Matt Coughlin
E-Mail: matt@altgn.com
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AIM: mjc819
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Web Page: http://altgn.com
Registered Since: 2007-09-19 02:33:02
Profile: Matt can be found in the Milwaukee area going to college. He'd much rather be playing on his Xbox 360 or reading his weekly comic purchases, and as we all know, all work and no play makes Matt a dull boy.
Posts by mjc:
Annihilation: Conquest #5 Cover
December 12th, 2007A good amount of our readers are comic fans, and while I was scanning the web for some more tasty tidbits to post I came across this gem from IGN. This past weekend Anime Fest took place in NYC, and while visiting writer Richard George stopped by Marvel’s head office, more specifically the office of editor Bill Rosemann. What he saw quite literally make him do a double take.
There will be spoilers in the cover and the quotes below, if you have not read Annihilation Conquest yet..continue at your own risk.
So I’m standing in Bill Rosemann’s office (one of many editors in the room, but I happened to be chatting with him), and a cover catches my eye. Keep in mind that I see dozens of covers every week, many of them spectacular in their own right. In my personal opinion, Rosemann’s treatment of the Conquest saga’s covers has been nothing short of incredible. Hiring artists from the gaming and CCG industry, the editor has drastically redefined just how good comic book covers can be. There are few that stand up to that collective which includes Aleksi Briclot, Nic Klein, Clint Langley and Adi Granov. The cover I speak of happens to be Briclot’s, for the fifth issue of the core Annihilation: Conquest mini-series. Upon seeing the cover I pretty much gasp and point. While talking to Rosemann about the quality of the art, I knew I had to bring it to the IGN readers. Something this incredible can’t be left in the dark.
George was fortunate enough to get Rosemann himself to comment:
“While many excellent artists have drawn Ultron over the evil android’s infamous career, this painted cover by Aleksi Briclot is now officially one of my all-time faves. Check out that nasty tech opening up over his head…how wicked is it that we can see inside his body up around his shoulders…and check out his defeated foes sprawled out below. This may be one of the coolest villain-on-his-throne shots since John Buscema wowed everyone with his legendary shots of Loki and Mephisto.
“So just what is Ultron up to? And who – that is, who amongst our rag-tag group of sci-fi heroes that are still alive – can do anything to stop his path of rage? Find out in March when writers Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning, penciler Tom Raney and colorist Frank D’Armata reveal our Big Band’s true goal!”
For the full-sized image, click here!
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Lost Season 4 Trailer
December 12th, 2007Time to start the hype machine back up again for the next season of Lost. This trailer has been playing in select movie theaters recently, and it gives just barely enough footage to get you excited. I will refrain from posting any spoilers in this article, but fans definitely have reason to be excited for this next season with everything they threw at us in the finale of season three.
See if you can make out who’s face flashes on the video towards the end of the trailer…
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Poster for Shyamalan’s ‘Happening’
December 7th, 200720th Century Fox has released the first poster for M. Night Shyamalan’s next film titled “The Happening”. Not much is known about it yet, only that it revolves around a couple trying to survive an apocalyptic event that could potentially wipe humanity off the face of the Earth. It stars Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, John Leguizamo, and Betty Buckley. Judging from the last movie Night has put out, I’m remaining cautiously optimistic for this one. We’ll have to wait and see if he bucks his trend of providing a twist at the very end of the movie, maybe he’s done with that. If you want the incredibly large version of the poster, follow this link.
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Zorro+Wagner=Dynamite
December 6th, 2007CBR News has announced today that Matt Wagner (Grendel, Trinity) and Dynamite Comics plan on releasing Zorro #1 in February, 2008. This might not be much of a surprise to some as Brett Matthews and John Cassaday recently revived The Lone Ranger from the brink of death, even making it worthy of an Eisner recommendation. Dynamite is aiming to relaunch Zorro in much the same vein, this time relying on Matt Wagner and his expertise to reinvigorate the character for the 21st century. Titled “Trail of the Fox”, the first story arc will detail the origin of Zorro much like what Lone Ranger did. Wagner says,”The first arc is, indeed, Zorro’s origin tale, beginning in his early youth in fact. Yet it is also balanced with the story of his first appearances while operating under the mask. The narrative bops back and forth between the two time periods, present day and slightly in the past.”
