Leaving the Cloud

A large tech organization explains why they left the Cloud, and how much they have benefited from doing so:

Just over a year ago, we announced our intention to leave the cloud. We then shared our complete $3.2 million cloud budget for 2022, and the fact that we were going to build our own tooling rather than pay for overpriced enterprise service contracts. The mission was set!

A month later, we placed an order for $600,000 worth of Dell servers to carry our exit, and did the math to conservatively estimate $7 million in savings over the next five years. We also detailed the larger values, beyond just cost, that was driving our cloud exit. Things like independence and loyalty to the original ethos of the internet.

Still in February, we announced the new tool I had bootstrapped in a few weeks to take us out of the cloud – without giving up on all the innovation in containers and operating principles from the cloud. This was the introduction of Kamal.

Shortly thereafter, all the hardware we needed for our cloud exit arrived on pallets in our two geographically-dispersed data centers. All 4,000 vCPUs, 7,680GB of RAM, and 384TB of NVMe storage of it!

And then, in June, it was done. We had left the cloud.

To say this journey was controversial is putting it mildly. Millions of people read the updates on LinkedIn, X, and by following this very mailing list. I got thousands of comments asking for clarification, providing feedback, and expressing incredulity over our nerve to zig when others were still busy catching up to the zag.

But the proof was in the pudding. Not only did we complete our cloud exit quickly, customers scarcely noticed anything, and soon the savings started to mount. Already in September, we’d secured a million dollars in savings on the cloud bill. And as the reserved instances (where you prepay for a whole year in advance to get better pricing) started to expire, the bill just kept collapsing:

I’ve never trusted the Cloud. And I’m very pleased to be able to say that as of last week, we no longer have a single project that is on the Cloud. While it may be useful in the initial stages of a project that isn’t capable of sustaining itself, the sooner one can move off the Cloud and onto one’s own servers, the better off one is likely to be.

And that doesn’t even begin to get into the peril of relying upon a corporation filled with SJWs who enjoy nothing more than playing thought police and denying corporate services to anyone they don’t like or of whom they don’t approve.

On a not-unrelated note, the Arktoons devs have successfully defeated a DDOS attack on the site. It’s good to be able to handle these things on our own, and not be dependent upon the security of the Cloud services company. If you were having problems accessing the site last night, it should be fine today.

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Outage Update

The Arkhaven store went down for eight hours yesterday thanks to an entire server room crashing hard at the external service we were still using for the site. Ironically, that is the final piece which is not on one of our own servers – despite the error messages, you may have noticed that Infogalactic is considerably snappier these days – but the store will be both a) faster and b) mirrored before the end of the month.

Fortunately, the site is robust enough that while no new orders could be entered during that time, no subscription orders were lost. So, if you had a subscription that was scheduled for renewal during that time, it was successfully renewed as soon as the outage ended. All is well.

Thanks to the devs for staying on top of this and quickly ascertaining, within 70 minutes of the outage occurring, what had happened and who was responsible. And to the Library team as well, who noticed and reported the problem within five minutes of the servers going down.

Speaking of technical matters, we anticipate having some very good news for you on that front soon.

UPDATE: Speaking of outages, Arktoons will be down for maintenance for a period of time this afternoon/morning.

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ComicsGate is Comics Now

The Dark Herald observes that the independents have completely routed the dinosaurs of the comics industry:

Comics Gate is over and the Big Two lost bigly.

What was CG has turned into is a revived and hyper-successful indie comics scene. The reason the old indie comics scene petered out was because back in the 1990s there was a one-two punch of comic book shops failing en masse, combined with the Big Two being big enough back then to get out in front of the movement.

Well, the big two don’t seem to be much bigger than the indie houses these days and genuinely talented creatives got screwed by lawyers assigned by the mega-corporations that still own the Big Two. Here’s a surprise, it turns out that “creator-owned” doesn’t actually mean “creator-controlled.” Sure the creator “owns” the character but the Big Two can do whatever the hell it feels like with them.

You made a comic book about a roaring, roistering barbarian warrior who kills orcs all day and bangs the bar wenches all night? Tough luck shithead! Conanson is now a genderqueer, trans living in New York City and constantly being amazed by how kick-ass his ex-girlfriend is because we say so.

You can do what Bill Winningham did and put his comic into the public domain. Maybe, but DC is fighting that one tooth and nail. Bottomline, you make a deal with the devil, the devil will be in the details.

When the history of the last gasp of the traditional comics industry is written, one of the most significant elements noted by historians will be the ALT★HERO crowdfunding campaign on Freestartr. Although the platform is defunct, the comic is going strong – I just received the final inks for Issue #10 from the illustrator – and the unprecedented support it received from the readers here inspired Ethan van Sciver, Eric July, and most recently, Razorfist, to launch even more successful campaigns.

