Kickstarting Comics: ‘Arkadi & The Lost Titan’ Nears The End Of Its Crowdfunding Campaign
by Richard Bruton
As Tito reported at the beginning of the month, a lost epic of Euro Comics, Caza‘s Arkadi and the Lost Titan, is finally coming out in English with Humanoid’s very first Kickstarter.
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Caza’s Arkadi and the Lost Titan is finally presented for the first time in English, collected into one omnibus hardcover book. It’s one of the great epics of Euro Comics and well worth backing — but you need to be quick, the Kickstarter (the incredibly successful KS) ends on Friday, June 28 2024 5:00am BST.
Arkadi sits alongside the likes of The Incal and Metabarons in terms of being that sort of very European sci-fi opus — visually stunning, incredibly imaginative, full of spiritual and metaphysical exploration.
This new omnibus is over 500 pages and collects nine individual tomes and a prequel created over the course of 20 years. It’s Humanoids very first Kickstarter and to say it’s been a success is really underplaying things. As I write this, it’s on nearly $181,000 of a $5,000 target. Now that’s incredible and just shows how many readers know just how good Caza’s saga is.
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Arkadi was created by the legendary artist Caza, one of a number of artists alongside Mœbius, Druillet, and Richard Corben who gave the renowned French anthology magazines Métal Hurlant and Heavy Metal the artistic vision and epic nature they became renowned for.
It’s been unavailable for decades now, but Humanoids are promising it will be beautifully restored from the original negative films, allowing it to be published, for the very first time, in a volume that is befitting Caza’s magnum opus.
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As for what it’s all about, here’s what Humanoids have to say…
‘It’s Year 10,000 of the Still era, and Earth has stopped moving. Half of the world is plunged into frigid Night, the other is scorched in Day. Nestled in the heart of this everlasting night is Dis, the last fabled domed-city, ruled by artificial intelligence. There live the Chosen, the last biologically pure humans, who are completely reliant for their survival on cyborgs known as Titans.
‘In Twilight, the thin strip of habitable zone at the edge of Day and Night, survives the rest of humanity. In the small village of Accaia, a wandering warrior meets a sorceress and fathers a child, Arkadi.
‘Eighteen years later, Arkadi reaches the Age of Purification. As is tradition, he must survive a series of grueling challenges aimed at weeding out the weak. In the past 12 cycles, only seven children reached adulthood… It is during these trials that Arkadi will rebel against the established order and discover his true power and set forth on a quest.
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The Arkadi Omnibus comes, as you’d expect, with a number of great looking exclusives including a rather spiffy looking slipcase, art print portfolios, and signed prints.
Caza’s Arkadi and the Lost Titan is running on Kickstarter right now – go pledge.
