Jim Zub: Pathfinder Comic Writer Q&A


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Contributor

Hey Pathfinder Fans,

My name is Jim Zub.

I'm a professional comic writer and art freelancer who has been working in comics, RPGs and video games for the past 9 years as part of the UDON studio.

Before taking the reins on the Pathfinder comic series, I've worked on several other comic series. Some notable ones include Street Fighter Legends: Ibuki (a mini-series focused on the teenage ninja girl from Street Fighter III), Makeshift Miracle (a coming-of-age mystery graphic novel) and Skullkickers (a buddy cop movie meets Conan-style sword & sorcery send-up series).

I'm incredibly proud to be writing the Pathfinder comic series for Dynamite under the watchful editorial eye of the Paizo staff. I'm an old school tabletop RPGer and huge fantasy fan, so working on a series like this is an absolute thrill for me.

I wrote a blog post a couple weeks ago about my initial thoughts on the Pathfinder comic that you might find interesting: Pathfinder Comic Thoughts

I wanted to start a thread here on the official Pathfinder message boards so you guys and gals could have somewhere to touch base with me about the comic. I probably won't be able to go into too much detail on specific story material until the first issue arrives in August, but otherwise I'll try to answer any questions you may have about the series and comic writing in general as best I can.

Otherwise, let me know your thoughts here or drop me a line via Twitter or at my blog.

I can't wait until the series is underway. Thanks for your support!

Sczarni

Hi Jim, Love what I've seen so far! I've already added it to my subscription list at my local comic shop!

Sczarni

Looking forward to this comic. I have it added to my pull box at my FLCS.

Will you be basing any of the background plot off of Paizo's Adventure Paths? Also will the cast of iconic adventurers be set or will it be fluid
with say Valeros bowing out for a while and Harsk steps in to join the group for a while instead? The cast to draw from just the Core Rule book is pretty large and could be very confusing to newcomers to keep track of who knows who and how the different characters get along w/ one another.

Hope things keep me interested and this title stays on my subscriptions list for years to come.

Contributor

Thanks for the kind words!

Captain Paratos wrote:
Will you be basing any of the background plot off of Paizo's Adventure Paths?

The story I put together for the first story arc doesn't conflict with anything in the Adventure Paths, but doesn't require specific knowledge of them either. We want the comic to be able to stand on its own and entice new readers to discover Pathfinder while still pleasing long time fans with a deeper look at the characters they've grown attached to.

Captain Paratos wrote:
Also will the cast of iconic adventurers be set or will it be fluid with say Valeros bowing out for a while and Harsk steps in to join the group for a while instead?

We have six iconics in this first story arc and, if it goes well, we'll see more eventually. I want readers to grow attached to these characters a bit before switching anyone out. I'd definitely like to bring in other iconic characters and add to the cast over time.

Liberty's Edge

Replying to keep track of this thread. I don't collect comics, but this one I will be watching for.

Dark Archive

I dont suppose you could tell us who the 6 Iconics are (Or is that being kept under wraps till a later date?)


We've at least seen Valeros, Merisiel, and Seoni.

Sovereign Court

Where in Golarion will the first comics be set? Be as specific or vague as you can be.


The press statement mentions Varisia. (And I seem to recall the sample art included a panorama of Sandpoint.

Contributor

Kevin Mack wrote:
I don't suppose you could tell us who the 6 Iconics are (Or is that being kept under wraps till a later date?)

I think that's going to be revealed in an upcoming interview, so I'll keep a lid on it until then.

GeraintElberion wrote:
Where in Golarion will the first comics be set? Be as specific or vague as you can be.

The first adventure is in the Varisia/Sandpoint area and involves goblins. It's familiar beginning character terrain and channels a lot of classic fantasy elements, plus the goblins are fan favorites and really fun to write.

Liberty's Edge

JimZub wrote:
plus the goblins are fan favorites and really fun to write.

Hmm, that has me imagining a comic based on the adventure We Be Goblins!

Sovereign Court

JimZub wrote:
GeraintElberion wrote:
Where in Golarion will the first comics be set? Be as specific or vague as you can be.
The first adventure is in the Varisia/Sandpoint area and involves goblins. It's familiar beginning character terrain and channels a lot of classic fantasy elements, plus the goblins are fan favorites and really fun to write.

Cool, I actually think that the fan-favourites thing might add to the pressure with this' they're fan-favourites because of James Jacobs' awesome write up in Burnt Offerings, so you have to keep that ball up in the air.

