Conan and Olivia from Iron Shadows in the Moon

More than a few years back while wandering around the internet, I do not remember where in particular, I came across news that Mark Schultz's commission list was opened.

I was a big fan of both the man's art and his creator owned comic, Xenozoic Tales, so I immediately reached out to him about getting a Hannah Dundee commission.

Mark was kind enough to place me on his list with the caveat that the wait time would be measured in years and that getting a commission from him required patience and grim determination.

As the years passed, I would see Mark at the occasional comic convention where I got to know the man a little, got to check in on his current writing and drawing projects and even got to see some of the penciled pages for his next Xenozoic story.

At a recent Wicked Con in Boston, while talking with Mark, he indicated that he should be able to get to my commission in the next year or so. At that time my heart was still set on a Hannah commission, but between that show and Mark putting pen to paper, I decided to switch my request from the Xenozoic era to the Hyborian age and get a Conan piece based on a rough pencil sketch that Mark had done for a painted illustration he did for Robert E. Howard's "Iron Shadows in the Moon."

The piece arrived on my door step this week and it is simply breathtaking in person.