An Anthology of Naked Underground Chinese Comics
I started working with Orion at Paradise Systems a few months ago, and ICYMI we launched a Kickstarter campaign to publish an anthology of semi-illicit, nudity-flaunting comics from China:
Naked Body is a 100-page, full color anthology edited by Yan Cong. It began life a few years ago when Yan Cong was told by Beijing printers that he could not print books with nudity in them. He responded by putting out an open call for a new comics anthology with the requirement that all the main characters had to be nude. As submissions rolled in on his Weibo account, he would publicly respond, either giving the go ahead or rejecting their submission. The end result is this beautiful collection filled with playful, intimate, and loopy comics.
It’s already been one and half years since I first spoke to Yan Cong about doing an English edition. In the time since, we’ve been working to make sure this project is as successful as it can be — working with authors to hand letter translated text, confirming shipping and printing budgets, and positioning the anthology for a larger, international audience.
Orion Martin, writing in the Paradise Systems blog
Not only does this anthology include works from many of my favorite Chinese cartoonists, it will be the first, full-length, English-language anthology of Chinese comics – which in itself is probably worthy of our support 🙂