What has been the most difficult thing about writing for Golarion?


You live in Toronto? Sweet.

Contributor

GeraintElberion wrote:
What has been the most difficult thing about writing for Golarion?

Just making sure I have my reference straight when I'm writing about particulars - geography, creatures, deities, that kind of stuff. I usually have 4-5 PDFs and the Pathfinder wiki all open at the same time while I script the issues. Even though I know the Paizo crew are going to check things over, I'd prefer to get things right all on my own.

hogarth wrote:
You live in Toronto? Sweet.

It's true. :)

If you're coming to the Fan Expo Canada convention here in August you'll be able to buy a copy of Pathfinder #1 from me in person and get it signed.

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Do you have a favorite iconic to write?

Do you have a favorite to draw?

Contributor

DM_aka_Dudemeister wrote:

Do you have a favorite iconic to write?

Do you have a favorite to draw?

I'm still pretty early into the process so the personalities are still growing for me, but I'm quite enjoying writing Merisiel right now. On the surface she's witty and doesn't seem to care, but in the current issue I'm scripting I get a chance to dig deeper.

Although I illustrated quite a bit for Dungeon and Dragon magazine when Paizo was running it, I haven't personally illustrated any Pathfinder material, so I don't have a favorite iconic to draw at this point.


Jim Zub wrote:
hogarth wrote:
You live in Toronto? Sweet.
It's true. :)

Does that mean we get to make fun of you ever time Canadiens crushes Toronto next season? ;)


Hi, can you talk about the decision to go with such a violent style? I'm curious whether that was a deliberate choice to make this a more adult/edgy comic. I have young kids and was hoping that this could have been a good series for them.

I should say that none of this is meant as a flame. It's an honest question.

Shadow Lodge

Okay, so we know that 6 Iconics are in and are yet to be revealed in a future interview. I'd like to ask though- as each iconic represents a class- would the other 3 be off the Core Rulebook classes or will they be Iconics from the APG, UM and UC classes?


Jim Zub wrote:
We have six iconics in this first story arc and, if it goes well, we'll see more eventually.

Great! I'm really looking forward to a chance to see the iconics interact. Glad to see you're not holding back. Will we be seeing Ezren, Lem or Kyra? Or perhaps Seltyiel in an antagonistic role?

Better yet, perhaps we can preserve the surprise and you can tell us a bit about Valeros's character. Is he fun to write?

Contributor

Sorry for the slow replies, gang. I'm on the road right now in New York for BookExpo America and it's been a whirlwind these past few days.

As soon as I have a bit more time I'll answer the new questions that have popped up. Thanks for your enthusiasm and interest!


Hannya Shou wrote:

Okay, so we know that 6 Iconics are in and are yet to be revealed in a future interview. I'd like to ask though- as each iconic represents a class- would the other 3 be off the Core Rulebook classes or will they be Iconics from the APG, UM and UC classes?

I spy Ezren on one of the cover's in the blog post. Score!

Contributor

Kajehase wrote:
Does that mean we get to make fun of you ever time Canadiens crushes Toronto next season? ;)

Yes, absolutely. :P

Alphastream wrote:
Hi, can you talk about the decision to go with such a violent style? I'm curious whether that was a deliberate choice to make this a more adult/edgy comic.

I didn't choose the artist for the series, so part of that look is coming from Dynamite and Paizo's decision to go with Andrew Huerta as the line artist for the Pathfinder comic. Andrew is creating dynamic and intense art for the series and I'm really happy with how that's evolving as we go along, but it does put the series into an older category than you would have preferred. My apologies.

My creator-owned comic series, a fantasy send-up called Skullkickers, skews younger and cartoonish with its approach violence, whereas Pathfinder is more serious and a bit more brutal in its approach.

The sample pages shown from issue #1 are quite violent, but the comic is not going to be a gore-fest on every page or even in every issue. Still, some times the story calls for blood shed and the comic doesn't shy away from that.

We've been talking quite a bit about the type of content that will be in future issues and it's definitely an older teen-rated take on fantasy, with violence and complex character relationships factoring into the story being told.

Looking at the roots of Pathfinder as a game and the core fan demographic for the fiction, I think it's fair to say that the comic series hits a similar age group, even if the gaming content can skew younger at times.

Hannya Shou wrote:
As each iconic represents a class- would the other 3 be off the Core Rulebook classes or will they be Iconics from the APG, UM and UC classes?

