Tag: comics

I don’t know how I somehow managed to miss this interview with The Legend Chuck Dixon – that is how he is addressed in the Arkhaven offices, you understand – by Bounding Into Comics:

BIC: Along with Levon’s War, you are also working on a number of projects with Vox Day’s Castalia House publishing. You’ve got Avalon which is expected to come out this March. The book will feature the crime fighting duo of King Ace and Fazer, what can you tell us about these two?

Chuck: King and Fazer are just a part of a larger ensemble cast of super-powered heroes and outlaws. To say King and Fazer’s relationship is complicated is an understatement. King Ace is a kind of Superman type, a big beefcake who’s bullet-resistant, super-strong and can leap long distances. Fazer has the ability to pass through solid objects. They’re powers complement one another even though their personalities are very much at odds.

We also have Cash, a mercenary crimefighter who battles evil for tips and Vendetta, a female vigilante, whose motives and mission provide much of the core story for the first six issues of the book.

But the true star of the book is the city of Avalon itself. It’s an east coast town that’s seen better days and getting rather tired of being ground zero for super-fights between good guys and bad guys.

BIC: You will also be working with Will Caligan. Have you figured out which novels you will adapt into graphic novels?

Chuck: We’re adapting Swan Knight’s Son by John C. Wright. The novel really lends itself to comics. Loads of great eye candy and a story that gets off the blocks on page one and never slows down.

BIC: Will also lost his job because of his very personal Christian and conservative beliefs. There have been a number of people who hold similar conservative and Christian beliefs who have also had their careers threatened or lost. Do you see this as a serious problem in the comic book industry?

Chuck: Damn right. A lot of great talent is either unemployed or underemployed because of either their personal religious or political beliefs. Their personal beliefs. The blacklists are very real and a lot of careers have been damaged. And as bad as this kind of discrimination is, the effect of silencing other creators who fear for their livelihoods is even more far-reaching. It’s intimidation, pure and simple; a radical core of far-left editors and publishers forcing their ideologies on the creator community as well as the readership.

Most damaging, in the long term, is the hiring of staff and assigning of freelancers based on their political beliefs rather than any kind of merit. The result is the current crop of, frankly, mediocre efforts from companies that used to be the industry leaders. It’s hard to find even a competently written and drawn comic let alone anything that could be called exemplary examples of the medium.

We’re all paying for this with depressed sales overall and the loss of readers who may never come back.

BIC: Blacklists seem to be a pretty hot topic right now. One Twitter user even created a pretty lengthy list for customers to boycott certain professionals. He labeled these professionals as the “main contributors… to the declining quality” of comic books. What are your thoughts on this list?

Chuck: I don’t like lists of any kind. Blacklists, redlists, enemies lists or ****lists. While it’s true that a number of people on the list I saw are guilty of writing agenda-driven comics, a few on that list are vocal personally on political matters, but not in their work. The declining quality of comics is due to creators who prioritize their ideology above their professional standards. So much of the stuff I’ve seen is simply poorly crafted comics. They call attention to themselves by doing crap work. No lists needed.

BIC: I also read Marvel has had you on a blacklist for over 15 years. Is that true? How do you go from writing one of their best-selling comics with Punisher: War Zone to completely blacklisted?

Chuck: When you don’t fall in lockstep with everything Axel Alonso believes. Of course, which of us is still working in comics today?

BIC: Where do you see the comic book industry in the future. Do you see it sticking with the tried and true DC and Marvel or will we start to see it fracture along political lines?

Chuck: I think it will become like the music industry. Garage band kinds of comics that will find their own audience. The big comic book publishers have never really known, or tried to really market their product. Now that, for all intents, the major publishers have skipped a generation of readers, they’re going to have to work to get them back. And I don’t think they have the first clue as to how to do that.

We’ll be looking at more and more creator-owned, creator-marketed comics that don’t do huge numbers but are financially rewarding enough for the creators to keep doing what they love.

Nice little shiv there, with a twist. This is just an excerpt, read the whole thing there. Believe it or not, the machine that is known as The Legend Chuck Dixon has already scripted the first EIGHT issues of Chuck Dixon’s Avalon. #2 is being colored now, and we’re bringing on a second illustrator in order to get the entire 12-issue series out in a reasonably timely manner.

And yes, Vendetta is back and doing her thing.

THE PRICE OF A DRINK is the fourth issue in the RIGHT HO, JEEVES series, which tells of the travails of the inimitable Bertie Wooster, summoned from the comforts of #3A Berkley Mansions, London to Brinkley Manor by his imperious Aunt Dahlia.

In this issue, Gussie Fink-Nottle has summoned up the courage required to address the collected youth of Market Snodsbury, but it is a liquid courage. Not only that, but he has summoned up entirely too much of it, with hilarious and humiliating consequences for everyone involved.