Fans of the old Zorro films and comics will recognize both the heroes and villains they knew in their youth, although Wagner says that he is aiming for something much more akin to the original comic strips. In those strips the main villain was called Gonzales, and he was almost the polar opposite of the more comical villains that Zorro faced in his later adventures. For the full news report follow the link at the top of this story, otherwise check out these covers for the first couple issues.
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Cloverfield and Slusho?
December 6th, 2007Yes I know, what the heck am I getting at here? The people at Paramount have just released the running time of the film itself, and it might not be what you’re expecting. 90 minutes is the target they are aiming for when all is said and done, quite small compared to most epic films that reach the silver screen nowadays. As an added bonus for you guys they released a commercial for Slusho, the soft drink that is going to be plastered all over the film when you see it on 1-18-08. Be warned, this commercial makes almost no sense to a normal person…but the people who evaluate and scrounge for Cloverfield info will probably find something interesting in it.
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Bring Your WoW Character to Life
December 4th, 2007The internet is ablaze with the news that you can create an action figure out of your in-game World of Warcraft avatar. The site allowing you to do this is called Figure Prints, and it will be open for business on December 11th. The only catch? The statues will cost you about $100 a piece, but no price is too large to immortalize your character at the height of his or her power. Officially licensed by Blizzard, you can rest assured that the final product will be of great quality. Check out these early screens to get an idea of what exactly can be done:
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More Hellboy 2 News Creeps Out
December 4th, 2007As many of you probably know by now there is a sequel to Hellboy that is in production, and will probably be wrapping up within the next few months. Titled Hellboy 2: The Golden Army, this sequel will be taking a look at the more fantastical side of Hellboy’s universe while maintaining most of the core characters from the first film. (John Meyers and Trevor Broom will not be returning) There will be at least one major addition to the crew at the BPRD; Johann Kraus. Johann is essentially a disembodied spirit who relies on his suit to maintain his physical state of being. Recently at the main Hellboy 2 site, Guillermo del Toro revealed some very interesting news:
In the next 3/4 weeks we will reveal Johann.
Expect “Baddies” around mid-December too.
A trailer SHOULD be out around the Holidays.
Best
GDT
For a peak at what Johann looks like in the comics, check out this picture:
Hellboy 2: The Golden Army is set for release in July of this next summer.
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Activision Merges with Vivendi/Blizzard
December 2nd, 2007In a megaton announcement, on a Sunday no less, news has emerged that Vivendi Games and Blizzard Entertainment have merged with Activision. This would make Activision the second biggest publishing and developing house in the world, passing up even the giant EA with their newly acquired Bioware and Pandemic Studios.
SANTA MONICA, Calif. & PARIS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Activision, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) and Vivendi (Euronext Paris: VIV) today announced that they have signed a definitive agreement to combine Vivendi Games, Vivendi’s interactive entertainment business — which includes Blizzard Entertainment’s® World of Warcraft®, the world’s #1 multi-player online role-playing game franchise — with Activision, creating the world’s largest pure-play online and console game publisher. The new company, Activision Blizzard, is expected to have approximately $3.8 billion in pro forma combined calendar 2007 revenues and the highest operating margins of any major third-party video game publisher. On closing of the transaction, Activision will be renamed Activision Blizzard and will continue to operate as a public company traded on NASDAQ under the ticker ATVI.
