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!

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:

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! 

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

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

MICExpo 2014

This weekend, October 4-5, the Hidden Fortress will be setting down in nearby Cambridge, MA for the 5th annual MICExpo (Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo). Look for us at table C-125, in the Crumb room, with all the other crumbums!

We'll have all the MONSTERS, wrestling comics, t-shirts and stickers you could ever possibly want!

New Additions to the Hidden Fortress Catalog

We've added two new items to the Hidden Fortress Storenvy store:

the mighty SCREWJOB anthology is available for purchase! Featuring 64 pages of pulse pounding, intestinal fortitude building, four color offset printed comics by: Matt Leines, Box Brown, Pat Aulisio, Lale Westvind, Josh Bayer, Blake Sims, Brian Ralph, Paul Lyons, Mickey Zacchilli, Walker Mettling and featuring a grotesque cover by James "Gunsho" Quigley!

and this new gross-out Hidden Fortress shirt, three color silkscreen on black Anvil T. comes in all the most popular sizes!

James "GUNSHO" Quigley: SCREWJOB Cover Artist

I'm thrilled to be able to show off the cover art for our forthcoming anthology, SCREWJOB:

You've probably seen that sickening style before, it's the handiwork of good friend and local legend James Quigely, alternately known as GUNSHO! For years he's been producing some of the most wonderfully hideous prints, posters, record covers, shirts, etc and etc that have ever graced our fair city. He has an interview in the new issue of PORK Magazine that you should probably read, and if you're in Brooklyn on Friday, September 19, you should go to the opening of his Origins of Ooze show, presented by Scumbags and Superstars. It's at 16 Wilson Ave. Bushwick, Brooklyn, and the show will be up until October 5!

So exciting to see this book come together!

SCREWJOB

I think maybe it's finally time to start talking about SCREWJOB, our new comics anthology devoted to those glorious combatants within the squared circle: the professional wrestler! Over the past couple of months I've leaked some previews of Box Brown's Abudllah the Butcher comic, Pat Aulisio's Goldust and Lale Westvind's Wild Wanda, and here are a few more:

Josh Bayer was the first person I asked to work on this book, within minutes of having the idea for it pop into my head last year at Comic Arts Brooklyn. Of course I had to ask him, he's a brilliant cartoonist and a connoisseur of the wrestling arts, the perfect blend for creating something as beautiful as this Classy Freddie Blassie comic:

As a wrestler and a manager, Freddie Blassie was one of the greatest heels the wrestling world has ever seen, and had been known to take a nail file to his teeth, sharpening them so that they could more easily penetrate the tough skin around his opponent's skull

About a week ago, Pat Aulisio sent me a link to some of Blake Sims' rad wrestling comics, suggesting that I contact him to work on the book. Of course I did, because his stuff is so sweet, but with the art deadline looming I felt pangs of guilt about not having asked him months ago... but somehow this dude cranked out an epic Hulk Hogan vs Kevin Sullivan and his Dungeon of Doom comic in a weekend! What a badass

I'm really excited about how this book is coming together! There are more comics coming in every day, all of which I'll be previewing soon, James Quigely (aka GUNSHO) is hard at work on the cover, and I just got some amazing Tigermask and Mr Fudo pinups from Matt Leines. This book is looking beautiful!

If all goes according to plan, SCREWJOB will be available at the Hidden Fortress table at SPX in September!