DreamHost Status » Blog Archive » The fun never ceases!
I guess my new webhost was hit by a denial of service today. I never noticed any issues, so I must have been lucky.
DreamHost Status » Blog Archive » The fun never ceases!
The fun never ceases!Twice today, while battling all the other issues, we came under Denial of Service attacks (and big ones at that!). Each one was about 900 megabits a second, and affected a whole range of services. You may have noticed your sites being slow, mail being slow or not responding at all, and possibly even a crashing server here and there. With the exception of the 1 web server that was actually being targeted, everything should be completely back to normal now.
More new features: Mobile version and E-mail posts
I finally got the mobile formatting for the blog working, so you can look at the blog on your PDA if you like. Just go to the normal URI: www.talesfromthelongbox.com
You can now e-mail posts to people right from the blog! Just click the “E-mail This Post” link at the bottom of a post and go from there!
I hope you like these new features, and enjoy!
EYEING BIGGER B.O., SUPERMAN RETURNS OPENS TWO DAYS EARLIER – NEWSARAMA
EYEING BIGGER B.O., SUPERMAN RETURNS OPENS TWO DAYS EARLIER – NEWSARAMA
EYEING BIGGER B.O., SUPERMAN RETURNS OPENS TWO DAYS EARLIER
With
an admission of looking to see a bigger box office over the Fourth of
July holiday weekend, Warner Bros. has moved the opening date of Superman Returns from Friday, June 30th to Wednesday, June 28th.The longer openeing “weekend” has benefitted many films intial box
office (which can often amount to half of a movie’s domestic box office
take), with War of the Worlds using the six day “weekend” to land a $112.7 million opening.If you’re of the mind to believe it, Entertainment Weekly’s (which, like Warner Bros. is a division of Time Warner) Popwatch offers some other, possible motives to opening two days earlier, and at least one of them starts with the letter “X.”
EW’s Scott Brown writes:
Why the change? Warner Bros. asserts, with typically Soviet
defensiveness, that it had been eyeing June 28 from the very beginning.
(Really? From the beginning? The beginning being… when they set that
June 30 date a year ago?)My colleague Gary Susman cites the chief threat off Supes’ port bow,
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, which also sports enormous
fan love and an excellent (if coyly underexposed) trailer.My theory? Read all the fine print about X3′s “record” haul and you’ll
start to get an idea what Warner’s after. Almost every “record” these
days has some sort of asterisk after it — either it’s three-day vs.
five-day, Friday vs. Saturday, Memorial Day vs. any old weekend,
domestic vs. global, 1,000 screens vs. 3,000, or some combination of
factors that casual observers rarely take the time to suss out. The
studios trumpet their winnings, and all we hear is “big” and “record.”
Execs are looking for new hurdles to clear because they want a big
headline and two-page ad in Variety to settle some stockholder nerves
Back East.Don’t get me wrong — this is real money we’re talking about. July 4,
which falls on a Tuesday, is the endpoint of the July Fourth holiday
weekend. Ain’t nothing a studio can do about that, short of renting a
time machine (something Fox tried in the mid-’80s, I believe). But
who’s to say when a holiday begins? Warner figured it out: The July
Fourth holiday begins when Superman Returns. So… let’s have him
return a tad early and give us a bit more weekend to play with,
especially with those pesky pirates hanging around…What does this mean for us? Longer weekends. Don’t know about you, but
when the studios tell me it’s a holiday, I don’t go to work. I’m pretty
sure there’s something in the Constitution about that. There’s
definitely something in my consitution about it.
Technorati Tags: “Superman Returns”
WIZARDWORLD PHILADELPHIA 06: DC NATION – NEWSARAMA
WIZARDWORLD PHILADELPHIA 06: DC NATION – NEWSARAMA
WIZARDWORLD PHILADELPHIA 06: DC NATION
Hosted
by a caffeine-fueled Dan Didio, DC’s “DC Nation” panel wrapped up the
panel programming for WizardWorld: Philadelphia’s first day with
insights into the post-Crisis DC Universe. Joining Didio were Geoff Johns, VP Sales Bob Wayne, 52 Assistant Editor Jann Jones.The panel began with Didio’s description of his goals of the panel, to
have an interactive forum between DC and fans, a place where questions
for DC panelists came with a cost – the panelist was able to ask a
question back. Additionally, Didio’s larger goal was also mentioned –
to give away 500,000 “DC Nation” buttons away. Those wearing the
buttons on the floor at San Diego will be given free goodies from DC
during that show.Johns was in town, Didio explained, to help put the finishing touches on the script to 52 #26, the halfway point of the series.Before opening the floor for questions, Didio talked about the plan to bring Manhunter back for five additional issues,
saying, “A funny thing happened on the way to cancellation…” Didio
reiterated hat he’d previously told Newsarama, that the series is
coming back for another arc due to fans writing in and pleading that DC
not cancel the series. The series will run to at least #30, Didio said,
as a demonstration that “we’re listening.”Asked to clear up the body of Luthor as seen in 52 #3,
Johns confirmed that it is in fact Alex Luthor, and Lex Luthor altered
the body slightly to make it appear as if what he was saying about an
imposter was true.As if Jason Todd was really alive simply because Superboy-Prime punched a wall, the answer was a simple, “yes.”
