Portrait of a leader

2VS abandons ComicsGate and leaves it to fend for itself:

I think that at this point I no longer can call myself ComicsGate. I think that has just struck me like a lightning bolt; that’s not who I am, you know? I’m All-Caps Comics. I’m Ethan Van Sciver. I am somebody who promotes and sells comic books. I’m somebody who listens, who listens to the audience. I’m somebody who finds out what a need is and I fill that need.

It is not my place, and it never really has been my place, to criticize what other people are doing. That is not what I want to do, that’s not my purpose, it’s not my purpose to yell at other professionals, it’s not my purpose to yell at anyone. Really, it’s not my purpose to just say hey what Marvel’s doing, what DC is doing here, and there isn’t right, you know, it indicates that there’s a conspiracy, a leftist conspiracy. I believe in all that and I think that that is true but that’s not what I’m about, that’s not what I’m doing, and I think that’s where the conflict comes in, and I think that’s where the confusion comes in.

I’m not ComicsGate. I am simply Ethan Van Sciver from Comic Artist Pro Secrets and now All-Caps Comics. That is my comic book company, that is the label that I’m going to publish under. And what does this mean? This means that I am done with ComicsGate. I’m no longer considering myself a part of ComicsGate.

Let me see if I can translate this from 2VSpeak: “IndieGoGo was going to kick me off their platform if I didn’t do something drastic to sever my connection to ComicsGate, so I’m quitting in order to try to preserve my access.” 

I told them he was going to stab them in the back. But it happened even sooner than I thought it would. And yes, I am amused.


A production error

No, Chuck Dixon has not begun experimenting in action comics sans dialogue. Unfortunately, we had a breakdown in our production process and sent out the first 193 print editions of Chuck Dixon’s Avalon #2: Rulebreaker without the dialogue layer. We have already revised the comic as well as our process and all subsequent editions will be correct.

We are working on a plan to get replacement issues out to those who received an incorrect edition and will run the plan by those customers once we are able to confirm it with our distribution partner. We apologize for the inconvenience and delay. The digital edition was not affected.


Chuck Dixon’s Avalon #2: Rulebreaker

The Gold Logo edition of Chuck Dixon’s Avalon #2: Rulebreaker, is now available from Arkhaven Direct for $2.99.

In other Arkhaven news, we expect to have QM:AMD #3 and Right Ho, Jeeves #3 available in print soon.

We have also released the regular logo edition of Alt-Hero #3: Reprisal, in which we have modified Rebel’s newly introduced outfit so that it cannot be interpreted as resembling a Confederate flag. Amazon policy forbids selling products featuring the Confederate flag and there is reason to suspect that some employees might attempt to apply the policy in the broadest possible sense to our comics, so we have elected to ensure that they are fully in compliance with Amazon’s policies.


Virtue-signal fail

Shockingly, despite all his furious denouncings of everything to the ideological Right of George Bush, Richard Meyer has entirely failed to win over the SJWs of the comics industry. His tortious interference lawsuit against Mark Waid of Marvel hasn’t exactly been greeted with open arms by the comic artist pros.

After news broke of Richard Meyer’s lawsuit against Mark Waid for tortious interference and defamation, a number of comic book industry professionals rallied around the DC Comics and Marvel Comics veteran writer.

I have no dog in that particular fight. Both men appear to be rather nasty pieces of work, if their Twitter accounts are reliable indicators. That being said, the timeline of events does appear to suggest that Waid may be guilty of interfering with Meyer’s contract with Antarctica Press, although I’d like Meyer’s chances a lot better if he wasn’t relying upon an inept nobody from outstate Minnesota as his lawyer.

As a general rule, when your lawyer is prone to spouting off in complete ignorance of events, it’s not a good sign. The thing that was most amusing about this Rekieta guy posturing and babbling on and on about how I was probably wrong about my supposed violation of 2VS’s trademark claim is that at no point did he ever take the trouble to ascertain if I was even a relevant party concerning the subject before publicly commenting on it. As it happens, I was not. So, if his handling of Meyer’s case against Waid is anywhere nearly as incompetent as his approach to 2VS’s against me was, he’s going to get his head handed to him by the big guns that Marvel will bring in.

Don’t get me wrong. The white-shoe-wearing big guns can be beaten. I’ve seen it done and I’ve done it. But they are seldom beaten by clueless, careless, posturing loudmouths. We didn’t bother to blow the guy’s feeble non-case apart because I didn’t want anything to do with ComicsGate after discovering that it is nothing more than 2VS’s fan club. But I tend to doubt Waid and his attorneys will do the same.


