Tag: comics

Rumors are swirling that Diamond has bought the comics rights to DC’s characters and that DC is getting out of the comics business. The Dark Herald explains the situation at Arkhaven:

DC announced it was severing all ties with Diamond and launching its own distribution system.   Diamond had the nerve to angry about it!  Court action was threatened and there might have been grounds depending on how the contract was written. But then litigation died out overnight. Steve Geppi, the CEO of Diamond came to an agreement with AT&T, he would have the right of first refusal if they decided to kill DC Comics publishing. 

DC’s hipshoot efforts at distribution have been a disaster.  One of their distributors quit when DC announced it was going to break with established industry practice and accept remaindered copies of unsold comics.  The other company has proven so unsatisfactory that a number of comic book shops did the unthinkable and stopped ordering DC Comics.

I’ve been saying for a while that AT&T has been getting ready to swing the ax on DC Comics.  

There have been a series of mass executions at DC over the last few months.  These layoffs have been so large and cut so deep into the company’s executive talent pool, that there was clearly no way for the company to recover.  DC Comics has clearly been in a death spiral for almost a year.  

What efforts DC has made to expand it’s market share has resulted in ridiculous projects like, I am Not Starfire and Gotham High with Gay Alfred.  Seriously guys, the problem was not a lack of Wokeness.

If DC folds completely, that is the death of the comic book shop because there is no way they can keep the lights on with just Marvel comics on the shelves.  No comic book shops means, no Diamond Distributers. 

Consequently, it makes all kinds of sense for Steve Geppi to buy the license for the comic book rights to the DC Comic’s characters. 

Diamond might actually make for a more formidable competitor than the hyper-converged shell of DC Comics. But it makes no difference. Project Asteroid has already entered atmo. Their fate is sealed. 

UPDATE: Bleeding Cool is aware of at least two serious offers. But if Diamond has a right of first refusal, it will be their group that owns the dinosaur.

I have been made aware of two serious pitches made to Warners/AT&T as a result, the one from New York-based investors is the one I am taking more seriously. The one from Orpington in Kent, England, less so at this time. But you never know.

As for the actual amount of cash needed to be raised for such a venture, if it was the full comics-and-only-the-comics buyout in perpetuity, estimates for the publishing value alone are around the $300,000,000 mark, but to actually make it worth Warners and AT&T’s while, and make up for their loss of face, we might be looking closer to a cool half billion. So no, as some wisecrackers suggested, this is not being crowdfunded—this more like twenty people bringing twenty-five million to the game, each.

General Grudge considers the calumnies and condemnations hurled against me by ComicsGate:

Vox Day has been fighting the cancel culture and deplatforming by being canceled (from institutions like Twitter to this day) and then actually trying to create new platforms for voices that have been marginalized by the mainstream media companies. Vox Day has helped build answers for Wikipedia, publishing houses and YouTube while most of you have been doing next to nothing. Vox Day has been the leading General on the front lines of the culture war and has accomplished more than just about anyone else in that struggle.

Also Vox Day was the first person to launch a successful crowd funding campaign for comic books that would compete against the big establishment companies and paved the way for everyone to follow. So what did he get for that last effort from comics-gate and from the anti-comicsgate groups that would stand on his shoulders later?

Ethan Van Sciver saw him as a threat and attacked him and his reputation full force. This act proved EVS for the first time to be, what he would soon become known to all clear minded people to be, and that is an SJW gatekeeper and self-appointed Cesar of Comics-Gate. The most ironic aspect of this move by EVS was how he clearly read and used language lifted straight from Vox Day’s “SJW’S ALWAYS LIE” to bad mouth anyone he perceived as a threat. But the way EVS did this proved that he never understood what crowd funding comics was really all about or the true nature of the culture war. This act of aggression against Vox Day was also the first act to create a division and a split in ComicsGate and create a war that goes on to this day. It started with EVS persecuting and bad mouthing Vox but continues now to any person, or group that questions ComicsGate or War Campaign. People now tend to forget that is was Vox Day who was the first target of Ethan’s ego induced rage.

