TINY UPDATE 11/29: It's Our Time, Breathe It In

“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.

It's our time, breathe it in
Worlds to change, and worlds to win
Our turn, coming through
Me and you pal, me and you
Years from now, we'll remember and we'll come back
By the rooftop and hang a plaque
This is where we began
Being what we can

Synchronicity is a strange thing.

After watching the Netflix adaptation of Jonathan Larson’s TICK, TICK… BOOM the other week (It was pretty good!), with Bradley Whitford in a small role as Stephen Sondheim, I’ve been revisiting some of my old favorite Sondheim albums. So, on Friday, after taking a family photo and taking some downtime in my hotel room, I laid on the floor and put the soundtrack to the flawed, brilliant Sondheim musical MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG and just laid there for the better part of an hour, thinking back to how much the musical had meant to me in high school and college. And about 30 minutes after I finished listening to “Our Time” for the millionth time, my phone buzzed with a Washington Post breaking news alert. The greatest musical theater composer and lyricist of the 20th Century had passed away at 91 years old.

I don’t talk that much these days about how much musical theater shaped my creative life and work. In college, I got one of my professors at Sarah Lawrence to sign off on an overly broad research project to get me into the Lincoln Center Library of the Performing Arts (which has recordings of every broadway show going back decades - Not always in great condition, but it has them). I watched a dozen shows over a few weeks, including every work in the Sondheim repertoire that I hadn’t gotten to see in person, and a few that I had. I mounted productions of Company, and Side by Side by Sondheim (or rather, an unlicensed Sondheim medley that suspiciously had an almost identical track list to Side by Side) the year after my senior year of high school, and again after my freshman year of college.

Part of the fun of enjoying Sondheim was being a pretentious theater kid who reveled in how smart Sondheim’s work was compared to the more popular work of your Andrew Lloyd Webbers, or the hokier mid-century musicals still alive and well in the high school theater circuit. If I’m being honest, I didn’t understand the complexities of Company or Sunday in the Park with George the first time I listened through them. But I could feel like they were reaching for something in their complexity, and I knew that I wanted to reach, too. And that reach, that powerful yearning at the heart of each of his shows connected to me so deeply even if I didn’t understand why.

Sondheim was a giant because he could capture the little moments and complexities of human life in an art form that was often the polar opposite of subtle. He showed human people being human, being uncomfortable, making bad decisions, and he did it with smart, cutting lyrics and a powerfully dry sense of humor. As an ambitious queer person coming up as a teenager in the Bush Era, I treasured his stature in the industry precisely because he did not just make queer art, and was not only well regarded in queer circles. He defined the limits of what could be possible in his field, and his stature could not be questioned or underestimated. It’s strange to recognize how remarkable that felt even 20 years ago when it seemed like the only way to be openly queer and a working artist was to make art that stayed inside the box the rest of the world was comfortable with it staying in. He may not have been the mainstream ticket-selling powerhouse of the musical theater world, but he was not niche. His priorities shaped the industry of the 70s and 80s and what art looked and felt like and sounded like in that era, and those raised on his work (or directly mentored by him) would shape the decades that followed. He showed me you could be precisely who you are, do the work that matters most to you, and change the medium you work in by the sheer power and voice of your work.

The Department of Truth would not exist without Assassins. The Nice House on the Lake would not exist without Company. Wynd would not exist without Into the Woods. Something is Killing the Children would not exist without Sweeney Todd. I would not be the creator I am today without having been guided by the work of this absolute master and challenged by him every single day to push the boundaries of my chosen field to capture the raw emotional reality within.

Do yourself a favor, and spend some time this week and humble yourself in front of his work. Here’s a favorite of mine to start you off…

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We’ve just got a day and change before we jump into December. These next couple of months are going to be big ones here on The Empire of the Tiny Onion. I haven’t talked lately about all of the Substack projects I’ve been working on behind the scenes for the last six months, but those are going to start releasing shortly after the new year. We’re gearing up for the launch of my new web store, and all sorts of new merchandise from all of my different titles. I’m going to have a steadier drop rate of special covers and offerings, and we’re going to have multiple comics running here. I’ve been waiting for the moment this really clicks into being a fine-tuned machine and we’re almost there.

I’m also excited about all of the ways that I’ve been beefing up our $250 ONION CLUB tier. One of the key offerings there is going to be unveiled to Onion Club members in the next week, and members of the club are going to receive one more shipment before the end of the year. Club members should receive a dedicated email in the next few days with more details there. It’s not too late to sign up and get this special Christmas Gift (to be clear - this gift is not a special variant cover). Anyone who signs up for the Onion Club tier before January 1st will get their gift.

This Wednesday, I’m going to be dropping the first of four limited edition “Christmas Card” art prints I’m working on in partnership with the fine people at Cadence Comic Art. Fans of my big Four books - DOT, NHOTL, SIKTC, and WYND should keep their eyes peeled. The post will drop at 2pm ET. I’ll be getting into the rules of the prints with the first “Christmas Card” post on Wednesday. I am very excited about these because I am a big nerd for the Holidays.

