TINY UPDATE 4/10: W0RLDTR33 is Coming Out Two Weeks Later! Let Me Tell You Why!

“Tiny Update” is a monthly 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

Hey Friends,

Originally, this was gonna drop last Monday. But I decided, sleep deprived on the plane back from Barcelona that I would let it drop on Wednesday! And then I got home and opened my W0RLDTR33 comp box, and the rest of the week took on a different energy.

I should lead with the headline:

W0RLDTR33 #1’s new on sale date is Wednesday, April 26th, and no longer this coming Wednesday the 12th. My signings this week at both Midtown Comics and Third Eye Comics have been rescheduled for early May. There are no changes to Fernando or my plans to attend Amazing Comic Con in Las Vegas the weekend following release.

I’ll get into the how’s and why’s in a minute. But let’s start with Spain.

The funny thing is that when I wrote the last newsletter, I had no plans to go to Spain. Actually, when I got back from France I had told myself that I wasn’t going to to travel out of the country for at least six months. But it’s been a weird, intense couple of months and the week I got a text from Alvaro telling me that Barcelona was going to reach out, and I looked at my calendar and it was pretty much the only weekend I could genuinely manage a trip like that, and my brain was telling me it’d do me good to get out of Brooklyn for a couple of days… So, I decided why the hell not! It’s not completely insane to spend three nights in Barcelona!

Anyways, it was completely insane to spend three nights in Barcelona. Thankfully I’ve had enough insane sleep schedule weekends that my body didn’t take a huge hit from the time zone change. I was able to hang out with W0RLDTR33 co-creator, Fernando Blanco, and NICE HOUSE co-creator, Alvaro Martinez Bueno… And then crucially, we met up with David LaFuente and decided to form a comic book Mafia.

I also had a lovely time chatting with the delightful Chip Zdarsky, until the subject turned to his dashing collaborator on Batman. We both acted very maturely about it, as you can see.

It was lovely meeting with all my fans and publishers in Barcelona! I love Spain! I love the creators there and love the whole damn country. I need to come back for more than three nights next time and see a bit more of it.

Anyways, onto the “fun” news with W0RLDTR33. IMAGE COMICS put out a Press Release on Friday that gets into a lot of the nitty gritty.

I got home from Spain on Monday afternoon and brought two giant comp boxes up to my apartment from the package room in my building. That evening, I opened them to find that a few of the covers had printed so dark that you could not make out almost half of the image. It took a few days of wrangling, but we got a reprint up and running, but since it was Easter, it’s not happening as quickly as it would otherwise.

At the end of the day, talking to Fernando, Jordie, Aditya, Steve, and all the folks at Image, we just couldn’t let a sub-standard product hit the shelves. This book is important to us, and we want it to run for a long time. Now, we have a chance to get it done right.

I’ll be honest! This sucks! It was a really stressful week after a really nice weekend, and I have to say I’m still pretty tense. It’s tough enough to try and message when a new creator owned is launching, and it’s tougher when the date shifts, and the next date shifts, and the next… I’m very proud of the work we’ve all put in the book, and I’m very glad that Image Comics had our backs to get the right version of the book in readers’ hands.

Given the way this business works, it’s inevitable a few copies will start floating around earlier than the release date. If you get an early book, please be kind to the folks who aren’t going to get their hands on it until the On Sale Date. Don’t spoil stuff. Don’t be a jerk. But everyone, please try to follow the rules. The best way to make this book succeed is to make April 26th feel like a big release date.

But anyways. Tell your local comic shop to get you a copy for April 26th. I have a feeling even with the misprint this first printing is going to vanish pretty quickly. Fingers crossed we have news on that quickly.

Hm. What else?

Okay, I guess if I was gonna post this on IG and Twitter, why not post it here, too? I realized a couple days ago that I had taken a full body bathroom mirror shot six months ago almost to the day. And I decided to update it. The before picture is about a month and a half into my weight loss and fitness journey. October 6th to April 7th.

What’s really kicked things into overdrive are my boxing lessons which I kicked off a couple months ago. Here’s me at the gym yesterday right after my trainer low key murdered me in our Easter session. I’m almost back to my deadlift record from the last time I was seriously weightlifting over a decade ago. It feels good. I feel good. I think I’m getting pretty good-looking! I am ready for my hot boy era, just a few years out from my fortieth birthday.

Anyways, on top of all of that, I am waiting on an email, the details of which could reshape the next decade or more of my life. And a cool new thing I’m a part of is going to announce this week, too. So that’s fun. Let’s see how next week goes.

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SO, as it turns out, I still DO have a new number one coming out in stores this week! And it’s a GOOD one!

It’s the follow up to last year’s NIGHTMARE COUNTRY, and I’m returning to the story of THE CORINTHIAN with the phenomenal Lisandro Estherren and Patricio Delpeche on art. I’m really really proud of this story, and we’re opening it all up with even further characters from the Sandman Universe. This is the perfect comic for fans of last year’s SANDMAN series on Netflix, and it’s hitting stores the same day as the collected edition of the first storyline, so you can get a new reader all caught up!