Activision, one of the world’s leading independent publishers of interactive entertainment, is best known for its top-selling franchises, including Guitar Hero®, Call of Duty® and the Tony Hawk series, as well as Spider-Man™, X-Men™, Shrek®, James Bond™ and TRANSFORMERS™. Blizzard Entertainment, a division of Vivendi Games, has projected calendar 2007 revenues of $1.1 billion, operating margins of over 40% and approximately $520 million of operating profit. Blizzard owns the #1 multi-player online role-playing game franchise, World of Warcraft, which currently has over 9.3 million subscribers worldwide. Blizzard’s World of Warcraft, Warcraft®, StarCraft® and Diablo® games account for four of the top-five best-selling PC game titles of all time. Vivendi Games also owns popular franchises, including Crash Bandicoot™ and Spyro™. Pro forma for calendar 2007, Activision Blizzard expects to generate approximately 70% of its revenues from owned franchises. As a result of the business combination, Activision Blizzard expects to have the most diversified and broadest portfolio of interactive entertainment assets in its industry, positioning the combined company to capitalize on the continued worldwide growth in interactive entertainment.
Jean-Bernard Lévy, Chairman of the Management Board and Chief Executive Officer of Vivendi stated: “This alliance is a major strategic step for Vivendi and is another illustration of our drive to extend our presence in the entertainment sector. By combining Vivendi’s games business with Activision, we are creating a worldwide leader in a high-growth industry. We are excited about the opportunities for Activision Blizzard as a broader entertainment software platform. We believe this transaction will create significant value for Activision Blizzard and Vivendi stockholders. In Activision, we have found a partner with a highly complementary business and strong operating team. Bobby Kotick and Brian Kelly are industry pioneers, well known for creating shareholder value. The combined strength of the existing management teams at both companies will set the stage for further profitable growth of Activision Blizzard. We look forward to being an active and supportive majority stockholder in a company that is poised to lead the worldwide interactive entertainment industry in the years ahead.”
René Penisson, Member of the Management Board of Vivendi and current Chairman of Vivendi Games, added: “We are very confident that by combining forces, Activision Blizzard will set the highest standards in quality, reputation and profitability, and will bring together the best creative teams in the industry. The combination of this unique product portfolio with highly professional employees gives us great confidence in the growth prospects for Activision Blizzard.”
Said Robert Kotick, Activision’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer: “This is an outstanding transaction for Activision and our stockholders, as well as a pivotal event in the continuing transformation of the interactive entertainment industry. By combining leaders in mass-market entertainment and subscription-based online games, Activision Blizzard will be the only publisher with leading market positions across all categories of the rapidly growing interactive entertainment software industry and reach the broadest possible audiences. By joining forces with Vivendi Games, we will become the immediate leader in the highly profitable online games business and gain a large footprint in the rapidly growing Asian markets, including China and Korea, while maintaining our leading operating performance across North America and Europe. Activision stockholders will benefit from significantly increased earnings power and the recurring nature and predictability of subscription-based revenues, while also having the opportunity, if they choose, to receive $27.50 per share for a portion of their shares in the post-closing tender offer.”
Kotick continued: “Vivendi Games provides Activision with unique strategic and financial benefits and will allow us to leverage our franchises into emerging online opportunities as Blizzard has done so successfully. Activision has been very focused on margin expansion, and this transaction will meaningfully increase our overall operating margins as we expand our franchises online and in new geographies. Diversifying our revenue base among subscription-based online, console and PC formats, as well as wireless and casual emerging opportunities, gives us the broadest platform to capitalize on industry growth. With Blizzard’s successful franchises, such as World of Warcraft, StarCraft and an exciting pipeline of yet-to-be announced titles, Vivendi Games’ and Blizzard’s management team will join with Activision’s strong and experienced leaders to become an even more powerful force for innovation in online and offline interactive entertainment across a wide range of platforms. This transaction also provides a unique relationship with Universal Music Group – the world’s largest music company – which will benefit Guitar Hero and further extend our sizable leadership position in music-based games.”
Mike Morhaime, President and Chief Executive Officer of Blizzard, added: “Blizzard’s industry-leading PC games business, with a track record of nine consecutive bestsellers and a global subscriber base of more than 9.3 million World of Warcraft players, is an exceptional fit for Activision’s highly profitable console games business. From our interactions with the Activision team, it is clear we have much in common in terms of our approaches to game development and publishing. Above all, we are looking forward to continue creating great games for Blizzard gamers around the world, and we believe this new partnership will help us to do that even better than before.”
