Arctos Comics

I’m not a whiner, nor usually a beggar, but I figure best be honest about what’s going on and hope. Like a lot of comics guys getting their own thing rolling, I’ve been self-funding Arctos Comics from my day job as a web and graphic designer. I live in Michigan, those of you who pay attention to the ecomnomic updates coming from Michigan may see where this is going.

I got laid off today.

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We got a better deal on our t-shirts than we originally thought so we’ve cut the price to $10 + shipping.

Great artwork by Joe Querio and you can get it signed by Joe and I for free if you’d like.

Chapter 1 of Orion the Hunter will be complete on Tuesday of next week with Episode 11. Soon after we’ll be releasing Chapter 1 as a high resolution digital download featuring a cover by Joe Querio and a pin up by one of our upcoming guest artists — Guy Davis (the 2009 Eisner Winner), Larry Stroman (of Alien Legion fame), or Jim Califiore ( of Aquaman and Exiles).

The digital editions will be $1 and will be available directly on our website in PDF, PSP compatible, and CBZ formats.

The Orion the Hunter digital editions will be the first, but Belter will also be collected into high resolution digital editions as each chapter is completed. There are also currently plans to release a flip book print edition with chapters of Orion the Hunter on one side and Belter on the other plus additional material such as the aforementioned pinups.
We will also soon be announcing our new partnership to produce $1 chapters for distribution to iPhones and the entire iPhamily (iPod and iPad).

Thanks to all who are helping make Orion the Hunter such a success.

Arctos Comics  publishers of the popular webcomic Orion the Hunter, announced an upcoming title today. “Belter” will be a weekly webcomic updating on Thursdays beginning in March.

Like Orion the Hunter, Belter is science fiction set 230 years into the future in the decade following a devastating inter-species/interplanetary war. Unlike Orion, which is set on the fringes of the Federation, Belter’s is set in the Asteroid Belt of the Terran system on Ceres Station. Right in the heart of “civilization”. ↓ Read the rest of this entry…

Woodward Talk, a local newspaper here in Ferndale and the surrounding area has a great article and interview with Joe and I. You can read all about it here.

Special thanks to Brian over at Detroit Comics for letting us do the photo shoot in his shop.

An updated and shortened video trailer with all new music created via Apple’s Garageband by writer/editor Clifford VanMeter.

Having been a game designer and comics guy for a long time, I’ve taken a world-building approach to Orion the Hunter and the companion title we’ll be releasing in 2010, Belter. The time period, 230 years in the future has been something I’ve invested a lot of time and effort into creating. It is a richly thought-out backdrop against which will provide the milleu for many (I hope) upcoming stories. ↓ Read the rest of this entry…

Take a look and get a feel for some of what we have coming in the next few weeks.

Arctos Comics’ first release, Orion the Hunter by comic veteran Clifford VanMeter and newcomer Joe Querio, will debut Dec. 8th, 2009 and the site will officially launch on that day.

“I’ve been describing Orion the Hunter as ‘Space Cowboy Noir’,” said VanMeter, a former writer, penciller and colorist for companies like DC, Valiant and Marvel Comics in the 90’s. “It takes inspiration from things like Joss Whedon’s Serenity, but also draws on movies like Bad Day at Black Rock and High Plains Drifter and touches on more modern tragedies like 9/11.”

Orion takes place about 200 years in the future, shortly after a devastating war has ravaged two civilizations, earth’s and the tir’a. The tir’a are the only other space-faring race humanity has encountered, thus far. In the aftermath of nearly a decade of warfare, the humans and tir’a have formed a new alliance and out of that a peace-keeping force has been established.

“The main character, Orion is a half-breed,” continues VanMeter. “His real name is Geos Arion Rasas rel Pen Atha. “Orion” is a kind of nickname humans have tagged him with.”

One of peace-keepers, Orion is a Federation marshal. A  hunter tasked with pursuing interplanetary criminals. In his premier adventure, Orion goes home for the first time since the end of the war. His mere presence there sets off a chain of events and he has to walk a fine line between seeking revenge and upholding his oath as a marshal.

Orion the Hunter will be updated weekly, every Tuesday at 3PM.