Series Editors Chris Conroy and Andrea Shea were kind enough to get me some preview pages to show off! But you should go hunt this comic book down!

Anyways… Let’s get to EVERYTHING we’ve got in store for you this month.

April 11th

THE SANDMAN UNIVERSE: NIGHTMARE COUNTRY - THE GLASS HOUSE #1

W: James Tynion IV / A: Lisandro Estherren / C: Patricio Delpeche / L: Simon Bowland / Main Cover: Reiko Murakami / E: Andrea Shea & Chris Conroy

The Corinthian has been turned loose on our realm once more, and this time he sets his sights on the very root of rapacious American capitalism—Silicon Valley. His relentless pursuit of the Smiling Man will carve a bloody path from the C-suite of Prophet Capital to the bowels of a demonic nightclub, and no one will be safe from his reach. Not Ken, living large in the Bay Area since parting ways with Barbie all those years ago. Not Max, a nervous hedge fund manager on the rise who’s never quite fit anywhere. Not anyone.

Multiple Eisner Award-winning writer James Tynion IV reunites with superstar horror artist Lisandro Estherren to bring you the nightmare-fueled follow-up you’ve been craving, a tale that will plumb the bottomless depths of our yearning for more at the heart of the American dream.

April 19th

HOUSE OF SLAUGHTER #14

W: James Tynion IV & Tate Brombal / A: Werther Dell‘Edera & Antonio Fuso / C: Miquel Muerto / L: AndWorld Design / E: Eric Harburn & Ramiro Portnoy

Terrified and without a prayer, Sunny faces a deadly hazing ritual; can he survive on his own, or will the monster emerging from the dark be his end?

Meanwhile, a long-awaited conversation between Jace and a woman with strange but familiar eyes reveals a past of interwoven fates and new revelations…

April 26th

W0RLDTR33 #1

W: James Tynion IV / A: Fernando Blanco / C: Jordie Bellaire / L: Aditya Bidikar / E: Steve Foxe / P: Image Comics

SERIES PREMIERE! NEW ON SALE DATE!

In 1999, Gabriel and his friends discovered the Undernet, a secret architecture to the Internet. They charted their exploration on a message board called W0RLDTR33. Then they lost control. Someone broke into W0RLDTR33—someone who welcomed the violent hold the Undernet had on them. At great personal cost, Gabriel and the others thought they sealed the Undernet away for good. They were wrong. And now they will know the meaning of PH34R.

The next major horror outing from multiple Eisner Award-winning writer JAMES TYNION IV and FERNANDO BLANCO, along with Eisner-winning colorist JORDIE BELLAIRE and Eisner-nominated letterer ADITYA BIDIKAR, begins here!

BLUE BOOK #3

W: James Tynion IV / A: Michael Avon Oeming / L: Aditya Bidikar / E: Greg Lockard, Daniel Chabon / P: Dark Horse

Trauma takes hold as nightmares plague the Hills with visions of the strange creatures they encountered. Were these just dreams or actual missing memories? These questions set the two of them off on a path for answers by retracing their bizarre journey and encounter with the unknown.

This issue also includes “True Weird: Grande Peur” by Lonnie Nadler, Jenna Cha, and Aditya Bidikar!

Okay, so with the rescheduling of W0RLDTR33’s launch date, my next public appearance is scheduled to be AMAZING COMIC CON in LAS VEGAS from FRIDAY, APRIL 28 through the 30th. That’ll be the first place in the country where folks will be able to get W0RLDTR33 copies signed, after the release on the 26th.

It’s looking like my MIDTOWN COMICS signing is going to land on WEDNESDAY, MAY 3RD, and that my THIRD EYE COMICS signing will land on SATURDAY, MAY 13TH.

And after THAT, I’ll be at FAN EXPO DALLAS from June 9-11!

Feel like that’s a pretty good spread around the country! I hope I see a bunch of you in each of these spots! I will be at San Diego Comic-Con this year in a way where people can actually get stuff signed, but still in a limited capacity. More to come

That’s all from me right now. I genuinely don’t have a lot of Quick Things at the moment, because I feel like I haven’t been plugging my brain into new stuff for the last couple of months. At least not on my own terms.

There’s the mass-media stuff, but you all don’t need to hear my thoughts on the new episodes of Succession or season 2 of Yellowjackets. Mostly I’ve been listening to playlists and audiobooks a few friends of mine have wanted me to read. And I’ve been having a good time with it, but I think I’m ready to reclaim my internal narration as I get ready for my next generation of new comics projects.

Have a good April, and I’ll be back with the next Tiny Update in May.

James Tynion IV
Brooklyn, NY
4.10.23