Proof of Life, And A Hint At What's To Come...

Oh, that rascally James Tynion IV. He's always up to something.

Hello Friends,

How is the New Year treating you? I hope it’s going nicely.

It’s been busy over on my end.

A couple of weekends ago I went to my sister’s wedding down in Miami, and a Photo Booth managed to capture one of the my favorite pictures ever taken of me. Because I am shameless, and I think I look pretty, I’ll share it with you here.

This one is good, too, but it lacks the sultry power of the first.

Some dashing Tuxedo pictures! My Valentine gift to each and every one of you.

The whole weekend was spectacular. My sister is the most glamorous person I know, and it was honestly one of the most extravagant and beautiful parties I have ever been to. Big congrats and much love to the Alexes!

I’m doing my best to kick my writing into overdrive. My day to day has been changing for reasons that are going to become quickly apparent, and I am in the process of transitioning into being a morning person. I am waking up before 7AM every day, and I’m at my keyboard usually by 7:30. The goal is to make myself write for 3-4 hours before the rest of the world wakes up and the zooms begin. The most truly awful thing is that it works. I’ve written more over the last month than I have in any one month period in the last year. I have spent my entire life as an unrepentant night owl. This is a disgusting development. But I do like how easily the writing flows while I’m still absorbing the three cups of coffee I work through the first few hours of every day.

My shifting day-to-day has also forced me to lock in my gym regime much more aggressively. I finally made the climb I’d been threatening to make for the last few months and have upped my three visits to the gym a week to five. I tend to go at noon each day, breaking the morning work shift from my afternoon work shift. Monday I attend a group boxing class. Tuesday I work with a trainer and focus on weightlifting (I am within spitting distance of hitting my targets there - 300lb Deadlift and a 200lb Bench - and think I’ll get there in the next month or two at most). Wednesday is the most brutal day, as I work with another trainer on Core/Stability work. Thursday is my big cardio day, and we alternate between a heavy focus on running and some more advanced boxing stuff. Friday, I do a few self directed circuits at low weights, and a low intensity run on the treadmill. And then I ache all weekend and do it again. The scale numbers don’t go down as quickly as they did at the start of this process. I’m floating around 165lb down from my peak weight two summers ago. But I’ve started wearing size L t-shirts, I’m wearing a pant size that I have no memory of ever fitting into, and my weight is lower than it was when I was a teenager. It’s nice. I feel great.

I danced my way into the New Year with some of my favorite human beings. Things are so busy right now that I can’t be as social as I’d like to be, but I’ve set a good rhythm to make sure I see the people that matter most to me on a regular basis. My romantic life is somehow both incredibly complicated, and remarkably uncomplicated, and I think i’m happy keeping it that way for the time being. I’ve finally tackled some of the larger apartment projects that have been on my list for months. The boxes and stacks of books that have been my office for the last six months have been tackled. Books shelved. I’ve got a nice little home gym set-up surrounded by all my comics. I also set up a record player and. I’ve been playing old broadway musical soundtracks from the 1960s and 70s because that’s precisely who I am and who I will continue to age into over time. I’ve started burning my way through Agatha Christie’s backlist, and am enjoying myself immensely.

That’s the life stuff. The human backdrop to my work life in comics and beyond it.

Then there’s the part of my comics work you know. SOMETHING IS KILLING THE CHILDREN will be celebrating its 5th anniversary this year, while I celebrate ten years of work with Boom Studios (and we have aggressive celebration plans to be revealed shortly). THE DEVIANT and W0RLDTR33 are going strong over at Image Comics. BLUE BOOK is about to come back around for its second season at Dark Horse, as we keep expanding the world around THE ODDLY PEDESTRIAN LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CHAOS. Martin Simmonds and I have wrapped UNIVERSAL MONSTERS: DRACULA and are shifting back to our conspiratorial roots. And that’s not the only one of my big classic titles that will be reappearing in comic shops this year. On top of all that, you all get to see the haunted house story Christian Ward and I have been cooking for DSTLRY when SPECTREGRAPH launches this April.

Seems like all of that should be enough to keep me busy.

And it does.

But I could handle all of that without waking up at 7AM each morning. If you’ve been a reader for a while it’s not going to surprise you that I’ve been building something substantial behind the scenes over the last year. The shape of the next era of my career, and the roadmap to everything I hope to accomplish inside and outside of comics.

This week, you’re all going to find out what I’ve been building.

I absolutely can’t wait.

James Tynion IV
Brooklyn, NY
2.15.23