Arkhaven Comics

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Arkhaven Comics logo

Arkhaven Comics is a comics imprint created by the publishers Castalia House that was started in early 2018. It publishes both paper and digital comics, and focuses on developing original comics titles and series. Its best-known title is Alt★Hero and its most famous writer is the award-winning creator of Bane, Chuck Dixon. The company also utilizes the Dark Legion Comics imprint, which publishes comics created by other individuals and companies.

History

The imprint started as a project to create comics that were free from the dominant political influence of the two major comics publishing houses Marvel and DC Comics. These houses were widely believed to have increasingly come under the influence of a so-called social justice trend. Both publishing houses have been reported to have suffered from declining comics sales of nearly 10 percent annually as they introduced more characters said to be politically correct, even as the value of their brands and traditional intellectual property have increased significantly. Arkhaven has enjoyed rapid growth and multiple Amazon bestsellers as a result.

The imprint has been exceptionally successful at crowdfunding, as its three campaigns undertaken to support the creation of new series have averaged over $160,000 each.

In 2020, Arkhaven started to publish numerous comics online, in the format of serialized webtoons.[1] In April 2021, the new online comics platform Arktoons was announced. It features vertically-displayed comics panels in the Webtoons style that are easier to read on smartphones and tablets.[2]

Titles

Quantum Mortis Vol 1

Arkhaven Comic's first series is called "Quantum Mortis - A Man Disrupted". Issue #1 is titled "By the Book". As of January 11, 2018, it had 19 reviews, averaging 4.5 stars out of 5.[3] "Quantum Mortis: A Man Disrupted #2: Zero Zero Tango" was released in June 2018.[4]. Some months after the digital release, the gold logo print edition of Quantum Mortis: A Man Disrupted #3: "A Secret Love" was released in standard comic size for $2.99 at Castalia Direct.[5] Quantum Mortis: A Man Disrupted #4: "We Regret to Inform" was released in CBZ and Kindle formats for $2.99 in early February 2019. Quantum Mortis #5 was announced for April 2020.[6]

Other titles announced in late January 2018 included the "Right Ho, Jeeves" graphic novel series based on the works of P.G. Wodehouse.[7] "Right Ho, Jeeves #4: The Price of a Drink"[8] was released in July 2018. Kindle issue #5, "Gussie at Bay", was released on September 22. The final issue, #6, "A Hero at Brinkley", was released on November 17.[9] By then the first three issues were also available in print.[10] An omnibus paperback of the complete series was released in early December 2018, titled: "The Complete Right Ho, Jeeves".

Also in development was the new fantasy series "Saga of the Swan Knight" by Will Caligan, based on the John C. Wright trilogy.[11] This 12-issue series was announced after a FreeStartr campaign, and is to be succeeded by the 6-issue series "The Stars Came Back", based on the Rolf Nelson novel.[12]

Issue #1 of the Alt★Hero series, titled "Crackdown", was released in print on May 30, 2018 to positive reviews.[13] Alt★Hero titles continued to be released through the Summer of 2018, with Issue #4 released in September, followed by #5 in December.[14] Alt★Hero #6: "The Dark Hunt" was released in digital formats in late February 2019.[15]

In July 2018, Arkhaven released the first issue of a new series by prolific comic book writer Chuck Dixon. Also set in the world of Alt★Hero, "Chuck Dixon's Avalon #1: The Street Rules" features art by Frank Fosco.[16][17] The Gold Logo edition of "Chuck Dixon's Avalon #2: Rulebreaker" was sold on Arkhaven Direct for $2.99.[18] Chuck Dixon’s Avalon #3: "The Conscience of the King" was released in digital formats in early February 2019,[19] and in a gold logo print edition at the end of the month. In July, Chuck Dixon's Avalon #4: "Hit Charade" was released online.[20]

Arkhaven continued to publish further titles in the Alt★Hero lines, such as Alt★Hero: Chuck Dixon's Avalon and Alt★Hero: Q, as well as other series.[21][22] On October 11, 2018, the successful Alt★Hero: Q crowdfunding campaign was shut down retroactively by Indiegogo, allegedly for politically progressive reasons. The shutdown was a small part of 2018's online "censorship wars", that had seen the deplatforming of right-wing content creators. A class action lawsuit against the site was pending. [23] Within weeks, Arkhaven reported they had independently raised the needed money.[24] Jon Del Arroz's "The Ember War" Arkhaven Comics campaign continued on Indiegogo. Alt★Hero:Q issue #1 "Where We Go One" was released in digital formats in early April 2019, and in print two months later.[25]

The superhero romance comic "Flying Sparks" by Jon Del Arroz was released in January 2019 in high-resolution CBZ format.[26]

In early 2020, an upcoming six-issue comic special adaptation of Vox Day's novel "A Throne of Bones" was announced under Chuck Dixon.[27] Arkhaven's first individual superhero series will focus on Shade, who appeared in the first volume of Alt★Hero. It will be written by Chuck Dixon and illustrated by Cliff Cosmic.[28][29]

The short-format sociopolitical[30] comic series "Hypergamouse" premiered on Webtoons.[31] Chuck Dixon started work on the retro 60’s story "Go, Monster, Go!" with Tim Lattie, also for Webtoons.[32] In June 2020, Arkhaven published the four part vampire comics series "Midnight's War" on Webtoons.[33][34]

