TINY UPDATE 11/1: All Saints Day Edition

“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!

I hope you have all had a wonderful Halloween weekend, dressed up in neat costumes, and got to see some pals.

We took it pretty easy here at the Tiny Onion household (to the extent that we were not particularly social), but honestly sometimes what you really need after a few very busy weeks is to just unwind a bit. At the end of next weekend, I’m heading out of the country, and this week is going to be a bit intense as I work to tackle everything on my plate. It’s been a while since I’ve had to go into beast mode, but this is absolutely a beast mode kind of week. I’m going to refrain from saying exactly how many script pages I need to write this week so that none of my editors have a heart attack.

Yesterday, I watched five horror movies back-to-back as a part of my new VIDEO VIDALIA feature. It was great commenting live to all of these movies with a bunch of you, but I will say that I definitely bit off a little more than I could chew with the whole thing. Moving forward, I think VIDEO VIDALIA is going to stick to double features. I love watching multiple movies back to back, but ten hours of ANYTHING is a bit too much. Three cheers for all the madmen who stuck it out with me.

This week, we’ve got another BLUE BOOK BULLETIN coming your way on Friday, and then we should be back on our regular posting schedule through the end of the year. I set something very fun in motion for December that I am very excited to show off to all of you… And then get ready for me to start the new year banging the drum hard for everything I’ve got in store for you all.

One week from now, I’ll be in the United Kingdom in advance of my appearance at THOUGHT BUBBLE on November 13-14! I am going to be at Table 129 in Bubbleboy Hall (if you want to read more about why it’s called that, you should hit this link!). I’m in a row with Michael Dialynas, Martin Simmonds, and Alvaro Martinez Bueno! You should bring a bunch of your Wynds and DOTs and NHOTLs so we can sign them for you!! I’ll have more information about my signing schedule and panels and stuff next Monday. I am very, very excited to get out of the country for the first time since January 2020.

BATMAN #116

W: James Tynion IV/ A: Jorge Jimenez / C: Tomeu Morey / L: Clayton Cowles / Cover A: Jorge Jimenez & Tomeu Morey / Cover B: Jorge Molina / 1:25 Variant: Ann Maulina / AE: David Wielgosz / E: Ben Abernathy

FEAR STATE, PART FIVE

The only thing standing between an insane, heavily armed Peacekeeper-01 and a high body count in Gotham City is Batman. Their first bout didn’t go well for the Dark Knight, but the city is on the line and he can’t let the Scarecrow’s master plan come to fruition…and whose side is Miracle Molly truly on? The penultimate chapter of “Fear State”!

THE JOKER Vol. 1 hardcover

W: James Tynion IV & Matthew Rosenberg / A: Guillem March / C: Arif Prianto / L: Tom Napolitano / AE: David Wielgosz / E: Ben Abernathy

Arkham Asylum has been attacked and all eyes are on the Joker. A mysterious benefactor hires former Gotham City Police Commissioner Jim Gordon to go on a global manhunt to catch…and possibly kill… the Clown Prince of Crime!
 
But nothing with the Joker is ever as easy as it seems. What Gordon finds and what the Joker wants him to see…will change his perspective on the world forever. And he’s not the only one who wants the Joker found…
 
Who are the wicked Sampson family? And who is Vengeance, daughter of Bane, striking fear into the world’s heart?!
 
Brought to you by the all-star creative team behind Batman: Their Dark Designs, James Tynion IV and Guillem March, this volume includes a special Year One flashback issue co-written with Matthew Rosenberg (Legends of the Dark Knight) and Francesco Francavilla (Batman: The Black Mirror).

Moving forward, I want to be a bit better about calling out the Final Order Cut-Offs (FOC) Dates for my original series. FOC is the last day a comic shop can put in their orders before the book’s print run is set. Today is the FOC for the following two books. Let your local comic shop know if you’ll be picking up a copy!

THE DEPARTMENT OF TRUTH #14

W: James Tynion IV / A: John J. Pearson / L: Aditya Bidikar / Cover A: Martin Simmonds/ Cover B: John J. Pearson / E: Steve Foxe / P: Image Comics

In 1946, Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard and eccentric rocket scientist Jack Parsons performed a series of rituals to summon a divine feminine being. Her name was Babalon. She was dressed all in…RED. Eisner winner JOHN J. PEARSON (BLUE IN GREEN) joins THE DEPARTMENT OF TRUTH for an occult blast from the past.

HOUSE OF SLAUGHTER #2

W: James Tynion IV & Tate Brombal/A: Werther Dell’Edera & Chris Shehan/C: Miquel Muerto/L: Andworld Design/E: Eric Harburn/ Cover A: Chris Shehan/Cover B: Werther Dell’Edera

Erica Slaughter isn’t the only member of the House of Slaughter to have made sacrifices in order to become the monster hunter she is today. As a teenager, her handler and rival Aaron finds himself with a new roommate, the mysterious “transfer student” Jace Boucher. To initiate his training, Jace must prove his loyalty to the House of Slaughter through a binding ritual… a ritual that few survive.

• SKTCHD included me in a phenomenal list of “Some of The Most Interesting People in Comics, Right Now” last week, and putting myself aside, I have to say Harper wrote up the people whose moves I’ve been most fascinated by over the last couple of years. They’re all worth paying attention to. And so is David Harper.

• HOLY SHIT! Prime 1 is doing a Punchline Statue designed by the one and only Jorge Jimenez!! It looks so fucking good, I can’t stand it!!!

• The latest chapter of FRIDAY by Ed Brubaker and Marcos Martin is up on Panel Syndicate. This comic is so damn good, you guys. You can name your price for digital copies, or if you’re a ride or die print reader, you can let your local comic shop know you want the trade paperback when it comes out this month.

• Really enjoyed Max Read’s annotations to the Dune movie! If you are a big Dune nerd, you should read through it. Also: There’s going to be a Dune: Part Two! It is a good time to be a Duner. The Dune Internet is flowing with deep rivers of content for me to drown myself in. A fun thing to do right now is search “Feyd Rautha” on twitter, and see all of the thirsty Gen Z Dune fans debating which Hollywood prettyboy they want to see fight Timothee Chalamet in the third act, and all of the Millennials trying to suggest actors they are desperate not to admit to themselves will be nearly 40 by the time the movie drops.

• I also wanted to give a shout out to my friend, Reilly Brown’s comics Kickstarter collecting his Webtoon series OUTRAGE, co-created with Fabian Nicieza! There’s still time to snag a copy!

I’m going to be launching a new iteration of my webstore very shortly now. What this means is that at some point this week, I’m going to slash my pin inventory down on my current webstore in a big way as I physically move my pins to the new distributor.

I’m hoping to have the new iteration operational in advance of the holidays, but if you know right now that you want to buy some enamel pins for that special someone in your life, you should put your order in today, to make sure I ship them out this week. Also seems worth pointing out that as I write this, there are precisely 5 physical copies of Razorblades: The Horror Magazine #5 left for purchase in the webstore. Snag one while supplies last.

I’m going to keep my Threadless page live until after Black Friday/Cyber Monday, but after that, I’m going to be shutting it down for good. So if you want one of those designs on a Threadless product, you should put your order in ASAP.

Finally, I’m prepping the next two weeks worth of posts here on Substack this week, so that I don’t need to think much about it while I’m traveling abroad (doing what I can to make sure I’m not chained to my laptop for the whole trip). My Substack editor extraordinaire, Greg Lockard, is going to be running the show while I’m gone. I’ll be back stateside in time for Thanksgiving.

James Tynion IV
Brooklyn, NY
11.1.21