Small Press Expo 2017

Well, it's been a strange year so far for me and the Hidden Fortress Press. In April I had a severe pancreatic attack and had to be hospitalized for 2 weeks; apparently my gall bladder had been spitting gallstones into my system for months and I didn't realize that's what was causing all those terrible stomach pains. Well, one of those stones got real bold and lodged itself in my pancreatic duct and blew out my pancreas, leading to about 45% of my pancreas becoming necrotic.

So in between recovering from that episode, and then the subsequent surgery (to remove my gallbladder and the necrotized tissue), this has been something of a lost year for the Hidden Fortress. But I'm not willing to write it off as a total loss yet!

I had to cancel out on TCAF and CAKE because of all this, but I think I'm healthy enough to make the long journey to beautiful Bethesda MD for the Small Press Expo. I've had to delay all the projects I had in the works (SCREWJOB 5 has been sitting, half printed, at the print shop for the last 6 months), so I'm embarrassed to say I won't be debuting any new books at SPX. But I will be there, which is a step in the right direction for me.

Come visit me at table A-1, right next to Marc Arsenault's Alternative books (Marc was also betrayed by his guts this year). We'll be comparing surgical scars with any and all takers.

I'll be joined by two of the most talented young cartoonists working out of Minnesota, Marina Harkness and Peter Faecke! 

From Tinderella, by MS Harkness

From HairGuy, by Peter Faecke

You don't even know how happy I'll be to see you all there.

Philly Small Press Faire

Tonight after work, I'll be driving to Philadelphia with a carload of books for the first ever Philly Small Press Faire.

The Faire is the brain child of Pat Aulisio, who was generous enough to extend the Hidden Fortress an invitation to display our goods (despite the fact that my press broke down and I was once again unable to finish printing his Rotaderp book. It's so good! I can't wait to fix that machine so I can bring it into reality).

Here's the poster that Box Brown did for the show:

This is going to be our last show of the year! So if you're in Philly and haven't already got whatever it is we make, please stop in and visit! Or just stop in and visit, I'd love to see you.

RIPExpo 2016

RIPExpo poster by Marcel Mensah

I'm about to embark on a lovely mid-morning stroll to the downtown library here in Providence, for the third annual RIPExpo. It's one of my favorite shows of the year, and not just because I can walk to it. Good show, run by good people. Special guests this year include Ben Passmore, Hellen Jo, local hero Xander Marro and the lovely Kevin Czap of Czap Books

I'll be tabling there with an assortment of SCREWJOBS, Major Bummers and MONSTER books for sale. This little dude is going to be there, and is finally available for purchase in the Hidden Fortress store once again:

I'll see you there!

SCREWJOB #4 in Stores Now!

The first time I attempted to print the covers for SCREWJOB #4, everything on my press seemingly broke at once, and I struggled to get them printed. And much to my dismay (and probably due to all the technical challenges), the cover printed way too dark. I think I've got the press running properly now, so I've spent the last week perfecting these prints, and I'm happy to say the book is now done! You can find it here in the Hidden Fortress store, along with Peter Faecke's Major Bummer, the first in the new line of SCREWJOB Presents comics.

Tony Astone's SCREWJOB cover was a pain in the butt to print! But I love how it turned out

Pat Aulisio's Bull Nakano comic, alongside Macho Man working on his tan, by Box Brown

Big Fridge Frankenstein vs Pimplepuss Grody, by Tom Toye

New Jack mistreats the Dudley Boyz in Peter Faecke's "Two Justifiable Homicides"

Screwjob Presents: Major Bummer

Hidden Fortress is debuting a new anthology series at CAKE : Screwjob Presents! Each mini-sized issue will focus on the work of one SCREWJOB artist, and we're psyched to have Peter Faecke's Major Bummer as the inaugural book! 

 

I met Peter at last year's CAKE, he was wearing a repulsive shirt he'd made depicting the Iron Sheik doing terrible things to the Million Dollar man's manservant Virgil, and was psyched about what we were doing with SCREWJOB. I got him to do a comic for the next issue (which is only now coming out), and we started talking about working on another project. I think he had most of Major Bummer already drawn, I loved it and jumped at the chance to print it under the Screwjob Presents banner!  

Major Bummer is a top military operative, a true One Man Army Corps, tasked with smashing a South American Nazi enclave. No easy task, especially when the Nazi commander has turned himself into some kind of acid-spewing wolf/beastman! 

I'll have a big stack of Screwjob Presents at CAKE, after which they'll be available for purchase in the Hidden Fortress store!

SCREWJOB #4!

The Hidden Fortress has been buzzing with activity the last couple of weeks, madly printing SCREWJOB 4s for CAKE next weekend in Chicago! Look at this insane cover from my favorite mad genius, Tony Astone:

SCREWJOB 4 Cover by Tony Astone

SCREWJOB 4 offers another fifty pages of pro wrestling debauchery, lovingly illustrated by the likes of Peter Faecke, Bunny Bisoux, Box Brown, Pat Aulisio, Tom Toye, Hiromi Ueyoshi, Blake Sims and more!

From Pat Aulisio's Bull Nakano comic

Bi-valves engaged in a deadly ballet, by Hiromi Ueyoshi

Young Bucks superkicking their way through history, by Blake Sims

Dudley Boyz, about to get murdered, by Peter Faecke

Look for this book at CAKE, and then soon after in the Hidden Fortress store, and other fine retailers!

Hidden Fortress Print Club and the ICONS of Pro Wrestling!

I've been loving my time working at local print shop the Headlight Hotel. We're already feeling the heat of the summer concert season, as a steady stream of psychedelic tour posters for jam bands I've never heard of are piling up. I'm forever grateful that they've allowed me to indulge in my latest print obsession in the hours after dark:

The American Dream, by Box Brown, 2016
Edition of 50

RVD 420, by Pat Aulisio, 2016
Edition of 50

The Hidden Fortress Print Club is a semi-regular (I'd love to make it monthly) series of limited edition silkscreen prints. Our first two editions are by Box Brown and Pat Aulisio, who both decided to use fluorescent inks in their designs (I'm going to have to figure out how to photograph them under a blacklight, they look sick). 

I'll be bringing these prints to Philadelphia, where tomorrow, Pat, Box and I are going to be tabling at the ICONS of Pro Wrestling show.

Photo courtesy of Box Brown

It's a pro wrestling/comic book "collector fest", which seems like it's exactly in our wheelhouse. Plus it's taking place in the old ECW arena, which is just too perfect. Pat is so excited to show RVD his print. And I'm going to be trying my best to keep Shawn Michaels from seeing Pat's "Hitman" comic from SCREWJOB 2.

 

If you can't make it to the show in Philly, these prints will be up in the Hidden Fortress store as soon as I get home. The first of many!