Structure & Terms of Transaction
Under the terms of the agreement, Vivendi Games will be merged with a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision. In the merger, shares of Vivendi Games will be converted into 295.3 million new shares of Activision common stock. Based on the transaction price of $27.50 per share of Activision common stock, this implies a value of approximately $8.1 billion for Vivendi Games. Concurrently with the merger, Vivendi will purchase 62.9 million newly issued shares of Activision common stock at a price of $27.50 per share – a premium of 31% to Activision’s average closing price over the past 20 trading days – for a total of $1.7 billion in cash. As a result of these transactions, Vivendi will own an approximate 52% ownership stake in Activision Blizzard on a fully diluted basis.
Within five business days after closing the transaction, Activision Blizzard will launch a $4 billion all-cash tender offer to purchase up to 146.5 million Activision Blizzard common shares at $27.50 per share. The tender offer will be funded by Activision Blizzard’s cash on hand at closing, including the $1.7 billion in cash received from the Vivendi share purchase. In addition, Vivendi has agreed to acquire from Activision Blizzard additional newly issued shares for up to an additional $700 million of Activision common stock at $27.50 per share, the proceeds of which would also be used to fund the tender offer. Any remaining funds required to complete the tender offer will be borrowed by Activision Blizzard from Vivendi or third-party lenders. If the tender offer is fully subscribed, Vivendi will own an approximate 68% ownership stake in Activision Blizzard on a fully diluted basis.
The transaction is expected to be immediately accretive in its first year post-closing for Activision’s stockholders and slightly accretive for Vivendi’s stockholders. Activision Blizzard is targeting pro forma operating income of $1.1 billion and pro forma earnings per share (EPS) in excess of $1.20 in calendar year 2009. The transaction is expected to be at least $0.20 accretive to Activision stockholders in calendar year 2009.
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Constantine 2 Might Happen
December 1st, 2007Seems like the sequel to Constantine that has been rumored for a good while might be happening if the right pieces are put into place.
Director Francis Lawrence said today at the I Am Legend junket that he would love to helm a Constantine sequel. He said that the sequel will depend on them finding the right story.
In a one-on-one interview with ShockTillYouDrop.com, Lawrence added a follow-up could be a sequel or a prequel. “I like origin stories, that would be cool. What worked for me is the film came from the ‘Dangerous Habits’ storyline - he had cancer and he was dying. To me that was the core of the story. It’s why the movie works for me, because the story couldn’t be more personal. People have thrown concepts around [for a sequel] and I go ‘Why does he give a f**k?’ In the first film he’s trying to save his own skin. Everything else, you can come up with these stories where he goes to different lands and fight the bad guys or witch doctors, but I think it all falls flat. Until someone comes up with a great idea, whether it’s earlier [in his life] or later, we’ll just have to see.”
2005’s Constantine, which starred Keanu Reeves, Rachel Weisz, Tilda Swinton, Gavin Rossdale, Djimon Hounsou, Shia LaBeouf and Peter Stormare, earned $230.8 million worldwide.
Based on the DC Comics/Vertigo “Hellblazer” graphic novels, the film starred Reeves as John Constantine, who was born with the ability to recognize the half-breed angels and demons that walk the earth in human camouflage. Constantine was driven to take his own life to escape the tormenting clarity of his vision. But he failed.
Resuscitated against his will, he found himself cast back into the land of the living where he patrols the earthly border between heaven and hell, hoping in vain to earn his way to salvation by waging war on the earthbound minions of evil.
Hopefully they don’t go for a prequel too far into his past, I can picture it being extremely boring. The first was pretty well done despite it being the first big budget film which Francis Lawrence, (a previous director of music videos) ever directed.
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Dresden Files Comic becomes a Reality
November 27th, 2007Newsarama broke the silence and posted that the Dabel Brothers will be publishing a Dresden Files comic.
