We Got the Look

This is why it’s pointless to “update” one’s look. I don’t know if it’s still true that significantly changing the appearance of one’s site costs a significant amount of the daily traffic, but I figure it’s best not to take any chances.

Frankly, I like our Arkhaven logo better than any of these, even though it was clearly inspired by the 1976-2005 version. Speaking of DC, rumors are buzzing again about it shutting down the editorial staff and being turned into a licensing house. From Fandom Pulse:

We’ve known DC Comics has been in trouble for some time. The company has failed to move the needle with any of its initiatives in recent years, with their “Rebirth” reboot of their lines collapsing faster than any in history, which led to a “Dawn of DC” secondary soft reboot that couldn’t even generate any top books for the Big two publisher. Now, retailers and insider sources are saying troubles are even worse for the company with a failed summer event in Mark Waid’s Absolute Power leading to talk of selling off the comic IPs entirely.

Of course Absolute Power failed. You can’t fix convergence with SJWs anymore than you can cure cancer with more cancer.

DISCUSS ON SG


Marvel Comics on the Chopping Block

Fandom Pulse reports that the long-anticipated collapse of a comics giant may be right around the corner.

Disney might have accidentally dropped some damning news for the mainstream comic industry in the form of a job listing. Comic shops have been struggling at all-time lows for sales heading into the second half of 2024, and now, it appears as if Marvel Comics may be on the chopping block.

Now a job posting has surfaced which appears like Marvel Comics might be folding into Marvel Studios. Marvel Studios went through a recent round of layoffs after the MCU’s underperformance, and Disney+ numbers are reaching new lows to pair with their comic book partners. It seems that Disney might be seeing redundancy in having a Hollywood apparatus for these properties and a comic publisher as well.

The job posting, listed on May 20th, is looking for a Publishing Operations Analyst. The duties of this position follow the weekly schedules of production of monthly books—much like Marvel Comics does with its regular publishing schedule.

The job is clearly listed as being a part of Marvel Studios, which marks a change from being involved with Marvel Comics. Fans and industry insiders are speculating that this might be the cancelation of Marvel Comics as an autonomous publishing line, which would fold the operation into Marvel Studios as a whole.

The fact that Disney just laid off 14 percent of its Pixar workforce yesterday tends to lend credibility to the speculation. And given that the only value to Disney is the Marvel IP, which despite the degeneration of the MCU movies remains valuable and potentially very profitable, shutting down the loss-generating comics and focusing on movies and merchandise would be a wise business move. But it will have a devastating effect on the remnants of the mainstream comics industry, which is already reeling from the collapse of the distribution channel.

And it will, of course, be great news for independent comics publishers, such as Arkhaven, and independent creators like Chuck Dixon, Razorfist, Eric July, and Ethan van Sciver.

Onward and upward, as they used to say…

UPDATE: Fandom Pulse is moving to Substack.

Due to censorship from FB/Google, Fandom Pulse will move completely to Substack starting June 1.

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Wednesday Arktoons

THE SIDEWINDERS Episode 54: A Figure in Black

GIVE MY REGARDS TO BLACK JACK Episode 56: A Social Evil

CHATEAU GRIEF Episode 354: What’s the Ammo

REBEL DEAD REVENGE Episode 113: Even in Death

A MIND PROGRAMMED Episode 50: An Almost Preternatural Calm

FRANKENSTEIN – THE RETURN Episode 35: World of Monsters

SHOTGUN SAMURAI Episode 27: Shotgun Samurai

WOKELYCORRECT Episode 3: Black and White

STONETOSS Episode 291: It Can Weight





Thursday Arktoons

WARDOGS INC. Episode 38: Infiltration

WOKELYCORRECT Episode 2: Finally Dead

CHATEAU GRIEF Episode 353: Super Duper

THE GOLDEN AGE Episode 19: Killing the Dream

ALT★HERO: Q Episode 81: Human Nature

CHUCK DIXON PRESENTS: ADVENTURE Episode 113: Under Antarctic Ice

STONETOSS Episode 290: Come Out Ahead

三更战 Episode 31: 大和谐

BEN GARRISON Episode 144: Best TDS Oscar

Don’t forget to subscribe to the new Arkhaven substack. We’ll have some news about GHOST OF THE BADLANDS tomorrow.


The Arkhaven Substack

The Castalia Library substack has been so popular, and so useful in providing Library and History subscribers with updated information about the production process and necessary shipping news that it is obvious that we need the same thing for Arkhaven Comics, especially in light of the delays in shipping Ghost of the Badlands to the recent retail purchasers.

More about that soon, hopefully later today, but the TL;DR version is that the first printing of the retail editions had a problem, so we fixed it, sent out copies to Razorfist for approval, and we’re waiting for him to receive them and approve the revised editions for shipping out to everyone.

One can theorize as to the whys and wherefores all one likes, but the simple fact of the matter is that provably Substack works to keep a community informed in a timely manner much better than a blog, a mass-mailing service, a social media site, the post, or carrier pigeons.

So, if you are a) an Arkhaven buyer, b) an Arkhaven backer, c) an Arktoons reader, or d) an Arktoons creator, I would very strongly encourage you to subscribe to the Arkhaven substack in order to keep up on all the latest news related to our print and digital comics.

REBEL DEAD REVENGE Episode 112: I’ll Deal With You Later

CROSS+WORD Episode 8: Party Time

A MIND PROGRAMMED Episode 49: Expendable Tools

上嫁小鼠 Episode 37: 是好是坏

STONETOSS Episode 289: Lost Civilization

DISCUSS ON SG


Monday Arktoons

STONETOSS Episode 288: Malgorithm

THE SIDEWINDERS Episode 53: The Riders Strike

BEN GARRISON Episode 143: Let Them Eat Cake

三更战 Episode 30: 三更之统治者

INVASION ’55 Episode 2: TOne Hundred and Eighty Million Years Later

AESOPS FABLES Episode 40: The Horse and Groom

TREASURY OF TALES Episode 47: The Three Little Pigs

PAPER DOLL VERONIKA Episode 101: Downhill Tales

CHATEAU GRIEF Episode 325: Hush Puppy

GIVE MY REGARDS TO BLACK JACK Episode 55: Reality