Jim Zub

Jim Zubkavich, known professionally as Jim Zub, is a Canadian comic book writer, artist, and art instructor best known for creating comics Skullkickers, Wayward (2014), and Glitterbomb (2016) for Image Comics, writing on the series Thunderbolts (2016), Uncanny Avengers (2017), and spearheading the reboot of Conan the Barbarian (2023) for Titan Comics. As well as writing and creating comics, Zub is the former program co-ordinator and art professor at Toronto's Seneca College.

Early life Jim Zub is Canadian. He grew up watching Spider-Man cartoons as a kid, and soon after fell in love with comics. He has stated that Stan Lee was a big influence on him, specifically by giving his superheroes flaws.

Career Jim Zub created his first comic, Makeshift Miracle, in 2001, followed by a nine-year stint at UDON Entertainment as a colorist, illustrator, project manager, writer and editor where he wrote various Street Fighter comic books.

In 2010, Zub launched Skullkickers at Image Comics. A creator-owned sword & sorcery action-comedy, Skullkickers ran for thirty-three issues completing six volumes. The series came to an end in 2015.

In 2013, Zub wrote Samurai Jack comics for IDW and Cartoon Network. Initially intended as one five-issue arc, the comic ran twenty issues, ending in 2015.

In 2014, Zub launched Wayward at Image Comics with art by co-creator Steven Cummings.

Zub and IDW partnered up for Dungeons & Dragons: Legends of Baldur's Gate #1-5 in 2014, followed up by Dungeons & Dragons: Shadows of the Vampire #1-5 in 2016, Dungeons & Dragons: Frost Giant’s Fury #1-5 in 2017, and Dungeons & Dragons: Evil At Baldur’s Gate #1-5 in 2018.

In 2016, Zub and French-Canadian artist Djibril Morissette-Phan launched Glitterbomb at Image Comics, a four-part mini-series about a struggling actress trying to regain fame in a sexist, abusive industry. A second four-part mini-series, Glitterbomb: The Fame Game, launched in 2017.

Zub started writing for Marvel in 2016 with Thunderbolts, followed by Uncanny Avengers in 2017. He created a new hero, villains, and new backstories in the 16-part Avengers: No Surrender in 2018, as well as taking over Champions with #19, and creating a new Canadian Hero, Snowguard. Also in 2018, Zub wrote the four-part Wolverine miniseries, Mystery in Madripoor.

In August of 2018, Zub teamed up with writer Patrick Rothfuss and artist Troy Little to write a Dungeons & Dragons/Rick & Morty crossover mini-series, titled Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons #1-4. Zub co-wrote, with Sarah Stern and with art by Little, Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons: Chapter II: Painscape; the follow-up series was published from September to December 2019. The Rick and Morty vs Dungeons and Dragons Deluxe Edition, by Rothfuss, Zub, and Little, was nominated for the 2022 "Best Graphic Album—Reprint" Eisner Award.

In late 2018, it was announced that Zub, along with writers Mark Waid and Al Ewing, would reunite for Avengers: No Road Home, being called a "spiritual successor" to their previous collaboration, Avengers: No Surrender." Art will be done by Paco Medina and Sean Izaakse. The series began in February 2019.

From December 2022 to March 2023, Zub returned to Oni Press to write the Cthulhu Mythos crossover mini-series Rick and Morty vs. Cthulhu #1-4.

Since August 2023, Zub has been the flagship comic writer for Conan the Barbarian, owned by Heroic Signatures and published in English by Titan Comics.

Personal life Zub and his wife, Stacy King, live in Toronto. In addition to writing comics, from 2004 to 2024 Zub was a professor at Toronto's Seneca College teaching classes in Layout and Design, Character Animation, and Animation History.

Awards and nominations Year Award Category Nominated work Result 2002 Web Cartoonists’ Choice Awards Best Newcomer NA

YALSA Great Graphic Novels Skullkickers Vol. 1 Joe Shuster Canadian Comic Award Outstanding Writer NA 2012 Joe Shuster Canadian Comic Award Outstanding Writer NA

Joe Shuster Canadian Comic Award Outstanding Writer NA Animex Animex Honorary Award NA Harvey Awards Special Award for Humor Skullkickers 2014 Harvey Awards Special Award for Humor Skullkickers 2016 YALSA Great Graphic Novels for Teens Wayward Vol. 1 2018 Joe Shuster Canadian Comic Award Outstanding Writer NA 2022 Eisner Awards

Image Comics Skullkickers #1-34 collected as: Volume 1 (collects #1-5, TPB, 144 pages, 2011, ) Volume 2 (collects #6-11, TPB, 144 pages, 2011, ) Volume 3 (collects #12-17, TPB, 144 pages, 2012, ) Volume 4 (collects #18-23, TPB, 160 pages, 2013, ) Volume 5 (collects #24-29, TPB, 144 pages, 2014, ) Volume 6 (collects #30-33 & #100, TPB, 144 pages, 2015, ) Skullkickers Super Special (2022) Wayward #1-30 collected as: Volume 1 (collects #1-5, TPB, 144 pages, 2015, ) Volume 2 (collects #6-10, TPB, 136 pages, 2015, ) Volume 3 (collects #11-15, TPB, 128 pages, 2016, ) Volume 4 (collects #16-20, TPB, 136 pages, 2017, ) Volume 5 (collects #21-25, TPB, 136 pages, 2018, ) Volume 6 (collects #26-30, TPB, 152 pages, 2018, ) Glitterbomb #1-4 collected as: Volume 1 (collects #1-4, TPB, 136 pages, 2017, ) Glitterbomb: The Fame Game #1-4 collected as: Volume 1 (collects #1-4, TPB, 120 pages, 2018, )

