Paradise Systems 格物天下

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.

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: paradise-systems.com/blogs/blog-p...

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.

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.

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.
paradise-systems.com/products/nar...

[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.]

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.

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.

[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.]

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

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.

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.

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

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

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!

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.

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 @mojowang.bsky.social . We are such huge fans of Mojo's work, and thank you again to Patrick Crotty for laying out the cover.

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.

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 😭

SYSTEM01: Hot Net Hotel is now funding on kickstarter www.kickstarter.com/projects/par...

Haze Cave is a semi-autobiographical story by Hangzhou-based cartoonist and publisher Pigao. Broken into two related stories, the first half finds the artist struggling with rent and displacement on the outskirts of Beijing. In the second half, Pigao attempts to return to a place from her past, only to find her memories lead her deeper into mysteries she cannot resolve. Throughout the book, Pigao’s fine pencil work and restrained palette beautifully capture a moment of transition and upheaval.

NEW MANGA AVAILABLE!
🦇 Haze Cave by Pigao 💜

Custom-free and with FREE shipping! 🇪🇺
Affordable shipping elsewhere 🇦🇺
Format: 80 pages, A5 size
From @paradisesystems.bsky.social

📯 sendaibooks.eu/haze

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!

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.

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.

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.

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!

Page from System Error by Zheng Nanqibai 郑南七白 (Beijing, CN)

This comic appears in SYSTEM 01: Hot Net Hotel, funding now on Kickstarter!
www.kickstarter.com/projects/par...

Zheng Nanqibai’s previously published works include:
-最后一颗智齿 (cult青年的选择)
-存档点 (Game, Wild Things Press)
-猫咪不在乎 (kuš!)

Spread from Capture by Xiang Yata 象牙塔 (Beijing, CN)

This comic appears in SYSTEM 01: Hot Net Hotel, funding now on Kickstarter!  www.kickstarter.com/projects/par...

Xiang Yata’s previously published works include:
-红宝石的谜光 (纸耕堂)
-Captivity (Paradise Systems)
-Optometry (Driftwood Press)

Excerpt from Husband by Woshibai 我是白 (Shanghai, CN)
Translation by Tiffany Wu

This comic appears in SYSTEM 01: Hot Net Hotel, funding now on Kickstarter!  www.kickstarter.com/projects/par...

Excerpt from Constipation of the Soul by Wang XX 王XX (Shanghai, CN)

This comic appears in SYSTEM 01: Hot Net Hotel, funding now on Kickstarter!  www.kickstarter.com/projects/par...

Wang XX’s previously published works include:
-好好休息才是正经事啊(译林出版社)
-Sealf-Care for Everyone (The Experiment)

Page from Net by toyoya 李帆 (Beijing, CN)

This comic appears in SYSTEM 01: Hot Net Hotel, funding now on Kickstarter!  www.kickstarter.com/projects/par...

toyoya’s previously published works include:
-Peach Boy (Paradise Systems)
-Hole (self-published)
-Ritual Machine (Paradise Systems / Yanshu)

Page from Homeland by Tou Yeye (London, UK)

This comic appears in SYSTEM 01: Hot Net Hotel, funding now on Kickstarter!  www.kickstarter.com/projects/par...

Tou Yeye’s previous works include:
-Blue Beetle
-Monstrous Plague
-Naked Lunch Thermoshrink

Page from The Naming by rere 热热 (Shanghai, CN)

This comic appears in SYSTEM 01: Hot Net Hotel, funding now on Kickstarter! www.kickstarter.com/projects/par...

Rere’s previously published works include:
-The Mountain (Yanshu)
-牢的巨石 (Yanshu)
-蓝莓之夜 (Wild Things Press)

Excerpt from Reflections by the Night by Pigao 唐筠 (Hangzhou, CN)

This comic appears in SYSTEM 01: Hot Net Hotel, funding now on Kickstarter!  www.kickstarter.com/projects/par...

Pigao’s previously published works include:
-Haze Cave (Paradise Systems)
-大蘑和二蘑 (浙江少年儿童出版社)
-我和小猪有一块布丁 (浙江少年儿童出版社)

Page from Hunger Breeds Discontentment by KKCIT (Qingdao, CN)

This comic appears in SYSTEM 01: Hot Net Hotel, funding now on Kickstarter!  www.kickstarter.com/projects/par...

KKCIT’s previous works include:
-Built in Summer( FÉNOMENA, Papayep & One-Way Street）
-星间碎片 (self-published)