She’s beautiful!
Chapter 239: A preview of a book you can buy right now...
The return of the Tour Diary!
We’re Taking Everyone Down With Us #3 Preview!
A new exclusive!
Hello!
Remember a few weeks ago when I said I was going to do part II of my tour diary in a week? I lied. But I am doing it now and that has to count for something, right.
When we last left off, Tyler Boss and I were just a few days into our trip. We had survived the perils of Annapolis, barely. Now, running hours late, we raced to our nation’s capital, Washington D.C. (had to google it). D.C. was nice enough to realize we were running late so they made it impossible to park anywhere near our destination. But we managed to find a spot and ran (light jog really) over to one of my favorite shops- FANTOM COMICS. There we did a very fun Q&A, signed a ton of books, and then quickly shopped before they closed to throw a drag show after hours. Being late to a signing feels awful but the Fantom staff and all the kind people who waited around for us made us feel a little better. And also, in a complicated way, a little worse.
Fantom still has copies of all the issues of WE’RE TAKING EVERYONE DOWN WITH US in stock, some of them may even be signed. Pop in or order online from them.
As with every town on tour, I picked the best hardcore band from there to use in our little promotional videos. D.C. is tough because some of my favorite bands of all time are from there but in the end Minor Threat lost out to the mighty Bad Brains.
When we left the shop we discovered why everything was so crowded. Cherry Blossoms. They were beautiful. As is the theme of this trip, I forgot to take any good pictures.
From D.C. we headed out to Pittsburgh so we could sign at New Dimension Comics the next day and eat at Primanti Bros. The signing was fun, but let’s talk about the sandwich for a second. Pittsburgh, you brag about this place all the time. You make such a big deal about it. What are you doing? Have you tried other sandwiches in other cities? I think you should.
I will give the caveat that all of their sandwiches come with fries on them and when we rolled in they immediately said “we’re out of fries” so off to a bad start. But honestly, this is the region that makes this war crime so I don’t know what I was expecting.
I don’t know a ton of Pittsburgh hardcore bands that I like, but I really liked those early Code Orange records so they’re the soundtrack. Signing drummers always win.
From Pittsburgh we drove to Cleveland, which strangely was or is the home of some of Comics best- Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, R. Crumb, Bill Watterson, Harvey Pekar, Brian Michael Bendis, Brian K. Vaughan, Derf, and many more. And for a few hours, it was home to Tyler Boss and Matthew Rosenberg.
We pulled up to Carol & John’s Comics and were greeted with a line stretching out the front door of the shop and well into the parking lot. We hurried in and started signing and ended up signing for over 2 hours. I’ve never signed in Cleveland before but I did once go to a show there where one of the bands kicked a fan in the face and there was a large brawl/small riot and the show had to be shut down. This was better than that. The staff and Carol & John’s were great and the readers who came out really were incredible. Look what someone brought to show us-
They are making a quilt (blanket?) with art from our books. I don’t know what situation you’d use a blanket like this in, but I like to hope it is for when fancy guests stay over.
When in Cleveland, the hardcore soundtrack is really only one true option- Integrity.
We met a ton of amazing folks in these few days and, for the first time on tour, a person made Tyler and I get choked up talking about what 4 Kids Walk Into A Bank meant to them and their friend who passed away. Couple that with the young woman who told us that 4 Kids helped make up her mind what she wanted to do for a living and she works in the arts now, and quite a few people who said that What’s The Furthest Place From Here? is the book that got them into comics or got them back into comics and there were a lot of heavy conversations. I know my whole thing here is being snarky and self depreciating, but stuff like this was truly humbling for both of us. Making comics is a pretty solitary thing, I don’t really do a lot of conventions anymore, and social media is a sewer, so every interaction feels a bit heightened. But it really means the world to me, Tyler, and everyone who makes comics I assume, that you take the time to buy our books at all let alone care about them and make them part of your life. It’s not something I take for granted any moment of any day. So thank you all.
And now that I’ve been appropriately emotional, let’s talk about selling stuff. WE’RE TAKING EVERYONE DOWN WITH US #3 is in comic shops today. Here’s a little preview for you if you were on the fence.
And besides issue #3 being out with great covers by Stefano (above), Tyler, a dirty one from Tyler, and a rare cover from Alison Sampson, we also have reprints of issue #1 and #2 on shelves if you missed them.
But wait! That’s not all. For the reprint of issue #2 we did a special 1 in 10 cover by the great Dan May. Due to a listing error, the book was pretty under-ordered and may actually end up being the rarest cover of the whole series. So for you folks who like rarity, track it down. It is also Dan May’s first published work and we think he’s pretty amazing, so worth it for that.
If you’re having trouble tracking it down, Dan has a few signed copies left in his online store. Go grab them here before they’re gone.
And lastly, the 3rd in our connecting foil variant covers is up on our webstore right… NOW!
It’s much shinier in person, I promise. These are limited to 100 so grab them up.
And if you missed #1 and #2 you can get those here.
We also still have copies of Tyler Boss and Adriano Turtulici’s amazing YOU’LL DO BAD THINGS #1 store exclusive here. That book is amazing and already had to be reprinted, so if you want a cool variant cover of issue #1 look no further.
Stay safe. Take care of each other. I’ll probably finish the tour diary next week… maybe.
-Matthew Rosenberg
NYC 5/28/25
Um. I know there's a lot more meat to this post I should probably be commenting on (cool books, for example)... but um... what is wrong with that fucking pizza. I need to understand what is happening there... is it... not cooked?
Fries in a sandwich are a mistake to begin with.