They're core rulebook classes. We're keeping it a pretty 'classic' adventuring group to start with.

Twigs wrote:

Will we be seeing Ezren, Lem or Kyra? Or perhaps Seltyiel in an antagonistic role?

Better yet, perhaps we can preserve the surprise and you can tell us a bit about Valeros's character. Is he fun to write?

I can tell you that, out of those 3, you will see one/some of those in the group, yes.

Valeros has been quite enjoyable to write so far. Since this is early in his adventuring career he's particularly headstrong, unsure of how to be subtle or deal with complex social situations. His courage and combat skill is never in question, just when and how he chooses to use them.

Liberty's Edge

Since this will be more gritty and realistic, how will other such topics be handled? Romance and even sex, for example?

Similarly, we have heard from various Paizo staff that at least one of the iconics is gay ... will that ever get explored in the comics?

Contributor

Marc Radle wrote:

Since this will be more gritty and realistic, how will other such topics be handled? Romance and even sex, for example?

Similarly, we have heard from various Paizo staff that at least one of the iconics is gay ... will that ever get explored in the comics?

Romance and sex are definitely part of my long term plan. It's not going to be exploitative/graphic or a constant feature of the comic, but having relationships addressed in the series was one of the things I put into the pitch that Paizo enthusiastically responded to.

I want a fantasy series that's character driven, not just "grab the magic item and travel to the next fight - rinse and repeat" kind of stuff. That means characters will grow and change, as will their relationships with each other.

As for the second question, also yes. Paizo asked me about revealing/exploring homosexuality with the iconics in the series and I think we have a solid plan for that. It's not going to be dealt with directly in the first story arc, but it is going to come up later on and add depth to one/two of the characters.

One of the things I really like about Pathfinder is the strong female characters and overall diversity of the iconics. I believe that should be reflected in the comic as well. It's one of the reasons I asked that the initial group of six consist of 3 male and 3 females.

Contributor

I just posted a new interview that Diamond Previews (the comic distributor for North America) did with me as part of their weekly mailing to comic retailers:

Previews Pathfinder Comic Interview

I hope you all find it informative. Let me know if it stirs up any new questions.

Contributor

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Another interview, this time at Comic Book Resources is now up, and it includes a rundown of the six iconics who are in the party for issue #1:

Ezren, Harsk, Kyra, Merisiel, Seoni and Valeros.

Now you know! :)

Dark Archive

Dang so No Lini for some time it seems.


Jim Zub wrote:

Another interview, this time at Comic Book Resources is now up, and it includes a rundown of the six iconics who are in the party for issue #1:

Ezren, Harsk, Kyra, Merisiel, Seoni and Valeros.

Now you know! :)

Aww!

Contributor

Kevin Mack wrote:
Dang so No Lini for some time it seems.

I've got a little secret for you... a certain special gnome druid does actually make a brief appearance in issue 4.

:)


Brilliant! Really looking forward to Ezren and especially Harsk. Should make for great foils to the other party members. Really thrilled to see how you're going to introduce them and focus so much on the characterization and the banter. I'm giddy.

What can you tell us about Seoni's personality? Info on her has been... pretty scarce. (odd considering how much cover art she appears on. One would think the art team have some ulterior motive on sticking a scantily clad sorceress on their books... whatever could it be? :P)

Was she frustrating to brainstorm for?

Dark Archive

Jim Zub wrote:
Kevin Mack wrote:
Dang so No Lini for some time it seems.

I've got a little secret for you... a certain special gnome druid does actually make a brief appearance in issue 4.

:)

Excellent hope she shows up more for later Issues and arcs. (In fact how long are the arcs planned out to be?) Also Just a kind of background appearence or more to it?

Contributor

Twigs wrote:

What can you tell us about Seoni's personality? Info on her has been... pretty scarce.

Was she frustrating to brainstorm for?

All of the characters are only briefly defined, so it's a similar process for all of them - coming up with motivations/goals and then deciding on how that is portrayed outwardly in terms of personality and attitude. I wanted to make sure that she wasn't "just a pretty face" and that her intelligence and strategic mind was an important component of what we show about her. People making assumptions about her based on her looks and finding out she's not at all what they'd expect.

Kevin Mack wrote:
Excellent hope she shows up more for later Issues and arcs. (In fact how long are the arcs planned out to be?) Also Just a kind of background appearence or more to it?