Now, what about the former ComicsGate personalities and most of the Christian factions of the Anti-ComicsGate scene?

I pains me deeply when I am watching a stream featuring many of the non-comicsgate personalities I like and respect and hear them make passive aggressive remarks and jokes about Vox Day. Often it comes from the context revealing the misconception they think he is some kind of racist or fascist. The seeming fact that these people, who should know better, have bought into and drank the koolid of the MSM and talking points of some of the worst elements of comicsgate is revealing. It is revealing to their lack of judgement and their total inability to win on the front of the culture war that is crowd funded comic books.

Perhaps it wasn’t a long time ago, but it feels like it was. At this point, I could not be less concerned about what happened in the past, or who said what about me. A new era is about to dawn that will shake up comics industry to a much greater extent than all of the crowdfunded independent comics combined. This morning, I literally saw the future of comics, and it is glorious indeed.

Project Asteroid is already entering the atmosphere and plunging toward a planet full of stumbling, wheezing dinosaurs. And there will be more than enough opportunity for all of the survivors. But since we’re on the subject, here’s a peek at the pencils of an ongoing project for the Caligan backers.

We are extremely pleased to announce the publishing alliance between Arkhaven Comics and Brazil’s SuperPrumo Comics. SuperPrumo is the publisher of great action comics such as The Awakener, The Grey Claw, and Hecatomb, among others, all of which are being translated into English and will be published by Arkhaven in 2021.

Arkhaven’s comics, including Alt-Hero, Chuck Dixon’s Avalon, Alt-Hero: Q, Midnight’s War, and others, will be translated into Portuguese and published by SuperPrumo in 2021.

Marvel is all but daring Disney to kill the comics:

Marvel has confirmed that Chris Pratt’s Guardians Of The Galaxy character Star-Lord is a polyamorous bisexual.

A revelation about the character the 41-year-old actor has played in four films and their sexuality has been made in the upcoming Guardians Of The Galaxy #9 comic book.  

Fans of the graphic novels know that the fate of Star-Lord – AKA Peter Quill – was left uncertain after a heroic death in the second installment.

However in the latest edition – titled I Shall Make You A Star-Lord – he did not actually die but actually ended up in a parallel universe where he ends up in a polyamorous relationship with a man and a woman.

I can guarantee you that in the Arkhaven universe, characters that die heroic deaths will stay dead, they will not migrate into parallel universes and polyamorous relationships.

Also, Batman is now black. And possibly obese and transgender, considering who is now writing Batman at DC.

It is, of course, a tremendous compliment to be compared to the victorious God-Emperor, who, it is rapidly becoming apparent to all and sundry, will serve his second term through 2024 despite the best efforts of his enemies to fraudulently steal the election. Although I will confess to being mystified that so many people seem to be under the impression that I call myself The Dark Lord. Rather like a nickname or a job title at a corporation, that’s the sort of appellation one really has to be awarded by others to be meaningful. 

But he’s right, I am good with Italy. And anyhow, I’m sure that the God-Emperor’s wartime consigliere, Donald Trump Jr., has galactic rule from 2024 through 2032 covered.

As the artist permits comments, I’d encourage you to leave one there before the SJWs and cucks start doing their thing.

You’ll see companies doing crazy things like DC Comics is doing in the wake of a 30 percent staff reduction:

Lee shockingly revealed just how bad their lineup had been performing. He also detailed they would be reducing the lineup significantly. Lee stated, “That said, we will be reducing the size of the slate. But it’s about looking at everything and looking at the bottom 20 percent, 25 percent of the line that wasn’t breaking even or was losing money.”

When asked about promoting Marie Javins and Michele Wells to interim editors-in-chiefs, Lee committed the company to “diversity and inclusivity.”

He told THR, “We thought it would be a great pairing to bring them together to help draft and organize the content we’re doing along these lines. Across digital, across global, we want to make sure we have diversity and inclusivity, and making it in a way that we have authenticity to the storytelling that we’re doing.”

