Today, Jim Zub might be known for his work writing some of Marvel's mightiest adult and adolescent superheroes, but he's also known for his acclaimed work in the fantasy genre, having written several Dungeons & Dragons miniseries for IDW. He helped reintroduce Conan the Barbarian into the Marvel Universe as part of the writing team for the 2019 Avengers: No Road Home mini-series, and is also the current writer of Marvel's ongoing Conan the Barbarian series. And now, Zub is returning to the fantasy world of Skullkickers, alongside Edwin Huang, colorist Misty Coats, and letterer Marshall Dillon, to celebrate the Image series' 10th anniversary.

Skullkickers is a humorous sword and sorcery comic about three monster-hunting mercenaries named Rex, Rolf and Kusia. While the series wrapped five years ago, its creative team is reuniting for the book's 10th anniversary for a new project that fans can help make a reality right now via Kickstarter.

That project is Skullkickers: Caster Bastards and the Great Grotesque, a hardcover tome that features both a brand new comic story and material to help you turn elements of that story into a one-off adventure or full campaign for the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game. Zub spoke with CBR about the project and returning to the world of Skullkickers and offered an exclusive look at some character concepts and comic art from the anniversary special.

RELATED: Skullkickers Sword and Sorcery Comic Conjures Adult Animated Series

Skullkickers 10th Anniversary Character Concepts

CBR: Some fans of your Marvel and D&D books might not yet be aware of Skullkickers. What would you like them to know about the series?

Jim Zub: Skullkickers is the story of monster-mashing mercenaries who get pulled into a ridiculous and ever-widening adventure against critters, demons, and interdimensional horrors. It's fun, fast-paced and full of fury.

The comic series ran for 34 issues (and 6 trades) at Image and was my “breakout' creator-owned book, the one that grabbed enough attention to get me really going with my comic writing career.

Skullkickers was my love letter to Conan the Barbarian and Dungeons & Dragons that started me on a path that eventually led to writing officially for both Conan the Barbarian and D&D, which is still pretty surreal for me.

If you haven’t read the original Skullkickers comics, that’s okay! This 10th-anniversary hardback is new-reader friendly and incredibly easy to dive into. Here’s all you need to know: It’s a fantasy world and the characters are troublemakers, so there’s trouble aplenty to be found.

What's it like returning to the characters of Rolf, Rex, and Kusia after growing as a writer and getting a chance to tell stories with some of fantasy's greatest characters?

It feels good, honestly. I’d almost forgotten how much fun these characters are and how easy it is to ignite a story with their antics. I built Skullkickers as a way to indulge all those beloved fantasy tropes while kicking them in the teeth, and that holds true especially now.

Working on Conan and Minsc (of Baldur’s Gate fame) is a thrill, but the absolute freedom that Skullkickers affords me is hard to beat. The fact that Edwin, Misty, Marshall and I get to dig back in with all we’ve learned and celebrate our accomplishments over the past decade is really special.

RELATED: Dungeons & Dragons: What You Need to Know About Oblexes

SK10-Page08-Lines

Skullkickers is a celebration and satire of fantasy tropes and for Caster Bastards and The Great Grotesque, you're tackling a rather popular one; the school for wizards. What can you tell us about this story and its inspirations?

Caster Bastards is set in a new location called the Academy of Serious Sorcery and Holistic Occult Learning, and with a pretentious title like that you know it’s going to be memorable. The school has a long tradition of training spellcasters, but it’s also packed to the brim with secrets and corruption. When Rex and Rolf decide they want to infiltrate the place and plunder its treasures, they end up enrolled as students and chaos ensues.

The most obvious riffs come from Harry Potter, of course, but there are all kinds of warped things we channel into it from D&D, Lord of the Rings, Conan, Shannara, Xanth, Ars Magica ...you name it.

What's it like reuniting with your collaborators Edwin Huang, Misty Coats, and Marshall Dillon for this story? How much fun has it been to build and turn upside down the Academy of Serious Sorcery and Holistic Learning?