Since the comics media – with the exception of Bounding Into Comics – studiously ignores Arkhaven, most people still don’t realize that ALT★HERO was most successful new comics crowdfund ever at the time of its launch. It has since been surpassed, of course, but it was conclusive proof that creators not only had any need of Marvel or DC Comics to produce top-quality comics, but could actually be better off going independent than working for them.

ALT★HERO Issue 10

Now we’re seeing the mainstream artists struggling to find work, seeing their sales crumbling, and watching their creations be wilfully destroyed. Now we’re seeing new names and established figures alike going independent. And now the independents are starting to work together. While it’s too soon to name any names or titles, Arkhaven will be publishing some of the most successful recent crowdfunds, and some of those titles will also be appearing on Arktoons. All of the creators retain ownership and control of their creations, and in fact, some of these new creations are already being licensed by third parties.

Comic book legend Chuck Dixon, the creator of Bane, will see his recently released Chuck Dixon’s Conan novels get developed into a new RPG sourcebook. The new RPG sourcebook is being created by Autarch LLC and will use the company’s upcoming Adventurer Conqueror King System Imperial Imprint (ACKS II), the second edition of the company’s role-playing game.

The independent ecosystem may be small in comparison with the mainstream comics and RPG industries now, but note that it is already larger, and much more successful, than either of those industries were in their early days. And these are just the early days.

The ride never ends.

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The Legend Will Not Be Cancelled

The relevant publishers have spoken on Bounding Into Comics. Also, the cover for the new Chuck Dixon’s Conan paperback has been unveiled.

Rippaverse Comics founder Eric July and Arkhaven Comics publisher Vox Day recently shared their responses to the attempts to cancel legendary comic book writer Chuck Dixon…

July responded to this cancellation call on YouTube, “Here’s what’s going to happen and you’re going to have to get over it. Yes, we have people that the mainstream has deemed, I don’t know, abhorrent. Because maybe they have a view or two, namely it’s likely they support politicians or don’t support the politicians that they think they should.”

He added, “Here’s what’s going to happen and what you’re going to have to get over. As far as this company is concerned, Chuck Dixon is about to be part of a campaign that is going to make hundreds of thousands of dollars perhaps millions. And guess what? He gets a bonus in the event that it does. You’re gonna get his pockets lined up and there’s nothing that you can do about it.”

July continued, “They say some people want to go their employers. They want to get them to put off a certain platform. That doesn’t happen over here. And you can’t do s**t about it. And you want to know why? Because what are you going to do? ‘Well, we don’t want the Rippaverse to publish that.’ Who you going to go to? ‘Well, go to the publisher.’ I am the publisher! ‘Oh! Well, well, maybe we go to his distributors.’ Look at me. I am the distributor now. There’s nothing you can do. Nothing. And they’re going to have to get over it.”

He then reiterated, “There are people that have been very creative and because they said something you don’t like you’ve deemed that they shouldn’t be a part of like the f***ing comic book industry? Who are these people? They are losers. And this is why social justice activism is the f***ing tool and occupation of losers. Because it unfortunately has been able to amplify people that are not only unreasonable, but it gives them some sense of importance that they have never got in their entire lives ever.”

Day responded to the cancellation attempts on his website. Day wrote, “Let me get this straight. Because The Legend wrote a comic about an evil elite that engages in child sex trafficking, he is antisemitic.

“Now, isn’t that an open and public admission that a certain group of people are engaged in child sex trafficking and Satanic sacrifice? Especially given the fact that the comic doesn’t mention or imply anything about Satanic sacrifice,” he continued.

Day concluded, “Anyhow, this is just an attempt to get Chuck kicked off Eric July’s projects, which isn’t going to happen. What’s amusing about this is that if Dane is worked up about AH:Q, he’s going to stroke out on the spot if he ever reads The Legend’s Levon Cade novels…”

He then shared a gif indicating he had no intention of ending his working relationship with Dixon. To that point, Day shared with Bounding Into Comics the cover to Dixon’s upcoming novel, Caravan of the Damned.

Eric July And Vox Day Respond To Attempts To Cancel Chuck Dixon, 25 September 2023, Bounding Into Comics

Read the whole thing and check out the new cover there. It’s really, really good! We’re just about ready to go to print, we’re just wrapping up a few final interior illustrations and then we’ll make it available at Arkhaven and the usual bookstores.

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Should We Cancel Chuck Dixon

I am reliably informed that he is associated with some deeply unsavory characters. Also – you’ll never guess – antisemitic! These are very serious charges.

Dane, a YouTuber who runs the channel ActualFandom, recently appeared to defame Chuck Dixon as an anti-Semite as the Rippaverse is about to release Dixon’s upcoming Alphacore book.

On X, the YouTuber wrote, “If you’re someone who values the wellbeing of comics communities I implore you to read. Rippaverse Comics will soon publish a comic by a former industry pro, creator of Bane & Time Drake – Chuck Dixon. It gets disturbing from there.”

