TINY UPDATE 12/19: Last Minute Christmas Presents

Hello Friends.

It’s hard to believe that I was in Singapore a week ago. Harder still to believe that Christmas is less than a week away. I still have some shopping to do! It’s really been a whirlwind of a few months. I am remarkably not as far behind on my scripting as I would have expected hitting up four international conventions in two months on top of the Holiday season and my birthday, but I am feeling tired. I keep crashing early and waking up early. On Saturday I was up at 4:30AM, so I decided to trek out to the Lincoln Center IMAX for the 9:30AM showing of Avatar. Which was fun! More thoughts on that below.

There are some very exciting behind the scenes developments that have been happening in tandem with all the travel. One big one in the world of comics publishing that means I have a pretty locked idea of what my next three years of comic-making is going to look like. Another fun project in Comic Book Land which will be my only licensed work in the next couple years (not a Superhero thing). And then a few more big ones in the weird world of Hollywood, and those I won’t even hint at right now other than saying that I am very happy with the final draft of a thing I whipped up. We’ll see what happens! But the Empire of the Tiny Onion marches ever forward.

I turned 35 years old this past Wednesday, and that marks probably the first time since I started in comics that I don’t feel like one of the kids in the business anymore. Now I am a grown human being! My 34th year was pretty tumultuous, with epic peaks and valleys, and a lot of changes in my personal life. I learned a lot from it, and hopefully grew a bit, and now I’ll be able to face the rest of my 30s with a bit of grace and poise. Things are lining up nicely, though. I have to say.

At the top of the year, I’m going to start banging my drum about the launch of BLUE BOOK at Dark Horse in February, and W0RLDTR33 at Image in April. I’m immensely proud of these books, and can’t wait for them to find a wider audience. I’m also going to unveil some more of our plans here on Substack as we head into 2024. There’s one co-feature I’m developing that I think people are going to really enjoy.

I’m going to try and whip up a big think piece about the last year before the New Year kicks in, but I wanted bang the drum about a few cool offerings from my partners and me. In particular, I want to hammer in that there are just under two weeks left to sign up for the Onion Club in 2023. Details below the break!

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OKAY, Now let’s get into the good stuff. FIRST AND FOREMOST is the Onion Club! Over the last few weeks, we’ve opened up membership to previous Club members, and paid subscribers to this newsletter, but now I’m throwing the gates wide open! We still have a few hundred slots available here, and I’d love to have you onboard! Here’s what it all entails in 2023.

THE ONION CLUB 2023 PACKAGE

The Onion Club is a special offering that I used to make available here on the Substack, but am now running fully through my partnership with Third Eye Comics. This is a limited offering. It went on sale last week, and all sales will close when we either sell 1000 Packages, or once we hit Midnight ET on December 31st.

The Club Package includes:

• Membership Card and Lanyard

• Six Exclusive Variant Covers by InHyuk Lee (In Gold Foil)

• Convention Benefits

  • Double the Number of Free Signatures per signing session

  • One Graded Signature Fee waived per signing session

• Monthly email giving early access to each Onion Drop in 2023, giving you first pick of the exclusive variant covers, apparel, and merchandise I’m selling on ShopTinyOnion.com

• One Year Complimentary Subscription to “The Empire of the Tiny Onion” newsletter on Substack

• Opportunity to sign up and participate in a private off-site Q&A and signing at NYCC 2023, location in New York City TBD

  • Spaces will be limited based on the venue, but Onion Club members who plan on attending will be given ample time and notice to secure their place at the event.

  • Working to provide a live stream and mail-in component for members who cannot attend, details TBD

This is no longer a “membership” or “subscription” program. There are not going to be any mid-year sign-ups, and your position in the Onion Club will not automatically renew at the end of the year. Once we sell through all 1000 memberships, or memberships close for the year, they will stay closed. Then, if we’re all having fun with it, I’ll unveil the Onion Club 2024 Package at the end of next year.

For this next year, we will need to charge shipping. If you live within the United States, the total cost will be $300 for six packages over the course of 2023 (Base cost of 250 + 50 for Shipping). If you live internationally, the cost will be $350 for the six packages. Unfortunately, due to high international shipping costs, we weren’t able to make this work at a lower price point.

We did a pre-sale to current Onion Club members on Monday, with a great response, but at writing still have a few hundred places available in the Club for 2023. This is your chance to guarantee yourself all of the Onion Club Benefits for next year.

