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!

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!