ARKS The Groundbreaking Science Faction Comic

Just look at...
about 1 year ago – Tue, Mar 25, 2025 at 03:24:46 PM

... your massive pile of comics!

We are nearly ready to ship for the Arks Issue Five Kickstarter. We are very close but... 

... MURPHY'S LAW STRIKES!

Frustratingly though Murphys Law has struck as its does when your book is already delayed. We've had a few little hiccups + missed deadlines which has set us back a bit... I am hoping this will only delay us by a few weeks though so people should still start to receive their books both physical and digital in April. 

HO-HUM SISYPHUS 

Sometimes I feel like i'm a ho-hum sisyphus making their disaster-piece in a dying medium. Other times I feel like i'm connected to the secret truth of the universe and i'm telling a story like no other. 

In 2024 I wrote all 8 issues of Arks Proximan with Natalie Malla. This was a personal best for me in the writing department and I never thought I would top it. But in the past 8 weeks whilst finalising the book I have been feeling something. I don't know what it is, it could be the Ley Lines that run underneath old London town or a good old fashioned brain tumour, but I have written a 100 page treatment for the following five Arks Volumes after this storyline is complete. 

They existed before as notes and research in a doc. Now they exist as:

• Arks Ex Corpi ( 3 issue miniseries)
• Arks Trypto ( 8 issue series)
• Arks Scry ( 8 issue series)
• Arks Titaness ( 8 issue series) 
• Arks Ad Corpi ( 3 issue miniseries)

Like future Arks Proximans, each issue will aim to be between 20 and 25 pages long. We'll be making books that are easily produceable in a year, that open up the incredible new planes of existence that our terrifying, time traveling, genre bending network of sci-fi bio-punk horror allows. 

Telling you all this now when we are 3 months overdue on our latest book is probably a huge/tiny mistake but I wanted to share it anyway. At our current rate of production it would take 20 years to produce all these books (the rest of my productive life) so we'll need more artists, more publishers, more of everything. More more more. But anyway, it's good to have a goal.

More updates very soon!

Until then check out this awesome kickstarter!

Monkey Vol. 1-2 - A Trippy Post-Apocalyptic Action Comedy!

Zeo Niu is an absolute sweet heart and her latest Kickstarter is incredible! And when Allen Ginsberg likes it you know it must be fire!

Is Monkey a punk rock hero, an unhinged jester, or the true savior of the new world?

History’s coolest figures meet history’s coolest monsters in Monkey.

"I think I just smoked weed with a monkey." - Allen Ginsberg

“Did Monkey’s friend just have sexual intercourse with Marylin Monroe?!” - John F. Kennedy Jr.

Holy S**T
over 1 year ago – Thu, Feb 20, 2025 at 06:51:07 AM

Holy S**t it's nearly done!

• Artwork on issue 5 is complete (just a bit of snagging to do)!
• Pages sent to our letterer
• Appendix pages are complete
• Polyptychs off to the printers
• Reprints of Volume One, Issue 4 & Proximan all at the printers 
• Pre-order store is open for anyone that missed the campaign here
• And with a fair wind the digital rewards will be with you late March with the comics dropping through your letterbox in April (printing snafus aside :)

IT'S CHARGING!

Which means, a little heads up, we will be charging cards for shipping this week. As the book is bigger than we'd planned, we're expecting that the postage calculations we made pre print will be out, but that's just the way that cookie crumbles for us on this occasion and we'll take that hit. We'd rather you all had a bumper comic than not! 

Circumnavigate

We're also going to be sending out a bi monthly newsletter, which will draw on some news included in our updates, as well as other topics. It'll also allow us to continue conversations with fans that aren't on Kickstarter and try and circumnavigate the algorithms on social platforms which are tricky spaces to get any cut through. 

Which will be particularly important for us as we try and increase the noise around Arks amongst, sci-fi fans, syn bio, science and all things future fans. More on that to follow!

Arks Appendix sneaky peeky

And as a little reward for getting to the bottom of the update here is page 2 of 5 for the Arks Issue Five Appendix!

Thanks so much everyone, more soon!

Holly & Rory 

Can't stop what's coming*
over 1 year ago – Sat, Jan 25, 2025 at 10:56:51 AM

To borrow a line from one of my favourite movies;

'Can't stop what's coming'*

We're 9 pages away from art complete on Arks Issue Five. It's later than we intended but it's also bigger and better than intended, coming in at a whooping 60 pages ( 3 x the the size of a conventional comic book) with a huge 5 page appendix as a little thank you / sweetener for our later than planned delivery.

We hope to begin shipping in March so Arks Issue Five should be dropping through letterboxes this April.

We won't be immediately returning with a Kickstarter for Arks Issue Six / Proximan #2 but we will be beginning production on them this year. When we return with these books they will be closer to completion to help avoid delays. 

5 page Arks Appendix added!