They’re going to keep diversiting and inclusiviting right up until they finally go out of business. The SJW Imperative demands total commitment!

And it wasn’t just unawarded. Midnight’s War somehow didn’t even qualify as one of the 36 runners-up despite being one of the top 10 ranked in Popularity and earning a higher rating than two out of the three Silver winners.

This tells me that Arkhaven needs to seriously rethink our plan to use Webtoons as a platform. While some of the winning stories were pretty good, precisely none of the art in any of the winners or runners-up was even close to that of Midnight’s War. It’s now clear that it’s just not the sort of thing that they are ever going to promote to their readership.

Perhaps we’ll look for a platform more in tune with Western art or perhaps we’ll build our own platform. But we definitely won’t be putting anything except Hypergamouse, Quantum Mortis, and Go Monster Go! up there, at least for the time being. If you think my reaction is too severe, consider the artwork from the top prize winner below, and then compare it to the art for Midnight’s War.

UPDATE: There is no mystery concerning the missing webcomics. I pulled AH, CDA, and Jeeves down last night; MW will also be taken down as soon as it’s not locked for the contest by Webtoons. I don’t have the time to keep updating 30-panel episodes if the platform is not part of our core strategy. For Arkhaven Patreon subscribers, we’ll return to direct digital downloads.

UPDATE: Midnight’s War and Quantum Mortis have been removed as well. We are going to build our own platform.

Employmentwise, that is, not a literal one. DC Comics is downsizing in a big way, with around one-third of its staff being eliminated, and presumably, a similar percentage of its comics.

Earlier today, Bleeding Cool posted the news that DC Comics staffers, along with the rest of Warner Bros were undergoing a downsizing of staff. At the time, we were lead to believe that the brunt would be felt by DC Universe, as part of an alignment of streaming services being offered. But instead, it became rapidly clear that DC Comics editorial was being targeted in a major way for such changes. With everyone describing this as the DC Bloodbath – or New DC Implosion – and on a Monday as well.

I am told that these layoffs will have an immediate effect on the publication of DC Comics monthly titles, and I am to expect a rapid reduction of titles. If you thought DC Comics published an unhealthy percentage of Batman books, you ain’t seen nothing yet. The Batbooks, most of the Justice League books and some of the Superman books will stay safe, as will the digital line, the original graphic novel line. But a lot of comics will have to disappear as there simply aren’t enough people to work on them.

Meanwhile, Arkhaven marches on. Slower than we’d like, but stronger than we’d expected. One of the first new projects is the Webtoon that Chuck Dixon is creating for the Patreon backers, GO MONSTER GO!

If you ever want to understand how horrific a world run by gammas would be, consider the current state of the mainstream comics industry, which is collapsing amidst declining sales, a shaky distribution system, and widespread accusations of sexual misconduct by its leading lights.

The month of June saw the comics industry rocked by successive waves of predatory conduct allegations, amid similar reckonings around sexual harassment in the affiliated worlds of video games, twitch streaming, tabletop games, professional wrestling, and professional illustration. Some of the allegations, as with superstar writer Warren Ellis, were new. Others brought renewed scrutiny to lingering problems like the allegations against Dark Horse editor Scott Allie and DC writer Scott Lobdell. Most of the stories came from marginalized creators who’d previously been silent for fear of being blacklisted. In June, that wall of silence cracked, and what showed beneath was red and raw and deeply, viscerally angry….

There have been many conversations over the past month about how to change the culture of the comics industry. But June’s storm of allegations is not a sign that the comics industry is broken. It’s a sign that it’s running precisely as designed.

The reason the comics industry is a socio-sexual nightmare for women is because it is run by low-status men who have no idea how to responsibly handle their power and influence. But regardless, you simply have to love these SJW vs SJW wars.

Episode 14 of Alt★Hero, ARE WE THERE YET, is now live on Webtoons.