After concentrating on his contributions to Titan Comics' series The Savage Sword Of Conan, I shifted topics to the latest issue of writer Jim Zub's Conan The Barbarian series. Still, I made a slight detour into Savage Sword along the way! Here's more of my interview with Cimmerian scribe Jim Zub!
David: With Conan The Barbarian #13, it seems like you'vegone through cycles where Conan was with Brisa and then his world kind ofbreaks. He tries to go back to Cimmeria but he couldn't. So, he's goes to Shadizarto start over, and then that situation gets messed up. So now he’s going outinto the wilderness on his own.
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| Conan The Barbarian #1 Cover B (Roberto de la Torre) |
Jim: Well, we've jumped to an earlier part of the timeline.Like with the weird tale stories, we can move around. We don't have to golinear. So if you look in Conan The Barbarian #1, there's a flashback. It talksabout him fighting at the battle of Venarium, and he's got this bear on his back, andit talks about him testing his might. Now we're going back and showing thatstory.
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| Conan The Barbarian #13 Cover A by Dan Panosian |
We're showing Conan in his youth, questioning his faith,and wondering what it's all about. Chronologically, Conan The Barbarian #13 to16 take place between zero [The 2023 Free Comic Book Day issue] and #1.
David: The shape of his sword made me wonder.
Jim: It is the Pict blade that he got at the end of the Free Comic Book Day special.
David: But in Conan The Barbarian #12, he discards it,right?
Jim: Yeah.
David: Okay, because it [the panel] was very small.
Jim: Yeah. No, he does discard it, yeah.
David: I'm going to revise my review then.
Jim: [Laughs] No worries. It's all good.
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| The Savage Sword Of Conan #4 Cover A by David Palumbo |
David: So, [in Savage Sword] you've done a prose story. You'vedone comics. You've done a poem. Are we going to see a pinup next?
Jim: [Laughs] You know, I am an artist. I was an artist before I became awriter. I'm not sure. I do sketches of Conan and stuff for people, but man! Youknow Doug [Braithwaite] and Rob [de la Torre] are so phenomenal! I would beextra intimidated to step into the ring. It's not impossible but it's not thecurrent plan, no, but thank you for the compliment. It would be cool, for sure.
David: Yeah, something different.
Jim: Yeah, you’re like, “Are you doing a rock opera next?”
David: [Laughs] So, with your Conan The Barbarian series, youpass over some stories and you kind of blend on others.
Jim: Yeah.
David: Why retell “The Frost Giant’s Daughter’?
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| Conan The Barbarian #13 Cover B by Amanda Conner |
Jim: Good question! So, early on I made it very clear weweren't going to do straight adaptations because they've been done many timesin comics. If you're a Conan fan you know “The Frost Giant’s Daughter”. Youknow the “God in the Bowl”. You know “The Tower Of The Elephant” and “The QueenOf The Black Coast”. So, we can build off those pillars and hopefully surpriseyou with the ways that we echo the themes or ideas or visuals from thosestories, but not just retell them.
Doug [Braithwaite] specifically asked me to do a story setin the frozen north. He loves those [Frank] Frazetta paintings of Conanfighting in the snow, and he's like, “I want something that feels like that!”
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| Conan Legacy Frazetta Cover #1 (Dark Horse Comics) |
There’sonly canon story that takes place in the north like that and that's “The FrostGiant’s Daughter”. I said, “I’ve got to think about it,” and I came across thisidea of faith and Conan in his youth with wanderlust. Originally, I was goingto finish it with him heading into “The Frost Giant's Daughter.” Then Irealized thematically we could do something even more expansive.
I don't want to spoil it, but “The Frost Giant’s Daughter”is sort of central to the story now. So, we see before and after [Robert EHoward’s story] and there are some surprises. Even though you've read “The FrostGiant’s Daughter” before, there’s context for why they happen and where. We cangive you a different story that is not just the one you've read before. There'smore under the hood and I'm really excited for people to see it.
And it’s the 90th anniversary of the original story’spublication so it just seemed like kismet that we could do it and we'd be ableto celebrate at the same time.
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| The Cimmerian: The Frost Giant's Daughter #1 Cover A by Peach Momoko |
David: I'm sure it'll be a lot different than Ablaze Comics’version of “The Frost Giant’s Daughter” [in their series The Cimmerian].
Jim: [Laughs] Yes, I can say that with absolute confidence!
Thanks again to Jim Zub for speaking with me, Titan Comics for arranging the interview, and the press office at Comic-Con International for granting me the opportunity to speak with the author bringing Conan back to comic readers! I'll share more of this interview soon!