Adapted from the classic Wodehouse novel by comics legend Chuck Dixon and drawn by SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN illustrator Gary Kwapisz, THE PRICE OF A DRINK is issue #4 of 6 in the RIGHT HO, JEEVES series.

And on a not-entirely-unconnected note, it appears that our competitors are experiencing difficulties and declining sales, which, of course, cannot possibly be connected to their convergence.

Comic book publishers are facing a growing crisis: Flagging interest from readers and competition from digital entertainment are dragging down sales. Hoping to reverse the trend, publishers are creating their own digital platforms to directly connect with readers and encourage more engagement from fans.

The goal is to reach readers who may not live near a comic book shop but want to keep up with the Avengers and the Justice League. Experts say the direct-to-consumer model also helps compete with streaming services like Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Video.

“They all look at Netflix and say, ‘Why do I need an intermediary?’” said Milton Griepp, the chief executive of ICv2, an online magazine that covers the industry. “That’s where this battle is being fought.”

Smaller comic book publishers are testing their own direct-to-consumer platforms. Image Comics, the publisher of popular titles like The Walking Dead and Saga, started a direct-to-consumer platform in 2015 to sell comic book subscriptions and apparel.

Of course, Arkhaven Comics already has a direct-to-consumer platform. The latest addition is the gold-logo print edition of Alt-Hero #2: Rebel’s Cell.

 Alt★Hero backers, please check your email. And if you would like to discuss the upcoming release, please do so in the forums. A little general discussion is all right here, but please avoid any details or spoilers.

DC Comics is now imitating Arkhaven Comics:

Apparently, things come in threes. This looks like the third reveal about DC Comics upcoming plans for their monthly comic book line. – only one of which they have admitted to. This morning, Bleeding Cool told you about DC’s exclusive Walmart anthologies, serialising new Batman comics by Brian Bendis and Superman comics by Tom King which then got confirmed everywhere.

We then told you that DC Comics were moving their $3.99 line of comics from 20-page stories to 22-page stories, to justify the price point and steal a march on Marvel Comics.

And now? As a result of their investment into the 100 page Walmart anthology titles and the print stock needed for those titles, DC Comics are going to shift from glossy paper to non-glossy paper for their entire line.

Arkhaven already prints on non-glossy paper. And we don’t do 20-page stories, but 24-page stories. 20 percent more for 25 percent less! Of course, our 24-page stories retail for only $2.99 and aren’t full of SJW preaching. Check out the print editions here.

Bounding Into Comics reviews Quantum Mortis #1:

The first issue of Quantum Mortis: A Man Disrupted from Vox Day and Arkhaven Comics is a lot of things rolled into one. It’s a classic adventure style/sci-fi/murder mystery/procedural drama all existing cohesively in a single comic book. It spends a lot of time setting up the main characters’ motivations and personalities while also laying out the groundwork for the mystery that will carry the story ahead in proceeding issues. While the potential for the story is exciting, those looking for a bit of action with their story will find themselves left a little wanting.

In the opening pages we are introduced to our main protagonist, Chief Warrant Officer Graven Tower. It only took a few panels for me to decide that I’m going to like this guy. He is at the same time charming and egotistical. He’s obviously full of himself, but he’s also incredibly competent and in that way, he reminds me of a Tony Stark-type character. The story begins by him getting involved in a murder mystery, not because he really wants to solve the thing, but because he has a crush on the responding officer, Detector Hildreth. He even pops a breath mint and checks his hair in the window when she shows up. Classic.

Read the whole thing there. They didn’t like it quite as much as either of the Alt-Hero issues, but they had some nice things to say about it. Don’t forget, it’s available in print and on Kindle/KU.

Jon Del Arroz explains why it is wrong for those on the Right to attack Right-wing creators:

I will not attack fellow creators on the right ever. We’re already under immense pressure from above. We’re being banned from conventions en masse. We’re being blacklisted from publishers by threats from industry professionals. There’s no way you can ever get me to talk smack about someone who’s struggling as an independent to create art and make it against these insurmountable odds.

Every time you do it, you are holding our movement down.

I know it sounds counter intuitive, as the media will lambast Person X and make them look really bad! If only we had respectable creators, well then they couldn’t lambast and that’s what we need, right?

It’s wrong. No one on our side is respectable to their media machine or legion of groupthinkers. No one is even HUMAN on our side according to them. So what if we have some ideological differences? So what if the artistic project isn’t my cup of tea? It’s not like it’s some giant corporate promoted propaganda, it’s an independent person doing it on their time, taking enormous risk.

