When Flashlight went looking to assign an illustration to accompany this week’s cover story, we went first to Lukas Ketner, an Alaskan now living in Portland, and we were surprised to be politely rebuffed.

Readers who’ve spent much time with the Press will recognize Ketner’s work immediately. He’s done covers for the papers depicting everything from Alaska’s version of Sasquatch to aviation history to gangsta rappers who got sideways with the law. His amazing conceptual piece for a past year’s Haiku winners issue—which seamlessly melded elements of Japanese and Southeast Alaska artistic traditions—won top honors from the Alaska Press Club a few years back.

But Ketner had a good excuse for copping out on us this week. He’s busy prepping for this weekend’s Comic-Con in San Diego where his first comic book will be released. Ketner describes Witch Doctor, which he produces together with fellow Alaskan Brandon Seifert (he’s also worked for the Press in the past), as a “horror-medical drama.” “It’s gonna be about unraveling supernatural medical mysteries in most issues,” he says. Comparisons to the TV medical drama House are common, both in our conversations with Ketner, and in the coverage the pair received in Sunday’s New York Times.

It’s not immediately clear whether this first comic will be available in Alaska—it’s a one-off specifically created for Comic-Con to launch the character—but a series from the new comic house Skybound is slated to follow, so if you hang around Bosco’s long enough, odds are you’ll be able to get your hand on their work sooner or later.

Ketner isn’t the only Press contributor to get their break in the publishing world recently. Kris Farmen—whose essays have regularly graced these pages—just saw his first novel published by McRoy and Blackburn, a small publishing house based in Ester that specializes in Alaska fiction.

The Devil’s Share—set in a semi-fictionalized Wrangell-St. Elias National Park—is a coming of age tale of sorts, with a character whose background includes roots in the controversial land issues that came with that park’s creation.

And Rich Chiappone, the author of this week’s cover story, has a collection of essays, short stories and poetry that was released in May by Barclay Creek Press, a small Massachusetts-based house with an emphasis on fly-fishing. Sharp-eyed Press readers will recognize several of the essays in Opening Days, which were first published here in slightly different forms.

So consider yourself notified. If you’ve liked some of the work you’ve seen and read here in the past few years, there’s more out there from these guys (when you’re finished reading our latest issue, of course).

krestia.degeorge@anchoragepress.com