Û²° ÜÜÛ²° ÜÜÛ²° ÜÜÛ²° ÜÜÛ²° ÜÜÛ²° ÜÛ ²ßÜ ÜÛ ÜÛßß ²ß ÜßÛ²Ûßß ²ß ÜÛ ÜÛßß ²ß ÜÛßß ²ß ÜÛ ÜÛßß ²ß Û²ÛÜ ܲÛ ÜÜ Û²ÛÜ Û² ÜÜ Û² Û² Üß ÜÜ Û²ÛÜ Û±ßÜÛÜÝ²Û Û± Û±ßÜÛÜÜ Û± Û± Û± ÜÜÜ Û±ßÜÛÜÜ Û± Û±ßÜÛÜÜ ±Üß ßÛ ±° ±Ü ß ÛÜßc ±Ü ±Ü ±Ü ÛÜß° ±Üß ÛÜß° ±Ü ß ÛÜß° ±  °  ±  ÜÜ ß°x ±  ±  ±  ß°  ±  ß°  ±  ÜÜ ß°  Ü ß  Û ±    ±° ±c       ±    ±    ±° ±  ß Ü Û²ß ° ß ß²  ÜÜÜÜ° ß ßß ß²  ÜÜÜÜ° ß   ° ß ß²  ÜÜÜÜ° ß ß²Û ±²ÜÜ ßß ßßßßß ßßßßß ßß ßßßßß Üܱ± ÛßÜß±ÜßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßܱßÜß° ²ÛÜß ±Û Û° ßÜ°° ß²±±Üß± Greetings from Cthulu, who unusually explicitly centres °ßÜÜ°°ß ßß°°Ü himself here in this infofile despite in actuality being at Ü°Ûßß Û°Ûß extraordinary arms-length remove from this entire artpack ßÛ°Û ÜÛßß undertaking for the first time in... we'll just say, a very long ßßÛÜ Ûß time: my family went on vacation with me Oct 11 through the end of the ßÛ Û month, and consequently I only have a very nebulous understanding of what Û Û the pack actually contains. (Of course, I have hopes and expectations, but Û Û they could well be entirely uncoupled from the realities on the ground at Û Û the end of the month and wouldn't it make me look out-of-touch if I read Û Û the room so poorly? But I digress.) Û Û Û Û Two years shy of a century ago, the racist writer who coined my handle's Û Û phonetic namesake wrote in the essay "Supernatural Horror in Literature" Û Û that "The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest Û Û and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." He was, of course, Û Û speaking of spooky subjects, but I find a fun resonance with his Û Û proclamation and my own unenviable situation here, of needing to get up in Û Û front of a crowd and address them at some length on a topic with which I Û Û wasn't fully conversant. (I know, debate teams do it every day and you can Û Û watch improv comics sweat their way through similar challenges, but most Û Û well-adjusted people wouldn't raise their hand and volunteer for the Û Û ordeal.) I get fear of the unknown like one of those nightmares when you Û Û waltz in to the final exam to a class you haven't attended all year. Eek! Û Û Û Û Of course I do have an excellent grasp of the broad strokes here: we took a Û Û month off from a strong quarter of monthly releases running May through Û Û August, trying to get a handle on a few slippery challenges (successfully Û Û tackling the two of the three you are least likely to ever have cross your Û Û path), and found that for several reasons we simply could not skip Û Û releasing an artpack in October, despite effectively having our head Û Û (temporarily) cut off from the rest of our body during that month. October Û Û is of course the month of our establishment back in 1994 -- in recent years Û Û we tend to celebrate our anniversary later in the year to keep the pumpkins Û Û out of it, but nevertheless when the change in the weather arrives we can't Û Û help but sniff the breeze coming from a new direction and find it smells Û Û like old artpacks (and burning leaf piles.) In 2016 we thought we were Û Û just celebrating an anniversary near Halloween, expecting to reconvene in Û Û one year's time, and wound up stuck, releasing monthly artpacks for three Û Û and a half years like a careless hiker who steps into an enchanted mushroom Û Û ring and winds up dancing incessantly for years. Û Û Û Û And despite our excellent "Cthulu's not here, man" rationale for _not_ Û Û releasing an artpack this month (and let's face it, just how often is Û Û Cthulu actually fully _here_?), AXB, VileR and Littlebitspace presented Û Û strong and compelling counterarguments in favour of dropping a release: Û Û