I’m only here to lift up the movement. I don’t care about disagreeing with someone on minor matters, I don’t even care if I love the product they put out. There’s personal reasons their product is done the way they want — that’s what art is all about. Sometimes there’s financial reasons that it looks or feels a certain way as well.

So I urge you, if you don’t like a book or whatnot or someone on our side, don’t say anything.That’s the best you can do. You’re not obliged to promote everything, but don’t squash this movement in its infancy.

I absolutely agree. Look at how the Left does it. They unstintingly praise even the most shoddy, error-filled nonsense as brilliant works of genius. Look at how the Fake Right does it; you need only read the recent reviews of Jonah Goldberg’s eminently forgettable new book by all the neocons hailing it as “a new conservative classic” and praising it to the skies.

They do this because it works. Hell, look at how most of you genuinely believed – and some of you still believe – that Jordan Peterson is a brilliant and important intellectual on the basis of nothing more than an extensive public relations campaign that began back in 2004 at Wodek Szemberg’s house.

Now, you might ask how I can reasonably endorse Jon Del Arroz’s policy when I have so publicly criticized Richard Spencer, Jordan Peterson, Andrew Anglin, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, Ben Shapiro, Jonah Goldberg, and others. The answer is very simple: they are neither creators nor are they genuine men of the Right.

People repeatedly ask me to denounce, disavow, or otherwise attack men like Stefan Molyneaux, Mike Cernovich, John C. Wright, Larry Correia, and other men of the Right on the basis of our various philosophical and ideological disagreements. Don’t even bother. It’s not going to happen. Because I support what they are doing even though I don’t agree with them on everything.

In more ways than one. Stan Lee’s Marvel legacy is dissolving even as his health is failing:

Back in early February, fighting what he later called “a little bout of pneumonia,” 95-year-old Stan Lee had an argument with his 67-year-old daughter, J.C. This was hardly unusual, but it seems to have been a breaking point.

The comic book legend — whose creative tenure at the helm of Marvel Comics beginning in New York in the early 1960s spawned Spider-Man, Black Panther and the X-Men and laid the foundation for superhero dominance in Hollywood that continues with the April 27 release of Avengers: Infinity War — sat in the office of his attorney Tom Lallas and signed a blistering declaration.

The Feb. 13 document, obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, begins with some background, explaining that Lee and his late wife had arranged a trust for their daughter because she had trouble supporting herself and often overspent. “It is not uncommon for J.C. to charge, in any given month, $20,000 to $40,000 on credit cards, sometimes more,” the document states. It goes on to describe how, when he and his daughter disagree — “which is often” — she “typically yells and screams at me and cries hysterically if I do not capitulate.”

Lee explains that J.C. will, “from time to time,” demand changes to her trust, including the transfer of properties into her name. He has resisted such changes, he states, because they “would greatly increase the likelihood of her greatest fear: that after my death, she will become homeless and destitute.”

The declaration then explicates how three men with “bad intentions” — Jerardo “Jerry” Olivarez, Keya Morgan and J.C.’s attorney, Kirk Schenck — had improperly influenced his daughter, a woman with “very few adult friends.” The document claims the trio has “insinuated themselves into relationships with J.C. for an ulterior motive and purpose”: to take advantage of Lee and “gain control over my assets, property and money.”

Lee’s estate is estimated to be worth between $50 million and $70 million (it’s been reported he receives $1 million a year for his Marvel ties). And while his primary role with the company is now mostly ceremonial — including a cameo in nearly every film — he remains a deity in fanboy culture. Despite the fact that his health requires nursing care at home and on the road, up until his most recent illness, Lee was a jovial regular at international comic conventions, where he can draw thousands of paying autograph seekers.

A few days after the declaration was notarized, however, Lee changed his mind — or someone did. Whatever happened, Lallas was soon out as Lee’s attorney in a confrontation that grew tense enough that the LAPD was called to the legend’s Hollywood Hills home.

Whatever the truth of the matter is, it certainly isn’t pleasant.

Arkhaven Comics is very pleased to be able to announce the release of its first Gold Logo edition comic, RIGHT HO, JEEVES #2: Hungry Hearts. As of the moment, it is only available from Castalia Books direct, but you can already order it from your local bookstore, though not from your local comic book store… yet.

As for Amazon, at this point, who knows….

Anyhow, Right Ho, Jeeves #2 is 24 pages and retails for $2.99.

Now, I know some Alt★Hero backers are wondering if we’re actually working on it, but believe me, we are. Every single day, including weekends. Precisely ZERO of the people working on these other comics are also involved with either the Alt★Hero or the Avalon comics. We’re using these early releases to shake out the various bugs in the process and answer questions like “what paper can we use”, “to what extent can we push the margins”, “what retail price do we need to set in order to prevent the distribution database from discount-blocking us” and various other ones that literally no one could answer for us. Some of these things require experiments and we did not want to experiment with our primary products.