It’s amazing building a new Skullkickers story with our team. Edwin and Misty’s skills have grown so much. It feels like we can really pull out all the stops and go wild. Marshall’s lettering on Stone Star (my latest creator-owned series) has been top-notch, and he continues that quality here as well as I ask for him to come up with strange lettering solutions to the f’ed up situations I’ve written.

The world-building is more extensive this time because of the expanded nature of this project as a comic and RPG adventure, and you can really feel that in the thought we’ve put into the locales and stuff the crew gets put up against in the story.

RELATED: Dungeons & Dragons Announces Tasha's Cauldron of Everything Sourcebook

Skullkickers 10th Anniversary Character Concepts 2

Is the RPG material in Caster Bastards and the Great Grotesque just a one-off adventure? Or something more?

Beyond our 30-page comic story, the book also has also a 70-page 5e-compatible RPG adventure that fleshes out the Academy completely with tons of rooms, encounters, shifting plotlines, and NPCs along with new monsters, magic items, spells and even a social system for students as they try to earn enough goodwill to graduate.

You can have your current 5e characters infiltrate the school as part of a larger mission or roll up brand new student characters and play a campaign from freshman through to graduation. The comic story is how Rex, Rolf, and Kusia engage the school and some of its secrets, but they only touch upon something like 20% of what’s in the RPG section in the comic.

The three game designers I have working with me (Mike Olson, E.R.F. Jordan, and Clint Cronk) have been incredible, building on what I put into the comic story and the other ideas I had for the Academy while fleshing out every nook and cranny to make it feel like a fully-realized setting full of possibilities.

What made you turn to Kickstarter as a way to fund this project?

With a mix of comic and RPG elements, Caster Bastards didn’t quite feel like the right fit to pitch to comic or game publishers. I wouldn’t say it’s unique, but it’s certainly different, so going the crowdfunding route ensures we get to build it exactly the way I envision it. If the campaign funds quickly and we start hitting stretch goals both the comic story and RPG sections will expand with even more content.

For years, I’ve been putting together tutorials on how to write comics, pitch stories, and ride the highs and lows of working in the comic industry. In all that time I’ve never done a crowdfunding project, so I’m excited and a bit nervous to see how this goes. The one thing I’m not worried about is the content; the book looks incredible so far and, with help from our backers, I know it’s going to get even better.

RELATED: The X-Men's New King Just Made a Powerful Ally in Agents of Wakanda

SK10-Page09-Lines

Speaking of backer rewards, what's all included in the core book? And what are some of the other things people can get for their pledges?

The book itself will be a 100+ page hardcover with at least 30 pages of comic story and 70 pages of RPG material and setting content. If you pledge for the digital or standard physical version, that’s what you get.

The limited-edition will be produced with an extra-spiffy cover and metallic logo. The book contents are the same (along with a signed and numbered tip-in), but you’ll also get extra resources to help run the RPG campaign – character cards, a double-sided battle map, and other cool stuff if we reach our stretch goals.

The top end includes all the limited edition material, but you can add in original sketch art from Edwin and I or even original page art from the Skullkickers comic series if you want a really unique memento.

Finally, if fan demand is great enough might we see more Skullkickers stories in the future?

I don’t think Edwin and I have it in us to do a new monthly comic series, but if this is a real skull-kicking success it would be foolish for me to say we wouldn’t consider doing more. I know Mike has been having so much fun with the RPG design side of things that he’s mentioned multiple times that we should do more adventures or a setting book for the world of Skullkickers, but I don’t want to assume anything, especially this early into it.

This is my first crowdfunding project and I know how important it is to deliver on that. People are going to put their hard-earned money into this based on our pitch, the art, and my reputation. I don’t want to squander that or take it for granted. I’m focused on making Caster Bastards the best I can before I worry about what comes next.

KEEP READING: Dungeons & Dragons: How to Create a My Little Pony Campaign

0 Links