Arch Linux

This only happens when you use a non-utf8 locale.

$ LC_CTYPE=C mkinitcpio -L
==> Available hooks
column: read failed: Invalid or incomplete multibyte or wide character

¹ This hook is deprecated in favor of 'block'
² This hook is deprecated in favor of 'keyboard'

Are you intentionally using LC_CTYPE=C or LANG=C?

This is original per installation (09.2014 iso). No customization.

$ echo $LC_CTYPE

$ echo $LANG
C
$ grep -r LC_CTYPE /etc/profile*
/etc/profile.d/locale.sh:unset LANG LC_CTYPE LC_NUMERIC LC_TIME LC_COLLATE LC_MONETARY LC_MESSAGES \
/etc/profile.d/locale.sh:[ -n "$LC_CTYPE" ] && export LC_CTYPE
$ grep -r LANG /etc/profile*
/etc/profile.d/locale.sh:unset LANG LC_CTYPE LC_NUMERIC LC_TIME LC_COLLATE LC_MONETARY LC_MESSAGES \
/etc/profile.d/locale.sh:LANG=${LANG:-C}
/etc/profile.d/locale.sh:export LANG
$ locale
LANG=C
LC_CTYPE="C"
LC_NUMERIC="C"
LC_TIME="C"
LC_COLLATE="C"
LC_MONETARY="C"
LC_MESSAGES="C"
LC_PAPER="C"
LC_NAME="C"
LC_ADDRESS="C"
LC_TELEPHONE="C"
LC_MEASUREMENT="C"
LC_IDENTIFICATION="C"
LC_ALL=
$ localectl list-locales
en_US.utf8
$

There's a lot of things that Arch doesn't "customize", but we absolutely document the need for you to generate and set a locale.

Do you intend to use LC_CTYPE=C long term? Or have you just not yet set your locale?

I forgot to include the display for 'grep -r LC_CTYPE /etc/profile*' - edited my comment above.

$ locale -a
C
POSIX
en_US.utf8
$