Beginning with a Bang

The Dark Herald has taken his talents to the Arkhaven substack, and he’s gotten off to a blistering start with a comparison of Neil Gaiman’s derivative work to the woman from whose work he derived it:

One is the real deal and the other is a cheap knockoff of the original. 

There is a Swiss Rolex and there is a Bangkok Rolex. There is Classic Coke and there is Sam’s Cola.  There is the Mona Lisa in the Louvre and the one on Cousin Jimbo’s velvet blanket.

There is Tannith Lee and there is Neil Gaiman. 

This has become vastly apparent to me this weekend while reading Night’s Master. It’s a funny thing about writers, we all have that one writer that made us want to write for a living.  While learning the craft we discover our strengths and limitations.  Some of us will eventually discover that we have surpassed our masters.  In bitter truth, most of us will discover that we can’t due to the limitations of our innate talents but those who face this unpleasant realization do not resent the writer who inspired us. 

Mostly. 

Gamma males, on the other hand, live in a world blanketed by their resentments and can never bring themselves to give credit where it’s due. It’s too painful a truth to acknowledge.  How can I be the secret king when there is all too obviously a real king? John Scalzi has never given credit to Joe Haldeman for his influence on his early work, although it’s clearly there. Neil Gaiman’s disdain for Tanith Lee went all the way back to when he was doing literary reviews. By Lee’s account, (which I will take over Gaiman’s in a heartbeat), he was pleasant, fawning and even obsequious during his interview of her for the Guardian.  When he published his interview, Lee discovered that Gaiman had described her as “formerly attractive.”

On top of which, reportedly and according to Lee’s belief, he directly plagiarized entire paragraphs from her. I haven’t seen the direct evidence of the truth of the plagiarism yet, but I suspect that between the Dark Herald and me, we should be able to find it if, in fact, it exists. While I’m very familiar with the various tales of the Flat Earth, including the Secret Books of Paradys, which I own and have read repeatedly, and also own her Secret Books of Venus series, I’d never read a single Neil Gaiman work until after we launched Arkhaven and I was encouraged to read Sandman.

Which, you may recall from the streams I was doing at the time, struck me immediately as mediocre and derivative, as well as more than a little off-putting.

Anyhow, it’s no surprise that the Dark Herald is off to an excellent start at the Arkhaven substack. He’ll be blogging there henceforth, so if you’re accustomed to reading him at the store site, I’d encourage you to sign up for a free subscription there.

In other Arkhaven news, we received the test print of JDA’s Overmind omnibus from the new printer this weekend. The quality of the color printing is excellent, indeed, one could quite credibly say superlative. We’re placing an order for the initial print run of 75 leatherbound copies, so there will be a few extras available for sale when they’re ready. The Hypergamouse printing will soon follow. And two additional bonuses; the leatherbound comics will be sewn, and somewhat to my surprise, color edge printed.

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The Bad Road Not Taken

When Arkhaven Comics launched, we made a non-obvious decision to stay out of the comic stores and the traditional distribution system. This significantly slowed our growth and our exposure to potential customers, but it has proven, over time, to have been the right decision. The reason we can say that is because, as Fandom Pulse reports, the primary distributor of comics to the comics stores, Diamond Comic Distributors, filed for bankruptcy today:

Diamond Comic Distributors has been on the decline for years as the former monolith in comic book store distribution, but now a message from their CEO revealed the company is filing chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Dear Valued Customer, I’m writing to share one of the most challenging messages of my career. Earlier today, Diamond made the difficult but necessary decision to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. This step is intended to stabilize our financial foundation and protect the most vital aspects of our business. This decision was not made lightly, and I understand that this news may be as difficult to hear as it is for me to share. The Diamond leadership team and I have worked tirelessly to avoid this outcome but the financial challenges we face have left us with no other viable option. Chapter 11 will provide us with the opportunity to restructure and address our financial obligations. This process will likely include the sale of key assets of Diamond Comic Distributors.

This means that there are a lot of publishers who are wondering if they are going to get paid for the comics they delivered to Diamond over the last six months. Fortunately, Arkhaven is not one of them.

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The Desperation of Backerkit

So, I received an email from Backerkit this morning, which tends to indicate the would-be crowdfunding platform is flailing and failing:

Hi,

Less than 3 days to go for HYPERGAMOUSE Volume 1! There’s still time to see a detailed breakdown of your pledges and reach out to your fans. Import your project to BackerKit Launch now to get stared.

Thanks,

The BackerKit Team

To which I replied, rather rudely, that they were collectively welcome to go and attempt to perform an anatomically-impossible task on themselves that involved sexual gratification. Which is not my usual wont, but then, this is the FOURTH time they have attempted to take advantage of Arkhaven’s very successful HYPERGAMOUSE Volume 1 campaign AFTER sending this email just a few hours before the campaign was scheduled to start.

