Tag: comics

Wednesday AM Arktoons

ALT★HERO Episode 5: I Will Break You, Scabby Donkey!

DEUS VULT Episode 5: Gorok Strikes

After consulting Arktoons subscribers on SocialGalactic and looking at the current level of subscription resources combined with crowdfunded content, here is the current plan:

  • Most of the most popular comics will stay the same, with long weekly episodes between 20 and 40 panels. This includes A Throne of Bones, Midnight’s War, Alt★Hero, Chuck Dixon’s Avalon, Quantum Mortis, Swan Knight’s Saga, and Ember War, among others.
  • Shade and AH:Q will drop to 8 panels for production reasons. In the case of the latter, we’re going to have to wait several months for Helix Haze to finish some work for one of the dinosaurs before he can illustrate Issues 5 and 6. We looked into replacing him with a different illustrator, but ultimately decided against doing so because we really like his work. The Awakener and Hammer of Freedom will be reduced to 8 panels as well.
  • The new series of Silenziosa will launch with 12 panels, as will one of the two new Brazilian series. The other will launch with 8 panels. The new independent series of Dead Bang will be presented as the publisher sees fit, but we’ll recommend 8-12 panels to them.
  • Six new series, including Something Big will launch with 4-6 panels that will vary from week to week. Subscribers will be given the opportunity to vote on at least two of the series, including who the next AH spinoff character should be. New short episodes of Chicago Typewriter will also be created.
  • As the subscriptions grow over time, we’ll intend to give subscribers the choice between a) making certain series longer and b) more new series. We are still planning the crowdfunding campaign for Midnight’s War, but not until we introduce at least one episode with the new approach to coloring it.
  • 1,000-word text episodes when the feature is ready. The first text series will be the unreleased two chapters of A Sea of Skulls that I promised a few weeks ago.
I understand that the vote for long episodes was unanimous. However, I also recognize that it is probably not an accident that a majority of the most-viewed and most-liked series on Webtoons and Tapas are of the “bite-sized” variety. So, we’re going to try providing excellent examples of both and see what happens; if I have learned one thing over the years, it is to let the market speak for itself and to abandon any plans that are contradicted by it no matter how flawlessly logical they are.
Also, the Arkhaven blog has been crushing it of late, with some very good analysis of the various developments on the cultural war front that is the film and comics industry. The Dark Herald’s article on the inevitable failure of The Fantastic Four is educational on multiple levels.

Tuesday PM Arktoons

EMBER WAR Episode 4: Twenty-Eight Percent

CHUCK DIXON’S AVALON Episode 4: When You Get to Hell

Now that Arktooons has been in operation for nearly one month, we’ve learned a lot, and we’re ready to start applying some of those lessons. One is that more is not always more when it comes to episode lengths. It turns out that some of our more popular series, such as Hypergamouse and Ben Garrison, run short, and a surprisingly high percentage of the most popular series on Webtoons and Tapas run between 2 and 8 panels. 

Apparently, as with Twitter, there is a case to be made that less can sometimes be more. As far as I can tell, it appears to be that if readers really love a series, the longer the better, but if they merely like it, they actually prefer a shorter episode that allows them to take in the whole story without losing interest in it.

So, what we’ve decided to do is introduce some of the new content that we’re going to be launching in June in shorter episodes. The upside is that since the shorter episodes cost less per episode, we’re going to be introducing more new original series than we had planned, including a possible spinoff or two. This approach will not only permit us to produce brand new content from high-calibre illustrators who don’t have the time to commit to full books, but will also allow us to maximize the resources the subscribers are providing.

My question for Arktoons subscribers is this: there are a number of series that will remain in the long episode format, such as Alt-Hero, A Throne of Bones, Midnight’s War, Swan Knight’s Saga, and Quantum Mortis, among others. Would you prefer them to continue appearing as one long episode each week, or would you prefer to see them divided into three shorter episodes each week?

A death squad hunts down The Awakener

Sunday PM Arktoons

 AI WARS Episode 4 Dead or Alive

CHICAGO TYPEWRITER Episode 4: The Devil’s Playground

Don’t miss the weekly Arktoons Roundup at Bounding Into Comics either.

Arkhaven Comics offers a better variety of comics than any other publisher. New superheroes, long lost classics, dark fantasy from the distant past, dark fantasy from a frightening present, intriguing speculative science fiction, thrilling conspiracy adventures, young adult drama, plus some things that must be described as “different.”  But trust me, different in this case is another word for “great.”

Below is a particularly striking panel from Chicago Typewriter. 

Saturday AM Arktoons

SEASONS Episode 4: Shadow

CHUCK DIXON PRESENTS: COMEDY Episode 4 A Century of Vengeance

I’ve been having some interesting conversations with creators who are just hearing about Arktoons now and are interested in getting their comics on the site. Also, a few of the comics with short runs are scheduled for replacement, so expect to see some changes in the weeks to come. And if you’re enjoying the site, don’t forget to subscribe! As you can see from the views, the traffic is solid and steadily growing, and we’re just over one-third of the perpetual production goal.