We’re continuing to make steady progress on Alt★Hero. We expect to have two 24-page comics out in digital and print in late February, plus two other Arkhaven 24-pagers, Quantum Mortis #1 and Right Ho #1, as I’ve been informed that inking is complete on both Avalon #1 and Alt★Hero #1. We also anticipate publishing print editions of one or two Dark Legion graphic novels in that time frame.
The digital editions will be delivered to all the relevant backers via download codes, the print editions will not, but the pages from them will be included in the 150-page printed graphic novels that will be delivered to all of the relevant backers later this year. We will make the 24-page print editions available via our Castalia Direct store; they will also be available on Amazon, in traditional bookstores, and the comic stores that sign up to carry Arkhaven comics.
I haven’t spoken much about the third line of the Alt★Hero universe, the military one, but we do have an interesting storyline there that involves KA-FOR engaging an elite team of Chinese superhero assassins known as The Gods of Peaceful Sleep. Being assassins, the Gods seldom go around wearing their uniforms, but they do wear body armor beneath their civilian clothing, as can be seen above.
What, you might ask, is KA-FOR? The clue is in the name.
Meanwhile, Marvel continues to pare its losses by cancelling more of its SJW-converged failures:
For those keeping score, here are the ongoing titles that were part of the Marvel Legacy publishing initiative that will be facing the chopping block:
Generation X
Guardians of the Galaxy
Hawkeye
Iceman
Jean Grey
Luke Cage
Royals
Secret Warriors
She-Hulk
The Unbelievable Gwenpool
U.S. Avengers
Uncanny AvengersIf I was a betting man, I think we’re going to be seeing a lot more Marvel books getting the axe before the summer. If I had to guess, I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw the end of the following titles:
Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider
Black Bolt
Falcon
Monsters Unleashed
She-Hulk
They haven’t learned anything, of course. This is just a temporary retreat intended to stop the bleeding. And I wonder how much praise we’ll receive from the media for actually featuring genuinely diverse characters such as the Gods? None at all, I expect. Which is fine, because they’re not there for the sake of diversity, they are there because the story requires deadly superhumans in the employ of the Red Army.
Comic stores are feeling the consequences. A well-respected Chicago store called Challengers Comics regularly releases its annual numbers:
We are down 6.8{1a9740d54aaadd1290ec59721f654a3d9aaf924aeae0d9d35ee2fe84bc4370ea} from 2016, and this is our lowest yearly total since 2013. October and December took the biggest hits. Overall it’s as if our 2017 only had 11 months of sales. We were down $21,000 in single-issue Marvel sales alone. And in comparison… DC was up $2000.