TINY UPDATE 5/16: Dispatch From the Florida Beach Bar

“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’m writing this on an iPad from a beach bar just outside of Miami, FL. To be clear, I’m writing this the night before it lands in your inbox. I’m not going wild on a Monday morning. But yes, I am bragging, because I am a horrible horrible monster, and this is really fucking nice. Sun and water really seem to be the combination that brings me closest to a kind of zen.

And frankly, I have needed some zen. Here’s a picture I took from the beach earlier. Ain’t that pretty? I went out and basically just bobbed in the waves for the better part of an hour and came out feeling like an entirely different person. I don’t know how many times I can learn that lesson before I just move full time to a sunny island in the Caribbean. But I think part of the benefit is the fact that this isn’t EVERY day? I want to be able to feel the benefit. But still. I could probably stand to escape to the beach a bit more often than I do. This summer I really want to spend more time beaching, even just on the New York beaches. Fingers crossed I can will that into reality.

The next two days are going to be intense. I’ve got an important draft of a project due on the Hollywood front. I’m feeling both very good about it, and so anxious that I keep pacing in circles in my hotel room. Send me some good vibes if you have any good vibes to spare.

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Last week, I found out about some very very good news that’s going to be dropping THIS week. I was hoping it’d be ready to go by Monday, but it was NOT, so expect a neat announcement coming your way next week. We did have a cool announcement drop this week, though. WYND IS RETURNING THIS AUGUST!

Wynd is the Young Adult/Adventure series that I consider one of my big four ongoing titles, alongside SIKTC, NHOTL, and DOT. We’ve been nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Comic Series. We’re bringing the series back with a new #1 for the launch of the new arc, and we’re pulling out all the stops to celebrate the launch, including an INCREDIBLE cover by Greg Capullo, Jonathan Glapion, and Dave McCaig.

You can read the announcement over on The Comics Beat. And then if you’ve been holding off on collecting this title, you should go to your LCS, or ShopTinyOnion.com, and pick up the first two volumes of the series! It’s been thrilling to see this series pick up steam more and more every year as more people discover it. It’s a little bit outside the style and format of my more horror-driven series, but the people who love this book love it above all the rest, and I love them dearly for it. Like the previous two volumes of WYND, every issue will be over forty pages, a meaty chunk of comic book storytelling. Go pick up the first two volumes, and then add this to your pull list! I’ve been dreaming up this world since I was 15 years old and I am immensely proud to see it doing so well out in the world.

Below, you’ll find out what we’ve got in store for you this week from the Tiny Onion family. It’s going to be a light Substack Week, but a BIG week in person with me appearing at Megacon. I’ve got my signing schedule in Orlando ready to go for you, along with what. We’ve got more to come next week, and if you want to make sure you don’t miss anything here on Substack, the best way to do that is to hit that subscribe button below!

HOUSE OF SLAUGHTER #6 - Scarlet, Part 1

W: James Tynion IV & Sam Johns / A: Werther Dell'Edera & Letizia Cadonici / C: Francesco Segala / L: AndWorld Design / Main Cover: Rafael Albuquerque / E: Eric Harburn & Ramiro Portnoy

From co-creator James Tynion IV (The Department of Truth, The Nice House on the Lake) and new co-writer Sam Johns (Punchline, The Joker), with art by rising star artist Letizia Cadonici and co-creator Werther Dell’Edera (Razorblades), comes the premiere of the first issue of a new original story about the mysterious Scarlet Masks.

Edwin Slaughter is a Scarlet Mask, one of the secret record keepers of the Order of St. George. He’s enamored with stories of ancient hunters and those in his midst, but he only gets to write the stories and never live them himself. Until what starts out as standard reconnaissance for the Order turns Edwin’s world upside down—a legendary monster is discovered, one long thought extinct! It’s taken the lives of countless children, bringing Edwin into the field and into real danger for the very first time.

This week I am appearing at Megacon in Orlando, FL, alongside DOT artist and co-creator, Martin Simmonds, SIKTC artist, and co-creator, Werther Dell’Edera, NHOTL artist and co-creator, Alvaro Martinez Bueno, HOS Arc Two writer Sam Johns, HOS Arc Two artist Letizia Cadonici, and Batman Variant artist Francesco Mattina!

I’m going to be bringing along some of the special merch we’ve been making for ShopTinyOnion.com, including our SIKTC bandanas, which will be available to purchase right from the booth. My signing/appearance schedule is below (Quick Note - I haven’t gotten final confirmation on my Booth Number, but will update this schedule directly on the Substack website later in the week):

THURSDAY

5:00-6:30pm - SIGNING

FRIDAY 

11:30AM - 1:00 PM - SIGNING

3:00 - 4:30 PM - SIGNING

5:00 - 6:15 PM – PANEL - The Chilling Worlds of James Tynion IV – Room S230A

SATURDAY 

12:00 - 1:30pm – SIGNING

4:30 - 6:00pm – SIGNING

SUNDAY

12:00 - 1:30pm - SIGNING

3:30-5:00pm - SIGNING

Current members of THE ONION CLUB are entitled to special benefits at the convention. You can either show The Onion Club card you should have received with your first Onion Club purchase, or the logged-in Substack membership page. The card gets you the following (I’m pulling this direct from the write-up about all Onion Club Benefits).

• If you present your Onion Club member card at a convention signing, I will waive my signature fee for one graded signature per signing session.

• If you present your Onion Club member card at a convention signing, you can get double the limit of free ungraded signatures per signing session (ie: if I have a limit of 3 free ungraded signatures, you can get 6 free ungraded signatures).

• I have made a special gold variant of both the SIKTC Order of St. George, and Department of Truth logo enamel pins to bring to comic conventions, which will only be available to purchase if you are a card-carrying member of the Onion Club.

• If you forget your Onion Club Card, you can also show a logged-in membership page on Substack that shows you’re a subscriber at the $250 Onion Club level to receive the same benefits.

I can’t wait to see you there!

• Last week, I chastised myself for not following through with genre short story plan to enough different combinations of friends that I stuck a few books of short stories in my bag and I’m going to do my best to start working through them starting on this trip. Today I knocked out the first couple of stories in Stephen King’s NIGHT SHIFT, sitting out on the beach and soaking up some sun. Let’s see how many more I can knock out before I get home to Brooklyn.

• Not enough people talk about how Ed Brubaker, Marcos Martin, and Muntsa Vincent’s FRIDAY is one of the best comics currently being published, anywhere. Last week saw the release of issue five, and all five oversized issues are available, pay-what-you-want over on Panel Syndicate. If you like reading good comic books, get off your ass and read this. In any case, I’ll keep harping on about it every time a new issue drops.

• I am not much of a tabletop gamer, but I couldn’t pass up the Kickstarter for the tabletop version of DIE by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans. I really dug the comic, and am fascinated to see the mechanics of the game come to life. I couldn’t pass up the fancy Rian Hughes designed Hardcover. Can’t wait to get my hands on it.

• SKTCHD was being finicky last Monday morning, but I finally have a proper link for all of you to check out the Off-Panel interview I did with David Harper the other week. This is one of my favorite interviews I’ve done in a minute, so you all should go check it out. And if you don’t pay for a SKTCHD subscription, you should go ahead and do that now. You’re not going to find better writing on the business of direct market comics out there. Get to it!

Look forward to seeing/meeting a bunch of you in Orlando this week! Wish me luck on my Hollywood thing!

Talk to you all on the other side of this madness!

James Tynion IV
Miami, FL
5.16.22