TINY UPDATE 7/5: Big Moves In the Big City
“Tiny Update” is a 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!
It’s been a minute. I’ve missed you!
I hope the first chapters of summer have been treating you well. It’s been a hectic month over on my end. I’ve gone through some big life changes, and those changes led to a move across Brooklyn. I am currently one week into the new space and have unpacked enough to make the space functional (though it’ll probably be another couple of months until I have all the furniture in its final configuration, and the artwork up on the walls).
I’ve had a few good years and managed a nice upgrade in accommodations. I’ve got me a nice balcony, a bedroom with WINDOWS and OUTLETS in it. Most importantly. I’ve got room for a full-on home office/library. It is probably shameful the number of important moving things that I put off behind getting these shelves in order. For instance, most of my clothes still haven’t been organized into my dresser. But you have to do some things to make a place feel like home, and I like being able to look at all my beauteous books.
Pretty good Zoom Background, I gotta say. And yes, the beard has made its triumphant return (and it’s not going away again for a WHILE - that post-shave regret was POWERFUL).
There are shelves surrounding my desk with my non-fiction and fiction prose books, and a Manga shelf. Once I get the rest in order I’ll try to get a proper picture of the full space.
I’m using the move as an opportunity to reset some of my personal habits. I got a fancy fitness tracker ring that tracks my heart rate over the course of a given day, counts my steps, and tracks how I sleep. The sleep tracker has been the most fascinating. I keep having what I would judge as good nights sleep, but my ring keeps telling me that they are, in fact, BAD night’s sleep. It’s interesting to see what being conscious of all of that will ultimately do for me. I moved the rowing machine from my office into the apartment and picked up a set of modular dumbbells. The goal is going to be to try and do a little something every day. At first, I’m not concerning myself that much with how much time I spend using my new toys, I just want to build the habit of using them every day. From there I’ll build a real regimen.
I writing this newsletter the night before this drops. I just watched the Macy’s Fireworks display at a muted distance from my new fancy balcony. Khaleesi, my sweet old dog, has been hiding in the closet from the bad explodey noises. I have the speaker in my room playing relaxing meditation music to help chill her out. The nice thing is the new neighborhood hasn’t been going nuts with the fireworks all weekend leading up to the main event. It all seems concentrated tonight. So hopefully by tomorrow she will get over being terrified of the outside world.
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Next month, we’re going to be hitting the one-year mark for The Empire of The Tiny Onion as a paid Substack. I’m going to bang the drum in a big way to celebrate the one-year mark and lay out a bit about what you can expect in year two. I am going to shake things up a bit, now that I’m moving out of the Substack Pro deal structure and into just a standard Substack account. Expect some big news about how I plan to evolve The Onion Club as we head into our second year and hints at what we’ve got in store for you later this year and beyond.
This month on Substack we’ve got some Wild Fictions for you, a brand new entry in the True Weird Anthology series, and we’ll be dropping the second issue of The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos at the end of the month. Next week we’re going to be doing the next ONION DROP! Onion Club members can expect an email in their inboxes at Noon on Monday, and other paid subscribers can expect an email at Noon on Wednesday, July 13th.
I’ll also be checking in a bit later this month with a dedicated post to hype you up for WYND: THE THRONE IN THE SKY #1, which is going to be coming out next month from Boom! Studios! Wynd keeps picking up more and more steam the longer the books are out there, so if you want to join the Wynd army and fall in love with this book, you should go snag the first two volumes and get ready for the number one coming later this month! Otherwise, we’re still on SUMMER SCHEDULE, so I won’t be back with the next Tiny Update until the start of August!
Okay, folks! Here’s what we’ve got in store for you this month from yours truly!
A quick note before we begin: THE DEPARTMENT OF TRUTH will be back next month, and THE NICE HOUSE ON THE LAKE will be back for the last three issues of the first season in September! Thanks for bearing with us!
JULY 5th:
Writer: James Tynion IV / Art: Giuseppe Camuncoli, Cam Smith & Arif Prianto / Cover A: Giuseppe Camuncoli, Cam Smith & Arif Prianto / Cover B: Dike Ruan / Cover C: Brian Bolland
The Clown Prince of Crime had one more trick up his sleeve—a thrilling, surprise final issue! How did Gordon escape Texas? What happened to Bane and Vengeance? Did The Joker get the last laugh? Find out!
DC Vs. VAMPIRES #7
Writers: James Tynion IV and Matthew Rosenberg / Art: Otto Schmidt / Cover A: Guillem March / Cover B: Francesco Mattina
The nightmarish second arc begins! The Earth is now cloaked in darkness as the victorious vampire empire has taken full control. Pockets of humanity can still be found, and they struggle to live but hope fades with every darker day. The leaders of the last surviving resistance force—Green Arrow, Batgirl, and Supergirl—hatch a desperate plan to save the world…or die trying!
