Zubby Newsletter #96: Year Of The Snake
2025 is the Year of the Snake and, according to the Chinese Zodiac, the Snake brings “wisdom, transformation, calmness and creativity”. I don’t know if I believe that “calm” thing given all that’s happening in the world, but here’s hoping for the rest of it.
Titan and Heroic Signatures are celebrating the Snake with a year of Stygian-themed stories and danger in the Hyborian Age. Our current storyline, Fangs & Foolish Thieves, tees up key plot points that will carry onward all the way to Scourge of the Serpent, which will rock your face starting on Free Comic Book Day – Do not miss this issue!
Above you can see the superlative cover by Rob De La Torre for the recently solicited Conan the Barbarian #19 arriving in March, a 2-part tale illustrated by Doug Braithwaite filled with surprises and dangers aplenty. After that will be a 4-part arc illustrated by the wonderful Fernando Dagnino, who made a big splash with his story in Savage Sword of Conan #4 last year. The artwork arriving in my inbox every week from these artists is mind-bendingly good. What an absolute rush.
The holidays wrapped up pretty strong. Stacy and I threw our traditional Zing (Zub + King) New Year’s Eve Party and there was a solid turnout, the best we’ve had since 2019.
I ended up tipping a pot of boiling water on my non-dominant hand early in the evening, so I’m currently nursing a lobster-colored limb and trying trying to keep it slathered with aloe and free from infection, which is annoying but it could have been way worse.
Party Time in the Hyborian Age
Rob De La Torre sketched this quick New Year’s Eve Conan and, as always, his work has a wonderful balance of gesture and form, energy and structure.
Quick Thoughts on 2024 + Hopes For 2025
At ComicCompsCon a couple weeks ago, Truth North Country Comics asked me about how my 2024 went and what I’m looking forward to in 2025…
A Dystopian Document Thriller
Over a decade ago I bought an indie video game called Papers Please during a Steam sale and played it for about an hour. You are an immigration officer in the fictional dystopian country of Arstotzka deciding whether people can cross the border or not in the midst of political unrest and an ever-increasingly obtuse bureacracy. The core premise and execution is dark, funny, sad, and awkward. It amused me a bit, but I put it away.
In that odd liminal space between Christmas and New Year’s I spontaneously reinstalled the game, finally finished a full playthrough (about 4 hours), and will probably do a few more in the coming weeks to see how the story can change in the twisted narrative it weaves. You wouldn’t think checking data and stamping papers could ever be so engaging and entertaining, but it really does build an impressive amount of tension and pathos in a tight little package. Highly recommended.
The Gothiest
Stacy’s birthday is on December 30th, and her gothy heart wanted to check out the new Nosferatu, so we went to the movies for the first time in quite a while.
Stacy loved it and I also thought it was really sharp. David Eggers’ directing was top notch, the entire cast went for broke, and the waves of revulsion at some of the awkward-horrifying parts felt like being part of a grand social experiment. The audience at our screening was uncomfortable as hell. At least four people left the theater because they couldn’t handle it, which was even more amusing as I glanced over at Stacy and saw a beaming smile on her face. My lady and her delightfully dark heart…I LOVE YOU!
Current + Upcoming Releases
Conan the Barbarian Vol. 3: The Age Unconquered TPB – released Nov 19th.
Conan: Battle of the Black Stone #4 (of 4) – released December 4th.
Conan the Barbarian #17 – released December 11th.
Savage Sword of Conan Vol. 1 TPB – releases January 14th.
Conan the Barbarian Vol. 4: Frozen Faith TPB – releases February 18th.
Conan the Barbarian #18 – releases February 19th.
Conan the Barbarian #19 – releases March 19th.
Upcoming Appearances
Show announcements are starting to finally pop up – Orlando, Vancouver, and Lake Geneva are first out of the gate, with quite a few more to be announced soon. Spring is pretty much booked, Summer is starting to fill in, and there are already chats happening about the Fall. It is wild how much further in advance things are getting booked out nowadays.
Feb 6-9, 2025 Mega Con Orlando, Florida, USA
Feb 21-23, 2025 Fan Expo Vancouver Vancouver, BC, CANADA
Mar 20-23, 2025 Gary Con XVII Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, USA
Links and Other Things
• This video on Proko TV covers a fundamental drawing skill that my drawing students and many professionals can find quite challenging – Drawing cylinders and ellipses in perspective. Stan walks through the process in a really clear way here.
• Dan at the Conan Chronology has gone through all the Titan-published Conan comics so far and posits where they fit compared to the Robert E. Howard canon stories. His research is solid, but I can’t confirm or deny any of the stuff he has in this article.
• A couple weeks ago I mentioned that one of my former students started a bar in Toronto called The Wych. Last night I finally had a chance to stop by and check the place out – a great vibe, well poured drinks, and this friendly companion named Orson is eager to welcome visitors. I’d say it’s a win all around. If you stop by, tell Aaron and the Proofessor I sent you.
Okay, that’s it for this one. I hope the first full week of 2025 kicks butt for you and your loved ones!
Jim
Bit late to this one but so happy to hear from a fellow Papers Please fan. I watched jacksepticeye's playthrough(s) amd became so enamoured with its charms and worldbuilding
All the best for 2025 Jim!
Funny bit of synchronicity (or maybe I just started to notice it due to your great stories) but reading some old Marvel Conan tales I found 2 old references to the black stone...!
The Brak Man Morn story by Thomas/Barry Smith - people of the worm and then also a random back up in SSOC 74 (which I picked up because there is a Claremont Conan story in it) has a horror story by Roy Thomas and Gene Day which again features...the black stone.
Where will it pop up again ? :)