Titan Comics and Heroic Signatures are launching an all-new Conan the Barbarian monthly series, and according to writer Jim Zub, it’s the comic he’s been waiting to write all his life.
The series, which features art from Roberto De La Torre and Jose Villarrubia, follows the bloody battle of Venarium, in which Conan’s long-awaited rest is prematurely ended when a “mysterious scout rides in to warn the Cimmerians of an imminent threat.” It’s up to Conan, then, to send the horde back from whence they came and bring peace to his homeland.
I spoke with Zub, and editor Matt Murray, at San Diego Comic-Con about how the mightiest Cimmerian came to Titan & Heroic signatures, what they’re aiming to do with the book, and if any other characters from the iconic Robert E. Howard books would appear in the new comic, among other topics and tidbits.
Conan the Barbarian #1 will be available wherever comics are sold on August 2.
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
Courtesy of Titan Comics and Heroic Signatures.
AIPT: How did this comic come to life?
Matt Murray: Our company, Heroic Signatures, decided that once we got the rights back from Marvel that we were going to publish it ourselves. We felt that it was the right choice and the right time creatively for us to drive our own character and not have to worry about licensing it out or having to go through the steps of watching something get watered down to a point where it’s no longer what we believed in or what we’re trying to get across with Conan. So we teamed up with an amazing company called Titan Comics, who has been a fantastic partner with us, and we decided to just start driving man! Jim Zub was always going to be the writer on it, and Jim gave me a list of artists – at the top was Rob De La Torre, went out and hired them both. As an editor my job is to say “Go!” and they’re going with it.
Conan is a character with a lot of history – how did you craft the series in a way that would apply to fans both old and new?
Jim Zub: That really is accurate to what we’re trying to do. There’s a huge established fanbase for Conan – he’s the original sword and sorcery character with 90 years of history. But we also want this to be a great entry point for people to start and enjoy. We have lapsed fans we’re trying to please but the best way we can do that is to make great sword and sorcery adventure and make it clear and make it awesome. Our Free Comic Book Day issue was sort of our mission statement; in twelve pages we give you a quick overview of Conan’s origin and why he’s left Cimmeria to try and find himself. When our new story begins it’s a few years later and Conan has some pivotal choices to make and a new threat’s emerged. These are new stories – they take the classic Robert E. Howard canon stories and build around them. But it is brand new in the sense that it’s not just a retread of what’s come before.
Courtesy of Titan Comics and Heroic Signatures.
For me as a fan, a lifelong fan of the character, I want to do right by the property. I want to do right by this world that kind of opened up my imagination. But at the same time, I’m always trying to bounce that off the idea of “If I just came in cold as a new reader, is there enough information here?”
Conan has a vast mythology, including characters like Thulsa Doom. Are there any plans to introduce these characters down the line?
JZ So what’s fascinating is that Thulsa Doom was a villain in the Conan movie, but he actually started out as a Kull the Conqueror villain in what’s called the Thurian Age. But the mythology of Conan is all connected. The Thurian Age of Kull is part and parcel of the Hyborian Age. If anything the Hyborian Age is the post-apocalyptic version of the Thurian Age. Is Thulsa Doom on the table? I can’t say he’s not. Because it’s part and parcel of this bigger history and this mysterious magic. And he’s a very cool character.
MM: He’s got a cool name!
JZ: He’s got the coolest name in all of villain history! I think what’s cool about it is that we can introduce new pieces as well. New villains, new objects of power, new allies. In this first issue, we bring a new character named Brissa. She is tied into some interesting pieces of the Robert E. Howard mythology while also being a brand new character that people can sort of jump in with and see some new facets of how Conan interacts with her.
MM: The funny thing is there are a lot of stories that get forced into being a multiverse or a shared universe. Robert E. Howard, 97 years ago, was already doing that. It’s one of those things that you may not realize until you actually read his literature and see how interconnected it all is.
Courtesy of Titan Comics and Heroic Signatures.
JZ: Objects, symbols, creatures, characters and gods, and locations that he’s reusing and repurposed in different genres. Some are fantasy, some are horror, some are noir…
MM: Some are weird westerns!
JZ: In our mind, they’re all connected and we can use those things liberally within the Hyborian Age.
AIPT: What is the coolest thing about working on Conan?
JZ: The artwork of Rob de la Torre, who is our artist on this first story arc, is some of my favorite Conan art that I’ve ever seen. And he’s drawing the story I’m writing. Every time he sends me artwork I can’t believe how amazing it looks, how powerful it looks, how it summons the feeling I had when I first discovered this character. And the excitement we see here when people flip through the first issue and it pulls them in instantly. It sounds corny to say but it’s simultaneously classic-looking but feels completely contemporary. It’s potent, powerful, and has all of the visual qualities Conan deserves.
MM: It’s beautiful and brutal.
Courtesy of Titan Comics and Heroic Signatures.
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