JULY 6th:
THE CLOSET #2
W: James Tynion IV / A + Cover A: Gavin Fullerton / C: Chris O’Hallaran / L: Tom Napolitano / D: Dylan Todd / Cover B: Michael Walsh / Cover C: Fernando Blanco / E: Greg Lockard / P: Image Comics
As Thom continues the cross-country move with his son Jamie, they stop at a friend’s place for the night on their journey west. Young Jamie, in bed early, quickly realizes he is not alone, and the creature from his nightmares continues to chase him.
JULY 19th:
THE SANDMAN UNIVERSE: NIGHTMARE COUNTRY #4
W: James Tynion IV / A: Lisandro Estherren & Dani / C: Jordie Bellaire & Francesco Francavilla / L: Simon Bowland / Main Cover: Reiko Murakami / Variant Cover: Dani / Variant Cover: Dave Johnson / E: Andrea Shea & Chris Conroy
The Corinthian’s hunt for answers about the Smiling Man transcends even his own self-preservation as he returns to the waking world—and his unlikely human partner—in defiance of Dream’s orders. But when he finds out just how many people have seen the Smiling Man? Then the bodies are going to start hitting the floor…
JULY 27th:
RAZORBLADES: THE HORROR MAGAZINE BOOK 1 OMNIBUS HC
W: James Tynion IV, Steve Foxe, and various / A, C, + L: Various / Cover: David Romero / E: James Tynion IV & Steve Foxe
The self-published terror sensation finally arrives in a deluxe hardcover collecting the first year! Co-created by JAMES TYNION IV (DEPARTMENT OF TRUTH, Something is Killing the Children) and STEVE FOXE, RAZORBLADES: THE HORROR MAGAZINE features over 350 pages of horror from some of the most cutting-edge names in the genre. From monsters in the closet to bodies stuffed in washing machines, RAZORBLADES redefines horror comics for the next era. Also includes prose, illustrations, and in-depth interviews with horror icons like SCOTT SNYDER.
Collects RAZORBLADES: THE HORROR MAGAZINE #1-5
RAZORBLADES: SMALL CUTS SPECIAL #1
W: James Tynion IV / A: Martin Simmonds, Josh Hixson, Ricardo Lopez Ortiz, Andy Belanger, Fernando Blanco, Liana Kangas / Cover A: David Romero / E: Steve Foxe
RAZORBLADES: SMALL CUTS SPECIAL #1 collects all of JAMES TYNION IV’s contributions from the first year of RAZORBLADES into one issue, and includes art from MARTIN SIMMONDS (DEPARTMENT OF TRUTH), JOSH HIXSON (Batman/Fortnite: Foundation), and more. This special collector’s item also reprints the debut of KILLBOY, TYNION’s original character with Batman collaborator Ricardo Lopez Ortiz.
HOUSE OF SLAUGHTER #7 - Scarlet Part 2
Created by: James Tynion IV & Werther Dell’Edera/ W: Sam Johns / A: Letizia Cadonici / C: Francesco Segala / L: AndWorld Design / Main Cover: Rafael Albuquerque / E: Eric Harburn & Ramiro Portnoy
After his shocking discovery of what is actually lurking in the town, Edwin is faced with a choice that will change his life forever: wait for a Black Mask to arrive and risk losing the monster, or take on the creature himself...
Discover Edwin's story and dive even deeper into the expanding world of Something is Killing the Children with the SCARLET arc of House of Slaughter!
SOMETHING IS KILLING THE CHILDREN #25
W: James Tynion IV/ A: Werther Dell'Edera/ C: Miquel Muerto/ L: AndWorld Design/ Cover A: Werther Dell'Edera/ E: Ramiro Portnoy & Eric Harburn
With over two million copies of the series sold to date, the first arc of Erica's mission in Tribulation reaches its shocking conclusion in this milestone anniversary issue that no Something is Killing the Children fan will want to miss!
While Erica's blades are occupied with an entity unlike anything she's faced, she receives a phone call... with tragedy on the other end of the line.
As things look dire, someone Erica once saved may have to find unexpected help to return the favor...
SO, I am going to be at San Diego Comic-Con this month, but it’s going to be an almost entirely behind-the-scenes trip. I’ve got LOTS of meetings on the books, and am basically going to spend my week off the convention floor.
I’m only doing one panel (a Boom! Studios panel focusing on SIKTC on Friday) and attending the Eisners. I am not currently scheduled to sign at the show and am not tabling. If that changes, I’ll let you know, but if you’ve got a stack of books for me to sign, you’re going to have a better shot at the next few conventions I’ve got scheduled.
