Oh, he says it’s nothing sir!

Chapter 234: Tour Diary Pt 1...

Hello!

I am finally home from the (not exactly) whirlwind signing tour of YOU’LL DO BAD THINGS vs. WE’RE TAKING EVERYONE DOWN WITH US. Tyler Boss and I managed to sign at 32 shops (plus a couple pop-ins) over 31 days. 2 countries, 12 states (would be more but California is real fucking big) and 1 province. We drove over 4,100 miles, flew just over 5,000, and signed a few thousand comics. Was it worth it? Who the hell knows! But it was fun.

This newsletter will explode if I try to post all of the photos, so maybe I’ll spread them out over a few updates. But below is a small smattering from the first few days.

We started in NYC at the hometown shop Midtown Comics. There was a long line but I didn’t take a picture of it because you know what lines look like. Instead I opted for this gorgeous shot of Tyler Boss. Look how happy he is to be on the road with me for a month. You can still grab signed copies of our book from Midtown right here.

As part of a challenge to myself I decided to make a post on Instagram with the flyer for every signing accompanied by a song from the best hardcore band from that town. They served as our unofficial soundtrack to tour. Feel free to tell me why I’m a poser in the comments.

For New York we went with the kings- Sick Of It All.

I don’t think this photo of our ride needs an explanation.

When your book launches the same day as HUSH 2 a.k.a. H2SH, you’re going to end up seeing a lot of H2SH. Someone even made Tyler do a quick Hush sketch. Looks more like The Unknown Soldier to me, but what do I know?

After that we ate pierogi in Grand Central Station and then got in a car and drove 4 hours up to Boston.

We were Boston to sign at Comicopia, which is a great little shop full of more awesome looking Manga than Tyler’s trunk would hold. We also had to stop in to the original Newbury Comics to sign stock for all their locations. We listened to Dropkick Murphys, we hit some Yankee fans with hammers, and then we left. Look how happy Tyler is to be on the 2nd day of tour with me.

Soundtrack for Boston is a no-brainer- SSD. RIP Al.

Then we went up to Jetpack Comics in Rochester, NH. Jetpack is always a favorite shop and if you ever find yourself near there, stop in. Great selection, great staff, tons of fun.

Turns out there aren’t any hardcore bands from Rochester, NH. But GG Allin is from New Hampshire so, as always, he wins.

From there we drove to crash at my mom’s house to save ourselves some hotel money and feed Tyler to my mom’s puppy “The Potato.” Sadly, The Potato didn’t eat him, but she did get so excited she tried to sit down and missed. She is a very sweet moron.

From there we headed down to Final Boss Comics in Lawrence Township, NJ. I’d never been there before but they had a big crowd of really excited folks, which was a pleasant surprise. Much love to Jersey for the donuts and the punk rock talk. And the staff ruled and we ended up giving them a bunch of 7”s out of the trunk of our car.

Soundtrack for Lawrence, New Jersey is Straight Edge legends Mouthpiece. Are they actually from Lawrence? Close enough. Is their video them playing in an elevator? Fuck yeah, it is.

I took a picture of this thing somewhere because it made me laugh.

Then we headed down to Philly to sign at Brave New Worlds, eat some cheesesteaks, get some Wawa, and throw batteries at some Mets fans. Brave New Worlds is one of my favorite shops in the world, despite never being able to park easily, and I’ve signed there since the start of my career. Always a good hangout, always honored to be allowed in such a cool shop.

Best hardcore band from Philly is a hotly contested debate, and surely some dude would spinkick me in the face for not saying R.A.M.B.O. or Ink & Dagger, but I went with Kid Dynamite because I have a pop heart.

Look how happy Tyler is to be on Day 3 of tour with me.

From there we drove down to Annapolis to sign at Third Eye the next morning. Steve from Third Eye is a good friend and someone I turn to a lot for advice, as do many comic creators. Third Eye also had an exclusive cover for WE’RE TAKING EVERYONE DOWN WITH US but that shit is way sold out now. Too slow. Anyway, their signings are the stuff of legend and this one was extra wild.

I guess being around real comic writers makes Tyler happy. You can even see the elephant face I drew on my hand to make him laugh. It didn’t work.

At Third Eye we had the pleasure of signing alongside buddies Scott Snyder and Deniz Camp. Deniz is writing the super excellent ABSOLUTE MARTIAN MANHUNTER and also excellent ASSORTED CRISIS EVENTS and we all agreed it would be nice to help Scott promote the little book he makes called ABSOLUTE BATMAN. Check it out if your local comic shop carries stuff like that.

My pal Phil Kennedy Johnson came to the signing to hang out too, but we were so busy I didn’t get to hang with him or even get a picture. That sort of sucked but you will all go buy copies of his excellent books to make up for it, right?

Unfortunately there were some delays and the signing had to start late, and Tyler and I had places to be. We’re busy boys. So we ended up having to go down the line for the last few hundred people and sign their books in their hands because we didn’t want to have anyone leave without their stuff signed. Overall one of the wilder signings I’ve ever done and the most fun. Third Eye has the best staff, the best customers, and it was nice to take a break from annoying Tyler to be able to annoy Deniz and Scott.

And there aren’t a ton of hardcore bands from Annapolis, but post-hardcore legends Moss Icon are from there and we’re counting it.

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And that ends PART I. I’ll do PART II next week… Probably.

WE’RE TAKING EVERYONE DOWN WITH US #2 is in shops today, as is the 2nd print of #1 which has 2 all new covers. Well, 1 all new cover and 1 sorta new cover. I don’t want to tell you what to do, but a little birdie told me these both might be sold out and maybe going back to print maybe. So if you want to read them, grab them sooner rather than later.

Meanwhile the 2nd exclusive Foil cover is up in our webstore right now, as is the 1st. This one is limited to 100 copies. And it’s so shiny.

When you put all 6 issues together the words on the cover will spell out a secret message, but we aren’t going to reveal what that is yet.

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Stay safe. Take care of each other. I should take more better pictures.

-Matthew Rosenberg

NYC 4/30/25