Jim Zub is a Toronto-based comic book writer, instructor, lover of role-playing games and long-standing attendee of Fan Expo Canada. With offerings from all of the major comic book publishers and entertainment companies, his fan-favourite works have covered modern turns on superheroes, fantasy and supernatural fiction.
JP Fallavollita got the chance to speak with Jim Zub as Fan Expo Canda 2026 approaches and talk about the sword and sorcery genre, his Wayward series (now being collected in a fulsome compendium format) and his work on the Conan the Barbarian monthly comic book series – including what the writer has in store for Robert E. Howard’s famous creation!
JP Fallavollita: Between personal and work-related commitments, you’ve had a busy summer, globe-trotting a bit and now back on familiar soil here in Toronto at Fan Expo Canada 2026. Tell me a little about how your convention experiences have been this year and what you’re looking forward to most this Fan Expo Canada weekend?
Jim Zub: It’s definitely been a busy year on the convention circuit for me, with events in Portland, Vancouver, Seattle, Orlando, Calgary, Cross Plains, San Diego, Indianapolis and Gloucester that all happened before Fan Expo Canada in Toronto to wrap up the summer. I try to head to some of my favourite conventions but also go places I’ve never been before, and that can be tough to balance alongside getting the work done.
Fan Expo Canada is a show I rarely miss, and a big part of the joy of it for me is that so many of my industry friends and peers are coming here to my city, so I get to play “host” a bit, recommending restaurants and other spots, showing them how incredible a city Toronto is. On top of that, I get to sleep in my own bed each night and can just jump on the subway to head down to the convention center, so it’s both a point of pride and convenient.
JP Fallavollita: With over two decades of experience, you’re a comic book industry veteran. In what ways has the convention experience changed for you since you first started attending as a guest, all those moons ago?
Jim Zub: It is surreal to realize I’ve been attending conventions as a professional for over twenty years and that I’ve been to over 200 events around the world. Obviously it happened, but when I mentally step back and try to ratify that, it’s just bizarre.
I’m much more comfortable with how conventions work – Meeting people, public speaking, signing books and all that. I’m also a lot less worried about needing to meet every professional or network the hell out of an event. In those early years, everyone is so desperate for contacts and legitimacy, and it can become a negative feedback loop of frustration when you don’t feel like you’re making progress or sales or any of it. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes shows still don’t go well, but I have a way better attitude and understand the ebb and flow of it all much better now. I can put the setbacks in context and enjoy the victories when they happen.
JP Fallavollita: Beyond the popularity of film and television pop culture properties at these conventions, there’s always a strong presence of anime and manga fans, too. I might argue that you were at the early formation of one of the more recent waves in that particular fandom with your outstanding Wayward series from Image Comics (co-created alongside artist Steven Cummings). Personally, I was enthusiastically reading that monthly series during late nights, rocking my newborn son back to sleep. What was the genesis of Wayward and how do you look back upon the series today?
Jim Zub: Wayward was a huge booster to my career at a formative time. There was a slate of new creator-owned titles that got traction thanks to the success of The Walking Dead and a feeling that any new title at Image might catch that wave and become the next big thing. Anime and manga were hitting a similar upswing again, so having a series that bridged indie and manga sensibilities, grounded in real Japanese locations with real Japanese mythology at its core, opened us up to a lot of new readers.
Steven Cummings and I worked together at the UDON studio for years and wanted to collaborate on a project together. After I gained a bit of traction with Skullkickers, I felt I had a good handle on how to pitch another Image series. My original idea was urban fantasy with a Euro-centric slant, but then Steven wanted to draw Japanese ghost stories, and I realized I could take my general idea and use it with Yokai and Tokyo instead. We collaborated closely to create that cast of characters and ground them in the look and feel of modern Japan.
JP Fallavollita: Nearly a decade after the 30-issue series ended, how pleased are you that Wayward is being collected in its entirety in the Compendium format, released on September 29? After all, there’s a whole new audience that’ll get a chance to read it – and an old one with a good excuse to re-read it.
Jim Zub: Getting to do a 30-issue creator-owned book was a rarity then, and it’s even more rare now, so I’m incredibly proud of it. Getting to see it all put together in one rockin’ 900-page compendium is amazing. Every comic project I work on is a time capsule of who I was and who I got to work with, and Wayward is incredibly special on every level because of that. Our whole team – Steven, Tamra, Marshall and Zack – were amazing.
JP Fallavollita: From creating and writing Skullkickers to Dungeons & Dragons comics to Conan, I know you’re a big fan of the sword and sorcery genre and tabletop role-playing games. As a fellow long-time D&D player, I’m lucky enough to be part of an adventuring company myself. In our latest multi-year escapade through the northern wastes of the Forgotten Realms, we get together online every few weeks via platforms like D&D Beyond and Discord. In a post-COVID, extremely busy world, how (and how much) do you and your fellow adventurers play these days?
Jim Zub: Not half as much as I’d like, that’s for sure. A lot of my friends and peers here in Toronto are gamers, but we’re all incredibly busy, especially during convention season, so it tends to be one-off board game nights or 1-2 session self-contained adventures rather than extended campaigns. I’ve play-tested some D&D and Shadowdark material, I ran some games of Mothership and the new Conan: The Hyborian Age TTRPG, but don’t have an ongoing campaign at the moment.
During Covid lockdowns, I had a weekly gaming group of comic pros I played with over Zoom that included Zack Davisson, Jody Houser, Caera O’Neil, Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, Lucas Ketner and others where we’d kick the tires on different games/game systems and that was a ton of fun, but nowadays it’s far less frequent.