This Friday, I’m going to be dropping the next chapter of BLUE BOOK by myself, Michael Avon Oeming, and Aditya Bidikar, available only to paid subscribers to this newsletter. And then, this weekend, I’m going to publish my last THINKING BAT THOUGHTS, in honor of the release of my last Batman issues - Batman Annual 2021, and Fear State Omega. I’m going to wax poetic a bit about Gotham City, and my thoughts on Superhero comics in general.

Beyond all of that, we’ve got a whole buttload of comic books for you this week! We’ve got the amazing John J Pearson joining team DOT for a special guest issue! We’ve got Batman and Joker Annuals! We’ve got Fear State Omega! I hope you pick them all up and enjoy the crap out of each of them.

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

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.

BATMAN: FEAR STATE OMEGA #1

W: James Tynion IV / A: Riccardo Federici, Ryan Benjamin, Guillem March, Christian Duce, Trevor Hairsine / C: Chris Sotomayor / L: Clayton Cowle / Cover A: Jamal Campbell / Cover B: Simone Bianchi / Cover C: Jorge Jimenez / AE: David Wielgosz / E: Ben Abernathy

As Gotham’s Fear State comes to a close, a new day dawns on the city… one without Batman. But the Dark Knight’s absence does not mean the city is without heroes. FEAR STATE reaches its conclusion and introduces a new status quo that will reverberate throughout the DCU for years to come!

BATMAN 2021 ANNUAL #1

W: James Tynion IV / A + Cover A: Ricardo Lopex Ortiz / C: Romulo Fajardo Jr. / L: Clayton Cowles / Cover B: Kamome Shirahama / AE: David Wielgosz / E: Ben Abernathy

Concluding the brutal tale of Batman’s frenemy, Ghost-Maker, that has run in Batman #107-111 backup stories with the senses-shattering conclusion to the saga! Ghost-Maker has fought his way across Devil Skull Island and he’s about to face every single villain from his rogues’ gallery… at once? Can even this legendary warrior survive the onslaught?

THE JOKER 2021 ANNUAL #1

W: James Tynion IV + Matthew Rosenberg / A + Cover A: Francesco Francavilla / Cover B: Dan Hipp / AE: David Wielgosz / E: Ben Abernathy

His first year of being GCPD police commissioner was an intense challenge for James Gordon. He battled corruption in the ranks, his marriage was in shambles, and the vigilante Batman was clearly welcoming new recruits with the appearance of Batgirl. And the Joker picked his moment to unleash hell!

• Speaking of limited edition prints! TFAW has put together a series of gorgeous, limited edition poster prints of The Department of Truth! If you’re in the Portland area, you should go to the release party on December 4th! I’ll be there in spirit, as a spooky holiday ghost.

• The New York Public Library included THE DEPARTMENT OF TRUTH on its 2021 list of best books for adults! Neat!

• A new episode of Defunctland dropped and it’s really incredible. It’s the length of a feature film all about the history of FastPass and queuing at the Disney Parks, but it’s deeply deeply captivating and informative. Kevin Perjurer is one of the best documentarians out there right now, and his deep focus on the history of amusement parks is incredible. The entire Season 3 is just jaw-droppingly good, talking not just about the life of Walt Disney himself, but the 20th Century. I think you can point to some of the episodes there, particularly about Coney Island and the 1964 World’s Fair, as why I’m reading a massive biography of Robert Moses right now. History is great! History about niche subject matter is even better!

• I ordered a few of the plays suggested in the comments of last week’s post where I was talking about trying to hone in on dialogue. If you have more suggestions, please keep them coming! I’m going to be finishing Martin McDonagh’s THE PILLOWMAN today if I can finish my homework for the day.

• I’m telling myself that if I get enough done today, it might be time to start decorating the apartment for Christmas. The most comforting feeling in the world is sitting in a room lit only by the soft light of a Christmas Tree. Realistically, this won’t happen until the weekend, but I choose to believe!

I’ve managed to start the week at a hyper-productive pace, so I’m going to try and stick with it. I’m catching up on emails, and resolving a few self-inflicted headaches that emerged in the last batch of shipments.

The wonderful humans at Third Eye Comics are my new distribution partners, so if you have any questions about your shipments you should send them to tinyonionorders@thirdeyecomics.com - With a few caveats - folks who received unsigned Day One books should can expect an email from us in the next few days to resolve things and should hold tight for now, and questions about the fulfillment of enamel pin orders, or Razorblades: The Horror Magazine should still go to tinyonionstudios@gmail.com through the end of the year.

In any case, I’m glad to be working the kinks out of the system before we enter the New Year! We’ve got so much cool stuff in store for you all, I really can’t wait for you to see it all. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I’m very thankful to you all. Much more soon.

James Tynion IV
Brooklyn, NY
11.29.21