Comic Arts Brooklyn 2015

Well I'm just about to hop in the car, trunk overflowing with comic books, and drive down to Brooklyn, NY for the 2015 edition of CAB, the Comic Arts Brooklyn. It looks like they've put together a hell of a show, once again. We'll be downstairs at the Mt Carmel Gymnasium, tabling next to Mickey Z, Mike T and Walker M!

MICE2015 and SCREWJOB Second Printings

The good news is we sold out of the first printing of SCREWJOB #1! Obviously, that's good for a number of reasons, but most importantly, I've been wanting to get a second crack at printing that cover; I never felt like I got the colors right the first time around... So I just wrapped up the official second printing (yesterday, the ink's still a little wet), and I think the colors are much better!

Trying to make Gunsho happy

We'll be in Cambridge, MA for the MICE (the Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo) this weekend, come grab your SCREWJOBs, hot off the presses!! If you're looking for us, we'll be at Table 43 in the Atrium, right next to Robyn Chapman and her Paper Rocket press:

Cartoon Crossroads 2015

This weekend the Hidden Fortress will be traveling west for the first ever Cartoon Crossroads in Columbus, Ohio! They're trying to spin it as a "trial" or "beta" run of the show, but with three days of awesome events and programming, and special guests like Bill Griffith, Art Spiegelman, Francoise Mouly, Jaime Hernandez and Jeff Smith (among others!), they already seem to be rolling with the big dogs. I'm really looking forward to being a part of it all!

Not sure exactly where the Hidden Fortress table will be located (here's where I'd typically attach an incredibly useful floor map), but there are so many good folks in the room, we're sure to be sitting next to somebody good! The exhibit hall will be located at the Cultural Arts Center, 139 W Main St, from 11AM until 6PM on Saturday, October 3.

At the very least, I'm psyched to check out the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum while I'm there!

On the Road to SPX 2015

The car is loaded with SCREWJOBs, Monster books, comics, zines and T-shirts, and we're south-bound for beautiful Bethesda, MD for the Small Press Expo! You'll be able to find us at table K2, right next to the amazing Michel Fiffe and Kat Roberts:

I've spent the past couple of weeks jamming away on this new issue of SCREWJOB, here are some photos from the production:

Piles of Screwjobs, waiting to be boxed up

Handsome looking beasts

Bruiser Brody getting physical, by Paul Lyons

Eric Bischoff, hating life by Box Brown

Ultimate Warrior, defender of Earth, by Lukasz Kowalczuk

New Screwjob shirts, print and photo by John Hunter of Local 401

Hopefully we'll see you all there!!

SCREWJOB #3

It's hard to believe, but in just two weeks, SCREWJOB 3 will be debuting at the Small Press Expo in Bethesda, MD! I know I'm finding it rather hard to believe, I've got a TON of production work over the next 14 days to get there... But let's not think about that now! Instead, let us bask in some of this beautiful, beastly art!

Check out this SIIIIICK cover by Jon Vermilyea! One of my favorite illustrators working today, and the sweetest of dudes

Pat Auliso, Blake Sims and Box Brown will be forming the nucleus of the SCREWJOB heel stable, and are joined once again by BEAVER, who welcomes the greatest wrestler to ever preside in the oval office into the fold:

I'm super excited to welcome Ed Luce into the SCREWJOB stable! And I'm so psyched that GOTEBLUD and the demented Cock Rocker are finally gracing our pages! 

JB Roe and Brett Williams bring us a tale of the American Dream, Dusty Rhodes, running afoul of the 4 Horsemen in a terrifying post-apocalyptic wasteland. Bringing some of that good Fist of North Star-inspired ultraviolence!

Now look at this deliriously amazing Ultimate Warrior spread that will be gracing the centerfold of SCREWJOB 3, by Lukasz Kowalczuk creator of the amazing Vreckless Vrestlers!!

I'm also bringing these grotesque SCREWJOB shirts to SPX, a loving homage to Dick "the Destroyer" Beyer, so come find us on the showroom floor! We can meet all your pro wrestling gross-out comics needs! 

Entering a Room Full of People, by Tom Toye

If you've been following Tom Toye's Tumblr, then you've probably seen bits and pieces of his epic project, ENTERING A ROOM FULL OF PEOPLE (EARFOP). Well, Tom came up and visited us at the Hidden Fortress last weekend, as we put the finishing touches on the book:

EARFOP is a joint production of the Illogical Comics Estate and Hidden Fortress Press, it features 44 pages of stomach churning, brain-breaking comics printed in 2 colors on the offset press, wrapped up in a beautiful and insane cover, silk-screened by Tom himself. 

I spent two weeks printing this book, and spent most of that time in the shop blasting early 80's Teutonic thrash metal (the unholy trifecta of Kreator, Destruction and Sodom), so it's no surprise that in talking about EARFOP I keep dropping descriptors like "corpse-ripping", "morbid" and "total destruction", but it's really a thing of beauty. Like a fragrant, pallid night-blooming flower, grown from a carcass that has rotted and become fertile.

See what I mean?

It was awesome having Tom join us in the shop! It was a real nose-to-the-grindstone weekend, and I was thankful to have him there for the tedious chore of folding and collating...

Tom will have copies of EARFOP for sale this weekend at the Paper Jam Small Press Fest, and is now available to purchase in the Hidden Fortress store!

SCREWJOB debuts at CAKE!

This past weekend the Hidden Fortress relocated to Chicago for CAKE, and debuted the new issue of SCREWJOB to the unsuspecting masses there. If you missed the show, that's ok, SCREWJOB #2 is now available in the Hidden Fortress store!

