Vanadium Comics Presents: ARKADI-LAMPPOST WEEKEND EDITION

ARKADI-LAMPPOST WEEKEND EDITION

“No story is too dark!”

By Staff Writer Tina Hayward

Another fun concept piece of Märlük: The Street Avenger for Vanadium Comics, LLC .

#Blueline #penandink #Arkadiverse

Jorge Valdes Juggles Three Titles in a Midnight Frenzy of Ink & Imagination

By the glow of a single drafting-lamp above his cluttered Arkadium studio, veteran storyteller Jorge Valdes is proving that deadlines fear him more than the city fears its monsters.

1. “The Retri-Butcher” stalks the page

Illustration in full swing

Valdes’ current obsession is the 12-page one-shot The Retri-Butcher, starring Robert “Bobby” Benson—model, reservist, and righteous executioner. Early page layouts show brooding alleyways, razor-sharp chiaroscuro, and that signature spiked meat cleaver glinting like a guilty conscience. Expect kinetic paneling and splash pages that drip tension (and, occasionally, other fluids).

2. Märlük’s mask returns—pencils up, no sleep allowed

Not content with one nightmare, Valdes is simultaneously penciling chapter three of the ongoing Märlük saga. Sources close to the artist say he’s experimenting with ash-gray washes and reverse-negative silhouettes to capture the demon hunter’s descent beneath Arkadium’s subway catacombs. Coffee intake? Classified.

3. Buddy-cop horror “A Ghoul’s Night Out!” goes to script

While his art table looks like a crime scene of graphite shavings, Valdes’ laptop hums with the banter of Ben Ferguson—bat-swinging bouncer—and Detective Hiroshi Miike, both forced to team up when Renfields swarm a jazz club after last call. Expect quips, crimson, and the kind of moral murk only Arkadium can brew. Lettering is slated to begin once the final punch-line (or punch-up) lands.

> “I keep separate sketchbooks for each title, but the nightmares all share the same coffee mug,” Valdes joked when we caught him between thumbnail drafts at 2 a.m.

Why You Should Care

Triple Threat: Few creators handle art on one book while scripting another—Valdes is balancing three.

Unified Universe: Cross-title Easter eggs hint that Märlük’s demon lore may bleed (literally) into A Ghoul’s Night Out!

Local Talent: Arkadium’s own educator-turned-creator channels decades of crisis-intervention experience into raw, authentic fear on the page.

Release Radar

Title Format Target Street Date*

The Retri-Butcher 12-page one-shot July 2025

Märlük #3 Ongoing series August 2025

A Ghoul’s Night Out! 20-page special Q4 2025

*Dates may shift if Arkadium’s power grid does.

Stay tuned, Lamppost readers—because in a city where shadows have teeth, Jorge Valdes is sketching the map. And remember: no story is too dark.

—Tina Hayward, Features Desk, Arkadi-Lamppost