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Inkee Wang's tote bag is now available on our website! You can get this handsome zippered bag on its own, or at a discount with Inkee Wang's zine, Friendship Forever!

Dimensions: 17 in x 14 in with 7 in x 10 in zine pouch

Image description: The bag is large and very pink. On it, one character shows another a comic, and they respond by bursting into tears.

#comics #cartoonist #Friendship Forever #tote bag #Inkee Wang #paradise systems

We debuted our new anthology at MoCCA this year to an overwhelmingly positive response (it even won an award!). You can now find this precious volume on our website, shipping worldwide. Here's the blurb in case you forgot!

SYSTEM 01: Hot Net Hotel is a collection of dazzling, innovative comics from some of the most talented cartoonists and illustrators working in China's underground publishing world. Every artist in this anthology is a legend in their own right; together they have hundreds of pages of published work that has never been translated into English. While some of them, including Xiang Yata and Ganmu, have been active for decades, others, like Woshibai, are rising talents. Their work captures a wide spectrum of illustration and storytelling styles, reflecting the stupendous diversity of the self-publishing and art comics scene in China today.

Featuring: Han Xiao 韩笑, Boilingman 保龄曼, Ganmu 甘木, toyoya 李帆 Xiang Yata 象牙塔, KKCIT, Woshibai 我是白, Fiona Peace 和平, Tou Yeye, gantea, fenta 粉塔, Wang XX 王XX, rere 热热, Pigao 唐筠, Zheng Nanqibai 郑南七白

Image description: The cover shows a collection of sea creatures moving from left to right over a gridded background. Interior spreads show the diversity of work in the anthology, from Boilingman's blocky geometric assemblages to Pigao's carefully shaded portrait.

#paradise systems #comics anthology #cartoonist #comics #SYSTEM 01: Hot Net Hotel

Paradise Systems will be at MoCCA! We will be selling our brand new anthology SYSTEM 01: Hot Net Hotel, as well as a bunch of other cool new stuff! See you there Image description: A drawing of our table showing a few Paradise Systems books spread across a yellow tablecloth. In the background, an atmospheric drawing of the moon and its reflection by pigao.

#paradise systems #independent publishing #Mocca Arts Fest #cartoonist #comics anthology #comics

Today on our blog we're featuring an interview with Beijing-based cartoonist Toyoya. We are so thrilled to have Toyoya's book Ritual Machine, and wanted to dig deeper into the process behind it. Read the whole interview here: https://paradise-systems.com/blogs/blog-posts/interview-with-toyoya

Image description: Screencaps from the blogpost. The first says "November 26, 2025 Interview with Toyoya" and has a brief introduction of the pixel art cartoonist. Later photos show snippets of the conversation, and two images showing how a hand drawn draft turns into a full comic.

#paradise systems #cartoonist #comics #independent publishing #toyoya li #interview

Available now! We are shipping copies of Narrative Addiction 13 (2023)! This is the most recent installment of the long running comics magazine by Yan Cong and Zuo Ma. Both cartoonists have completed new chapters of their respective long running series. Yan Cong's is a surrealist trip among multiple distinct but overlapping groups of characters, while Zuo Ma's is a fictional story about teenagers growing up in China in the 1990s. At the back of the book are advertisements commissioned by supporters that made the book possible.

Image description: The cover features a drawing of a videogame character walking into the sunset, stylized to reference the pixelation of classic arcade games. Further images show comics featuring a fist fight between two robots and Chinese school children meeting before class starts.

#Narrative Addiction #yan cong #Zuo Ma #comics #cartoonist #independent publishing #comics anthology #paradise systems

Paradise Systems recommends:

番茄蛋面 vol 1. by 岳明 (Tomato and Egg Noodles by Yue Ming). Three bilingual comics compiled into one volume, often about the surreality of everyday life and objects. Yue Ming writes in the introduction that small objects can contain all the order and connections of the wider universe. These comics give the reader the same comfort as a bowl of tomato and egg noodles after a long, strange day.

[Image Description: These comics are pencil-drawn. One panel depicts a person getting off of an alienating phone call and making a bowl of tomato egg noodles out of various objects around their apartment. Tomatoes grow behind the couch, and a lightbulb is actually an egg.]

