TINY UPDATE 10/11: Escape From New York (Comic Con)

“Tiny Update” is a weekly free newsletter that keeps you up to date on the latest news, comic book projects and merchandise offerings from James Tynion IV and Tiny Onion Studios.

Hello Friends. Happy Monday.

I hope you’re doing well. It was really wonderful seeing so many of you at New York Comic Con this past weekend. I am honestly amazed that I haven’t collapsed in my bed for the night yet (I’m writing this Sunday evening), but I just wanted to lock this in for tomorrow morning before I let myself crash. Forgive me if this is a bit more brief than usual. Comic Conventions are marathons and NYCC is right there with San Diego in terms of the exhaustion factor. My feet and legs are killing me. I have a bruise on the knuckle of my right thumbs from capping and uncapping different sharpies to sign your comics all weekend.

I get flustered easy, and I have to apologize to anybody who was on the receiving end of my fluster. The wild thing is that my career was in a very different place at the time of my last convention in early 2020. I’ve never had lines like this before. It’s humbling and overwhelming. If last year was a typical year, I might have had a bit of a chance to get adjusted to it all, but this was a bit like jumping right into the deep end! It’s incredibly gratifying, and honestly what it does more than anything is reassure me that I’m on the right path. I was also thrilled to meet so many of my Onion Club members in person! I’ll be sending you all comics SOON!

Being back around a bunch of fans and comic professionals got my mind turning all sorts of new questions about my priorities over and over in my head. I have lots of thoughts, and lots of ideas as I enter this next stage in my career… But I also have limitations and I need to be a bit more conscious about those limitations as The Empire of the Tiny Onion continues to grow. No better time to face your limitations than after a big comic book convention, when you’re so exhausted you can’t spell your own name right. My instinct is to always keep pushing in every direction I can, but honestly, I think a few of my next steps need to be to stabilize and consolidate so I can make my next steps a bit more confidently without worrying too much about my brain leaking out my ears. A big part of that is learning how to delegate better, and finding some of the right people to delegate to, because for some reason they haven’t invented human cloning yet or scientifically eliminated the need for sleep.

But I’m rambling. I am very tired, but very grateful. Tomorrow I have to actually look back at the to-do list waiting for me, and summon the Gods of Comic Books to give me strength and persevere through the end of the week. There’s a particular situation involving a forged check that I need to dig back into this week, that I spent my whole Thursday trapped between the local Chase branch and the local Police precinct (my apologies to everyone who missed me on Thursday… Comfort yourselves knowing I wasn’t happy about missing the day there either). Wish me luck!

Last Friday, we dropped the third chapter of BLUE BOOK by me, Michael Avon Oeming and Aditya Bidikar. It’s only available to paid subscribers to this newsletter. The next entry of THE DEPARTMENT OF TRUTH: WILD FICTIONS is going to drop this Friday with a truly stellar artist illustrating… Want to read these posts? Then you should become a paid subscriber to this newsletter!

THE JOKER #8
W: James Tynion IV / A: Guillem March / C: Arif Prianto / L: Tom Napolitano / AE: David Wielgosz / E: Ben Abernathy / COV A: Guillem March / COV B: Jorge Molina / COV C: Acky Bright / 1:25 COV: James Stokoe

Jim Gordon was warned, to “head back to the light while you still can,” but his quest to apprehend The Joker is taking him deeper into darkness. Could The Joker actually be innocent of the attack on Arkham Asylum?

Also featured in THE JOKER #8… PUNCHLINE!
W: James Tynion IV and Sam Johns/A: Rosi K/ L: Ariana Maher

It’s a jailbreak as Bluebird must escape from Blackgate before Punchline and her gang can murder her!

• This is normally the section where I talk about the things I’ve read or seen, but I’ve been in such a grind that I haven’t read or seen much of ANYTHING in the last week! I am enjoying what I have seen of SQUID GAME though.

• Maybe the coolest thing to happen to me over the weekend was receiving a text from my Nice House on the Lake editor, Chris Conroy, where we got an endorsement from Damon Lindelof himself! It’ll come as a surprise to literally nobody that LOST is a huge influence on Nice House. How freaking cool?!?!?!

  

• Last week my pal and mentor Scott Snyder launched a brand new series on Comixology Originals, WE HAVE DEMONS with Greg Capullo, this week you’re all going to get CLEAR by Scott and Francis Manapul. and next week you’re going to get NIGHT OF THE GHOUL by Scott and Francesco Francavilla. These books are so fucking good, I can’t stand it, and I sure as hell can’t pick a favorite. I love seeing my friends just go all out and build exciting new worlds. Comic books are so fucking cool. I love them. Go pick them up right now on Comixology!!!

• I’m thrilled to see ND Stevenson launch a brand new Substack Project, I’m Fine I’m Fine Just Understand. I’ve loved his journal comics going all the way back to when we were comic babies together in the early 2010s. I can’t wait to see everything he does with the platform, and mostly am excited for a world where i get to read regular comics from him again.

That’s it from me this week. There won’t be a THINKING BAT THOUGHTS this Wednesday as I take control of my deadlines and try to deal with this check situation. Thank you again to everyone who made this comic con weekend something special. It just feels good to be around comic book folk again.

Have a good week, folks!

James Tynion IV
Brooklyn, NY
10.11.21