24 Comments
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Isaac Platizky's avatar

I’d check out the plays of Martin Mcdonagh for dialogue. Check out Pillow man and Behanding in Spokane to start. Also Michael Frayn’s Noises Off is great.

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blake chernin's avatar

oh man, for contemporary playwrights i'd say check out: Jackie Sibbles Drury (Especially 'We are Proud to Present...' and 'Fairview', DEFINITELY 'The Wolves' by Sarah DeLappe, and good ole Annie Baker (I like 'John')

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Joshua's avatar

We need you to come up North 🇨🇦 in 2022. Also can’t wait to get my Onion club book!

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James Tynion IV's avatar

Working on it :)

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Jon Hopkins's avatar

Hey James, not sure if you check that GMail account on the Tiny Onion website but I just emailed you about an order problem. Thanks!

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Joshua's avatar

Can't wait! I went for the unsigned day 1 option so I can get a signature live at my first con

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Jon Auerbach's avatar

Welcome back to NYC! Got my Onion Club signed issue in the mail the other day, Jenny Frison's stunning variant of DoT #1. Thanks so much!

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Devin Fuller's avatar

Just wanted to say I just got my Tiny Onion House of Slaughter Covers and they look amazing! Thank you James and team <3

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Andrew Troth's avatar

Read Tom Stoppard, Sarah Ruhl, Lauren Gunderson, and Christopher Durang. Differing greatly in style and substance, all write brilliant dialogue that rolls and sings and zaps as needed, both spoken and in print.

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M-SuperStripe's avatar

I did not recieve a Day-1 Founders Tier storage locker book and I'm bummed out.

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Jon Hopkins's avatar

Give James some time to see the comments, it's probably a processing mistake as myself and others have had the same issue. With tomorrow being Thanksgiving and the fact that he is playing catch-up from his UK trip he may not get back to us until after the holiday. I am a bit concerned I may not get one of the ultra-rare ones, I already have purchased Razorblades #1 as others have reported getting. I am sure James and his crew will make it right for those of us who have yet to get the Day One Founders Club bonus.

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M-SuperStripe's avatar

Oh I get that JT4 is super busy and it's a holiday weekend. I'm bummed, but I'm also not mad or indignant and I remain optomistic. :)

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Jon Hopkins's avatar

I hear you, I was really curious what my Day One comic was as well but I too have confidence JT will look into it as it sounds like a packaging/processing error at the place that handles them. They do an amazing job with packaging though so they do deserve that shout out.

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Darren Hodge's avatar

My favorite dialogue writer would have to be Douglas Adams. Also Gregory Maguire's After Alice comes to mind along with Pipsqueak by Brian M. Wiprud.

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Jeffrey Gonzalez's avatar

Welcome home! Glad to hear that you enjoyed yourself on your trip.

I am very impressed that someone like you who is seeing so much success and acclaim in your career is still interested in growth and improvement. You could just sit back and ride the wave of your talent and success but instead you look at things like your dialogue and challenge yourself to be even better. That is true dedication to yourself and your art and proves that you’re in it for more than just the paycheck. Well done, sir. If I would suggest any playwrights I would second the suggestions already made for Tom Stoppard and Martin McDonagh as well as suggesting people like Branden Jacobs Jenkins (“Gloria”) and Tracey Letts (“August: Osage County”).

On a separate note, the Facebook groups that I’m in have been abuzz with posts about the books you sent out for the Onion Club “Day One” bonus. I have not received mine yet (scheduled to come today) but I am BLOWN AWAY with the generosity you’ve shown! There were some highly sought after books (including a SiKtC #1 ALA - WHAT?!!!) that you could have very easily kept for your own financial gain but, instead, you gave them away! Thank you so much! I regret to inform you, however, that there is a vocal group that didn’t get one of these “top tier” books and were unfairly regretting their subscription. If you come across any of this negative feedback, please ignore it! I understand people being disappointed that they didn’t get something as nice as someone else but every book you’ve sent out has been rare (as promised) and it is only childish entitlement which is causing people to complain.

I hope that you and yours have a very happy Thanksgiving!

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Mike Cunningham's avatar

People have the right to be disgruntled and the fact that you would bring it here seems incredibly tactless. All you are doing is inviting internet trolls and ass kissers to respond and take this off topic.

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M-SuperStripe's avatar

I did not get my Day-1 Founders Tier book at all. So yes, disgruntled is a thing and we're very much right to feel that way.

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Jeffrey Gonzalez's avatar

I have no objection to someone following up about their Day One Founder’s Tier book if they did not receive one and were owed one.

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The Other Map's avatar

I mean, personally I like going back to the roots as far as dialogue - listening to people talk haha. I'd recommend watching podcasts and looking for speech patterns, and if you find a public figure whose cadence you like, diving deeper into their speaking. I have a few people whose voice I'm waiting to use in a project myself.

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HapaKnack's avatar

I am lobbying for James to make it out to DC for AwesomeCon!

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AI's avatar

Good to have you back man. That Erica pop is awesome. I would be ok with adding that to my ridiculous collection as well. Also my 🧅♣️ house of slaughter arrived and it is glorious. Sticking it in mylar asap. I think I've always been attracted to super hero genre partially because of the possibilities but mainly because of the world they live in and the fact that there are explanations for things vs the world we live in that despite the "science" it doesn't seem to have many answers to the large questions, or at least ones I am confident to believe in. I think there is room for a super hero in our world and wonder what that would look like if each person painted their thoughts of one without taking from existing characters. Maybe we can have yours in the future. As far as movies and such. I always found the weirder the better. I find myself impressed to see the odd corners of people's minds brought to life. Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving and I am excited for what else is in store. 🧅♣️

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Jess's avatar

welcome back ! really interesting thoughts on comics dialogue; i think it's true what you say about the focus being on the visual in comics rather than the literary oftentimes. obvi Gaiman stands out as the gold standard for poetic comics dialogue.

i'll be picking up both your titles this week, which is very exciting!

quick q - have only had my pull list active for a few months so am not sure... do comics tend to take a break over December?? totally cool if they do, as im away from my LCS for that month, just thought i'd check! xx

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Matheus's avatar

Welcome back James! Can't wait for House of Slaughter #2.

And, hope you come to Brazil in 2022!

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Oh Brother! Comics's avatar

Welcome back James!! It’s awesome to hear that you had such an awesome time on your trip! It’s interesting to hear you say you feel your dialog is messy. I find it to be written and structured very well. You do an amazing job at capturing your character’s personalities and emotions perfectly. I get captivated by your writing style and find myself wanting more and more.

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