The novel series, which was adapted for television and saw life as a short-lived series on Sci Fi, follows Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden, an investigator of the supernatural. A wizard himself, Dresden aids the Chicago police in their investigations of cases that stretch past their reach and into the supernatural. Dresden is no angel either, as he is constantly watched by the White Council due to a misadventure in his past which resulted in the death of his uncle.
The comic versions of the Dresden Files (Butcher has written nine novels, with a tenth due in February of 2008) will be direct adaptations of the novels, and will begin with Storm Front in mid 2008. Prior to the debut of Storm Front, Dabel Brothers will release in April, an original four-part Harry Dresden miniseries written by Butcher.
Good news for fans of the Dresden Files, the Dabel Brothers are fairly successful at adapting famous novels to comics. If by chance you missed the miniseries on Sci-Fi last year, check out the novels or this upcoming series. They have an interesting mix of humor, horror, drama, and mystery.
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Cloverfield’s Website Launches
November 19th, 2007Paramount launched the main site for the movie titled ‘Cloverfield’, which is set to release on 1-18-08. Directed by Matt Reeves, it stars several relatively unknown actors and actresses in the main roles.
Think that is all? Good old Paramount and J.J. decided to release the next trailer, which launched with the new site. Check it out. The movie’s plot remains essentially unknown, all that was shown in the first trailer was an attack of some kind on NYC, coupled with what seemed like the screeching of some type of monster or creature. Beyond that, it is not known whether the film will be composed mainly of camcorder footage ala ‘The Blair Witch Project’, of if it will be a mixture of conventional film and the shaky cam. The stomachs of thousands of movie goers are probably praying it will be the latter, and not the former of those two options.
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Comics of the Week 11/14/07
November 16th, 2007I’ll be completely forward with you, the readers. Usually most comic review sites pick one issue per week of a certain title to name “Comic of the Week”, and I think it’s time Altgn.com had it’s own weekly comic review article. Here’s the curve ball; some weeks there will be only one issue declared comic of the week, while other weeks there will be more than one title to share the honors. Before I begin, the reader should know the scoring template that the writers here at Altgn.com use. Rather than using a numerical system, there are three options. Buy/Burn/Download. In this particular article you won’t be seeing the Burn option unless I choose to turn things on it’s head to do a “Worst Comics of the Week” article. So which books get to share the honor this week?
Nova #8
Nova is an interesting book mainly because Richard Rider (Nova) has barely gotten a breather issue between events. I almost expected Nova to play a bigger role in Annihilation Conquest than he did in Annihilation. All my questions about that subject were handled with this issue, Abnett and Lanning make sure that the reader understands that. The art is well suited to the book and it shows that Alves did his homework on how to mimic Chen, the previous artist on the book. The humor and characters are what makes this book stick with you, especially with this issue and the introduction of a certain character named Cosmo. I won’t spoil who or what he is but I found it to be incredibly zany and oddly acceptable at the same time.
Buy it, especially if you enjoy a mixture of humor and action in your comics
All Star Superman #9
Every once in a blue moon Morrison and Quitely decide to release the next installment of this series, and they deliver the goods every time. As you can probably guess by the cover, Superman is greeted back to Earth with the knowledge that two people as powerful as he have taken refuge on Earth during his absence. For the sake of spoilers I won’t share anymore story details than that, but it is a touching and clever story just like we have come to expect from this duo. If you are unaware of this “All Star” line of DC comics, it was basically their answer to Marvel’s Ultimate line in that famous characters get their own titles set in alternate universes. If you’re looking to catch up with this series, do it. Don’t hesitate just buy every back issue you can and thank me later.
