TINY UPDATE 8/10: All That Free Stuff

“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.

Last night I slept for more consecutive hours than I have in a month. I woke up feeling a little drunk on sleep, and then stumbled over to the computer to see where we landed over the night. And the numbers are really freaking incredible. This whole thing is so exciting. I’m honestly overwhelmed and having difficulty processing how well this is going and what it means for the sorts of things I’ll be able to create over the next few years.

I’m excited to dig in in earnest. For those of you who have subscribed to the paid version of this newsletter, you’re going to start reaping the benefits of subscriber only posts tomorrow with the first entry in my Batman retrospective column “Thinking Bat Thoughts”… But today I wanted to show off the format of what is going to be our weekly free newsletter. I call it “TINY UPDATE.”

These posts are typically going to show up in your inboxes on Monday, telling you which comic books of mine you’ll be able to purchase in comic shops this week, what kind of cool merchandise you can buy from my web store, and a few shameless plugs to sign up for the paid version of the newsletter. I’ll start each of them off with a bit of a blog post, and go into some of the details of what’s been occupying my mind on a given week.

But I know some of my new subscribers here aren’t comic shop regulars, so I also wanted to take the opportunity today to let them know that this Saturday is FREE COMIC BOOK DAY. Every year, the major comic publishers put out a slate of free comic books to get you to come into the shops. You should use the Comic Shop Locator to find the comic shop nearest you, and go pick up some free comics this Saturday, and while you’re in stores, you should buy some comic books, too, because comic books are freaking amazing! If you’re a lapsed reader, I have to say, there are more amazing comic books coming out on the shelves each month than I’ve seen in the ten years I’ve been working in the business. Comics for readers of any age and any interest. Go to your local shop, and tell the shopkeeper what sorts of stories you like, and they’ll be able to find something good for you.

And while you’re there, there’s a few books I think you should pick up…

JOKER #6
W: James Tynion IV/A: Guillem March/C: Arif Prianto/L: Tom Napolitano

The opening sequence of this issue is one of the most ludicrous things I’ve ever written, and boils the Sawyer Family down to the high concept I had for them back when I pitched this story: “What if the family from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre became the Beverly Hillbillies?” - Guillem brought that sequence to life beautifully and horrifically. I’m very excited for you all to see where this story is going, and like I’ve reiterated a few times, I’m sticking out writing duties on Joker until Issue #14 next April. I’m not leaving until I bring this story to the close I pitched a year ago. And there’s some real gnarly stuff coming up in the European section. Just you wait and see!

PUNCHLINE
W/James Tynion IV & Sam Johns/A&C: Sweeney Boo/L: Ariana Maher

Punchline comes face to face with Harper Row in Blackgate Penitentiary! I’m very excited for you all to see how this story escalates over the next few chapters. I love how Sam captured the dynamic between Harper and Alexis, and I can’t say enough good things about Sweeney Boo’s art here. Similar to the feature, we’re riding out the Punchline story to Issue #14! We’re only just approaching the halfway point, and I can’t wait for you to see how it all comes together.

ENTER THE HOUSE OF SLAUGHTER FCBD
W: James Tynion IV/A: Werther Dell’Edera/C: Miquel Muerto/L: Andworld Design

This one is really cool… Basically we took all of the conversations Erica had in the first arc of Something is Killing the Children, and we showed the other side of the conversation from Aaron Slaughter’s perspective, with some new pages, and some hints in the direction of what I’m going to be doing with Tate and Chris in the new House of Slaughter series launching this October! Excited for you to check it out.

BATMAN FCBD
W: James Tynion IV & John Ridley/A: Jorge Jimenez & Travel Foreman/C: Tomeu Morey & Rex Lokus/L: Clayton Cowles & Dave Lanphear

This one-shot gives you a sneak peek at the start of the new Batman event we’re launching at the end of the month - FEAR STATE. I’ll be banging the drum about that plenty in the next few weeks. This shows you some pages from the upcoming Batman #112, and John Ridley and Travel Foreman’s I am Batman #0 (which is GREAT, and you should all add to your pull lists)!

I will be appearing this Saturday at Codex Comics & Collectibles in Ebensburg, PA for Free Comic Book Day alongside the amazing Sam Johns from 12-2pm ET. If you’re coming in from a ways away, please do support this store by picking something up on top of the Free Comics!

I’m really excited about this one in particular because it’s something that my partner, Sam Johns, has been pushing me to do for a long time. Sam grew up in Western PA, has always been pushing me to prioritize stores in the regions out my usual travel and convention circuit, where they might not get as many big ticket comic book events. Sam and I found out about Codex because Sam’s mom visited the shop, and they were extremely friendly and accommodating to a Mom who didn’t know much about comics. That brought Sam in, and then Sam brought me in.

I want to prioritize doing more signings like this over the next few years, on top of my other appearances. Visiting fans in smaller towns, without a big annual convention, where the fans might not have access to as many of the writers and artists of their favorite books. And extra priority to the shops that treat good people right without knowing that they are speaking to the Mom of the Batman writer’s partner. Sam and I are figuring out how to get to more places outside of the usual convention circuit, and we’re very excited to share them with you as they develop.

I’ve got more appearances coming up quick that I’ll start shouting out starting next week. And some conventions that I am still planning on attending in the fall, though I’m watching the news carefully to see how safe things feel as I get closer to them.

• We had another phenomenal Comic Book creator join the Substack family today, you should go check out what the incomparable Skottie Young is going to make for all of you!

• I had the great pleasure of reading an advance PDF of the next volume of RECKLESS by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, and you are all going to be shocked to learn that it is absolutely phenomenal. Ed and Sean’s books always end up on the top of my stack, any month they come out. I’m in awe of the worlds they build together, and the deeply human characters who move through those worlds. And the craft in each of them is just stellar. DESTROY ALL MONSTERS will be out this October. Tell your Local Comic shop to order you one today!

• I picked up the incredible OBJECT COMPENDIUM by Kilian Eng from Floating World Comics, and I can’t stop flipping through it. It’s just some of the most beautiful Science Fiction imagery I’ve seen in years. Really really cool, weird stuff. If you’re an Artbook maniac like I am, you want to pick this up.

• The New York Times story about the comic book invasion on Substack made today’s print edition, with Michael Avon Oeming’s incredible Blue Book promo spotlighted! How freaking cool is that!

One final thing that I should have included in my FAQ write-up yesterday… Folks who signed up to receive the six rare variant covers available only to Founder’s Tier members, and folks who signed up in the first 24 hours wanted to know how to give me their shipping information.

In a few weeks, I’m going to be emailing out a backer kit style form to everyone who signed up to get those books. The books themselves will ship out in the next couple of months. First I need to dedicate a few days to get them all out of my storage locker, hahahaha. A lot more of you signed up than I expected in the first 24 hours! Which is great, but it means more work from me getting it all ready for you. But keep your eyes peeled for that email.

Finally, I just want to shout out to the incredible Dylan Todd again today about the section headers we’ll be using in these weekly posts. Ain’t they beautiful??

More soon!

James Tynion IV
Brooklyn, NY
8.10.21