#Arkhaven INFOGALACTIC #Castalia House
Detective Inspector Celise is on the case in MIDNIGHT’S WAR: NIGHT STREETS. Ademir is already on the home stretch, so we might even be able to get the second omnibus out to the backers before Christmas. Jury is still out on who will illustrate the third one.
The Bloodhound does his thing in MIDNIGHT’S WAR: NIGHT STREETS. The Legend has finished the final script and Ademir is now illustrating the last 24 pages, so we’ll almost certainly be getting the omnibus out to backers this year.
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.
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.comHello,
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…
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.
Apparently someone is breaking into the library at the Silent Academy. Breaking into libraries is most certainly something of which we do NOT approve. Unless, of course, you really want to read the book…
There is a revelation in the library. But the Silent Academy is a school for assassins, after all.
CALVIN AND HOBBES has turned out to be a warning about the bureaucratic madness of Clown World.
While the comic seems like a light and cheery look into childhood, there are very dark undertones. Like the main character in “Adventure Time” doesn’t realize he lives in a nuclear wasteland, “Calvin and Hobbes” is set in a world that has no place for a rambunctious boy. There’s an inherent loneliness permeating the comic from the title on, that Calvin only has an imaginary friend who understands what makes him tick. Calvin never comes across a figure that can channel his energies toward finding his way in the world…
Susie Derkins, on the other hand, has the world catered to her sensibilities. She loves school because she loves the accolades she receives from authority figures. Her aspirations, whether they are having kids or being a girl-boss, are catered to and considered mature. Whenever she gets harassed by Calvin, authority figures immediately swoop in to defend her. It’s not her fault the world she was born into gave her more advantages and comfort, and there’s nothing wrong with her taking advantage of it. She’s just in a protective bubble, and has no understanding of what is required to keep her small world turning.
In a way, the comic showed the stark realities of being a young boy trying to find his way. He is surrounded by types like Susie Derkins, who can’t help but be Susie Derkins. The real failure happens in the men who should have been there for him, channeling his energies toward finding a place in the world, and pushing back against the busybodies and scolds who want him to act more like a pliable, conformist little girl.
It’s a good piece, well worth reading for any fan of the comic.
The “no place for X” crowd and the deplatformers don’t seem to have grasped where their logic leads. It is inevitable that eventually, we will build a society with neither space nor platform for them.
Neil Gaiman turning out to be a potentially criminal creep doesn’t surprise me in the least; I read Sandman after the success of the Alt-Hero campaign made it clear we were getting into comics. But this news from Fandom Pulse was definitely eyebrow-raising:
Fandom has been rocked by a new scandal at San Diego Comic-Con involving a human trafficking sting set up by the California Attorney General. According to the California Department of Justice Website, Attorney General Rob Bonta announced a sting at San Diego Comic-Con, where police and other government agencies set honeytraps for men looking to pay for sex at the convention. Fourteen different men were arrested as sex buyers, though the task force didn’t mention that any of the actual traffickers had been brought to justice. The state also claims ten young women were liberated from their enslavers who had been forced into performing these acts.
“Unfortunately, sex traffickers capitalize on large-scale events such as Comic-Con to exploit their victims for profit,” Attorney General Rob Bonta said. “These arrests send a clear message to potential offenders that their criminal behavior will not be tolerated. We are grateful to all our dedicated partners involved in the San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force, whose collaboration has been invaluable. We take great pride in our office’s commitment to uplifting vulnerable Californians by offering them assistance and guidance when they need it most.”
The joint task force included San Diego Sheriff Kelly Martinez, San Diego Police Chief Wahl, HSI special agents Christopher Davis, and NCIS special agent Nicholas Carter.
I understand that a lot of my readers are far more interested in US politics, war, economics, and religion than they are in what sometimes must appear to be a tempest in a fairly small teapot. But this reluctance to pay attention to the details of the high ground in the cultural war is one reason that Clown World has successfully managed to subvert Western civilization in general and the USA in particular.
I’ve never watched a Mr. Beast video. But tens of millions of children have, and they are influenced by the hedonistic, secular, and ultimately satanic philosophy being pushed by him. I don’t own a single Neil Gaiman book, comic, or movie, and few of you probably read him either, but he’s one of the best-selling, most highly-awarded authors of the last forty years.
If you don’t fight a cultural war, you will lose it, and then you will lose your culture. That’s why these things matter, even if you don’t happen to care very much about that particular battleground. Because they certainly do; here is but one of many similar examples.
NG’s work means so much to me that I’m existing like one big, walking sunk cost fallacy atm. There really are no other comparable authors to me personally when it comes to inspiration to write, learning to love reading, escapism… good quotes. And, until recently, belief that there are some genuinely good people of the celebrity kind still. The Netflix adaptation of my beloved comic Sandman has been, and continues to be, one of my most intense hyperfixations and sources of joy in an otherwise bleak world. And I know so well that the reason the series became a reality and is so good is precisely because of NG’s tight involvement.
The Sandman adaptation is terrible, by the way. Literally unwatchable. Spacebunny and I didn’t even make it to the second episode. The Gaiman cult is like a sad and twisted parody of the Tolkien cult, but that doesn’t mean they deserve their collective treatment at the hands of their contemptuous, contemptible idol.