In talking about the new Batwoman, Didio said that for now, DC is
working to make her a supporting member of the Bat-Family, but if fans
want to see her in her own series or miniseries, they’ll make it happen.Scott McDaniel will be on Green Arrow for the long haul, Didio confirmed, in response to a question, indicating that the artist will not be going anywhere soon.
The September-launching Mystery in Space was announced, an
eight issue miniseries written by Jim Starlin with art by Shane Davis.
The mini will star Captain Comet, as well as The Weird, who will be
featured in back-up stories to the main story, written and drawn by
Starlin.Asked if there were any plans for the New Gods, Didio, whose answer in
the past has been a simple, “Look to the skies,” this time, in
response, merely pointed up. He then rhetorically noted asked if it
wasn’t strange that the New Gods didn’t appear in Infinite Crisis. “Isn’t that strange?” he concluded, answering his own question.Supergirl’s appearance in the Legion of Super-Heroes has helped the book’s sales, with Wayne noting that the series is now the best-selling of all of DC’s 1,001 Year Later titles.
When each panelist was asked who they would have killed, if given their druthers, as part of Infinite Crisis,
Johns declined to answer; however, Didio, after discussion, said, “I
wanted Nightwing dead,” and explained that, if you follow the Nightwing
story through the miniseries, you can see fairly clearly that he was
supposed to die. Bob Wayne’s response to the question – “Speedball.”Johns clarified that the previously announced “Titans East” project he was said to be working on is a storyline in Teen Titans
rather than a new series or miniseries. Also, speaking of Titans, Johns
said that Wendy and Marvin will continue to appear, albeit sporadically
in the series.Conner Hawke will get his own title later this year, a miniseries by Chuck Dixon and Daimon Scott, due out in fall.
Asked by a female fan why there aren’t more light-hearted titles in the DCU such as Impulse or Young Justice, in a broad reply, Didio said that they’ve found that people respond better to angst, noting that Kyle Baker’s Plastic Man
was a title that was light hearted, and pointed to often when DC was
asked why it didn’t publish light hearted books, and in the end, no one
bought it. Didio later added that he doesn’t want to sacrifice
characters for a joke, and prefers it when humor comes from within a
character, rather than applied on them from outside. He also named Blue Beetle as one of DC’s current books with a lighter tone.Asked if there will be any more touches of Batman Beyond
in the modern DCU, Didio’s answer was a quick “yes,” which was also his
answer when asked if readers will see the characters from Seven Soldiers after the conclusion of the miniseries.Newsarama.com’s WizardWorld Philadelphia coverage:
Technorati Tags: “dc nation”
Some Marvel news from Wizard World Philly
WW PHILADELPHIA – MARVEL’S X-MEN PANEL
http://www.newsarama.com/WWPhilly06/Marvel/XMenpanel/WWPhilXMen.html
WW PHILADELPHIA – MONDO MARVEL PANEL
http://www.newsarama.com/WWPhilly06/Marvel/MondoMvl/MondoMvl.html
New Feature: “Comic Book Chat” e-mail list available
Since I get all my comics by mail now, I really miss talking to other collectors about comics. What they read, what they think about certain stories and characters, etc… All the hype about the new Batwoman really has made that even more clear. What are other comic book geeks like me think about all this?
With the move to the blogs new webhost, I was given an opportunity to take care of that problem by starting my own e-mail list devoted to discussing comic books!
If you are a comic book geek like I am, and are afraid to talk about comics in front of “normal” people without getting a weird look, then this is the list for you! Come geek out with us anytime!!