Which, by the way, is why I can tell you that both Alt★Hero and Avalon single issues will be published in the royal octavo size (same as Jeeves and QM) and will retail for $2.99.

My observation is that the combination of a) a distribution monopoly and b) SJW editors and content are the primary culprits for the ongoing collapse of the comics industry, which is on track to decline as much as 20 PERCENT in units this year. In corporate terms, that’s practically free fall.

However, Arkhaven writer Jon Del Arroz declares at Castalia House there are other content-related problems that merit mention, and lays the blame at the feet of three of the more influential comics writers of the last 30 years.

The industry has three major problems in its storytelling, which each one of these works exemplifies in three ways:

A focus on realism in a medium that by definition is absurd. Alan Moore’s Watchmen is what brought this on. The whole point of the book was to show real heroes growing old, having problems, being corrupt and dealing with real world issues and relationships – and by “real world” of course we mean a debaucherous romp of sex, drugs and violence, which no one relates to. Modern writers want to switch all their characters to this realism feel, which makes no sense when you have Asgardian gods who magically transform at the picking up of a hammer, or a nerd clinging to walls and swinging from rooftops. Realism has no place in such stories, and it’s painful to read boring stories about The Visions sitting at home pretending to eat meals even though they’re robots.

An obsession with rebooting mythology. This is Neil Gaiman’s hallmark. He’s made an entire career out of rebooting. If you look at Sandman, he takes classic mythological figures, imports them into a punk rock/goth 80s world and turns it into a weird horror story. When he worked for Marvel briefly, he rebooted Marvel as if the heroes had been born in the 1600s. American Gods, his novel, is about rebooting mythology again. His formula is obvious. It’s all he does, and it’s all DC and Marvel do now. It’s not selling? Let’s reboot Superman again with an all new #1. That’ll sell for the gimmick collector for a minute, but then when you degrade into the same, tired, unoriginal realism in storytelling, the sales plummet again. No one wants to read the revamped origin story for the umpteenth time, this time it’s the definitive, real version! The original worked just fine and remain in our memories, not the reboots.

Striving to be darker for shock value. This is where Frank Miller changed the game, and for the worse. Everything is gore. Everything is awful, dark, terrible. Characters are dying, whether it be from street thugs or from AIDS, everyone’s life is in the pits and sucks. The streets of New York or Gotham are pure cesspools of no hope, and pure grit. He paved the way for writers like Garth Ennis or Mark Millar to try to one up that grittiness, or Ed Brubaker to turn an optimistic character Captain America into some depressing, dark story with his Winter Soldier storyline. Guess what? You’ve just made sure every parent in America doesn’t buy these books because they know they’re not appropriate images for their kids to see, thereby turning off an entire generation of customers from getting attached to these works.

The three points above all are dangerous paths for lesser writers to tread, and do lead to even greater problems when EVERY story becomes a combination of these tropes, which is what we have in modern comics.

Jon isn’t just a critic, though. He’s putting his pen where his mouth is by translating Richard Fox’s popular Ember War series into comics that will be published later this year by Arkhaven. Check out the first two preview pages at the Arkhaven forums.

Taleb’s Skin in the Game is one of the best books I have read in some time. I’ll be doing a Voxiversity review of it in the future, but in the meantime, I thought that this observation from Fooled by Randomness was apt, in light of the participative legion of evil we have operating here. Some call it a fan club, others call it a cult, but I think “school of thought” is probably the most accurate description.

It may be a banality that we need others for many things, but we need them far more than we realize, particularly for dignity and respect. Indeed, we have very few historical records of people who have achieved anything extraordinary without such peer validation—but we have the freedom to choose our peers. If we look at the history of ideas, we see schools of thought occasionally forming, producing unusual work unpopular outside the school. You hear about the Stoics, the Academic Skeptics, the Cynics, the Pyrrhonian Skeptics, the Essenes, the Surrealists, the Dadaists, the anarchists, the hippies, the fundamentalists. A school allows someone with unusual ideas with the remote possibility of a payoff to find company and create a microcosm insulated from others. The members of the group can be ostracized together—which is better than being ostracized alone. If you engage in a Black Swan–dependent activity, it is better to be part of a group.

As I was reading this, it occurred to me that an easy way for people who would like to get involved  somehow but don’t have much time to do so in a very time-efficient manner is the translation of the comics. Translating the books is a labor-intensive bear, but the comics are much shorter and feature minimal text in comparison. If you’re native in German, French, or Italian, this would be a useful way to help us rapidly extend Arkhaven’s reach to the larger foreign markets now that we have global print distribution.

UPDATE: We have Italian. Now looking for German and French.