Hello,

We are writing to inform you that after a thorough review of your project submission, BackerKit will not be able to approve your project “Hypergamouse Volume 1” for launch on our platform. This decision is based on documented association with content that violate our platform’s Crowdfunding Rules and Community Guidelines. 

 Specifically, BackerKit prohibits offensive material, both on-platform and off-platform, including hate speech, content promoting harm, discrimination, bigotry, or intolerance toward any marginalized or protected groups. Our guidelines state that we do not permit content or creators that engage in personal attacks, harassment, or the promotion of harmful ideologies, including those that may be seen as discriminatory.

 This decision is final. If you have further questions, you may submit an inquiry at trustandsafety@backerkit.com or in an email response here.

Regards,

Dave Alvarez-Villalpando

Head of Trust & Safety @ BackerKit

So, no, Dave and company, Arkhaven will not import any of our very successful projects to Backerkit. Furthermore, we are actively recommending that our wide variety of creators stay very far away from SJW-converged Backerkit and instead utilize FundMyComic or Kickstarter, since neither of those platforms ban anyone for mere off-platform “association” with content that violates their rules, instead of content that actually violates their rules.

Furthermore, this belated attempt at snaking business that they already turned down comes AFTER they promised to cease all future communications.

“This is to inform you that the recent communication you received was automated. Your project’s launch status has been updated from the draft status to “deactivated.” As a result, all further communications related to this project has been disabled.”

Sure it has. The evidence proves otherwise. Anyhow, all of this is irrelevant since there are just 60 hours to go. Join the 687 backers and help Arkhaven spike the football in the face of the SJWs who tried to shut down Hypergamouse, but failed, because the ride never ends.

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A Degree from Havarti

As requested, the HYPERGAMOUSE Campaign has added a Havarti University t-shirt to the campaign, now available as a reward for new backers or as an add-on for existing backers. The fictional university, established in 1846 in Arkhaven, Massachusetts, shows its classic Latin motto CASEUM and is available in either classic crimson or navy blue. Sizes and colors to be specified after the campaign; backers will be contacted for their preferences and shipping details. It’s a unique and subtle way to show your support for Arkhaven.

UPDATE: you can now back directly for a hardcover edition or leatherbound edition of Sigma Game. It’s not necessary to back something else first.

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16 Million and Counting

Arktoons has now passed 16 million views! Thanks to all of the supporters, creators, and readers who have made it possible. And special thanks to the devs and the production team, who keep cranking out episodes every single day. We’re pleased to be able to say that GHOST OF THE BADLANDS will be coming to Arktoons soon now that its digital edition has been released.

In other comics news, HYPERGAMOUSE is approaching its third stretch goal and DC Comics has been reduced to turning to its critics to provide inspiration for its new villains, with Jeremy Griggs from Geeks + Gamers being the latest to see himself lampooned in a DC-published comic.

Even though DC Comics says they’re All In with this new initiative from Scott Snyder and Joshua Williamson, it appears they’re just all in on the same tired, woke nonsense. With Absolute Batman race-swapping Barbara Gordon in a bizarre virtue signal, there was already too much politics in their recent comics, but now they’ve turned Jeremy Griggs into a rambling villain in the new Blue Beetle YA Graphic Novel… It’s not the first time DC Comics has done this, either. Just last year, they did the same to Eric July, turning him into some Alex Jones rant to presumably attack his Rippaverse imprint as it was getting off the ground.

I don’t think that I’ve been provided with a DC Comics stand-in yet, although it would appear that Marvel’s Vox Supreme was at least partially inspired by your favorite dark lord. The resemblance is certainly striking.

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The Digital Ghost

Now available on Kindle and Kindle Select: THE GHOST OF THE BADLANDS

Arizona Territory, May 1896

Canyon Diablo is a reascendant Gomorrah.

With rail bridge construction halted by hellfire and tragedy, and railroad companies warring with local land owners to complete it, the town becomes an open boil on the Arizona Desert.

Gamblers proliferate. Prostitutes ply their trade. Brigands roam on the roadways, waylaying the innocent for an unknown purpose.

But the bandits are not alone.

Something stirs in the Painted Desert. Someone systematically exterminates coach robbers and murderers. Dealing out a deadly reckoning to all who assail the weak.

Gunfight after gunfight. Coffin after coffin. Legend soon grows of this phantom of the high desert.

A lone pistolier dispensing God’s judgment. A one-man vendetta ride, wielding a strange mechanical weapon of the Old World. Baptizing the heathen in hails of gunfire.

Eventually, folk find a name for this masked missionary of death…

The Ghost of the Badlands

UPDATE: So that was fast.

  • #1 in Supernatural Graphic Novels
  • #1 in Western Graphic Novels
  • #1 in Pulp Graphic Novels
  • #19 in Graphic Novels

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