If this sounds like fun to you, then just send an e-mail to comicbookchat-join@talesfromthelongbox.com and lets get to chatting!
NEWSARAMA.COM: DC’S JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA LAUNCHES IN OCTOBER
Sign me up! Johns did a great job on bringing back the JSA the first time, so I am looking forward to this.
NEWSARAMA.COM: DC’S JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA LAUNCHES IN OCTOBER
JOHNS,
ROSS, EAGLESHAM RESTART JUSTICE SOCIETY IN OCTOBER
October
sees the starts of one of DC’s worst kept secrets as Justice
Society of America launches, following the end of JSA
with July’s issue #87. Making good on teases that he wasn’t done
with the team, Geoff Johns will be returning to write the series,
with Dale (Villains United) Eaglesham coming onboard as the
regular artist. Alex Ross will be back as the series’ cover artist,
as well as “creative consultant,” though as far as he’s concerned,
it’s kind of just “kibitzing.” The series will be edited by Stephen
Wacker.
Currently,
the only members Ross and DCU Exective Editor would confirm for
Newsarama are Power Girl, Hourman (Rick Tyler), Damage (son
of the Golden Age Atom, and sporting a new costume designed by Ross),
and the new Starman.For Ross, his involvement with the series began a while back,
when Johns asked him to join the series as cover artist with issue
#68. As both are huge fans of the collection of characters, the
kibitzing began in earnest.“Since we left off last
year, both Geoff and I intended to pick back up again with the new
relaunch which we knew was coming this year,” Ross told Newsarama.
“The relaunch would then lead into storylines that we had been planning,
regarding bringing some elements of Kingdom Come characters
into the JSA.”Primarily, that would
be Starman.
“Back
when Geoff had first invited me to be a part of the series, I said
to Geoff that he had a great group of characters, but he didn’t
have a Starman,” Ross said. “I love my Kingdom Come Starman,
so could we bring him into this? That was the one boon that I asked.
“Of course, I’m greedy,
so I didn’t stop there, and we’ve talked about a million different
story possibilities since then, and that’s where we’re hoping to
take the series, and to fulfill some of these things and the promises
they would deliver on. There’s a load of unfinished stories that
we left off of from a year ago that basically once Geoff got caught
up in the grind of producing Crisis, the book had to go to
the side for him and for me a little.”Currently, as mentioned,
Ross is kibitzing with Johns about the series, but that will change
as the series moves forward, he said. “As storylines go forward,
there’s a major one coming up that I’ll be involved with as a co-plotter
as that kicks in.”Back to the new face
on the team, Starman, one of the initial mysteries of the series
will be figuring out who the new hero is. Ross’ version of Starman
has already made an appearance in the post-Crisis DCU, as one of
the array of heroes seen in the splash page of Infinite Crisis
#7. But who is he? Good question – while the new Starman is
from Opal City, home of Jack Knight, the previous Starman created
by James Robinson and Tony Harris, although, that’s about all he
knows, and is looking for the Justice Society to help him find…a
way, his identity, his purpose, pick one.Of course, there are
some options from the start – in the Starman series, Danny
Blaine (later revealed to be Thom Kallor, “Star Boy” of the Legion
of Super-Heroes) was seen to wear a costume like what Starman has
going on here, and it was revelaed that Kallor took on the mantle
of Starman in the 21st century, with the full knowledge that he
will die there.Regardless, neither
Ross nor Didio are talking.Speaking of Didio, he
explained that, as he and Johns saw it, JSA was coming to
a natural conclusion, which made the restart with a tweaked title
and new #1 a no-brainer.“The storyline that
we’re going to be relaunching Justice Society with was really something
that Geoff had worked on for a quite a while with Alex, and it really
had a real sense and direction to it, and between the two of them,
they really wanted to reinvigorate the team and bring new members
in, and really give a sense of the generational aspect of Justice
Society,” Didio said. “One of the things that I wanted to do was
to have the original book be able to run its natural course, and
wanted Paul [Levitz, DC President and writer of the final JSA
arc] to be involved in it. It just felt like that particular series
reached its natural conclusion, and just like with Justice League
of America, I feel that this is a new beginning, and it’s nice
to see both of those books have a relaunch around each other with
a new sense of direction.”Any more than that?