they sent in excellent seasonal art that would make us look wholly Û Û negligent if we waited until November to share it. Be sure not to miss Û Û Littlebitspace's spooky true-type font face - it has our editors running Û Û scared to change anything - but, the show must go on as they say. Û Û Û Û And they're not, presumably, alone! I'm sure that many other skilled and Û Û talented artists contributed very interesting and well worthwhile art for Û Û inclusion in this seasonal artpack. (Heck, I may even have some of my own Û Û in here, somehow!) Whoever these participating artists ended up being, Û Û I'd like to thank them and give them a very sincere and meaningful round Û Û of applause for taking part in this annual ritual of sorts. Û Û Û Û A big thanks also go out to the illustrators of the infofile header and Û Û FILE_ID artwork that no artpack can afford to be without. Whoever stepped Û Û up to the occasion, and I sure hope that you embedded your initials in your Û Û work so you don't have to languish entirely in obscurity... we salute you! Û Û Û Û (Special note to Pizzatoe: see? you never need to let a lack of infofile Û Û particulars interfere with the release of an artpack! I mean, the charm Û Û would definitely wear off if we did this on a regular basis, but secretly, Û Û people don't even actually expect much in terms of useful information Û Û in an infofile. The bar is generally so low you can absolutely get away Û Û with leaving most of the blanks actually empty.) Û Û Û Û Now I rather suspect that I've extracted just about as much blood from this Û Û stone as it contains, so rather than protract the ordeal further while I Û Û manufacture artisanal gravel, I'm going to cut you free to go enjoy the art Û Û free from the encumbrance of my interminable infofile empty signifiers Û Û (literally so, in this particular case!) We'll be taking November off as Û Û well but we have a, uh, entirely predictable scheme we're (last I heard, at Û Û least) aspiring to reproduce again at the end of this year. Stay tuned! Û Û (And thanks of course to everyone who I left holding the bag! I really did Û Û leave the release of this artpack to the hands of the community in the same Û Û way that a stage diver trusts the fate of their beautiful face to the many Û Û hands that make crowd surfing possible. If you're reading these words, Û Û then somehow they really did carefully intercept my ill-advised leap of Û Û faith and gently convey it to the security tent. It was awesome, Û Û whooooooo!) Û Û Û Û ahem.... Û Û Û Û Swiping the microphone for a moment here is °Nitron coming to you live from Û Û inside the infofile. IF you can believe it, C'thulu gave me the conch Û Û willingly whilst embroiled on being outside of his house, or something Û Û equally dreadful. I've handled the final assembly of the pack and so I Û Û imagine you can blame any substandard elements squarely upon me (for a Û Û change). Û Û Û Û A few pieces came in late, but rather than call out names I will just give Û Û a blanket thanks to the people who worked with me to get this artpack out Û Û the door on time - you know who you are. It's been a lot of fun drawing Û Û²ß ANSI with the MISTIES these few years now, and here is a cheers to ß²Û Û²ÜÜ many more to come. ÜÜ²Û ÛßÜß±Ü Ü±ßÜßÛ ßÜÜß ±Û Happy Halloween! ÜÜÛÛÛÜÜ Û± ßÜÜÛ Ûß±Üß± ܱ²ßÛÛÛÛÛÜÜ ±ßܱßÛß ßßßÛÜÜÜ Þ±Ûß ± ßÛ²Ý ÜÜÜÛßßß Û°ÛßßßßßßÛÜÜÜ ÛßÛ ÜÛßÛÜ ßßÛ ÜÜÜÛßßßßßßÛ°Û ß ßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßß ßÛß ßÛß ßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßß ß ßÜßÜßÜß 1COMNTc'thulu / coaxcable / nitron SAUCE00MIST1025 infofile ct / cxc / n1 Mistigris 2025102809PvIBM VGA