If you love Conan the Barbarian and Tarzan, there is a very good chance that Joe Jusko is one of your favorite artists.
The artist’s extensive body of work is celebrated in the new The Book of Jusko, a deluxe 9″ x 12″ 230-page hardcover art book, curated by comics veteran Joe Pruett, that showcases the very best of Jusko’s painted legacy.
The art book (now available to back on Kickstarter) features paintings, illustrations, rare and unpublished works, private commissions, trading cards, and even personal archive pieces, some of which have never been revealed.
We got a chance to speak to Pruett all about the project, his favorite Jusko pieces, and how one goes about assembling an art book of this magnitude in this exclusive interview.
Can you describe the origins of The Book of Joe Jusko?
Joe Pruett: Joe Jusko and I have been friends for almost 30 years. We partnered on his first retrospective art book, The Art of Joe Jusko, back in 2008, which is long out of print and demanding serious money on the collector’s market. In early 2024, I left my position as Publisher at AfterShock Comics and needed to figure out what I was going to do next. I didn’t know what that would be, but I wanted it to be fun!
The number one item on my agenda was to return to my favorite passion, which is writing comic books. I broke into this business as a writer, originally with Caliber Comics, then Image Comic, before making my way to writing over to Marvel and several X-Men titles in the early 2000s. I missed the creative outlet of being a writer, so I knew I wanted to return to that (I have several projects set up at Image Comics, as well as work on Savage Sword of Conan, Bad Idea and French publisher Lombard in the near future). But, also using my experience as a Publisher and EIC, I also helped to set up the boutique horror imprint Ninth Circle at Image with my friends Garth Ennis, Ram V, Marguerite Bennett, and Adam Glass.
But, there was one more thing that I missed doing, and wanted to circle back around to, and that was putting together these beautiful respective art books to celebrate the fantastic careers of some of my favorite artists and people. Again, working with my friends. So, I approached Joe Jusko at Charlotte’s Heroes Con in 2024 about maybe doing a new volume for him (I mean, it has been 17 years since his last one!) and, as fate would have it, he had been thinking about reaching out to me along the same lines, so we both said, “Let’s do this!”
What is it like assembling an art book such as this in your role as a curator?
Pruett: Honestly, it depends on the artist I’m working with. Joe Jusko has been great, as he already had everything that we were to include in this volume in digital format. That saves me a lot of work. For a lot of the material I’ve showcased in previous volumes, I’ve had to hunt down and scan images, which takes time. I think because most of this material is post 2008 (there are exceptions, of course), the digital files are easily available, because we have been living in a digital age for a bit. When reaching back a few decades when putting a book together, there aren’t many digital files available, so we have to create them.
How is the book arranged and why did you arrange the art in such a way?
Pruett: We choose to arrange the chapters by district categories, rather than listing it chronologically. For example, “Savages” and “Fantasy” and “Heroes.” Though I’ve done some of the previous titles from early to current, I’m leaning more toward having chapter headers instead as if it’s better not to lead with your weakest material (which, for most artists, is their early work), but to come out strong, with your best work.
If you could only pick three pieces of Jusko’s art for display, which three would you choose?
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Pruett: Oh, that’s a tough one. So many great ones to choose from. I’ll give you four of my favorites.
#1 is the Red Sonja piece that we are using for the cover of The Book of Jusko. That’s also his wife’s favorite piece and was used on a cover for Dynamite Comics.
#2 Is the art that we used as the cover on The Art of Joe Jusko (first printing) back in 2008, “Restful Interlude” I think this was a commission, if I remember correctly.
#3 is a cover he did for Marvel’s Bizarre Adventures back in the 80s. Always just thought this was a cover that made me want to buy the comic.
#4 is the cover to Savage Sword of Conan #1 from Heroic Signatures / Titan Books. It just screams Conan! Incredible piece!
You previously worked on The Art of Brian Bolland and The Art of P. Craig Russell. What did you learn from those experiences that you applied to this project?
Pruett: I’ve actually designed, edited and published 10 previous retrospective art books. Aside from the two you mentioned above (and Jusko, of course), I put together art books with Tim Bradstreet, Tony Harris, Jim Starlin, Dave Dorman, Jeffery Catherine Jones, George Perez and Amanda Conner.
With The Art of Brian Bolland, I basically learned how to design a book. That was my first one and I originally did not plan on designing it myself, but after trying out 2-3 designers and not be satisfied with the pace they were going, I just decided to do it myself. It won an Eisner Award, so I guess I did on okay job. My second one for P. Craig Russell was also nominated for an Eisner Award, so I thought, this was easy! It’s not, but that was at least a good start to build up my confidence to do more. Of course, as I got more comfortable with the process, I think the results became better and better.
Will there be a Kickstarter and retail edition of The Book of Joe Jusko? If so, any differences?
Pruett: There won’t be an edition exclusive to the retailer marketplace, but we offer a very easy retailer tier on Kickstarter to allow any interested retailers to purchase copies for their stores. I know there are some retailers who don’t want to support a Kickstarter project, as they feel that the customers who would want would already have it, but the way I look at it is that as much as 20% of the pledges from this campaign are from out of country, leaving 80% of, say, 1,000 purchases who have bought domestically. So, how likely is it that every potential buyer at your store would have already supported this title? It would be an extremely limited number, if any. Of course, retailers know their client base better than I do, but we offer a retailer tier that only requires two copies to be purchased (at half of cover price), so not a large investment is required. I want this book in retailer locations, so I hope interested retailers will take advance of this tier.
Upcoming projects?
Pruett: Always.
For me, I have Viking Moon, a 5-issue series that I’m doing with Marcelo Frusin on art from Image Comics. #1 goes on sale this month, September 24th. I also am returning to my first comic book character and title Kilroy Is Here for a new one-shot, also at Image Comics, with Dalibor Talajic on art. It will probably be out first quarter of 2026. I have a short story coming up in BOOM! Studios Hello Darkness with Stevan Subic drawing, as well as some shorts at Bad Idea, with Tony Harris, Michael Wm. Kaulta and John McCrea handling the art chores.
In last quarter of 2026, I’ll be having my first original graphic album written for the French marketplace, The Territory, with artist Philippe Xavier, published by Lombard. We retain the American rights to the series, so will also have it available in the States around the same time. As for art books, yes, I will be doing more. My plan is to do three or four a year, with probably a new volume on Jim Starlin next in line.
The Book of Jusko is now available to back on Kickstarter until September 18.