The ape can read Nietszsche

And 2VS can read SJWs Always Lie. But observably, neither of them are capable of actually grasping what they’ve read.

ComicArtistPro Secrets@EthanVanSciver

ComicsGate…behave yourselves.

Stay happy and positive and avoid conflict with people who want to defame you.

This movement is in your hands, not theirs.

I know what they say can feel unjust, but they’re scared.

History will sort all of this out in your favor.

Smile.

2VS is now just cringing and cowering and trying to show the media SJWs that he’s a nice boy because he finally realized that the NPR piece was not only aimed at Chuck Dixon and me, but also at the “paid provocateur” who is the Kaiser of the ComicsGateNaziHaters. But it’s not going to work. Especially since this was him just three weeks ago.

Everybody’s cursing him out in the chat what a tool they’re saying what a shit move, ComicsGate, it is, what a shit move, let Ethan have it, please don’t be petty!  He won’t show his face, he’s behind a screen right now. Vox is a piece of shit can you go any lower from here? People are saying this might be the best stream we’ve ever done nice, a great time, there he is. I see you Vox! You did not start this gangster shit, Vox. He thought, he was, he’s like in one year I’m gonna be more relevant than Ethan Van Sciver. How’s that going? I mean dude not even close like if if we say so if ComicsGate says so that’s it for Alt-Hero. That’s it for Alt-Hero. 34 likes and 304 dislikes right now on the dark stream, 324 dark stream, yeah he’s peeing blood right now look you can’t, you don’t we’re not here to be taken, we’re not here to be taken Vox, you can’t co-opt us, you can’t, you can’t do it. I know you’re trying, it’s not working, give up, let it go. Oh, feel it slipping through your fingers that’s ComicsGate, bitch!

This is why 2VS doesn’t leave his streams up. He is afraid of being quoted because he so often contradicts himself and says things that he later wants to deny saying. The intriguing thing is that I’m far from the first person to notice that 2VS is two-faced. For example, a comics pro named Richard Pace observed eight months ago, “I found out the constant contempt he had for another pro at DC was troublingly two-faced.”


For the record

Diversity & Comics@DiversityAndCmx
I’ve been peeking in on yall’s conversation, but I needed a chime in here. Vox has been roundly mocked by me and Ethan for the past year in his abortive attempts to be a publisher.

Castalia House has been around since 2014 and publishes more than 100 titles in print, digital, and audio editions. Arkhaven/Dark Legion has been around for nine months and has already published 24 digital editions and 11 print editions, including a new digital edition earlier today.

It’s not exactly surprising to learn that Two-Face was roundly mocking me at the same time he was suggesting that I collaborate with him. Hence the moniker. But I don’t think this D&C moron even understands what the word “abortive” means. Or “attempts”, for that matter.

Anyhow, it’s very good to know exactly who and what these people are, so that we’ll know to avoid working with them in the future. I’m beginning to conclude that some of these guys were not rejected by their former colleagues in the comics industry for their politics, but for their personalities and lack of professionalism.

UPDATE: An Arkhaven author points out that our attempts to be a publisher are observably successful.

The Ember War IndieGoGo!@jondelarroz
Funny. Vox publishes me, @Dixonverse, Gary Kwapisz and others in comics. In politics @Cernovich @JackPosobiec @StefanMolyneux and others. In science fiction big names like @NickColeBooks and B.V. Larson so sell books 10x the level you do.

How’s Splatto Comics coming?

UPDATE: I wonder why 2VS didn’t use “ComicsGate Comics”? I hear it is available. And doesn’t he have the trademark?

Cyberfrog: Bloodhoney creator Ethan Van Sciver announced a brand new publishing company called ALL CAPS Comics that will house Cyberfrog: Bloodhoney and future endeavors he plans on taking on. Ethan described ALL CAPS Comics as “the name of my publishing. It will be the label under which I solicit my comics through DIAMOND to place my books for sale on the direct market.”

The publishing company will currently be focused on Cyberfrog as well as possible spin-offs from that title. It will also house “all other ideas [Ethan has] for IPs” unrelated to Cyberfrog. Ethan told us Cyberfrog: Bloodhoney will be released in a “new format next year thru DIAMOND under ALL CAPS.” Ethan is currently the only creator who will be operating under ALL CAPS Comics at this moment, but he’s definitely open to see other creators join him.

I have to admit, I liked this movie better the first time, when it was called Dangerous Books. But some people are simply incapable of learning from the mistakes of others.


Wait, what?

Now Q is confirming… aliens? Even Neon Revolt is more than a little dubious:

Guys, believe me, I’m right there in the Twilight Zone with ya.