BUT NEVER FEAR, TRUE BELIEVERS, I will be appearing at several more conventions over the rest of the year, where you can get me to sign your comic books for real!
FanExpo Canada - Toronto, ON - August 25-28
Amazing Comic Con - Las Vegas, NV - September 16-18
New York Comic Con - New York, NY - October 6-9
Madrid Comic Pop Up - Madrid, SPAIN - November 4-6
And a couple more appearances to announce before the year is out!
David Harper did a great interview with Graeme McMillan on Off Panel this week. As always, I have to boost SKTCHD. If you’re not subscribing to it and listening to the Off Panel podcast, I can’t recommend it highly enough. I am very, very excited for the next Off Panel featuring Brian Hibbs.
I rewatched all of BREAKING BAD while packing for the move, and while anxiously awaiting the move and not getting enough sleep. Shocker, it’s still a functionally perfect television show. My other moving panic shows were both of the WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER prequel/sequel Netflix series which are so much better than they have any right to be. And then there’s STRANGER THINGS, which I think found a really strong groove this season. As a formerly closeted gay kid, the Will Byers speech hit me really hard. I genuinely prefer the slow-burn they’re going with his sexuality rather than trying to make it out to be like it wouldn’t be a big deal in the mid-80s? Stranger Things will always be mostly nostalgia porn, but it’s reached a critical mass of influences that I find its confidence and character work really well? I also might be a sucker for Amblinesque 80s nostalgia. I also watched OBI-WAN which… let’s just say I wanted to be better than it was.
I got out of the apartment this weekend and saw ELVIS! It was good! I feel like all of the people making fun of how cartoonish Tom Hanks’ character was kind of missed the point of watching a Baz Luhrmann movie. You don’t walk in expecting realism, you’re expecting spectacle and emotion and glamorous chaos. The Brooklyn theater was all southern ladies, and gay men in groups, and they all cheered at the end (the women to the name Elvis, and the gay men to the name Baz Luhrmann).
I did a stupid thing and started the audiobook for the first of the Robert Caro LBJ books. It’s very well written, but I am not sure I am ready for 40 hours on LBJ’s early career. If I don’t mention it again, don’t hold it against me. I know my endstate is going to be one of those boring white guys who reads non-fiction books about the lives of Presidents, but I can probably wait until my forties for that. I don’t need to rush it.
I DO want to get back to my classic short story list that I left hanging earlier in the year, AND my stack of unread plays. The other thing I keep kicking around in the back of my mind is picking up one of the Fantagraphics EC Library reprints a month until I’ve read through all of them. But also, having just unpacked all of my comics I’m reminded of all of these incredible comics that I haven’t reread for years. Don’t I want to get started with them? I guess I could just read what I feel like reading without making a project out of it. But what’s the fun in that!
And here’s a plug: My pals Matt Rosenberg and Tyler Boss released the first volume of their amazing Image series, WHAT’S THE FURTHEST PLACE FROM HERE? this past week. WTFPFH is, for my money, the best science fiction books on the stands right now, and if you’ve been waiting to check it out, you should go snag that beefy first volume. If you like good comics, you’re going to have a good time.
ALSO: BATMAN #125 is in stores TODAY! My Gotham partner in crime, Jorge Jimenez, is teaming up with the phenomenal writer Chip Zdarsky, and they’ve got a Batman epic ready for you! The first issue is REALLY GOOD. Also: If you dug my run on Batman and you haven’t been reading Zdarsky’s BATMAN: THE KNIGHT, you’re missing out on some amazing Ghost-Maker stuff. And if you’re not reading Public Domain, either on Substack or in print, then I guess you just don’t want to read great comic books! Pick ‘em all up! Read some good comics! Have a good time!
I’m turning in the script for a very important Hollywood thing this week, so the next few days are basically going to be me hopping between wrapping up all the comic scripts that I’m behind on because of the move, and putting the final touches on the pilot. Can I say it’s a pilot? Well, crap. I guess I just did. Cross all your fingers for me.
As always, there’s a bunch of cool stuff for you to buy over at SHOPTINYONION.COM if you wanna nab some cool Tiny Onion gear. I finally got a box of all my t-shirts and have been walking around Brooklyn effectively wearing my own band t-shirt, which is, of course, a very cool thing for a person to do.
Anyways. Thanks to all of you for being there. I’ve genuinely missed writing these impossibly long emails to you. I look forward to writing more of them, soon.
James Tynion IV
Brooklyn, NY
7.5.22
I have read a couple bios of Theodore Roosevelt that I found engaging and revelatory. LBJ has the conspiracy angle going for him but TR has the bold adventurous attitude and a history of going against his class interests to try to do that right thing.
Shit yea!