I delayed Part 5 of my interview with Jim Zub as we discussed his upcoming Bêlit storyline in Conan The Barbarian #17 (On sale December 11th). Now here's the final portion of that interview from this year's San Diego Comic-Con. Enjoy!
And if you're an Elric fan, check out the preview I posted for Titan's latest Elric book earlier this month!
David: I noticed that Titan is doing more Michael Moorcock stories.
Jim: Yeah, I love Elric. What's funny is Elric shows up in two or three issues of the original Conan run that Barry Windsor-Smith drew.
David: Was it Barry Smith or Bill Kane?
Jim: Ooh. Good question! Ooh, if I got it wrong, I'll kick myself!
[Jim was correct. It was Barry Windsor-Smith!]
David: When I was growing up, I played Dungeons and Dragons with my friends. I was into Robert E Howard and a friend was into Michael Moorcock.
Jim: Yeah, I love those stories too. I certainly wouldn't say no if we ever wanted to do a new Conan/Elric crossover. That would be an absolute trip for me as a fan for sure.
David: Was it the success of Conan The Barbarian and The Savage Sword of Conan that prompted Titan to do the new Elric stories?
Jim: I'm not sure. That's above my pay grade. I don't know what spurred that on. I do know that Nick Landau, the owner of Titan, is a friend of Moorcock’s so I'm sure that's where that relationship built.
David: That's cool. Well, thank you very much.
Jim: My absolute pleasure!
David: I've been following the series all along.
Jim: I’m thrilled to hear it! It's been a joy to work on. It's an honor to be a link in that continuous chain of publication. The character has been around for 90 years and 50 years in comics. You know, that means a lot. I've been meeting a lot of people over the last year, and many of them have been collecting since the 70s. They walked away [from Conan] for a while and they're coming back in a big way. That has happily surprised us. I’ve got guys old enough to be my dad shaking my hand and telling me it feels like they're 14 again. That is the best compliment I could ask for.
David: It seems like a rebirth.
Jim: Yeah, there's definitely a Pulp resurgence and Conan is obviously one of those things that's happening. There's a lot of excitement around looking back fondly upon some of this source material in this formative genre. It's cool to be in the mix.
David: Yeah, and Titan is doing the thing with the Hard Case Crime books and comics.
Jim: You know, there is a reason why these things stick around you. There were dozens and dozens of people who contributed to Weird Tales, but there are only three or four authors whose work for that magazine really stuck in the public consciousness. Obviously, there was H.P. Lovecraft and couple of others. Howard was one of the biggest. That's heady stuff. It's fun to play with.
David: By the way, I read the [Robert E Howard’s] first Conan story recently, and it struck me it involves a ring of power.
Jim: Yeah!
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| Dark Horse Comics' adaptation of Robert E Howard's first Conan story: The Phoenix on the Sword. |
David: And then there are JRR Tolkien’s stories about a ring of power.
Jim: Right! It's fascinating to see some of those thematic bits! Fantasy as a genre is about the mundane having greater significance, right? It's only a ring but it's something more. It's only a sword, it’s only a relic or a piece some greater whole. High Fantasy has much more of a mythic magic aspect where you can know all the permutations of it, whereas Sword And Sorcery feels more murky and mysterious. Conan will never see the greater wheels of destiny moving around him, but we as the reader can appreciate it while he's being thrust into danger.
David: Cool. Thanks again! Thank you so much for your time!
Jim: Thank you. It’s been fun!
And thanks to Titan Comics for arranging my interview with Jim Zub at this year's San Diego Comic-Con!
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