Marvel Comics Thunderbolts (2016-2017) #1-12 collected as: Volume 1 (collects #1-6, TPB, 144 pages, 2017, ) Volume 2 (collects #7-12, TPB, 144 pages, 2017, ) Uncanny Avengers #26-30 collected as: Volume 5 (collects #26-30, TPB, 112 pages, 2018, ) Avengers: Avengers #675-690 collected as: Avengers: No Surrender (collects #675-690, TPB, 352 pages, 2018, ) The following year, Marvel released a "spiritual sequel" by the same writing team in the form of a weekly 10-issue limited series that introduced Conan the Barbarian into the Marvel Universe: Avengers: No Road Home #1–10 (with Mark Waid, Paco Medina, Sean Izaakse and Carlo Barberi (#8), 2019) collected as Avengers: No Road Home (tpb, 256 pages, 2019, ) Marvel's Avengers: Road to A-Day (112 pages, Marvel Comics, 2020, 978-0-7851-9465-1) collects: Marvel's Avengers: Hulk (one-shot, 2020) Marvel's Avengers: Iron Man (one-shot, 2020) Marvel's Avengers: Thor (one-shot, 2020) Avengers #1.MU Avengers Unlimited Infinity Comic #14-16, 27-32 Avengers: Child Life #1 Avengers: Tech-On #1-6 Alpha Flight: True North #1 Black Panther and the Agents of Wakanda #1-8 Champions Vol. 2 (2016-2019) #19-27, Vol. 3 (2019) #1-10 collected as: Champions Volume 4: Northern Lights (collects #19-21 and Infinity Countdown: Champions #1-2, TPB, 112 pages, 2018, ) Champions Volume 5: Weird War One (collects #22-27, TPB, 176 pages, 2019, ) Champions by Jim Zub Volume 1: Beat the Devil (collects #1-5, TPB, 136 Pages, 2019, ) Champions by Jim Zub Volume 2: Give and Take (collects #7-10, TPB, 112 Pages, 2019, ) Conan the Barbarian (Vol. 3) #13-25 Conan: Serpent War #1-4 Devil's Reign: Omega #1 Empyre: Avengers #1-3 Figment #1-5 Figment 2 #1-5 Heroes Reborn: Young Squadron #1 Hunt for Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor #1-4 Infinity Countdown: Champions #1-2 Infinity Warps #1-2 Investing in Each Other! #1 Life of Wolverine #1 Marvel Comics #1000 (Blade Week, illustrated by Nick Bradshaw, anthology, 2019) collected in Marvel Comics 1000 (hc, 144 pages, 2020, ) Moon Knight: Black, White & Blood #3 Ms. Marvel (Vol. 4) #38 Murderworld (112 pages, Marvel Comics, 2023, 9781302947224) collects: Murderworld: Avengers Murderworld: Spider-Man Murderworld: Wolverine Murderworld: Moon Knight Murderworld: Game Over Predator: Black, White & Blood #3 Savage Sword of Conan (Vol. 2) #7-9 Secret Empire: United #1 Secret Warps: Arachknight Annual

Oni Press Rick and Morty limited series: Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons #1-4 (co-written with Patrick Rothfuss) collected in Volume 1 (collects #1-4, TPB, 120 pages, 2019, ) Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons: Chapter II: Painscape #1-4 (co-written with Sarah Stern) collected in Volume 2 (collects #1-4, TPB, 2020, ) Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons: The Meeseeks Adventure #1 (2022) Rick and Morty vs. Cthulhu #1-4 collected in Volume 1 (collects #1-4, TPB, 112 pages, 2023, ) Other collected editions: Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons: Deluxe Edition (September 2021, ) which collects Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons #1-4 & Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons: Chapter II: Painscape #1-4, and Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons: The Meeseeks Adventure Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons: The Complete Adventures (October 2022, ) which collects Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons #1-4 & Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons: Chapter II: Painscape #1-4, and Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons: The Meeseeks Adventure

Titan Comics Conan the Barbarian (2023) #0-present Conan: Battle of the Black Stone #0-4 Conan: Scourge of the Serpent #0-4

UDON Entertainment Exalted #0-5 Makeshift Miracle Vol. 1: The Girl From Nowhere Makeshift Miracle Vol. 2: The Boy Who Stole Everything Street Fighter Unlimited #1, Annual #1 Street Fighter II Turbo #8 Street Fighter Masters: Elena #1 Street Fighter Legends: Ibuki #1-4 Street Fighter Legends: Cammy #1-4 Super Street Fighter #3, 5-6

Valiant Comics Shadowman #8, 11