James Tynion IV’s production house Tiny Onion has announced a new publishing imprint Crying Eye Press alongside the release of the imprint’s first book, Crumbs: A Very Bad Elf. The holiday picture book, co-created by writer Tynion and artist Jensine Eckwall, harkens back to classic children’s books with a spooky and festive twist. The title is the first children’s-style book coming from Tiny Onion. Crumbs: A Very Bad Elf is available to purchase directly through the Shop Tiny Onion online store. The original short story, featured in DSTLRY’s Through the Boughs: A Yuletide Offering anthology, can be read online exclusively on Neon Ichiban.

A festive and eerie animated trailer brings Crumbs to life, creeping out of the pages of the book to cause chaos. The trailer was produced by creative agency Unknown Film Organization (UFO), directed and edited by Jesse Gouldsbury, with scripts and storyboards by popular cartoonist Alex Krokus and music and voiceover by Alec Lambert. Crumbs: A Very Bad Elf artist Eckwall built the environmental art and background for the trailer and Charles D’Avignon handled the animation and puppet creation.

Crumbs: A Very Bad Elf harkens back to the classic children’s books and tales we loved and were haunted by, in the same vein as Edward Gorey, Charles Addams, and The Grinch. In this story, villagers in the northern country put pies and cookies on the windowsill and decorate their homes every winter to make them festive and enticing. But not in Vintersburg. Because every winter in Vintersburg, whether they like it or not…Crumbs comes to visit. Tiny Onion is proud to introduce readers to a new holiday tradition with their very first children’s book, which will feature a beautifully textured red cloth cover stamped with elegant gold foil.