Tag: comics

Webtoons in Decline

As Fandom Pulse reports, it’s not just Marvel, DC Comics, and Diamond that are in an obvious death spiral. Webtoons, their obvious digital successor, has been in decline ever since going public in 2022:

The company lost approximately $153 million in Q4 2024, which is up from $33 million in Q4 2023, posting a full year loss of $214 million up from $135 million in 2023. The company blames a lot of the assets on one-time IPO-related costs and aggressive marketing to get more creators on the platform.

Users note in recent years, Webtoon seems to have gotten more desperate to try to monetize their site, which has created a worse user experience. There are ads above every Webtoon stack which promote “treasure hunts,” where users get coins to spend on the site by signing up for brand email lists and watching more ads.

While they had a “Fastpass” situation where users could read ahead on monetized webtoons to pay creators in advance of the rest of the public, now users don’t have to have coins but can watch ads to get it, and some now have discounted coin prices where readers watch 30 seconds of ads to increase ad revenue. On top of this, they’ve introduced tipping to the website, encouraging creators to get their readers to do so by having an incentive-based leaderboard to do so.

None of this has brought the site to profitability, though Reddit users have noticed the changes to the site not being positive and have posited that Webtoon is on its way down.

Meanwhile, competitor Arkhaven Comics has reached over 16 million views on its website, running without ads and quietly being built entirely on user support. With Webtoon’s functionality getting more difficult to use, the environment seems ripe for a competitor to take over as the leader in web comics

Arkhaven has been very quiet in the last year. That’s not a coincidence. When the environment is not ripe for advancement, it’s always best to harbor one’s resources and await the right moment to aggressively move forward. The time is not yet right, but there are some signs that before long, it will be.

In the meantime, we’re making sure that when everyone else is going down in flames, Arkhaven will be the one left standing. The recently-approved proof of the HYPERGAMOUSE VOL. 1 hardcover for the backers will make it clear how, while the market leaders are spiraling downward, we’re raising our game.

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Dark Horse Drops Gaiman

This isn’t news to anyone here since Fandom Pulse covered it last week. What makes it noteworthy is that Neil Gaiman’s favorite newspaper, which has fawned all over him for literal decades and has regularly featured his contributions, actually reported on the news, and did so without waiting for months this time.

A US publisher of comics by Neil Gaiman has announced that it has cancelled plans to publish future works by the author who has been accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women. Dark Horse Comics “takes seriously the allegations against Neil Gaiman and we are no longer publishing his works,” the company wrote in a statement on X.

“Confirming that the Anansi Boys comic series and collected volume have been cancelled,” it added. Dark Horse Comics began publishing the Anansi Boys series, an adaptation of Gaiman’s 2005 novel of the same name, in June last year. It was intended to be an eight-issue series, but has now been cancelled following the seventh issue, published 15 January.

Nine women have now accused Gaiman of sexual misconduct. On 14 January, the author published a statement on his website saying that he had “never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone”. Gaiman’s representatives did not respond to a request for comment on Dark Horse Comics’ statement.

HarperCollins, which publishes many of Gaiman’s books in the US including Coraline and American Gods, told Publishers Weekly that it does not have any new books by Gaiman scheduled. WW Norton, the US publisher of Gaiman’s book Norse Mythology, said that it will not have projects with the author going forward, though did not say whether this was connected to the allegations. Marvel Comics has no new works by Gaiman in progress, according to the New York Times.

Other publishers of Gaiman’s work – including Bloomsbury, Penguin, Hachette, DC Comics and Titan – have not yet made public statements about whether they will continue to publish the author, and did not respond to the Guardian’s requests for comment.

Given that Dark Horse was historically inclined to NOT take action in similar circumstances, the fact that two institutions whose natural inclinations were to cover things up are instead distancing themselves from the accused serial rapist is a fairly strong indicator that the other publishers who are more heavily invested in their business relationships will eventually follow suit, however reluctantly.

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Arkhaven, The Legend, and Levon Cade

Fandom Pulse has an exclusive on Arkhaven Comics and Chuck Dixon getting the crew back together to turn Levon’s Trade, aka A Working Man starring Jason Statham, into a graphic novel.

Chuck Dixon wowed the world in early January when the trailer or A Working Man dropped, a new film based on his Levon Cade novels. Now, he’s partnering with Arkhaven Comics to adapt the first novel, Levon’s Trade into a graphic novel.

While Chuck Dixon is well known for his comic book work as a legendary creator of Bane in the Batman lore, and as one of if not the most prolific writers of all time, until Jasom Statham was announced as Levon Cade for the new film, A Working Man, many didn’t know that Dixon was also an accomplished novelist with several works, including a twelve-book series with Levon Cade.

The first book, Levon’s Trade boasts a 4.4 star average rating on Amazon with more than 700 reviews, a very popular installment for the author. A new review by Douglas Marolla calls the series “great” and highlights the character work Dixon put into not only Cade, but several of the supporting characters.

A Working Man has so much buzz already that comedians are incorporating the film into their routines, with poignant commentary on Jason Statham’s past roles combined with this one.

Arkhaven will announce a crowdfunding campaign for this and another much-anticipated Chuck Dixon project, but not until after the standard Hypergamouse books ship out to the backers.

A working man’s life is often hard.

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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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Fandom Imperialism

I bet it won’t take more than 18 months for Fandom Pulse to become the #1 site in comics journalism now that content machine John Trent has joined it on a full-time basis.

John Trent, the former EIC of Bounding Into Comics and That Park Place is now working full time and writing multiple articles a day for Fandom Pulse!

JDA is a formidable content creator in his own right, but John Trent isn’t merely next level, he is unparalleled in his ability to provide both quantity and quality in his relentless reporting. And unlike so many useless and converged so-called journalists purporting to cover the industry while ignoring the lager part of it, he gives equal time to the mainstream and the independents alike. If you haven’t subscribed to Fandom Pulse yet, you really owe it to yourself to do so. It is about to become a serious difference-maker.

In other culture war commentary, this comic is spot-on.

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