CAKE was a great success, and I was psyched to meet a lot of other folks making wrestling comics! Check out Hiromi Ueyoshi's WWWF book for some amazing panther vs gator wrestling action

Matt Reints made some dreamy mini-comics about the American Dream, Dusty Rhodes, Aaron Poliwoda gave me some of his intense Ultimate Warrior and Chris Benoit comics, and JB Roe's Suplex Superstars Volume 1 is a thing of beauty!

Tom Toye was also at CAKE with a prototype of the Illogical Comics/Hidden Fortress Press collaboration, Entering a Room Full of People, which he's been working on for the past year, and it's mind-numbingly beautiful!! I'm psyched to get started printing this book, it's incredible!

CAKE 2015

SCREWJOB 2 back cover by Jimmy Giegerich

This weekend we'll be at CAKE in Chicago! You can find us at table 63, right next to dear friends Jo Dery, Walker Mettling and Michael DeForge. Here's a handy map to find your way:

SCREWJOB #2

Well, it's been an uncomfortably humid, and at times torrential, week down at the Hidden Fortress Press, which is not an ideal situation for printing in. The ink takes forever to dry, paper sticks together, and the machine is constantly barfing out paper jams and ink clots. But without a moment to spare, the second issue of SCREWJOB is FINALLY DONE!

Look at this amazing cover by Jimmy Giegerich:

Remember that time Stan Hansen stuck his finger in Vader's socket and just flicked that eyeball out of there? And Vader had to push it back in and keep wrestling for like another 15 minutes?! That moment in time has never looked more beautiful.

This issue features 10 sinister tales of the squared circle, from the warped minds of Blake Sims, Paul Lyons, Melissa Mendes, Box Brown, Guy Benoit and Rick Altergott, Walker Mettling, Josh Bayer, Beaver, Pat Aulisio and Clark Jackson, with endpages featuring portraits of some of the most Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling by Julia Gualtieri.

More scenes from the past two week's blitz of printing:

after the printing comes the cutting, folding, collating, stapling and trimming

Stan Hansen's handiwork ad infinitum

 I love this detail from Beaver's Great Muta vs Kabuki comic

Sugar Cane Diaz by Guy Benoit and Rick Altergott

Bret "the Hitman" Hart, doing what he does best, by Pat Aulisio

If you're in Chicago this weekend, come find the Hidden Fortress table at CAKE for first shot at getting your hands on this book, otherwise you'll have to wait a week or so until I put it up in the Hidden Fortress store

BUDDIES FOR SALE

BUDDIES, the 2015 Providence Comics Yearbook, is now available for purchase at the Hidden Fortress Storenvy store!

Or if you're local to Providence, you can alternately find BUDDIES at Ada Books, Multiverse, Time Capsule and others!

RIPExpo 2015

We'll be having a book release party for BUDDIES at Ada book tonight, so come on down if you'd like to lay your hands or eyes on the book on it's birthday. Ada is at 717 Westminster St, here in Providence.

If you'd like to come visit us this weekend at the RIPExpo, here's where we'll be:

You can find BUDDIES at the Hidden Fortress table in the Ship Room, or at the PCC table down in the pit!

See you there!

BUDDIES

The Rhode Island Independent Publishing Expo (RIPE or RIPExpo) is just over a week away, so it's probably time to start talking about BUDDIES! Walker and I were both honored to be Special Guests of the show, and decided to show our appreciation to the RIPExpo and the Providence comics community by collaborating on an ENORMOUS anthology that would serve as a Providence "scene report" in book form. That book is called BUDDIES (or, more accurately BUDDIES 2015. we're hoping it will be a yearly census), and it contains comics from close to 50 artists living and working in Providence, RI.

Luke Boggia designed the hypnotic cover:

Featuring some beautiful new work from Heather Benjamin:

Puke Force makes an appearance, courtesy of Brian Chippendale:

The return of USA TRUCK from Mickey Zacchilli:

And some Doofus pages from Rick Altergott:

The printing and folding is (mostly) done, now we just have to put the dang things together...

Look for BUDDIES at the RIPExpo, March 28-29, right here in Providence, RI!

SCREWJOB #2

This past week we saw a great review on Sequential State of the first issue of SCREWJOB, got some love from UltraMantis Black, and spent the weekend with Box Brown and Pat Aulisio in Philadelphia watching some live wrestling and talking about SCREWJOB #2!

The first issue of SCREWJOB was a great success for us, it's a beautiful book, with some amazing comics in it, and it's selling well, so it's a bit of a no-brainer to greenlight a sequel. Apparently there really is an audience for gross-out wrestling comics!

Box gets the party started with this grim "what if?" take on the death of Vince McMahon:

Pat gives us a glimpse into some of the little known nocturnal activities of Bret "the Hitman" Hart:

And Blake Sims brings us the tragic story of the Death of Bruiser Brody:

you can buy a sweet T-shirt of Blake's Bruiser here

RIPExpo 2015 Special Guest Announcement

We are humbled and deeply honored to announce that the Hidden Fortress Press has been selected to be a Special Guest at RIPExpo 2015, alongside dear old friends Jo Dery, Caroline Paquita of Pegacorn Press, and the Providence Comics Consortium, and new friends Ginette Lapalme, Whit Taylor and Metropolarity!

Last year was the inaugural year for the RIPExpo (Rhode Island Independent Publishing Expo) and in my opinion, one of the best shows of the year! Everyone involved in organizing and coordinating the event worked so hard to put it all together, and totally nailed it! I am thrilled to be a part of the show again this year, and so proud to have been selected as a Special Guest.

We've got big plans for this show, including an epic collaboration with our pals in the Providence Comics Consortium! So excited about 2015 right now!

http://ripexpo.tumblr.com/post/108466051331/ripexpo-2015-special-guests