Jim Zub Interview Part 1: Conan The Barbarian and Spider-Man

 

Jim Zub (left) being interviewed by a member of the press. (Not me!)

Titan Comics kindly invited me to interview author Jim Zub at this year's  Comic-Con International in San Diego. While I waited to speak with Jim, another press member conducted an on-camera interview. Then it was my turn to chat with the author of Titan's Conan The Barbarian series and a regular contributor to their Savage Sword series. Here's the introductory portion of that interview.
 

 

David: Thanks for agreeing to speak with me.

Jim: No problem.

David: In preparing for this interview, one thing that intrigued me was that Roy Thomas' first Conan comic has a spaceman in it.  

Jim: Right.

David: And early on in Spider-Man is saving astronauts [including John Jameson, the son of J Jonah Jameson in Amazing Spider-Man #1, March 1963]. 

 

 

Jim: Sure. So, I think you are confusing me with Zeb Wells.

David: Oh.

Jim: I am not the writer of Amazing Spider-Man.

David: Oh no!

Jim: It's totally cool. It happens all the time.

David: I'm sorry about that!

Jim: Don't worry about it. No worries. It happens all the time.

David: Thank you! 

Jim: For a second when you said ASM I was like I know what you're thinking. It's all good. But it's really funny. Zeb gets people bringing over Conan comics to get signed and we always joke with each other about that. We said we got to do a comic together someday so then they just call it Zeb Zub. That would work out really well.

David: I was at a Worldcon [the 2008 World Science Fiction Convention held in Denver, Colorado] and a bookseller wanted me to sign a stack of David Anthony Durham’s novels.

 

 

Jim: So, you're like, “Oops, wrong name!” It's all good. Don't worry about it. 

David: Okay. [Sigh] I guess I won't ask about a teamup between Spider-Man and Conan then.

Jim: [Laughs] No problem. It’s all good!

 

 

 

It's hard to imagine how I could have confused Jim Zub and Zeb Wells. I type both names out regularly. At least I'm not alone! Incidentally, I bumped into David Anthony Durham at the 2010 Readercon in Burlington, Massachusetts. When I mentioned the incident at Worldcon, he said, "Go ahead and sign the books for me. I'm okay with that!"

What can I say? Reviewers (and interviewers) may get things wrong, but writers are cool!

Thanks again to Titan Comics for arranging my interview with Jim Zub, 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!