck me as brilliantly crafted is the fact that even though this tale takes place within the city of Kyros, a very developed and bustling city by Hyborian Age standards, it feels as if the city is as unpredictable and fraught with as much danger as any dense jungle or witch haunted beach on some far off shore might have. Was this mood and sense of danger in such a civilized place a happy accident or something you were able to capture by design?

Jim: Every locale in the Hyborian Age needs to have that sense of danger and exploration built in. Most of the time Conan heads out to remote or abandoned spots, but I liked the idea that Kyros could be our “hive of scum and villainy” – different factions and ne’er-do-wells always on the lookout for ways to make coin or leverage their personal power. It’s Mos Eisley meets Las Vegas in the Hyborian Age, and a fun change of pace from untamed lands or ancient ruins.

Anton: The second story found within these pages jumps forward in time a bit and focuses on Conan, grief-stricken and wandering alone in an untamed jungle after Bêlit’s death. With the stories slipping from moment to moment, sometimes backwards, sometimes forward, and sometimes even finding themselves playing out within a framed story, is there a larger chronological timeline you try and keep track of as you plot the Conan: The Barbarian stories that takes into consideration the events within Howard’s original works?

Jim: The original Conan short stories in Weird Tales magazine jump all over the place in terms of location and age. In the very first Conan story, The Phoenix on the Sword, Conan is already King of Aquilonia, so I really wanted to reflect that same sensibility in the new comic series. I have a bunch of documentation in terms of the canon Conan stories and where they fit together and then I have brainstormed new pieces that fit between, with an eye to create big moments and surprises readers have never seen before, which is audacious I know, but if we don’t strive for that then it’s too easy for longtime fans to feel like we’re just killing time in between canon tales (and those are stories they already know).

The way I explain it to new fans is that yes, we jump around the timeline, but you as a reader will always get the information you need when you need it. For example, in issue #1 we had a teaser panel showing Conan killed a bear in his youth and then, in issue #13, we showed why that was important. In issue #19 we brought back Zula and in issue #23 and 24 readers will see why that was important and how it ties into future stories.

Anton: I want to take a second to talk about this because it was a moment of raw wonder for me when I got to it in the story. In part 3 of Twisting Loyalties, the third chapter in this volume and the start of what I would consider the second story of this set, we are introduced to Zula, the brother of beasts, a shapeshifting user of natural magics. We have seen Zula in classic Marvel comics and the Conan cartoon, a favorite of mine as a little kid, as male-presenting, and then in the Conan the Destroyer movie as female-presenting as played by the iconic Grace Jones.

Working with artist Doug Braithwaite, you have managed to blend elements of all these past versions into this fluid shifting entity that dominates every page they are on. How did this version of the character come about, and did it shift, pardon the pun, as the art was being crafted for the script?

Jim: What I’ve done through this entire run is try to acknowledge broader pop culture pieces of Conan the Barbarian without breaking the original canon pulp stories. So, there are broad swathes of the John Milius Conan the Barbarian movie I won’t use because it stands in direct opposition to Robert E. Howard’s original Conan, but if there are pieces, things like the design of the Atlantean Sword or the term the “Riddle of Steel”, that I can organically include in the comic in a fun and entertaining way, then to me it’s not much different from how Superman didn’t originally fly, work at the Daily Planet or have a weakness to Kryptonite in the original comics but all those aspects have been incorporated into the broader pop culture whole to make a more consistent character fans recognize.

All that to say, I like the original comic version of Zula, but the Grace Jones Conan the Destroyer movie version has a certain pop culture cache I felt we could use as well. There are broader thematic things I’m building around Stygia, shape changers and ancient wars fought between different groups, and Zula became a way to blend those together – a dangerous sometimes foe-sometimes ally who can change their shape or even gender at will. The character gets to return, they work alongside bigger ideas in our story, and fans of the movie version can see aspects they recognize and appreciate as well. For me I think it’s win-win and hopefully readers continue to think so too.

Anton: I don’t want to give away the whole thing to those who have not read it yet, but there is a moment where Conan very literally confronts his own inner demon. There are layers to that that really ground the character into this yarn of his life. The young, jaded, sullen-eyed slayer of monsters and men who speaks against the ills of the evil forces hiding in the shadows of civilization is my favorite iteration of the character. Do you have a favorite version of the Cimmerian?

Jim: I enjoy Conan in his youth – the God in the Bowl/Tower of the Elephant-aged Conan who is courageous because he literally doesn’t know any better, getting himself into capers and overturning the plans of powerful men and dark gods whether he realizes it or not.

That said, I am also enjoying pushing further and exploring Conan in his prime and Conan the King because they reflect very different aspects of his journey – maturity, leadership, pain, regret and a bunch of other pieces that become more poignant as I get older too.

Anton: Looking to the future, there is a lot of classic Robert E. Howard’s serpent-themed material that shows up in this volume. We have Stygians, Set, The Master of the Black Ring, who we know is Thoth-Amon, snake men, even the Fangs of the Serpent that gained global recognition in the iconic 1982 Conan film as one of the assassins blades of the cult of Thulsa Doom, this along with the Free Comic Book Day Conan: Scourge of the Serpent feels like there is a larger plan at work here, can you give us any insight to what to expect next with this beautiful “Howard-Verse” that you are helming?

Jim: 2025 is quite literally the Year of the Snake and we’re making the most of it, that’s for sure! Scourge of the Serpent is an epic Conan mini-series arriving this Fall, the focal point for a bunch of big plot movements and surprises I’ve been building since the new Conan series launched in 2023. Twisting Loyalties and A Nest of Serpents, Arc 5 and 6 of the monthly comic series, do a lot of heavy lifting in terms of the build up. They’re valid adventures all on their own but, when readers look back, I hope they appreciate how they also contributed to the big picture plan.

If “Black Stone” was the focal point for “Phase 1” of the new Conan series, then “Serpents” is our “Phase 2” – building on that Howard-Verse foundation to show readers a wider mythic narrative and unveil how Conan and other Howard characters are crucial to how it will all play out.

Anton: Jim, thank you so much for letting me talk your ear off. You have done so much for the sword & sorcery community, you are breathing life into these stories in a meaningful way, and you are crafting some of my favorite stories in the space to date. It has been an absolute pleasure to get to speak with you like this, and I hope we can circle back soon and talk more as you continue to lead the charge and champion Conan and this ever-growing universe. Before we break, can you tell our readers where they can keep up with you and all you have going on?

Jim: Thank you! None of this could have happened without the support of readers, retailers, and reviewers who buy each issue, share their excitement online and in person to let other people know that they get their money’s worth each and every month. That relentless positive word of mouth has made a huge difference and means the world to me. It has genuinely changed the arc of my creative career. I’m so proud of our team and ecstatic that I get to keep working on stories and worlds I enjoy so much.

The easiest way to stay on top of my work – Conan and everything else – is to go to www.jimzub.com. Links to all my books are there (more than 70 graphic novels), people can sign up for my weekly newsletter, find my social media links, and read through 40+ free articles about how to create comics – writing tutorials, industry advice, and more.
My website is the one-stop shop for all things Zub.

Anton: Thank you again!

Jim: My pleasure.

Until next time, I really do love what Jim is doing with the character and the series. I’m very deeply rooted in the sword & sorcery space both as a fan and as a creator, and while some of my favorite people on the planet don’t always agree with me, I have not wavered in my enjoyment of these new stories Jim is weaving. The moment something slips up, I will be the first to say something. However, after two solid years of strange and wonderful tales, I’m not expecting that to happen any time soon, if ever.