Arktoons Spotlight: The Awakener
Welcome to the Arktoons Spotlight, a regular feature at the Arkhaven Blog. The Spotlight is where I take a look at one title from the amazing world of Arkhaven’s webtoons.
If you aren’t familiar with Arktoons, this is meant for you. I am the Dark Herald; I do the blogging here at Arkhaven.com. The blog is mostly pop culture news, reviews and opinion, in short, the usual.
And you aren’t here for the blog. You’re here for the webtoons.
Arkhaven is different from other webtoon’s publishers. While we have the kind of toons you would expect, like Chateau Grief we also have webtoons that are more like traditional comics, if you grew up reading comic books in pamphlet format it, you’ll feel more at home here than you would at say Tapas.io or Webtoons.com for example.
So, if you are new here, be welcome. Stay a day. Stay a month. Stay a year. You’ve found your new home.
America’s first pop cultural introduction to Brazil came from Walt Disney’s wartime propaganda failure Saludos Amigos (1942). Before that it was mostly something American kids skimmed over during geography class in grade school. The Chile, Argentina, and Peruvian segments were all flops with the audiences they were meant to appeal to. Most of this wasn’t really Walt Disney’s fault, the Latin American government officials they were interacting with wanted various points of interest stressed in the feature. Argentina wanted to focus on their modern buildings and Gaucho cowboy culture, Peru wanted to show off the natural wonders of Lake Titicaca, Chile wanted (for whatever reason) their airmail service to have pride of place.
The Brazilians mostly wanted to know if the Americans were having fun in Brazil. It turned out they were and it showed in the finished product. The Brazilians even got their own beloved Disney character out of the deal, Jose Caricoa. A soccer playing, samba dancing, cigar chomping parrot.
Ze’ Caricoa went on to have a thriving career in Disney’s Brazilian comic books where
(among other things) he moonlights as a superhero, the Green Bat. Although, all of his neighbors know who he is.
Today Brazil’s pop culture is known for Carnival, mouthwatering steak houses, its killer heavy metal scene and amazing comic books. But it’s no secret that there is a much darker side to to life in Brazil.
When Arktoons first opened its doors for business the two webtoons that shot to the top and stayed there for months were both Brazilian comics from the powerhouse publisher Super Prumo. These were, The Awakener and The Hammer of Freedom.
The Awakener is the senior of the two titles and what we will be taking a quick look at today.:
Awakener started as a Punisher tribute band that went after the real criminals. The kind that don’t break laws but make them.
But then it evolved into something much more.
A federal agent of the Brazilian Special Armed Division, Miguel is a highly trained weapons expert. But after experiencing a traumatic personal loss, he assumes the identity of a masked vigilante and begins a single-minded pursuit of vengeance. The Awakener deals out justice with his own hands, exterminating the politicians and corrupt businessmen who are preying upon his suffering people.
Awakener is not for the squeamish. In America it would easily earn an R rating and while I do cuss on this blog there is a limit of what I’m willing to show.
This is a webtoon that will keep you on the edge of your seat until you have binged all of it.
The Awakener was first published 2013 and proved itself to be a major hit with Brazil’s comic book scene. So much so that in 2018 it was made into a film. Then a TV series and is now available dubbed in English.
Luciano Cunha started working with comics at the age of 16, drawing the famous comic ‘Little Crazy Boy’. Then he worked in advertising agencies and daily newspapers in Rio until he launched, in 2013, The Awakener, comic book that is in its fifth edition and is already a milestone for Brazilian pop culture, having become the first national comic book superhero to be adapted for film in Brazil. The Awakener also became music, beer, TV series by Warner, collectibles, t-shirts. Afterwards, Cunha created another immediate hit, The Hammer of Freedom, and continues to work on what he loves. Back him at subscribestar.com.
That’s it for this week’s Arktoons Spotlight.
See you next week.
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