In the tweet, Dane takes issue with Chuck Dixon’s creation of the comic series Alt Hero Q for Vox Day’s Arkhaven Comics. In an image he shared as part of his tweet he writes, “He’s also worked with a publisher called Arkhaven, on a comic called ALT-HERO:Q. As in QANON. The first arc is titled ‘WHERE WE GO ONE’, which refers to the Q conspiracist mantra of ‘WHERE WE GO ONE, WE GO ALL’, often shortened on social media as ‘WWG1WGA’.

He then goes on to provide summaries of the first couple of issues of the book. From there he states, “For those unfamiliar with the IRL QAnon, it is a belief that a vast conspiracy of Hollywood elite and every politician who isn’t explicitly pro-Trump, is engaged in acts involving children ranging from an updated take on anti-Semitic ‘blood libel’ narratives, to pedophilia and Satanic sacrifice.”

Let me get this straight. Because The Legend wrote a comic about an evil elite that engages in child sex trafficking, he is antisemitic.

Now, isn’t that an open and public admission that a certain group of people are engaged in child sex trafficking and Satanic sacrifice? Especially given the fact that the comic doesn’t mention or imply anything about Satanic sacrifice.

Anyhow, this is just an attempt to get Chuck kicked off Eric July’s projects, which isn’t going to happen. What’s amusing about this is that if Dane is worked up about AH:Q, he’s going to stroke out on the spot if he ever reads The Legend’s Levon Cade novels…

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MY SISTER SUPREMA Now in Print

MY SISTER SUPREMA marks the very first Arktoons-only digital comic to appear in a print edition. But it will not be the last.

Randy is a bright young boy who devours comics and dreams of becoming a superhero. One day, he discovers a secret formula on the Internet that claims to be able to endow an individual with superpowers. After assembling all the ingredients and technology required, he experiments with the process, but the whole thing goes terribly wrong. Somehow, by accident, his big sister Cecelia ends up with the very superpowers he’d been seeking for himself. And she has no idea what to do with them.

So it falls to Randy to help her figure out what her powers are, select a costume, choose a superhero name, and teach her what it means to be a superhero. But while Randy and his sister are trying to figure things out and hide her new powers from their parents, the villain whose formula Randy inadvertently discovered is hunting for the thieves who stole his secret.

Written by The Legend Chuck Dixon and illustrated by Anthony Gonzales-Clark, MY SISTER SUPREMA is a unique and charming superhero origin story.

The 60-page print edition now available in the USA direct from Arkhaven. All other locations: available from Amazon and local bookstores.

MY SISTER SUPREMA appears regularly on Arktoons.

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Straight Legend

An Arkhaven-related exchange on Twitter.

Now that can only be described with one word: FATALITY!

You can subscribe to THE LEGEND ON COMICS on UATV. Even Fox News is now reporting on his insightful video streams that are available there. Seriously, I listen to his streams while I’m driving; they’re both educational and entertaining and I now know approximately 8,537 times more about the comics industry than I did when Arkhaven started.

Comic book writing veteran Chuck Dixon called out Marvel for undermining and minimizing one of its most popular heroes, the armed vigilante known as the Punisher. According to Dixon, the company is “embarrassed” by the “working class” hero and his appeal within military and police ranks.

The Punisher was a gun-wielding anti-hero created by Marvel Comics in 1974. He is described on Marvel’s website as a “Family man turned crime-fighting vigilante, Frank Castle embodies the persona of the Punisher to avenge personal tragedy and ensure all criminals receive the justice they deserve.”

Dixon, who has been in the comic book industry for decades, particularly in writing comics about The Punisher, has criticized how Marvel has handled the character in recent years. On a recent episode of his podcast, he shared theories to a fan about why Marvel may have grown to dislike one of their most popular characters…

He then suggested the thought process of Marvel leadership, “We’re going to take the Punisher, and we’re going to mangle him, and we’re going to destroy him. We’re going to do what no other entertainment company ever has done. We are going to purposely take one of our intellectual properties and tear it to the ground.”

Former ‘Punisher’ writer claims Marvel ‘hates,’ is ‘embarrassed’ by character who is loved by cops, military, FOX NEWS,

If you’re a fan of The Legend, you may also wish to note that a 60-page print edition of MY SISTER SUPREMA, one of the first comics created for Arktoons, will be available at Arkhaven next week. And about that Black Warrant… one guess how this particular scenario plays out. For Arkhaven and new Legend video updates, subscribe to the new Arkhaven telegram channel.

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Arkhaven is Inevitable

Seriously, there is just no other conclusion suggested by the evidence.

Well that happened.

What do I even say to this?

Yes, the Joker is pregnant… As stupid as the subject matter is, the artwork is so much worse.

What. The. Actual…

You know, I really thought DC was scraping rock bottom with those two notorious pages of Batgirl commiserating with a young man in a dress over his gender being correctly identified by a doctor. I’ve now realized that the bottom for DC and Marvel probably isn’t even in sight yet.

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