The first story arc is six issues. I'm not sure how long the 2nd arc will be at this point, though I expect 4-6 issues as well.

She does interact with people, not just show up in the background, but it will be brief. Once the main group is better established I hope to switch in and out cast members, but not until we have a solid base to work from with our core six.

Dark Archive

How long will establishing a solid base take a single arc or several? (I just ask because Lini is my favorite character and besides Mersiel I'm not so fond of the rest of the starting cast.)

Dark Archive

Also this may have already been answerd but is the comic monthly or bi-monthly?

Contributor

Kevin Mack wrote:
How long will establishing a solid base take a single arc or several? (I just ask because Lini is my favorite character and besides Mersiel I'm not so fond of the rest of the starting cast.)

I'm not entirely sure at this early stage of story development.

Considering that all you have to go from is the visual design of each iconic and a couple sentences about their personalities, I'm hoping you can give them all a chance rather than deciding which ones to like or not like just yet. You might be surprised and engaged by them after reading the first few issues of the comic. :)

Contributor

1 person marked this as a favorite.

A bunch of new interviews have gone up about the Pathfinder comic series. Quite a few have shared introduction information, but there are some new aspects revealed as well:

Comic Book Resources Interview

Geeklore Interview

Freemantle Interview

ICV2 Two Part Interview : part one and part two

Geek Native Interview

Panel Bound

Skewed and Reviewed Interview

Sovereign Court

Hi Jim,

I'm looking forward to the Pathfinder comic.

I'm assuming that you'll be at SDCC. What booth would I be able to find you at? I imagine you'll be at the Image booth, but will Dynamite have you over at their booth and will they be hyping the Pathfinder book there?

Thanks,

Angus

Contributor

armac wrote:
I'm assuming that you'll be at SDCC. What booth would I be able to find you at? I imagine you'll be at the Image booth, but will Dynamite have you over at their booth and will they be hyping the Pathfinder book there?

Unfortunately Dynamite won't have a booth at San Diego this year. They decided to focus on small-mid size shows rather than competing with the insanity that is SDCC.

I will be there, set up at the Image Booth with my own table, selling Skullkickers books and posters. I hope to meet you there!

Liberty's Edge

Jim Zub wrote:

A bunch of new interviews have gone up about the Pathfinder comic series. Quite a few have shared introduction information, but there are some new aspects revealed as well:

Comic Book Resources Interview

Is the image seen when you click this link from the comic? I hope so because I love it. So far, the samples I've seen are just a little too ... anime-like for my taste, but the art shown on that site is great! The face in particular is beautiful!

Liberty's Edge

Marc Radle wrote:
Jim Zub wrote:

A bunch of new interviews have gone up about the Pathfinder comic series. Quite a few have shared introduction information, but there are some new aspects revealed as well:

Comic Book Resources Interview

Is the image seen when you click this link from the comic? I hope so because I love it. So far, the samples I've seen are just a little too ... anime-like for my taste, but the art shown on that site is great! The face in particular is beautiful!

It's a variant cover for #1

Sovereign Court

Jim Zub wrote:

Unfortunately Dynamite won't have a booth at San Diego this year. They decided to focus on small-mid size shows rather than competing with the insanity that is SDCC.

I will be there, set up at the Image Booth with my own table, selling Skullkickers books and posters. I hope to meet you there!

But isn't the insanity of SDCC the fun of it? :) But I can understand why they would concentrate on the smaller cons. They become a bigger fish there since DC and Marvel don't attend them all.

I'll definitely stop by to meet you.

Angus

Contributor

armac wrote:
Jim Zub wrote:

Unfortunately Dynamite won't have a booth at San Diego this year. They decided to focus on small-mid size shows rather than competing with the insanity that is SDCC.

I will be there, set up at the Image Booth with my own table, selling Skullkickers books and posters. I hope to meet you there!

But isn't the insanity of SDCC the fun of it? :) But I can understand why they would concentrate on the smaller cons. They become a bigger fish there since DC and Marvel don't attend them all.

I'll definitely stop by to meet you.

Angus

I think it's a mixture of cost and hassle. The show is great, but it's incredibly expensive to set up at, especially when it's a full blown booth. I have been attending with the UDON studio for years and between travel, hotel, food, shipping product and other booth costs it can run into tens of thousands of dollars.

Contributor

Two more interviews are now up!

