Few comics embrace the wild, over-the-top spirit of sword & sorcery quite like Skullkickers, the action-packed, humor-laden series from writer Jim Zub. With its roots deeply embedded in classic fantasy adventures and tabletop role-playing, Skullkickers has become a beloved cult hit among fans of the genre. From its beginnings as a creator-owned project at Image Comics to its continued resurgence through crowdfunding, the series has left an enduring mark on Zub’s career and the world of fantasy comics. In this interview, we dive into the origins of Skullkickers, the creative process behind its development, and how the new digest edition aims to introduce a new wave of readers to its chaotic and comical world.
Interviewee: Jim Zub
Interviewer: Anthony Andujar Jr
Q1. Skullkickers is a series that dabbles in sword & sorcery along with some humor to boot. What is it about that genre that drew you in and inspired the formation of this series?
JZ: I grew up playing a lot of Dungeons & Dragons with my older brother and reading a steady supply of sword & sorcery novels and comics, so the foundation for Skullkickers was built quite early and solidly on Conan the Barbarian, Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, and lots of dice.
I wanted to create a comic that felt like the wild adventures we generated at the gaming table, poking holes in classic fantasy tropes while sarcastically celebrating them at the same time.
Q2. Given your resume and experience as a writer, you’ve worked on plenty of titles from Marvel, DC, and independent alike. What were the lessons that you gained that informed your approach to Skullkickers that set it apart from anything that you’ve worked on previously?
JZ: A2 Skullkickers was my ‘breakout’ creator-owned series, so it honestly set the pace for just about everything else I’ve done since then. Without Skullkickers, I never would have had the opportunity to write Pathfinder, Dungeons & Dragons, Samurai Jack, Red Sonja, Conan the Barbarian, and many, many other titles. Even my superhero work is informed by the things I learned putting Skullkickers together.
Q3. When it comes to creator relationships, what was it like creating the world of Skullkickers with illustrator Chris Stevens and Edward Huang, colorist Misty Coats, and letterer Marshall Dillion? What were the kinds of conversations that were had that assisted in fully realizing the vision for this book?
JZ: Chris and I had worked together previously at the UDON studio, but Skullkickers was the chance for us to make our own crazy thing without any limits, to explore the weird and wonderful sword & sorcery stuff we grew up on. After two short stories in the Popgun anthology, Image Publisher Erik Larsen offered us the chance at doing our own comic, and we jumped at the chance.
When Chris was unable to draw the monthly series, Edwin and Misty stepped in to fill that gap, and we worked side by side through the entire run. Marshall has lettered every creator-owned book I’ve done so far, and we always collaborate well. Honestly, the whole team is wonderful. You can’t build 34 issues together without forging a creative bond, and I’m so proud of how it all went.
Q4. What is it about the three mercenary characters that you chose as the protagonists that made them the best fit for Skullkickers? Were there any other classes of paladins, orcs, or others that you previously considered as central characters before settling on the trio of this series? What made the trio the best fit?
JZ: As much as Skullkickers is an ode to D&D stuff, I didn’t want to do a classic adventuring party with a fighter, cleric, wizard, and rogue. I wanted the characters to be weirder and have more deficiencies in terms of skillsets. Rex, Rolf, and Kusia are designed around visual contrast (large, medium, small) and personality more than they’re forced into a specific character class niche.
Q5. Recently, you’ve launched a successful campaign through Zoop, crowdfunding a new digest edition of Skullkickers. What was the campaign process like when launching?
JZ: It’s been great so far! Giving readers the ability to jump in and get the whole series in a well-printed and affordable package is really appealing to me. I want more people to discover my first sword & sorcery series and share it with others!
Like any campaign, you need to pull together your visual assets, get descriptions, and figure out reward tiers. The biggest advantage we have here is that the whole series is already done. There’s no fear about whether we will finish, because it’s all there!
Q6. What has the relationship with Zoop been? What is it about Zoop as a crowdfunding platform that stood out as the one to utilize?
JZ: Zoop has been great so far. It’s been nice building a crowdfunding campaign, but having their expertise to handle all the bits and pieces that can normally fall through the cracks on creative production like this.
Q7. What is it about digest editions that you feel appeals to readers compared to other forms of published editions? Is there inspiration from the way manga is distributed that informed the decision to create digest editions of Skullkickers?
JZ: Absolutely. The book and library market has really tilted toward the compact-manga form factor and since we needed to reprint the series anyways to keep it in print, I felt it was time to mix things up and look to that format to offer an affordable and attractive complete package for brand new or lapsed readers.
Q8. Given that Skullkickers has 6 trade paperbacks and 3 hardcover collections, collecting all 34 issues of the original series (2010-2015), is there a possibility that you and the rest of the creative team might revisit the Skullkickers universe?
JZ: Between those 34 issues and the 10th-anniversary special we did, I’ve said all I want to say about the world and cast of Skullkickers for now. It’s not impossible; we could come back at some point, but right now, there’s no plan for that. I’d rather build something completely different with the same creative team, showing readers what we can do in the here and now.
Q9. Where can readers go to follow your work and the crowdfunded campaign?
JZ: All my creative material, free writing tutorials, newsletter, other information, and social media can be found at www.jimzub.com
The link for the Zoop campaign is nice and prominent there as well, or you can jump right to it and show your support here: https://zoop.gg/c/skullkickers
Brian Isaacs - Executive Editor / Publisher