 |
| Conan The Barbarian #10 Cover C by Roberto de la Torre |
David: [In Conan The Barbarian #10] It seemed like Rob [artist Roberto de la Torre] was hinting at doing a Steve Costigan story?
Jim: He loves Steve Costigan and with The Battle Of The Black Stone coming up we're peppering in a lot of other Howard characters from their respective times. All I can say is everyone [all of Robert E Howard’s characters] is on the table. In the future, if Rob wants to draw Sailor Steve Costigan, I'm surely not going to hold him back because that's the vision I want to see. If I can have my hand on the steering wheel for it, so much better.
Conan: Battle Of The Black Stone #1 Cover D by Samwise Didier
David: Does The Battle of the Black Stone directly follow Conan The Barbarian #12 then?
Jim: Yeah, narratively it does. Again, because of the Weird Tales structure, we can jump around the timeline a bit. Conan is older. It's probably taking place closest to Beyond The Black River so it's one of the later Conan stories but Conan's remembering stuff from Conan The Barbarian #1 to #12. Thematically it rides right from #12, but the character is older in terms of the timeline.
Conan The Barbarian #17 Cover A by Roberto de la Torre
David: So Conan The Barbarian #17 may follow #12 then?
Jim: Correct. We're going to flashback to Bêlit still being alive, at the height of their pirate fame, and show an adventure you haven't seen before of the two of them before they go down the Black River and she passes on and all that stuff. The reader knows the darkness to come, so I can have these little foreshadowing moments. Conan doesn't realize that of course. So, we can play with your knowledge as a reader versus the narration happening in the adventure before you.
David: Poul Anderson wrote a novel about Conan and Bêlit. [The famous Science Fiction & Fantasy author won 7 Hugo awards and 3 Nebula awards for his stories.]
Jim: Yeah. The only canon we're using for certain is the Howard stories. I've got access to everything else if I want to use them, but I don't have to. So things like the Atlantean blade that we brought into arc three [Issues #11 & 12] that looks a lot like the one from the movie. That's a personal Easter egg. It's such an iconic weapon that is associated with the character so closely. Here's a cool way we can use it and then carry on.
We're not locking ourselves down to one absolute unshakable canon. At some point, hopefully a long time for now, when I’ve stopped writing Conan, someone else needs the freedom to be able to explore between these stories as well. We're not trying to close everything off or shut every door. This character is as iconic as Batman or Superman or Spiderman or any of those other characters. There's an infinite number of stories to be told and this is my chance to roll with the baton as hard and as far as I can and hopefully surprise and entertain along the way.
Conan The Barbarian #11 Cover A by Alex Horley
David: I was happily surprised to see Yag-Kosha [from Robert E Howard’s story “The Tower Of The Elephant.” The Elephant-like alien appears in Titan’s Conan The Barbarian #9, #11, and #12].
Jim: Yeah, that was a big card turn that could have blown up in our face, but again, I wanna be able to shock you. I want to be able to surprise you. You think you've seen all the ingredients in all their forms and I'm like, no, we can do something fun that you've never quite seen before. It was a little audacious, but I'm glad it worked out.
Conan: Battle Of The Black Stone Cover A by Roberto de la Torre
David: Might Yag-Kosha be in The Battle of the Black Stone?
Jim: He's not in The Battle of the Black Stone but the things that he has observed, and his words, carry weight philosophically through upcoming stories.
I apologize for breaking off the interview back in August, but I plan to post the final portion of this interview soon. Thanks to Jim Zub and Titan Comics for allowing me to bring it to you!
No comments:
Post a Comment