Buy it, but promise me you won’t check out All Star Batman and Robin
Thor #4
Marvel is on a streak when it comes to re-imagining or relaunching their core books. (Amazing Spider-Man not included) JMS, or J. Michael Straczynski, and Oliver Coipel have brought Thor back in style, and the rest of Asgard with him. Throughout these opening issues we have followed Thor as he attempts to put the pieces of Asgard back together, that includes bringing his closest friends back from the dead. In this issue we follow the travels of Donald Blake in Africa, and his attempts to find three of his old friends. (Thor fans probably know who I’m talking about) That being said, if you haven’t read any Thor comics in the past, don’t worry too much. This new series is extremely accessible and is essentially a new beginning for both Thor and the people he interacts with most. Next to the Iron Fist and Captain America, Thor is the best individual hero book that Marvel has to offer, it oozes style from Coipel’s art and the writing of JMS will keep you interested each and every issue.
Buy it, if only to help Donald Blake get a better walking cane
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No Mass Effect for Singapore
November 15th, 2007Mass Effect seems to be producing quite a stir among certain countries, most notably Singapore. A video was put on the internet from a certain scene within the game, which details a conversation between a human female (the main character) and a blue alien of a different species. It looks as though the Prime Minister of Singapore was the first to make statements about the game, and that it would be banned from being sold in any store within the country.
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore has banned a Microsoft Corp video game which contains a scene showing a human woman and an alien woman kissing and caressing each other, a local newspaper reported on Thursday. The Straits Times said “Mass Effect” — a highly anticipated futuristic space adventure game from Microsoft — was banned by Singapore’s Media Development Authority.
In October, Singapore’s parliament decided to keep a ban on sex between men, and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that the city-state should keep its conservative values and not allow special rights for homosexuals. Singapore is the only country to have banned the game, so far, and it is the first Microsoft video game to be banned in the city-state, The Straits Times said.
The move has caused an outcry among local and international gamers who said the decision was too strict, the newspaper said. The report said Singapore has in the past, banned at least two other video games — Sony Corp’s “God Of War 2″, for nudity, and unlisted Top Cow Productions’ “The Darkness”, for excessive violence and religiously offensive expletives.
I wasn’t aware that Singapore was still stuck 100 years in the past, shame that the game has to get labeled with something that is so uncontroversial in the rest of the modern world that it won’t sell so well in certain areas of the world.
Mass Effect is set for a street date of November 20th, 2007 in North America and Canada.
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Zachary Quinto is all “Spocked up”
November 14th, 2007Trekkies and movie fans alike have been foaming at the mouth for pictures of Zachary Quinto in full Spock attire, pointy ears and all. As most people are probably aware, the new film began shooting earlier last week and paparazzi snapshots have been popping up all over the internet. Here is Zachary Quinto…as Spock courtesy of JFX online.
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Marvel wants in on Web Comics
November 12th, 2007It seems as though Marvel is going to follow DC ’s footsteps in providing digital versions of past and present comics via the internet.
Marvel Publisher Dan Buckley hinted at it in February at the New York Comic-Con, and now it seems that it will become a reality as Marvel will reportedly make roughly 2,500 back issues available online starting tomorrow in a format that allows the comics to be viewed online only - through a browser. Downloads will not be available.
The article quotes Marvel’s Buckley as saying, “You don’t have that spinner rack of comic books sitting in the local five-and-dime any more. We don’t have our product intersecting kids in their lifestyle space as much as we used to.”
Marvel will offer memberships to view the comics - $9.99 a month or $4.99 a month, for an annual membership. In addition to the 2,500 initial comics, roughly 20 more will be released each week, ranging from early Marvel issues, such as the initial runs of Amazing Spider-Man to recent titles - House of M and Young Avengers were named as examples.
It looks as though they have no plans to release new titles every week, meaning the ones that are sold in brick and mortar stores. As seen in the last paragraph this will provide older issues spanning up to recent back issues, mainly to draw younger kids who don’t necessarily go into comic shops every week. I find it hard to be attracted to this seeing as how my general interest in mainstream comics is dwindling by each passing day, but I can see how this is big news for fans old and new alike. The price is fairly reasonable and if they launch with enough content they are probably going to be able to start off pretty well, especially if they put other types of comics online besides the standard superhero stories we all know and enjoy. (Dabel Brothers with their interpretations of popular fiction novels)
None the less, congratulations to Marvel on the jump to online comics…you’re only about 5 years late to the scene.
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