Stretch Goal 2

Now that the campaign has blown past its first stretch goal, it’s time to announce Stretch Goal #2. And that is a six-page introduction which will include all of the original HYPERGAMOUSE cartoons. This will increase the length of the regular editions to 124 pages and the coffee table book to 234 pages. Stretch Goal #2 is set at $60,000; the campaign is currently at 65 percent of that.

Below is an image of Mari as she was first conceived by the original artist on the left, and Mari as she was subsequently illustrated by Lacey Fairchild on the right. This introduction will make Volume 1 a comprehensive historical collection, and one well worth backing in order to add to one’s library. Imagine if an original first edition of PEANUTS had ever been produced in this manner and what that would be worth today.

Fandom Pulse recently published a nice article on the history of Arkhaven and the Hypergamouse campaign:

While Eric July and Ethan Van Sciver often dominate the conversation of the ant-woke sphere in comics, Arkhaven Comics has been building infrastructure and systems to produce thousands of pages of quality content in a host of different genres. Their Webtoon competitor website has reached over 15 million views, and their latest Kickstarter campaign, Hypergamouse, is a huge success after its first day live.

Arkhaven started in 2017 as a response to the woke nightmare that Marvel and DC Comics had become. Writer and publisher Vox Day created a crowdfund that shook the comic industry, with Alt-Hero raising more than $250,000 in its initial offering, which spawned a whole line of comics. Creators like Ya Boi Zack and Ethan Van Sciver saw the incredible amount a company could make on crowdfunding and ventured into their own books the year after Vox Day launched the first ComicsGate project, capitalizing on the momentum here.

But Vox Day didn’t stop there. He teamed up with many creators, including industry veteran Chuck Dixon, who’s been creating an incredible amount of work through Arkhaven’s site, including fan favorites such as My Sister Suprema and Something Big.

Another hit on the Arkhaven website has been Lacey Fairchild’s Hypergamouse. A comedy strip focused on the socio-sexual hierarchy, Fairchild combines the anthropomorphic slice-of-life humor of old newspaper comics with modern theming, making Hypergamouse something special for readers.

In the interest of precision, I would point out that calling Alt-Hero the first ComicsGate project is correct in the original sense of the term that referred to a consciously anti-mainstream independent comic. Obviously, it predated both the term and the trademark, and the only Arkhaven project that was even tangentially related to ComicsGateTM was the original publication of Gun Ghoul, which was very briefly produced under a ComicsGate imprint. Old school gamers will immediately recognize the significance of the colors.

I think it’s also worth noting that Arktoons will hit 16 million views in October. And speaking of Arktoons, looks who’s back and rolling with a new chapter on Arktoons again.

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DBD Arrives on Arktoons

Chris Muir’s Day by Day has been a popular comic strip for more than two decades. So we’re very pleased to see him bringing not one, but two series to Arktoons, the first of which is Day by Day In the USSA.

Day by Day is an American political webcomic by Chris Muir. The humor usually centers on four principal characters who had initially been presented as co-workers at an unspecified firm until the firm went out of business on December 25, 2007. Romantic relationships among the principals resulted in marriages and children, with one of the couples opening a small bar in the unnamed Texas Rio Grande Valley ranchland in which the strip is now principally set. These characters, their friends, and their families remain the strip’s focus.

In other Arktoons news, JDA will be bringing Overmind to Arktoons soon now that his Ayla Rin crowdfund has been successfully completed.

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Hypergamouse Lives!

They can deplatform. They can demonetize. They can cancel our campaigns. But they can’t stop Lacey from drawing. In Episode 112, Dag finds himself summoned to HR.

UPDATE: Fandom Pulse has published an article observing some of the interesting facets of BackerKit’s subjective application of its Community Guidelines. Sure, it might sound like a stretch, but that’s the point about the extremely expansive language that was utilized against Hypergamouse. I mean, how many creators there have an “association” of some kind with Neil Gaiman, who is credibly accused of serial off-platform harassment dating back to 1986.

The irony of the post banning a project for “association” is that BackerKit hosts a myriad of projects, and a cursory look into the creators could reveal some questionable associations.

Brandon Sanderson recently crowdfunded a book on their platform, for instance. Tor Books published Sanderson, and Tor Books had a problem in 2013 with an employee accused of sexual harassment. Under these guidelines, Brandon Sanderson would be “associated” with something that violates their Community Guidelines as per the below paragraph’s listing of off-platform “harassment” as part of their stated terms of service.

BackerKit has not reached out to ban Brandon Sanderson as of this writing.

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BackerKit is Converged

Apparently it was a bad idea to consider utilizing BackerKit’s new crowdfunding platform. The SJWs in their Trust and Safety department refused to approve the HYPERGAMOUS Volume 1 campaign.

Subject: Important Message from BackerKit Trust & Safety
Date: Thu, 12 Sep 2024 18:17:14 +0000
From: BackerKit Trust & Safety trustandsafety@backerkit.com
Reply-To: trustandsafety@backerkit.com

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

We should have simply stuck with Kickstarter, which has gotten considerably more pragmatic over the years since getting rid of a number of thought police who had been running its Trust & Safety police. And so the culture wars continue…

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Called on the Carpet

HYPERGAMOUSE is back on Arktoons… and it looks as if Dag might be in a bit of trouble at the office with the Big Cheese. Whatever shall he do?

MIDNIGHT’S WAR: NIGHT STREETS is going strong as well, as the Bloodhound of Caedis Nex makes his first appearance in the comic. But more importantly, it’s time for those who are planning to support either the HYPERGAMOUSE Vol. 1 book or the SIGMA GAME book to make themselves known. We’re trying out yet another new platform; this one promises to be much better about permitting us to know exactly what items go to which backer.

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