SDCC Interview: Conan the Barbarian Comic Writer Jim Zub and Editor Chris Butera

During my time at San Diego Comic-Con, I was given the chance to sit down and talk with Jim Zub, writer of the Conan the Barbarian comic, and his editor, Chris Butera. I haven’t read any of the current run of the comic; however, after hearing enthusiasm for the character, I’m definitely going to pick up his latest event book, Conan the Barbarian: Scourge of the Serpent.

I started off asking Jim why he and readers are so drawn to Conan as a character. He spoke about how Conan is one of the oldest genre characters in existence, being six years older than Superman. Conan started the original during the pulp era of storytelling in Weird Tales during the 1930s. Jim spoke about how Conan embodies what a lot of the readers of the time were dealing with: enduring hardship, putting themselves into the unknown, being strong despite the danger in front of them, and being a survivor, refusing to bend the knee.

Jim also spoke about how the setting of the Hyborian Age, where the Conan stories are based, is so much about the unknown. One of the aspects he loves about the sword and sorcery part of storytelling is that once you remove the internet or phones, the characters don’t really know what is going on beyond the horizon. He also talked about the savagery of the time, battles, and fights have real stakes.

Conan, in the early Robert E. Howard stories, was very verbal, unlike how many of us were introduced to the character through the Arnold Schwarzenegger film. The origin story from Howard was that Conan was already a King and was recounting his life story. Conan sits in a library with scholars of the era in front of a map, and Conan is filling in the parts of the map they don’t know about, showing that he has depth and understanding of the outside world. Jim wants to bring this version of Conan, the intelligent, worldly leader of the original Howard stories, to modern comics.

We then transitioned into how each version of a medium has its strengths and weaknesses. We talked about how the Conan film is a fun piece of filmmaking but doesn’t have the feel of the original stories. Jim spoke at length about how different mediums – i.e., comics, or film, or books – each bring various types of elements to the same story or characters. In the aspect of the comic, it is much more visual, meaning they put in more captions than a modern superhero comic, because it gives it much more of a mythic flair. He wanted to bring more of a literary feel to the comic that is similar to the Howard stories.

Jim then went on to talk about how the way he wants to write his version of the story much closer to the way Howard wrote his. He mirrors the Howard stories by telling the Conan story by jumping around in his life. He pointed out that Dark Horse Comics, when they were telling the Conan story, wanted to do it in order, which made it feel disjointed from the way fans had come to love the character. He also doesn’t want to retell known stories because if he changed the ending, it would upset the fans, and him being a fan himself, he wants to stay away from that. So, he’s trying to tell new adventures of Conan while still having the original feeling. It is a tightrope act he is enjoying.

I then wanted to know about how Chris was working with Jim on the comic. Chris, as the editor, wants to keep the continuity of the story, but for the most part, he allows Jim to write what he wants to write. They both brought up Jeff Shanks, a Conan, and Robert Howard scholar. They both talked about how he is the one who helps them the most when it comes to the continuity and lore of the Conan character and the writings of Robert Howard. He is the reference guide for both when it comes to trying something new or seeing if there has been a specific type of story before.

As the interview was coming to an end, I was able to ask about the new event comic coming in September, Scourge of the Serpent. For a four-month run, Scourge of the Serpent will explore the cost of the action taken by Conan in the mainline book. Conan is surviving the trials of being a leader and defeating the bad guys, but he has no idea how those actions are affecting the outside world, and that will all come to a head in this four-issue event book run. There will be Easter eggs and call-backs that have been going on in the mainline comic for the last couple of years. Chris did stop Jim from giving any details of what’s to come. I tried, everyone.

When Jim started writing the comic for Titan, they gave him a year to see what he could do with it. So, he made a point of telling a complete story in that first 12-issue run, throwing in a few things they could come back to later. The sales of the comic have been great, so Titan Comics has given him until 2027 to continue the current run. Allowing him to have a complete run of comics and the event books, allowing him to tie everything back together with a hopefully satisfying conclusion.

I snuck one last question in before I left, asking since Jim has worked on so many other types of characters in DC, Marvel, and Image Comics, is there something he would like to work on that he hasn’t yet? His first answer was Doctor Strange in a Steve Ditko style, but the one he wants to do is Spider-Man. But as he pointed out, everyone wants to work on the top book.

Chris tried not to be too clichéd, but he went straight to Kull, another Robert E Howard character. Chris is excited to bring Howard’s oldest sword and sorcery character to the page, predating Conan, in the Weird Tales books of the 1920s and ’30s. He is getting his chance as they announced that Kull is in the works at Titan Comics.

Jim and Chris showed how much they love the character of Conan the Barbarian and the comic book genre. They were both engaging and loved sharing their love of this current run of this character. I asked Jim one question, and he went on for a good 7 to 8 minutes, without taking a breath, I think. His love and knowledge of the comic and its main protagonist is infectious.

Upcoming Conan titles include:

Conan the Barbarian: Scourge of the Serpent #1 (on sale September 24, 2025)

Conan the Barbarian #25 (on sale October 8, 2025, oversized milestone issue, a stand-alone story – perfect jumping on point for readers!)

The Savage Sword of Conan: Reforged #1 (on sale October 22, 2025 – all-new color restorations of the classic black-and-white magazine)

Conan the Barbarian: Bound In Black Stone Deluxe Edition (on sale September 16, 2025)

Conan the Barbarian Vol. 1-3 Slipcase Set (on sale September 9, 2025)

Conan Illustrated: The Tower of the Elephant (on sale September 2, 2025)

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Author: Sean Miley

I’d rather find the things that I like about a story, movie, or tv show, than lead with negativity. I love Star Wars, Doctor Who, MCU, comic book and conventions.

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