James Tynion IV has been building himself an empire with Tiny Onion, the multimedia company that was built on the back of his best-selling properties. And the writer, along with special guests, hit the stage at New York Comic Con to talk more about what’s next!
First, here’s the official synopsis of the con:
James Tynion IV and co chat about the journey to Tiny Onion. From the start of James career, to his newsletter, to building a company from scratch. The horror master tells all! The directors of Tiny Onion join James and share exclusive announcements!
…And now, the panel recap! Starting out, Tynion explained Tiny Onion is a play on the mispronunciations he gets for his last name. When it came time to create his own company, he drew a little logo based on a tiny onion, and then when it was professionally created, it clicked for him that “I had to tell the story” of three works he had running at the same time: Batman for DC, Something is Killing the Children at BOOM!, and one other.
Tynion felt that has become the story of Tiny Onion, now that they have deals with all these different companies from Image to BOOM! and beyond. “We’re really just getting started,” said Tynion, noting that Exquisite Corpses — which recently launched from Image — gives a sense of the scope what the company can do. (If you’re not familiar, it’s a comic, a card game, and more).
“Too often in the comic space, and geek media in general, things are just sort of done, and you’re not sure why you’re doing it,” Tynion said. “Somebody pushed a boulder down a hill, and it’s gotta keep going. That’s nothing we ever want to do… When we push a boulder down a hill, we want to hit something.”
Talking more about Exquisite Corpses, Tynion explained it was “a story I was saving for a few years,” the raw idea of “a serial killer battle royale.” However, he had launched several creator owned books, and realized: what can do now that he has a company? He recalls walking into ComicsPro, which is a retailers conference, and presenting Exquisite Corpses, that it felt like the proof of concept works.
In fact, Tynion revealed that Exquisite Corpses has sold over 400,000 copies. Not only that, they haven’t lost readers. “We have the lowest sales attrition on any title I’ve ever worked on,” Tynion said. “Sales actually went up between issues three and four.”
The extension of the comic is the card game, which artist Michael Walsh came with a working prototype of at the first meeting. And in fact, the company had a live-play at the con yesterday… Which James Tynion IV won. He also noted it was only the second time he’s ever won the game, so take that, con-goers.
If you’re curious, it’s a game like Werewolf of Mafia, mixed with Magic: The Gathering, and involves the serial killers all thrown into a small town, as seen in the comic series. The panel described it as a “fun, ice-breaker type game” that you can take a party. It’s easy to pick up, and quick to play.
“With the success of Exquisite Corpses, we have a five year publishing plan for this series now,” Tynion said. After the initial 13-issue run, there will be side stories, and then in about a year “we’ll pick up with Season 2 in a big way.”
Tynion continued to explain that Walsh threw out in his first meeting with Tynion “this would be a great card game” and Tynion casually was like, “yeah and an animated series, and a video game” and then as noted above, Walsh showed up with a working version. Walsh is now making music with a band in the world of the series, in his “free time.”
Talking about the different “layers” of Tiny Onion, they explained they think of editorial, production, comms, etc as those different layers. But! Tynion added, “We start with comics, and making them the best they can be.”
Jazzlyn Stone, Director of Communications noted that it’s fascinating for her to talk to different fans of different talks, like at yesterday’s Department of Truth panel, and how each title has different fans with different interests.
Riffing off that, the panel talked about their favorite moments at New York Comic Con. Tynion loves “pulling together the incredible writers and artists” they work with and “being in a crowded bar late at night with some of my closest friends in this business… I loved my years working at DC… But these conventions used to be very different for me. There was always a political battle where I was trying to line up my next book.”
Tynion continued that, “A week like this was something I would dread every year. And I would have to be friendly and fan-facing after a meeting where I just found out three years of the story I planned weren’t happening anymore.”
Meanwhile, Stone noted how stressful it is to build the massive Tiny Onion booth in Artist Alley — which the team does themselves. “We literally had to do like a barn-raising,” said Stone. “I was trying not to cry.” But at the same time, that’s her favorite moment, because then they got the booth built!
Then it was time to plugging upcoming stuff. “Being able to take a long term, means there are a lot of things coming you may not find out about for a few more years,” Tynion said. He noted they have a deal with Inklore that starts in 2028, and they know now who is working on them — but we in the public won’t know for a while.
As for other things Tynion can’t talk about? “Film, animation, and video games are something we have very aggressive plans with,” he teased, noting they said that when they launched, and they do indeed have those plans.
Next year is Something is Killing the Children #50, and as part of that celebration… Swamp Thing is Killing the Children, a co-publication between DC Black Label and BOOM! Studios that was previously announced at the BOOM! Studios panel. “My love for DC Comics comes from DC horror,” Tynion explained. He didn’t reveal any details, but said we’ll know more about it next year. “DC does want me to confirm that the real Swamp Thing that you love doesn’t actually kill children. There were some people nervous about the title.”
Moving to some Q&A, Tynion talked for a bit about how the company is a production company — not a publisher. He recalled that there were some “bumpy roads” with publishers who were worried Tiny Onion would pull the rug out and reveal they’re a publisher later on. “Frankly, I want them to pay the printing cost,” Tynion said. “Having someone else pay the printing cost is really nice.”
Stone got shouted out that she figured out a way to get cheap water by branding it, so they would have water available at their booth for people working it who get thirsty. “And now we have Onion water,” Stone said. “Which is not onion water, it’s regular water.”
And that’s it for the panel! Get that Onion Water, folks!
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