Over on Newsarama they have exclusive new preview artwork, both interior pages and covers.

At Maximum Pixelation I chat about my gaming youth and the type of content in the Pathfinder comic.


Marc Radle wrote:
Jim Zub wrote:

A bunch of new interviews have gone up about the Pathfinder comic series. Quite a few have shared introduction information, but there are some new aspects revealed as well:

Comic Book Resources Interview

Is the image seen when you click this link from the comic? I hope so because I love it. So far, the samples I've seen are just a little too ... anime-like for my taste, but the art shown on that site is great! The face in particular is beautiful!

Aaggh! Merisiel's whites of the eyes again!! (Golarion's elves don't have those. But don't worry -- it's already been addressed).

Sovereign Court

That cover at the top of Newsarama has the most porn-ariffic image of Seoni yet (outside of fan-content, obviously).

Liberty's Edge

After looking at the newest batch of art on these recent links, I'm actually even more bummed out because the art clearly has a distinct anime style that is just not for me.

I'm actually finding that I like the covers much more than the interior art so far.

I'll still buy these and I'm still really excited to get into the stories but ... I guess the more I see of the art, the less excited I am about the comics. Sorry to bring a pint or two of rain to the parade :(


Marc Radle wrote:

...a distinct anime style that is just not for me.

...I like the covers much more than the interior art so far.

The art strikes me as more "comic bookish" than "animeish", to be honest. Honestly Marc, I wouldn't worry so much. Even if you don't like the individual panels I find they're a lot easier to appreciate in comic form, with the magic of context, dialogue, and fast-paced action. I think you'll find plenty to like in the finished product. Love what I'm seeing so far, in that regard. I'm loving all of the detail Andrew's putting in! The hammy expressions on Ezreal look pretty ridiculous without dialogue, but only one more month til we can fill in the blanks! Woohoo!

As for the cover art, yes. A lot of it is fantastic. That's the nature of cover art. It's a lot easier to illustrate a cover than it is panel work, action shots and scenery. It's just the nature of the thing. Cover artists get a lot more time and leeway with what they're drawing.

Also I plan on ripping that Sandpoint sign panel and the overhead shot for next time I run Runelords. It just occurred to me that the sign makes for a great opportunity to kick off character creation or descriptions in-game. Present my players with a mirror and ask: "What do you see?"

Thanks for keeping us posted, Jim! We'll keep watching and waiting!

Sovereign Court

Twigs wrote:

It just occurred to me that the sign makes for a great opportunity to kick off character creation or descriptions in-game. Present my players with a mirror and ask: "What do you see?"

Thanks for keeping us posted, Jim! We'll keep watching and waiting!

Just one of the many cool details about Sandpoint. I used that to let my players tell each other what their characters looked like.

Contributor

Fredrik wrote:
Aaggh! Merisiel's whites of the eyes again!! (Golarion's elves don't have those).

I think if you saw a larger image of that cover you'd see that it's actually just a 'hotspot' reflection/highlight on her dark eyes, not actual whites of the eye.I could be wrong, but that's how it looks to me when I'm checking out the large versions.

If not then I'm sure the Paizo gang will ask for it to be tweaked before print.

Marc Radle wrote:
After looking at the newest batch of art on these recent links, I'm actually even more bummed out because the art clearly has a distinct anime style that is just not for me.

I'm hoping Andrew's artwork will grow on you. As each issue progresses I think he's gaining more confidence with drawing the characters and their expressions. Those preview pages are the most 'anime' of any I've seen (and I wouldn't even classify them as 'anime' per se) though I do understand how it might not work for everyone.

Twigs wrote:
Also I plan on ripping that Sandpoint sign panel and the overhead shot for next time I run Runelords. It just occurred to me that the sign makes for a great opportunity to kick off character creation or descriptions in-game. Present my players with a mirror and ask: "What do you see?"

When I read details about Sandpoint, that mirror sign jumped out at me as a neat feature we could use as they enter the city. It gives extra character to the town.

Although we start of in familiar territory, the group will be exploring other spots that haven't been as well defined before and, especially after the first story arc, they'll be moving on to new/exotic places. Fun times ahead.

Last night I recorded an extensive podcast interview with Know Direction - a Pathfinder Podcast. The audio won't be going up until later this month but when it does I'll remind you all to check it out. It's the most in-depth conversation I've had so far about the comic outside of discussions with Paizo and I think we covered a lot of good ground in our chat.

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