#Hollow Press

[strange-house-art]

AGE OF ROT is offically out and available at Hollow Press web shop!

[fght-ff-yr-dmns]

Vermis by Plastiboo

Reading this for a second time, instant classic.

Which side would you choose?

[strixludica]

I recently finished reading the Vermis manual.

A lot of people who read it seem mostly concerned with he implied mechanics of the fictional videogame, which is a cool and interesting discussion, bit I think the themes are an even deeper well to explore.

I think it's quite curious how Good and Evil are treated as both opposed metaphysical forces of light and dark AND emergent human behaviours.

I mean, the flavour text for the Good Flesh talks about striving to keep hope going in the face of opposition and disappointment, while the flavour text for the Evil Flesh isn't some villain monologue, just a sort of resigned justification about how Darkness is invincible and we're all doomed anyway, so You might as well be evil.

Even with the character classes, there are some scary, messed up people in there, but the only one that is completely 100% evil isn't the dark sorcerer that literally weaves nightmares out of shadow, it's the little gremlin who consistently does not give a crap about other people.

And don't even get me started about the fact that the Moon is both the force that allows your living corpse to dream of alternate pasts and makes it confront the Fog Spirit in the swamp. Is the Moon a trickster? A mercurial force of both good and evil whose only consistent trait is dealing with illusions? Or is it maybe a guide for the lost and the dead that uses visions and dreams to shepherd them through the Darkness?

And if so, why is it showing the dreaming corpse alternate pasts? Is it mere passing generosity, or is there a grander purpose behind these visions? Something it must figure out? Something that might get be done to heal this world sickened by greed and neglect?

[vintagerpg]

Which flesh is your flesh? This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, well, we don’t find out the answer to that question, but we DO check out the mysterious RPG-inspired art book Vermis I, by Plastiboo. This gorgeous artifact takes the form of a strategy guide for a videogame that doesn’t exist and draws clear inspiration from the Souls games, early videogame RPGs like Shadowgate and a whole wealth of tabletop games. It’s gorgeous and unsettling and deeply intriguing and, hands down, one of my favorite things I’ve added to the shelf in a long time.

[dynamobooks]

Jesse Jacobs: New Pets (2023)

[animehouse-moe]

Animehouse at TCAF 2023

So for the uninitiated, TCAF is the Toronto Comics and Arts Festival, and it was held this weekend from Friday to Sunday. Sadly, I could only make the Sunday so I was unable to attend Mayuzuki's panel on the Saturday, but at the very least I made the signing on Sunday morning! All that said, this is just a little post sharing my thoughts and purchases from the festival as I had a great time and wanted to share that with people that were unable to make it there.

I'll get the boring stuff out of the way, my thoughts on it. It's a really cool and fun festival, I got there a half an hour before it opened since I had travelled from outside of the city, so I got myself a really nice spot in line. I was really surprised at how lax it was lining up, there were maybe a dozen people total in front of me, and the line only really started piling up in the last 15 or so minutes to get in.

Once I was in I got to take in the layout, which was rather cramped. I get it, they're operating it out of a library, there's not a whole lot of space. But I do still think it made for a bit of a suffocating experience when squeezing past people to walk in the narrow pathways between booths and bookshelves. Given the attendance, and the fact that it's free entry, I feel like they could really afford an upgrade if they required purchasing a pass for the festival. I'd 100% support it because it means the people that are behind it and participate in it as exhibitors could expand what they're doing and offer even cooler stuff.

Now, this is a comics and art festival, so I don't quite have a right to complain or voice my opinion, but I'll do it anyways. I love how they're integrating manga into the festival and using it to pull in people that might not otherwise experience comics in the more genuine sense outside of what's marketed by Marvel and DC. But I do also feel like they might try a little more to get a stronger response from that demographic. Both Denpa and Glacier Bay Books were there, and I feel like it's a bit of a missed opportunity to not have had them run a panel or anything for manga fans.

And last but not least, programming. I think it's really awesome that they're being proactive in getting younger audiences engaged in comics that exist outside of those big name ones like I said earlier. It's great to see them foster and encourage an interest that will help keep an industry going in the face of being overtaken in the public eye by superheroes.

Alright alright, manga stuff! Jun Mayuzuki was obviously the main attraction for me at the festival, so I made a B line for the signing table right when the festival opened. While I was there I bought this poster.

And I got this one for free with the signing.

And then of course there's the actual signature. I'm a bit (well really a massive) geek for this stuff so you know I had to get Mayuzuki to sign a JP copy of Kowloon Generic Romance volume 1 (real name omitted/edited out). It was a really great experience and Mayuzuki was incredibly nice, and seemed happy/surprised that I brought a JP volume to get signed.

Now, following that I've still got some cool stuff. Glacier Bay Books had a booth there and were selling some of the volumes they carry, so I picked up a pair I didn't have. Their quality really is incredible. Such a nice weight in the hands, the binding is tight without being rigid, and the paper quality when comparing to something like Viz is just stellar. Oh, and the color of the paper is dependent on the volume (Karman Line is blue/white while Mermaid Town is black with a red trim on the edge so the pages look red from the outside)

And Hollow Press came by and surprised me! These dudes are from Italy and are a horror publisher so I was super surprised to see them come all the way to Toronto for the festival, so I 100% had to pick up some stuff from them (not pictured are Grayworld & Crystal Bone Drive by Tetsunori Tawaraya because Tumblr is squishing the image horizontally for some reason). They've got really similar quality to Glacier Bay but put out a lot more smaller books than them. Still, great stuff (and for those in Canada, both Glacier Bay and Hollow Press titles are carried through The Beguiling!)

So yeah, a really awesome day where I got a lot of really awesome stuff. Being in Canada, there's not a lot of conventions or festivals that are easy or affordable to access, so a very grateful hats off to the team for bringing stuff to the general population that they can experience both in person and online!

[plastiboo]

[bobfishpresents]

❤️ European based @MicheleNitri-hollow-press publishes great comics both... @hollow-press

[mxmegane]

Vermis acquired!

[krazydraws]

I don’t want to feel better.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Market based mistakes.

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[strange-house-art]

Lucca Comics & Games lets go!

[fght-ff-yr-dmns]

My copy of Vermis has finally arrived and boy was it worth the wait.

It's so creepy, but also calming and pensive, if that makes sense.

It's a guidebook for a game that doesn't exist...

I just absolutely love the art, takes me right back to those dungeon crawler NES games.

I'd really like to take part in a Vermis themed D&D session.

Definitely one for fans of retro gaming, horror art, pixel art and general work similar to that of Berserk and Bloodbourne, Elden Ring, Dark Souls etc.

[weeklyxero]

press G to dab

[howlingday]

Jaune: (Trapped) Hey! Can someone let me out of here? Anyone?

Jaune: Ruby? Sun? Coco? Professor Ozpin?

Jaune: ...Cardin? ...Ah, nevermind, not Cardin. I'm not THAT desperate! I'll just chill out in here.

Jaune: ...Can someone bring me something to eat?

[thermodynamic-comedian]

i am on the verge of falling asleep so don't blame me if i'm onto nothing but if you think about it val and carson are both nameless characters. but she had her name stolen from her and replaced with her purpose ("valuable") whereas he willingly gave his away in order to replace it with something that granted him more power ("press secretary"). and we never get to find out their real first names because the people those first names actually belonged to died way before either character was even introduced