Digital comic website, Arktoons, added a classic Chuck Dixon story to their library as the site celebrates 4 million pageviews since it launched back in April.
The classic Chuck Dixon story added to the platform is The Stranded that features artwork by Argentinian artist Enrique Villagran.
The series was originally published by Apple Comics and titled The Time Jump War back in 1989. Arktoons is publishing the series under its original name before it was changed by Apple Comics.
Not only has the title been reverted to its original, but Arktoons has also remastered the series. It was originally published in black and white and has now been fully colored.
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As for the story it follows U.S. Space Cavalry Captain Doyle Macklinton as he pilots a troop transport full of Marines with his co-pilot Lieutenant Veronic ‘Ronnie’ Killy as they do battle against an invading alien force.
However, once they engage the alien forces on Europa they travel through a time warp and find themselves stranded in prehistoric Earth. Not only are they stranded, but a number of the alien forces also made it through the warp and still have their plans of conquering Earth.
The original official description from Apple Comics stated, “When rocket jockey Capt. ‘Doy’ MacKlinton and his beautiful co-pilot, ‘Ronnie’ Killy blasted the invading aliens’ stargate, they thought they’d stopped the invasion – instead, they discovered they’d trapped themselves in the prehistoric past!”
“Now, even though Doy and Ronnie can’t understand the language of their own ancestors, they must lead them – with only stones and spears – against the deadly high-tech alien menace!”
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When the series was originally published by Apple Comics it included commentary by Chuck Dixon detailing how the series came about.
Dixon explained, “In the dark days of Winter, 1988, Enrique Villagran and his brother, Ricardo, invited me to the studio they shared in the Philadelphia suburbs. As usual on these visits, we had an animated discussion of comics and movies and guns until the early hours of the morning.”
He added, “On this particular evening, between the jokes and the stories, Enrique showed me some drawings he had done. They were in his usual crisp and attractive style and depicted male and female space warriors and a scantily-clad cavegirl.”
“He asked me what I thought of them. I told him they looked great and asked what story they went with. He replied that they went with whatever story I chose for them to go with,” he detailed.
After explaining that Argentinian creators begin their stories with the drawing of characters and then building stories around them, Dixon explained, “We did a little talking about the drawings and I took them home with me that night. After a week or so, I brought Enrique for the issue you now hold. I tailored it with Enrique’s strengths in mind.”
“He can draw the muy macho kind of action hero, as well as the attractive heroines required for this kind of science fiction action story. Also, his command of anything military is astounding. Look at the space marines in this issue. These guys even have military body language, “he added.
Dixon continued, “The other element I included in the script was a heaping dose of sarcastic humor. Argentinians and we Yankees are the world masters of sarcasm. The caustic remark and withering stare are a fine art in both our cultures, so it seemed natural to season Doy and Ronnie’s dialogue with lots of it.”
He concluded, “This was a blast to write, and I hope the three issues are that much fun to read. We’d like to tackle a few more of these. Enrique has a lot more drawings.”
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As noted above, this new series debuts as Arktoons hit the 4 million pageviews mark. When the site launched it featured 16 different series. In just its first year the site now has 60 different series that run new episodes on a weekly or twice-weekly basis.
Arkhaven Lead Editor Vox Day touted the numerous series on the site, “Every month we add a new series or two. Sometimes it’s something from Chuck Dixon’s legendary comics vault such as The Stranded or The Dixon Filems, sometimes something entirely new like How To Succeed Like a Dark Lord or Something Big.”
He added, “And now independent creators are bringing established series like Chateau Grief and Shotgun Samurai over from Webtoons; what is encouraging is that these independent series are not only getting more views on Arktoons than on Webtoons, they’re getting a LOT more views.”
Dixon, who has numerous titles on the platform also observed, “Everyone can see all the numbers right there on the site. And everyone can see that the time between each million views is becoming shorter and shorter.”
The most popular series on the platform are Hypergamouse, a romance comedy about mice, Savage Memes, a comic strip featuring “viciously biting commentary on current events,” Stonetoss, a similar comic strip in the vein of Savage Memes, and Midnight’s War, “a vampire comic with enough violent intrigue to rival A Game of Thrones.”
It’s also introduced a number of new series that are quickly gaining in popularity including How To Succeed Like A Dark Lord and My Sister Suprema.
Needless to say it doesn’t look like Arktoons is going anywhere, but up as it provides a clear alternative to Marvel, DC, and even WEBTOON.
Do you plan on checking out The Stranded on Arktoons? What do you make of Arktoons hitting the 4 million pageview mark?