#paradise systems recommends #cartoonist #Yue Ming #independent publishing #comics

Paradise Systems recommends:

Cult 青年的选择 (Cult Youth Selects) is an underground comic book compiling the work of 15 Chinese cartoonists. Among the boom of anthologies from the late aughts in China, we often think of Special Comix (SC) or Narrative Addiction, but there were many others as well.

Brash and unapologetic, these 2000s comics ask what it means to choose: a life, a job, a career, a family, a CD player, a TV, or one’s friends. This group of “sensitive, intelligent and inspired urban youth” (”机智、敏感、灵活充沛的都会青年“) portray the restlessness of youth with a punk and camp sensibility.

Many thanks to Bini, who donated a copy of this long out of print comic to the Paradise Library.

[Image Description: A series of black and white comics of different styles. The images are bold, funny, and sometimes grotesque: circus performers, monsters, dead pigs, pulled-out teeth, a couple making out. The words COCK CIRCUS, CHICKEN KILLER, 啊！and 笨dàn are visible.]

#Paradise Systems recommends #comics #cartoonist #Cult Youth Selects #independent publishing #comics anthology

TYSM for supporting our crowdfunding campaign!!! We are finalizing the book and it will be PRINTING SOON!

At the risk of repeating ourselves, none of this would be possible without the incredible work of the cartoonists we work. Do yourself a favor and check out more of their amazing work!

Han Xiao 韩笑, Boilingman 保龄曼, Ganmu 甘木, toyoya 李帆, Xiang Yata 象牙塔, KKCIT, Woshibai 我是白, Fiona Peace 和平, Tou Yeye, gantea, fenta 粉塔, Wang XX 王XX, rere 热热, Pigao 唐筠, Zheng Nanqibai 郑南七白

Image description: The cover of the book floats above a gradient background, with a list of all the authors names below it. On the cover is a hodgepodge of sea life.

#paradise systems #comics #cartoonist #system 01: hot net hotel #independent publishing #comics anthology

We are down to the final hours of the kickstarter for our anthology SYSTEM 01: Hot Net Hotel! Here is the amazing cover, with an illustration by Mojo Wang. We are such huge fans of Mojo's work, and thank you again to Patrick Crotty for laying out the cover.

SYSTEM 01: Hot Net Hotel now funding on Kickstarter!

Image description: The cover features a swarm of fish (joined by a few crustaceans) all moving together to the right, their giant eyes dotted across the page. Behind them is a grid, accepted by a few gradient boxes housing the title.

#SYSTEM 01: Hot Net Hotel #paradise systems #Mojo Wang #comics #cartoonist #independent publishing #illustrator

Patrick Crotty of Peow2 graciously agreed to do the book design on Hot Net Hotel, and it came out so lovely! Huge thank you to Patrick for all the care and thoughtfulness he brought to this project.

SYSTEM 01: Hot Net Hotel now funding on Kickstarter!

Image description: The book mockup lying open. To the left of the comic is a title page made of a squares, and a few squares are slightly tilted.

#SYSTEM 01: Hot Net Hotel #paradise systems #comics #independent publishing #comics anthology

To close out our Kickstarter campaign for Hot Net Hotel, we have added a new tier with another project we have long been working on, a truly stunning tote bag by one of our favorite artists, Inkee Wang. Inkee's poignant illustration of two friends crying together while reading a comic has been lovingly screen printed on this fancy zippered canvas bag!

Longtime followers will remember that we did a zine with Inkee, Friendship Forever, which quickly sold out. For the launch of the tote, we have reprinted her zine, and the tote bag was designed with a special pocket that perfectly fits the zine.

For the moment, the tote and zine are only available as part of the Kickstarter. We added a new tier, and you can adjust your pledge if you'd like. We really appreciate your support as we wrap up this huge project!

Image description: A hand holding the bright pink bag. It has a black and white silkscreen of two characters, drawn in bulbous shapes, looking together at a comic. Tears run down one of their faces.

#paradise systems #Inkee Wang #cartoonist #comics #independent publishing #system 01: hot net hotel #comics anthology