Current Onion Club members who are curious about how we are making good on partial year memberships from this last year, you should search your spam for a few emails from onionclub@thirdeyecomics.com which detail our plans. If you don’t see an email there, please reach out to tinyonionorders@thirdeyecomics.com.

NOTE: IF YOU RESPOND TO THIS EMAIL IT IS NOT LIKELY WE’LL SEE THE RESPONSE COME IN, SO PLEASE REACH OUT TO THE ABOVE EMAIL ADDRESS WITH ANY QUESTIONS/CONCERNS.

I also wanted to call out a couple of partnerships with my friends at Cadence Comics Art as we head into the final stretch of the Holiday.

First off, Wynd Co-creator Michael Dialynas and the Cadence Team have given me the honor of debuting the final cover in their set of five covers for WYND: THE THRONE IN THE SKY, featuring art by the incredible Becky Cloonan! Take a look at this beauty, and then see the art for all five covers below!

The full set features covers from Michael Dialynas, DaNi, Caspar Wijngaard, Mateus Santoluoco, and Becky Cloonan. You can use the discount code "TINYONIONWYND" to receive free domestic shipping and discounted international rates (by $9.99) on any Wynd orders. This discount can be combined with any other in-stock "book" item in the Cadence Select online store. Orders will ship out after the holiday. You can buy the full set by clicking the link below!

I’m also partnering with Cadence to offer a Holiday Print this year, featuring Erica Slaughter, painted by my incredible series co-creator, Werther Dell’edera. This is limited to a set of 150 prints, and we’re not offering signatures this year (last year, it took until May to get these signed by everyone, so we’d rather they make their way out in the world sooner rather than later. You can pick up your Erica Slaughter print below!

• I’ve seen SO many movies over the last few weeks, but I am here to talk about AVATAR: THE WAY OF THE WATER. I wouldn’t say I’m “avatarpilled” as the kids are saying, but I did thoroughly enjoy myself with it. My first reaction after was posting on Instagram that “My official stance is that James Cameron should be allowed to keep making his cat people animes as long as he is willing to make them” and I stand by it! My other big takeaway was how effective the third act of the movie was. All the different emotional arcs crescendo together as a part of a really compelling action-driven climax. It kind of just hammered in for me how many recent SF Action films (*coughcough* Superhero movies) have really terrible third acts. We can all learn from one of the real masters of compelling mass-appeal . I recommend learning on the largest screen available in your vicinity.

• Right now, I think my top films of the year are TÁR, THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN, EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE, CRIMES OF THE FUTURE, and THE FABELMANS. We’ll see if BABYLON crashes the top five once I see it this Thursday.

• If you’re looking to buy a friend or family member a comic book for Christmas (or if you get some gift cards you want to spend on comics), and you’re looking for a few big winners… Might I recommend DUCKS: TWO YEARS IN THE OIL SANDS by Kate Beaton, ACTING CLASS by Nick Drnaso, ITS LONELY AT THE CENTER OF THE EARTH by Zoe Thorogood, PUBLIC DOMAIN by Chip Zdarsky, FRIDAY vol 1&2 by Ed Brubaker, Marcos Martin, and Muntsa Vincente, and RECKLESS book 1-5 by Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips. I also think FIRE POWER by Robert Kirkman and Chris Samnee doesn’t get talked about enough, but is a good time every single issue. In terms of stuff I dig that hasn’t been collected yet - DAMN THEM ALL by Si Spurrier and Charlie Adlard is fucking great, DOCTOR STRANGE: FALL SUNRISE by Tradd Moore is a feast for your senses, NIGHT OF THE GHOUL by Scott Snyder and Francesco Francavilla is real good fucked up horror, and THE BROTHER OF ALL MEN by Zac Thompson and Eoin Marron is hitting some publisher problems, but I hope they resolve soon because I want to finish reading the dang thing. Finally, it’s never too late to get a friend or loved one obsessed with CHAINSAW MAN by Tatsuki Fujimoto.

• I hit a few audiobook duds while I was traveling and haven’t finished them, and I keep catching up on all of my podcasts, so if you all have any reccs of compelling recent non-fiction I’d love to hear them shouted out below.

I still have a buttload of work to get done before I head to Florida for Christmas with my Mom this Friday. A few scripts, and a surprising number of zooms on the book for a Holiday week. This is my penance for my international travels.

I’ll be doing one last big bang on the drum for Onion Club membership before the cut-off day on the 31st… But if you don’t hear from me before then, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

Sending you all some Holiday love from Brooklyn.

James Tynion IV
Brooklyn, NY
12.19.21