After all, as Didio has said with each relaunch of a previous series
(Justice League, Wonder Woman, Flash, etc) he doesn’t want
to restart a series unless there’s a definite change in the feel
of the characters’ story that itself feeds the relaunch. So what’s
the change with the Justice Society? The only teaser that could
be squeaked out was that someone is trying to destroy individuals
with legacies reaching back to Golden Age heroes… so how’s that
different?“Oh, if only I could
give the story away,” Didio said, chuckling. “There are aspects
of the DC Universe that we want Justice Society of America
to build on, and one of the things that I’m most excited about is
the story that Geoff pulled together with Alex, from direction characters
take to the designs of the characters. You’re going to see really
dramatic things occurring with this particular book that will make
it feel like it has a different sensibility than the series that
came before. There’s a lot of fun stuff coming out of this.”
Technorati Tags: “comic books”
Comic Book Resources: BATWOMAN AND DC COMICS IN THE MEDIA SPOTLIGHT
This is a really good article. Let’s hope DC uses this opportunity to do this right and not use this character to exploit homosexuality to sell comics.
Comic Book Resources – CBR News – The Comic Wire
BATWOMAN AND DC COMICS IN THE MEDIA SPOTLIGHT
by Arune Singh, Staff Writer
Posted: June 1, 2006
Comic book fans were all surprised to hear that DC Comics‘ next big
announcement wasn’t released via standard comic media outlets, but
instead it was announced by the media juggernaut known as “The New York
Times.” The Sunday edition of the times featured an extensive article on
DC Comics, in the Arts & Entertainment section, in which DC Comics
current direction was explored. Mention was made of the increased
diversity in the DCU, namely that of the new Hispanic male lead in “Blue
Beetle” and…a lesbian Batwoman?
While comic fans have debated the merits of this new Batwoman, named
Kate Kane, a Gotham City socialite (named in honor of the Silver Age
Batwoman, Kathy Kane, who came to life in 1956 and died in 1979), and if
her relationship with girlfriend Renee Montoya (a popular Gotham City
Police Officer) was for shock value or an attempt at appealing to a
different audience, something strange happened: the major news outlets
took notice.
It’s important to note that Kate Kane is for all intents and purposes an
all-new character in the DC Universe, even with her soon to be revealed
connections to the Batman mythos. The character isn’t “turning lesbian”
as some news outlets have inferred, but is instead being created from
scratch with those traits existing from point of character conception.
But the attention being lauded upon this Batwoman, from NPR discussions
to the television program “The View” including Batwoman in their “Hot
Topics,” is the kind reserved for events like the “Death Of Superman”
storyline. Author Judd Winick’s storyline in “Green Lantern,” featuring
then-GL Kyle’s friend coming out to him, garnered attention in some
papers and on the late night cable talk shows, but this Batwoman story
has seen a much more diverse, and in depth, mainstream discussion. Even
Marvel Comics’ “Rawhide Kid” series never saw this much attention from
the big press outlets.
There are also stark differences in the discussions on ABC’s “The View” and
“New York Daily News,” versus the way the topic is being discussed among
comic book fans. The mainstream news outlets see this new Batwoman as
symbolizing something never before seen in comics (a “big” gay
character) and new thematic ground (homosexuality discussed openly), but
also tend to feature very polarizing discussions. By comparison, though
many comic book fans are liberals, there’s a far more nuanced discussion
among comic book fans. Fans have discussed everything from how DC is
marketing the character to how sexuality should be handled in comics, as
they’re well versed in how the comic book industry has been tackling
homosexuality for decades. There was the outing of Marvel Comics’
Northstar, the way the entire X-Men mythos has been seen as a metaphor
for minority groups such as homosexuals (even more apparent in the
recent films), and gay and lesbian relationships have been explored in
many independently produced comics, as well as in comic published by DC
Comics’ mature readers imprint, Vertigo.
All this press provides DC Comics not only with a lot of press for their
weekly series “52″ and their entire comic book line, but a unique
opportunity to show the nuances of the current comic book industry. The
company has an historic opportunity to really explore homosexuality in
the media spotlight and really show how the medium has grown since most
people read their last “Archie” comic book. While no one wants the new
Batwoman reduced to a simple stereotype or for writers to get on their
soapbox, this character (and possible “Batwoman” series) could greatly
help legitimize the comic book medium in the eyes of many non-readers.
Stay tuned to CBR News for more on this developing story.
For those keeping score
at home, Kate debuts in “52″ #11 and CBR News features a weekly “52″
review/discussion column. You can also join the discussion on CBR’s Batman Forum.
Technorati Tags: batwoman
