I DON'T CARE IF MONDAY'S CYBER

Black Friday, I'm (not) in Love

Dec 02, 2024

Over on Instagram, I’ve been posting up a storm this weekend about small businesses, their owners, the economics of commercial holiday spending, et cetera. I’m simply not good at encouraging anyone to shop for the holidays, even when it’s my own shop. It quickly becomes an exercise in obligate consumerism, and that isn’t a way I like to love or be loved, to put it flatly.

I myself really enjoy the effort and deadline of making gifts for my loved ones. There’s something special to me about spending hours making something with my hands, and making it to high enough standards that it can be given as a gift. When I do buy gifts I like them to be rare, vintage, personalized, or hard to source. If I can’t, well, then I just try and get really excited about the wrapping. At least there, I can be creative.

If that’s your vibe, I’d love to hear what kind of gifts you’re making this year - I’m crocheting, baking, sculpting and painting, and it’s all I want to do this month.

If you do feel like shopping, I highly encourage paying people who make things. Artists, small batch fashion designers, or buying books from your favorite artists and writers are all ways to spend money that make a material difference in the life of those on the other side.

I don’t keep my shop open most of the time - it’s a massive amount of work, and I’m already running a small business with two employees (me,

Blake M Howard

) and one really bossy manager (General Hugs, aka “Hugsie,” our large orange cat.) For those who do, whose small business success relies on lots of material packing, shipping, and physical delivery - I salute you.

All books that come from the TiniHoward.com store can be personalized to anyone you like, are shipped right from me, and you’re helping me clear out inventory. I’m even offering gift wrap! For the price of a little more than a Christmas card, you can send a friend a personalized, signed, gift-wrapped comic. I’m really excited to offer this this year, and it’s been a really successful Black Friday weekend so far.

This little bonnet was an experiment, just for me, but now that I know I can make these, I want to make them for everyone

If you read this far, you deserve to at least get something for it, and I’m not immune to hashtags.

TODAY ONLY, I’m offering a sale - 20% off your purchase with code BLUEMONDAY.

This discount is typically only available to my paid subscribers, and tomorrow, it STAYS that way! But just for today, anyone reading can take advantage of that cheery holiday feeling and pick up a gift for someone you love that’s personalized and one of a kind.

CATWOMAN: NINE LIVES TPB - 12.03.24

CREEPSHOW 2024 HOLIDAY SPECIAL - 12.18.24

HARLEY QUINN Vol 3: CLOWN ABOUT TOWN - 03.25.25

On WEDNESDAY I’ll put my stock of CATWOMAN: NINE LIVES into the shop, available signed, personalized, gift-wrapped, what-have-you. If you’re looking to complete your collection of my Catwoman run, this book is volume 4. However, it was written in the spirit of favorite books of mine like Batman: Black Mirror, which was originally published as ten issues of Detective Comics that functioned as its own story. So if you’re curious about my Catwoman and Nine Lives, you can indeed start there.

Back to work - I’ve got a meeting and a podcast Monday, an oversized script to get in before the 15th, and polishes on outlines for two new series. And between all that, I’m crocheting up a storm.

Stay weird, talk soon!

-TH 12.2.24 12:01AM