Separating fact from fiction is very challenging here, and frankly… I’ve never wanted to walk away from #QAnon more than I do right now.

And it’s not helped along by the fact that… it’s not at all clear what Q really meant when he answered. What I mean is: there’s a spectrum of conclusions you could arrive at here:

Was he saying that they’ve picked up radio waves from a far distant corner of the galaxy?

Or is he saying Bill Cooper is right, and First Contact was made 70-odd years ago?

The reason – the only reason – I’m not abandoning Q right now… is because of all the other hundreds of #QConfirmations we’ve had along the way.

And, of course, that video I took, years ago.

Amidst the uproar, #Anon noted this: Friendly or hostile?

We’re building a #SpaceForce, anon.

They’re all getting armed with battle rifles for a reason.

You tell me.

(That, more than anything, should speak volumes).

This just gets more interesting and entertaining by the day. I assume this is disinformation meant to distract from other fronts, but at this point, I wouldn’t rule anything out. The thing I find myself wondering, though, is if a larper went there, wouldn’t he be a little more… dramatic on the issue?

Anyhow, for what is definitely a fictional take on Q, check out Alt-Hero: Q, which now has over 1,000 backers! Join the Winning! Below is page 4.


Right Ho, Jeeves #5

GUSSIE AT BAY is the fifth issue in the RIGHT HO, JEEVES series, which tells of the travails of the inimitable Bertie Wooster, who is summoned from the comforts of #3A Berkley Mansions, London to Brinkley Manor by his imperious Aunt Dahlia. Love is in the air and Wodehousian shenanigans are afoot, as Wooster’s well-meaning attempts to help out his friends sort out their romantic difficulties only leads to one disaster after another… including his own engagement to the unbearably soppy Madeline Bassett!

Adapted from the classic Wodehouse novel by comics legend Chuck Dixon and drawn by SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN illustrator Gary Kwapisz, GUSSIE AT BAY is issue #5 of 6 in the RIGHT HO, JEEVES series.

The other four issues in the series are available on Amazon. Issues #1 and #2 are also available in print at Arkhaven Direct, Barnes & Noble, and can be ordered through your local bookstore.


Arkstream: The Ember War campaign

From the transcript of the Arkstream:

I’m excited about this. We we have another crowdfunding campaign that’s going on, that’s been very successful, Alt-Hero: Q, some of you are probably already backing that one, but Ember War is significant in a different way. It’s significant because this is the first time that a major science fiction writer is doing a comics-related crowdfunding and so this is potentially quite significant. Just like the original Alt-Hero, this is an experiment. The magic of crowdfunding is not that you can get people to give you a lot of money if you’re lucky, if you happen to hit the right sweet spot at the right time, the magic of crowdfunding is that it tells you where the demand is ahead of time.

And you know, we weren’t that serious about getting into comics originally. I’d had people lobbying me for three years to do it, and finally I said, “okay fine,  we’ll see if there is genuine demand for it.” As it turned out as you know there turned out to be ten times more demand for it than we ever imagined, and so this is a test, this is an experiment. If you like military science fiction, if you want to see more military science fiction turned into graphic novels, it would be a very,  very good idea to support the Ember War campaign even if you’re not familiar with either Richard Fox or the Ember War Saga. I don’t think that you’ll be disappointed because it is a really good story.


Arkhaven to publish THE EMBER WAR

The Indie-go-go campaign for the graphic novel by bestselling science fiction novelist Richard Fox and Jon Del Arroz is now live.

The Earth is doomed. Humanity has a chance. 

In the near future, an alien probe arrives on Earth with a pivotal mission—determine if humanity has what it takes to survive the impending invasion by a merciless armada.

The probe discovers Marc Ibarra, a young inventor, who holds the key to a daring gambit that could save a fraction of Earth’s population. Humanity’s only chance lies with Ibarra’s ability to keep a terrible secret and engineer the planet down the narrow path to survival.

Earth will need a fleet. One with a hidden purpose. One strong enough to fight a battle against annihilation.

THE EMBER WAR is the comic book adaptation of Richard Fox’s bestselling military sci-fi series. If you like A Hymn Before Battle by John Ringo and The Last Starship by Vaughn Heppner, then you’ll love this explosive adventure with constant thrills and high stakes from cover to cover.

This is potentially a major step forward for both Arkhaven and the independent science fiction community, as it is an opportunity for us to work with a broader range of proven creators and an opportunity for them to expand out of the Kindle Unlimited market they currently dominate. If the military SF-reading crowd supports THE EMBER WAR, there is a good chance Arkhaven will seriously consider adapting There Will Be War and other popular Mil-SF series.