In other media

In July 2019, imprint co-founder Vox Day announced that production had begun on the first Arkhaven film, to be titled Rebel's Run. It would be made by the new film production company Viral Films Media. Scooter Downey was announced as the film's director.[35][36][37]

Also see

  • Dark Legion Comics, another Castalia House imprint that publishes completed titles and series by independent comics artists

References

  1. April 9, 2020 | http://voxday.blogspot.com/2020/04/experiments.html
  2. March 21, 2021 | https://boundingintocomics.com/2021/04/21/vox-day-and-arkhaven-comics-announce-webtoons-alternative-arktoons/
  3. (retrieved Jan 11, 2018) https://www.amazon.com/QUANTUM-MORTIS-Man-Disrupted-Book-ebook/dp/B078VV5FJK
  4. http://voxday.blogspot.com/2018/06/review-quantum-mortis-issue-2.html | June 30, 2018.
  5. March 9, 2019. http://voxday.blogspot.com/2019/03/qmamd-3-in-print.html
  6. http://voxday.blogspot.com/2020/04/pencilsdown.html
  7. January 12, 2018 |http://voxday.blogspot.com/2018/01/right-ho-jeeves-1-now-on-preorder.html | http://amzn.to/2Dp4nhv
  8. http://voxday.blogspot.com/2018/07/right-ho-jeeves-4.html | July 23, 2018.
  9. (Nov 17, 2018) http://voxday.blogspot.com/2018/11/right-ho-jeeves-6.html
  10. (Nov 8, 2018) http://voxday.blogspot.com/2018/11/right-ho-jeeves-3-now-in-print.html
  11. (Feb 15, 2018) http://voxday.blogspot.com/2018/02/the-saga-is-underway.html
  12. (Feb 05, 2018) http://voxday.blogspot.com/2018/02/will-caligans-comic-results.html
  13. http://voxday.blogspot.com/2018/05/announcing-alt-hero-1-crackdown-print.html / https://www.amazon.com/Alt-Hero-1-Crackdown-Vox-Day/dp/9527303001/
  14. http://voxday.blogspot.com/2018/12/althero-issue-5.html
  15. February 27, 2019: http://voxday.blogspot.com/2019/02/althero-6-dark-hunt.html
  16. July 15th, 2018 ; http://www.castaliahouse.com/arkhaven-new-release-chuck-dixons-avalon-the-street-rules/ ; Castalia House blog post by Nathan
  17. http://voxday.blogspot.com/2018/07/chuck-dixons-avalon-1.html | July 15, 2018.
  18. (Oct 3, 2018) http://voxday.blogspot.com/2018/10/chuck-dixons-avalon-2-rulebreaker.html
  19. February 1, 2019: http://voxday.blogspot.com/2019/02/chuck-dixons-avalon-3.html
  20. (Jul 5, 2019) http://voxday.blogspot.com/2019/07/chuck-dixons-avalon-4.html
  21. Castalia House blog (Jan 8, 2018) http://www.castaliahouse.com/introducing-arkhaven-comics/
  22. Vox Popoli blog (Jan 8, 2018) http://voxday.blogspot.com/2018/01/introducing-arkhaven.html
  23. (Oct 11, 2018) https://boundingintocomics.com/2018/10/11/indiegogo-shuts-down-vox-day-and-arkhaven-comics-alt-hero-q-crowdfund-campaign/
  24. (Nov 5, 2018) https://boundingintocomics.com/2018/11/05/after-indiegogo-shuts-down-alt-hero-q-vox-day-raises-huge-money-in-just-two-days/
  25. April 10, 2019: http://voxday.blogspot.com/2019/04/ahq-1-now-available.html | June 2, 2019: http://voxday.blogspot.com/2019/06/ahq-1-in-print.html
  26. http://voxday.blogspot.com/2019/01/sparks-flying-at-arkhaven.html | official site: http://arkhavencomics.com/product/flyingsparks/
  27. (Jan 22, 2020) http://voxday.blogspot.com/2020/01/a-throne-of-bones-six-issue-special.html
  28. (Apr 2, 2020) http://voxday.blogspot.com/2020/04/shade-is-coming.html
  29. https://boundingintocomics.com/2020/04/02/vox-day-announces-new-alt-hero-spin-off-series-shade-from-writer-chuck-dixon/
  30. about the concept of "Game" | http://voxday.blogspot.com/2020/04/introducing-hypergamouse.html
  31. (June 2, 2020) http://voxday.blogspot.com/2020/06/intimidating-intelligence.html
  32. (May 8, 2020) http://voxday.blogspot.com/2020/05/go-monster-go.html
  33. Day, Vox | June 29th, 2020 | https://voxday.blogspot.com/2020/06/the-etiquette-of-evil.html
  34. Webtoons Short Story contest | https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/midnights-war/list?title_no=463673
  35. (July 3, 2019) http://voxday.blogspot.com/2019/07/rebels-run.html
  36. First teaser trailer: https://vimeo.com/345389018
  37. Online discussion (retrieved July 4, 2019) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPC2dK7XK10