JP Fallavollita: Tell me a little about The Muse, the serialized graphic novel that you and game designer Chris Metzen wrote and Eduardo Mello illustrated, based on an original Tabletop Role-Playing Game campaign setting called Auroboros. Just recently announced, how did this opportunity arise and what’s the story about? Where might you take it?
Jim Zub: John Nee, who used to be the Publisher at Marvel and now does all kinds of industry consulting and special projects, introduced me to Chris Metzen, and he told me all about Auroboros. Chris wanted to showcase his new fantasy world with a graphic novel and was a fan of my sword & sorcery comic writing. He had the character cast in mind, and together we fleshed out the plot and pacing to make it accessible for readers who don’t know the TTRPG at all, while also showing the elements that make this particular world so special. Getting to work with artist Eduardo Mello, who drew the D&D: Mindbreaker mini-series I wrote, made it even easier for us to get into a great groove and deliver the goods. I’m really excited for readers to check it out.
JP Fallavollita: Sticking with fantasy and high adventure, you’ve been diligently writing the monthly Conan the Barbarian comic book series for Titan Comics to much acclaim the past few years. With a ravenous fanbase, that’s quite the achievement while carrying the burden of such an important responsibility. How did you first get introduced to the celebrated Barbarian and Robert E. Howard’s famous “Hyborian Age”?
Jim Zub: I genuinely can’t remember if I read the Conan comics or saw the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie first, but that balance of high adventure and intense action grabbed me right from the get-go. I was far too young for the R-rated movie, and yet it matched the sensibilities of the D&D games my older brother and I were playing at the time – morally gray, lots of monsters, big treasure and bigger trouble. It was the first time I saw a fantasy movie where it felt like everyone was taking it seriously instead of goofing around, and that really stuck with me.
The comics were incredible, with jaw-dropping artwork and intensity, especially Savage Sword of Conan magazine because it didn’t have the Comics Code. It was pure adventure, through and through. Getting to contribute to Conan’s legend is the best.
JP Fallavollita: Conan is so many things: a barbarian, a thief, a pirate, a sword for fire, a king. Is it at all daunting to work in that broad, fantasy world?
Jim Zub: The character goes through different phases of his adventuring career and his attitude shifts over the years, so as long as you know where in the overall journey he’s at, I find it’s not too bad. You just need to know if you’re writing the young and impetuous thief, the mercenary building his reputation, the pirate who endures great tragedy or the leader of men and eventually King of Aquilonia. Like anything, it’s a lot to handle at the start but gets easier with practice.
JP Fallavollita: You’re also writing the four-part miniseries, Conan: Tides of the Tyrant-King, alongside artist Jesus Merino. Also from Titan Comics, the first issue releases on September 23, although Free Comic Book Day last spring showcased a free teaser issue. What’s this particular story about?
Jim Zub: In addition to our flagship Conan the Barbarian monthly comic series, we’ve been doing a yearly event to showcase the wider ‘Howard-verse’ of pulp characters created by Robert E. Howard (creator of Conan) and also seeding a larger meta-plot around a massive eldritch evil that looms over time, space and reality. It started in 2024 with Battle of the Black Stone, continued last year with Scourge of the Serpent, and now kicks into high gear with Tides of the Tyrant-King!
Thulsa Doom, the Atlantean necromancer destroyed by Conan in our third story arc, The Age Unconquered, is back, and his plans stretch between Conan’s Hyborian Age and the 1920s, pulling in Conan and a traumatized veteran named Stephen Costigan. Both men are going to have to endure challenges and fight physical and spiritual evil to survive Thulsa Doom’s twisted plans. It’s action-packed and filled with twists.
JP Fallavollita: As a writer, do you approach the story and characters differently in Conan: Tides of the Tyrant-King than you would within the main Conan title?
Jim Zub: Having access to more characters and genres to play with in these event mini-series is a lot of fun. Noir, horror, detective stories and even westerns help round out the pulp feel of what’s possible and keeps me engaged and challenged to make it all work well. Sometimes I’m using existing Robert E. Howard stories, very specific moments and characters, and other times I’m creating new connective tissue and projecting it into unexpected places to keep even the most well-read Howard fans from guessing exactly what’s coming next.
JP Fallavollita: Are there any other rostered Robert E. Howard characters that you’d like to either write about individually or incorporate into your Conan stories? Perhaps one that you haven’t done so already or maybe one that you’d like to one day return to?
Jim Zub: Solomon Kane is certainly a favourite, though Patch Zircher is doing a stellar job with the two mini-series he’s put together so far, The Serpent Ring and The Lion Errant.
I have big plans for Bran Mak Morn, last King of the Picts. He’ll be playing a major role in next year’s event that brings all the pieces together.
JP Fallavollita: What else can we expect from the pen of Jim Zub through the rest of 2026 and into the promise of 2027?
Jim Zub: More Conan writing on comics and other media, more D&D Young Adventurer’s Guides I’m developing with Stacy King and Andrew Wheeler, and a big new creator-owned comic series launching in early 2027, which has been a long time coming.
I’m having the best time on projects right now and am so thankful readers are on board for the ride.
Many thanks to Jim Zub for taking the time to answer our questions. Both Conan the Barbarian, the monthly series, and Conan: Tides of the Tyrant-King (first issue released on September 23) are available from Titan Comics. The complete 904-page Wayward Compendium will be released by Image Comics at the end of September. Jim Zub will be appearing every day at Fan Expo Canada from Thursday, August 27 through Sunday, August 30. You can find out more about the four-day show here.
He’ll be participating in the sure-to-be-rousing Canadians Conquering Conan! The Creators Behind The Robert E. Howard Renaissance panel on Sunday, August 30 at 12:15 p.m. in Room 705.
