A semi-regular column about great comics you probably don’t know about. These could be Indie comics, comics with small print runs, or foreign comics. As reader and lover of comics for over 35 years, I’ve accumulated a huge collection. And this collection runs deep with the weird and the esoteric.

Hollow Press is the best! Seriously, publisher and editor, Michele Nitri, has put out some of the best, most interesting comics of the last few years. These are beautiful but unpretentious art comics. Small print runs but huge ideas! I will talk more about other Hollow Press titles in the weeks to come, but let’s start with TOXIC PSYCHO KILLER by Paolo Massagli.

I first discovered Massagli’s work in the Hollow Press anthology, U.D.W.F.G., and his stuff immediately blew me away. So much so, that I reached out to Massagli to see if he would do a pin-up for my comic, NIGHTINGALE AND THE FINCH. I’m so happy that he agreed. He did an absolutely stunning portrait.

When I found out that Hollow Press was doing a solo Massagli book, I was super excited. And when I got the book recently in the mail, it did not disappoint.

As evident on every page, Massagli loves the female form. His women are unique, visually sensualized with curving lines of varying thickness; bodies of fleshy wrinkles and contours are coupled disarmingly with almost life-like facial expressions. His women all look alien and human simultaneously, which is unnerving but also kind of kinky.

TOXIC PSYCHO KILLER is the story of a beautiful, naked woman who has fallen from the sky. She finds herself on an alien planet populated by horned women in tight spacesuits complete with bubble helmets.

Turns out the naked woman has come to wipeout all the aliens because they have been slowly destroying their home-world, contaminating it with pollution. You see, they are the virus and she’s the cure.

It’s like that old Stallone movie, Cobra, plus a bit of Princess Mononoke, mixed with the Tobe Hooper classic, Lifeforce.

Yes, this is an Environmentalist parable dressed up in surrealism, sensuality, and sci-fi, but it works. It’s a lot of fun. And, of course, it’s all so beautifully rendered.

There’s even a cameo appearance by everybody’s favorite bearded British author.

Can’t recommend this book enough! Go to the Hollow Press website (www.hollow-press.net) and order a copy before they sell out!

Look, it even comes with an insert to help you translate the alien language.

And as a last little bonus, the back-cover folds out into this!

So, so cool!

Next time in The Comic Exotic: We’re staying on the Hollow Press tip as I tell you what U.D.W.F.G. stands for. And I show you some more stunning Paolo Massagli artwork.

See ya’ next time!

Question, comments, insults? Send ‘em to dubcomicsjon@gmail.com

Jon Vinson is the writer of the graphic novel Edge of the Unknown and recently launched the new comics series Nightingale and the Finch. He is the Founder & Publisher of DUB Comics.