As mentioned above Arks Issue Five will have a five page Arks Appendix. I wrote an insane amount of lore for the Shitty Grandchildren and the War of Light stretch goal and it occurred to me that as the book would land in the no-mans land between 52 / 56 inside pages, that this was a perfect opportunity to include all the lore with out having to do any pesky editing. Giving you maximal sci-fi lore goodness for your Kickstarter buck.

10 BACKERKIT SURVEYS TO GO!

And to round us out, a little housekeeping - we just have 10 people who haven't let us know where to send their comics. We will be locking orders in the next two weeks and shortly after charging cards for shipping. So to make any last minute changes/or check if you're one of the 10 click - YOUR SURVEY 

And that's it for now guys. Thanks so much

Rory & Holly

*This line is from what movie? Answer in comments :)  

Resolutions
over 1 year ago – Tue, Dec 17, 2024 at 05:51:12 AM

Ooooffff - this year has been a long one, hasn't it? But it also seems to have passed by in a blink! It's the weird paradox of getting older: everything seems to take an age and yet be over in an instant.

Arks Issue Five looks incredible - I know I say this every year, but it is definitely our best book yet! At 46 pages, it's our second biggest to date too.

This is one of the reasons why my being bad at making comic books is good for you, the reader. If I were good at this, there would be a single issue 20-page book every six months. Instead, you get a double-length, 46-page whopper once a year that costs about the same as a single issue, which is great value for money. ;3

That's why next year we will be making some New Year's resolutions and doing something we have never done before: actually selling the comic. In 2025, we will dedicate our time to selling the book online, in stores, and trying to promote Arks to reach a larger audience. It's not lost on us that this will be the third time we are delivering a book a few months late. We're not doing anything wrong per se; we're just working beyond our capacity, and we need to catch up before we run out of oomph!

We plan to return with a Kickstarter for Arks Issue 6 or Proximan #2 at some point next year, but unlike previous campaigns, we won't be returning immediately with a new campaign after Arks Issue Five has shipped, which we're hoping will be late March/early April 2025.

THE RESULTS ARE IN!

So the results are in for the Page 37 alt panel. Alt A has 7 votes. An Alt B has 9 votes, so Alt B (angry, ready to kill) is the winner! Also A Morris is a total mensch and has coloured up both alt panels, which you can see below. 

Alt A - Scared, falling into the water! (loser)

Alt B - Angry, ready to kill! (winner)

HAPPY CHRUMBUS FROM EVERYONE AT CSW!

Hope you have a lovely holiday and as a little treat here's a christmas sack full of SPOILER WARNINGS! 

We will be back with an update in January 2025. Until then don't go back and count the votes from the last update because I know some of you will. (me, Holly and drunken friends get votes too) }:>

Thanks v much

 Rory

Hungry Hippos!
over 1 year ago – Tue, Nov 12, 2024 at 05:18:21 AM

Straight to business - NEW PAGES!

A or B

Our incredibly talented artist Andrew Morris is not just better at art than us. He's also better at socials. We were undecided about the third panel of a page he's pencilling at the moment and he suggested we get you guys to decide.

Highlighted in purple you'll see two alts of the third panel from the end of the Issue Five (page 37) when Lilith goes back down into the barrow under the house. Simply put A or B into the comments of this update and we will choose you're favourite :)

Alt A - Scared, falling into the water!

Alt B - Angry, ready to kill!

THOUGHT BUBBLE THIS WEEKEND!

Over the past 5 years i've exhibited at about 20 conventions up and down the UK. To some i'm an industry chad and to others i'm a filthy casual who needs to get their numbers up.

Basically I've been doing this long enough to have an informed opinion, and I think Thought Bubble is the greatest comic convention in the UK.

Not only is it a comic convention with actual comic books (which is pretty rare these days) but published legends exhibit their work next to new indie creators doing their first ever con. It's a bloody wonderful sight!   

Imagine a deranged game of hungry hippos where creators (the hippos) compete side by side for comics fans (the marbles). THAT'S THE ENERGY! Or the creators are the marbles and the fans are the hippos. I don't know. This metaphor is out of control.  

Anyway, don't think about it- if you are in the UK just come! Get eaten by some great stories. Feed the hippos. Keep the game alive.

We're are in the RED SHIRT HALL: Table C22

+ Side Story ;3

We exhibited at New Scientist Live last month ( We were the first comic book to do so which i'm very proud of). Anyway our display shell had the heading- Arks: the science faction comic. I put this down thoughtlessly when it asked how we'd like to appear on their website, not realising that it would be on the shell and it drove the scientists wild! Some thought it was a spelling mistake (nerds love to correct you) and others were super curious and bought a book. Anyway we completely sold out of comics and we have finally found our strap line! 

So we made new banners...

Will they work? Come to Thought Bubble this weekend or the Birmingham MCM at the end of the month to find out.

THE BIRMINGHAM MCM / 29th Nov - 1st Dec at the Birmingham NEC

More in Dec ;)

Rory