In the shadows, a titan stirs. A darkness older than time itself creeps forth, threatening to engulf not just Conan the Barbarian, but a wide group of heroes from across Robert E. Howard’s sprawling mythos.

Black Stone, an eldritch element from somewhere beyond, promises to shatter the boundaries between worlds, and Jim Zub, maestro of mayhem, stands ready to guide us through this cosmic upheaval. 

Brace yourselves, for the “Battle of the Black Stone” looms, and with it, comes a tale that will test the very limits of heroism – and sanity.

How does the Black Stone concept in this event tie into Robert E. Howard’s original cosmic horror themes, and how have you expanded on those ideas?

Black stone is a mystic material used by Robert E. Howard in several of his tales, most notably the eldritch horror-infused short story The Black Stone, first published in 1931. 

It’s one of several occult elements that Howard uses in multiple stories and our team felt it could work well to pull the threads that link different times and places in his stories even tighter together to create a mythic pulp epic across the ages. 

There’s a grand power at the heart of Black Stone we’ve been hinting at in the first year of the Conan the Barbarian series and now, in Battle of the Black Stone, we have the chance to show how far reaching it is and how much danger our reality is in because of it.

Can you share any insights into how the artistic team is visually representing the cosmic horror elements of the Black Stone, especially in contrast to the more grounded sword and sorcery action?

Jonas Scharf has done a phenomenal job at bringing an eerie atmosphere to the Black Stone mini-series. 

His inks are rich with texture and framed in compositions that feel like something oppressive is looming around every corner. It’s perfect for driving that subtle psychological intensity to the story, especially when paired with Joao Canola’s wonderfully freakish color palettes.

Howard’s sword & sorcery has always been grounded and brutal and the art team is doing a great job maintaining that sense of ‘gravity’ even while the supernatural influence increases, scene by scene. 

Can you walk us through the creative process of selecting which Howard characters to include in this crossover, and how their unique abilities and personalities complement each other?

I wanted to put together a group of heroes that showcased different aspects of REH’s writing – all of them courageous in their own way, but also different in how they approach conflict and the unknown. 

Conan the Cimmerian is obviously our marquee character, well known by readers around the world, and the era where we see Conan here is later in his career, on the cusp of the classic story Beyond the Black River. This is a Conan who is seasoned by many battles and tested by the twisted morals of men and civilization.

Solomon Kane is a faithful monster hunter absolutely dedicated to his cause, unwavering in his duty and also deeply untrusting of strangers and the ‘devil-tainted occult’.

Dark Agnes de Chastillon is a woman driven by a powerful need for freedom at all costs. She’s just as uncompromising as Kane, but also a loose cannon in terms of her explosive temperament.

John Kirowan and John Conrad are scholars and investigators of the unknown, driven by curiosity and obsessed with uncovering mysteries of the past.

El Borak is an explorer and gunslinger, very much in the classic pulp-adventurer mold, but also in over his head because he’s never encountered the supernatural before.

Brissa is a new character introduced in our first story arc of Conan, and key to the events now unfolding. She’s connected to past and future through her Pict bloodline and her people are innately tied to the curse that has lured all of these heroes into a quest beyond anything they could imagine.

There are other REH characters I want to explore down the road, but this cast gave us a solid variety to explore while still being manageable.

Were there any surprising character dynamics or interactions that emerged during the planning of this crossover that you’re particularly excited for fans to see?

Kirowan and Conrad have a lot of dialogue between them that I feel crackles quite a bit while also establishing their friendship and different outlooks on life.

There’s also a nasty bit of business between Conan and Solomon Kane in Battle of the Black Stone #2 that I stumbled into while writing dialogue between the two characters and it worked so well I asked Heroic Signatures if we could have an extra page for the issue to flesh it out properly. 

Jonas drew the hell out of it and I can’t wait for readers to see it on the finished published page.

What challenges did you face in crafting a story that respects Howard’s established lore while introducing new elements that modern readers will find compelling?

I don’t know if REH intended for all these short stories to exist in the same ‘continuity’, or if using similar elements in multiple stories was a way for him to expedite his writing process while crafting pulp tales in a difficult market but, either way, it lends itself to speculation and the possibility of deeper exploration.

As always, those original stories exist on their own as classics of the genre. If I can create a feeling of more connective tissue between them and give readers reasons to discover and enjoy new characters and stories they’ve never read before, that’s the best-case scenario for me.

Serialized storytelling works best when there is anticipation of what comes next and surprises aplenty. Just adapting the original stories, no matter how well we might do it, wouldn’t have the same sense of grand excitement. I’m trying to balance the original themes and atmosphere while also taking advantage of a larger and more continuous publishing structure afforded to us by the faith fans have put into our relaunch. It’s a wonderful challenge and I am so excited for readers to see the results.

In what ways does your writing approach honor Howard’s voice while bringing something fresh to these characters?

Howard’s prose and dialogue has a distinctly lyrical quality to it, and I’ve been marinating myself in it as much as I can over the past year and half. Whenever I read original Howard stories I have a notepad next to me and I note down specific words and turns of a phrase that jump out to me as being distinct. I don’t ever want to copy those whole cloth, but they provide a vocabulary that helps inspire me as I’m writing narration caption boxes or crafting chatter between characters.

That said, the situations we’re plunging this cast into are way different from anything they’ve encountered in the source material, so it’s fun to springboard off those classics and imagine new interactions, especially dialogue between characters who have never met before.

How does the event’s structure, with its core series and tie-ins, allow you to explore different facets of the Black Stone mythology?

The short stories in our Black Stone tie-in issue of Savage Sword of Conan tees up each of the core cast members, introducing them to new readers while also showing how Black Stone has begun to influence their adventures. 

That gives us the chance to dive right in with issue #1 of the Battle of the Black Stone mini-series, pulling the trigger on the explosive start of the big quest that links them together. Every scene in the mini-series has an intense pace as forces are unleashed that will hunt these heroes to their grave.

How does the “Cult of the Obsidian Moon” novel integrate with the comic event, and what unique perspective does it offer on the Black Stone mythology?

James Lovegrove and I have met on Zoom calls multiple times and I laid out the grand cosmic plan for him on a call so he could appreciate not just where Battle of the Black Stone is headed, but also longer mythic plans in motion once this story is complete. In turn, he pitched a really cool story that shares all the same mythology and momentum, but explores characters and situations we don’t touch upon in the comics. It’s a self-contained sword & sorcery novel that entertains on its own while also expanding on the Black Stone ‘mythos’ we’re crafting in the comics.

Can you discuss how Battle of the Black Stone might serve as an entry point for new readers while also rewarding long-time Conan fans with deep-cut references and lore?

Providing readers with a clear starting point for reading pulp adventure was paramount when we put this plan together. Deep cuts to past stories are fun, and I’m happy to sprinkle those in for the hardcore fandom (including myself), but those deep cuts should never come at the expense of clarity, engagement and readability. Every comic could be someone’s first and if it’s Battle of the Black Stone then I want them to feel welcomed into the world of these wondrous weird tales.

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As the echoes of our journey fade, one truth remains: the Black Stone’s shadow looms large over the Hyborian Age and beyond. Jim Zub’s vision honors Howard’s legacy while guiding it toward uncharted cosmic horrors.

The clash of steel against otherworldly terror beckons. Will you answer the call? From the Free Comic Book Day special to the core mini-series, from tie-ins to novels, the “Battle of the Black Stone” offers myriad gateways into madness.

The Black Stone’s influence spreads. Heroes stand ready. But in this war against cosmic horror, will courage be enough? 

Step into the fray – if you dare.