Monthly Archives: July 2015

Elseworlds Comics 1 – Detective Comics Annual 7 1994

Batman as a pirate? Why the fuck not.  This is the first part of my multi-part series where I’ll be going through a bunch of Elseworlds Annuals that I picked up at Comicpalooza.

Detective Comics 7

This is the story of Leatherwing who is a pirate in service of the King of England (King James II). While it appears that Leatherwing gives all of the treasure he collects on the high seas back to England he actually keeps a portion for himself in order to buy back his lands and family fortune which was taken from him. Leatherwing is captain of the Flying Fox (a Zorro reference) who he sails with his first mate Alfredo.

Detective Comics Annual 7 1994 Picture 1

The story starts with Leatherwing (Batman) saving a Panama (Panamanian?) Princess Quext’chala from Spanish pirates. After rescuing the Princess he returns her to her father and the Princess gives Leatherwing a bracelet as a gift of gratitude. Unbeknownst to Leatherwing this is actually an engagement ritual and the Princess now believes herself to be married to him. Leatherwing takes the Princess back to his secret port to deal with this marriage misunderstanding at a later time. Leatherwing has no intention of marrying the Princess but does not wish to offend the King of Panama.

Detective Comics Annual 7 1994 (4)

While Leatherwing is stopped in Kingston the street urchin Robin Redblade sneaks on to the Flying Fox. While hiding out on the ship Robin learns that some of the men are planning to mutiny. Robin tells Leatherwing of this plot which Leatherwing shows his gratitude by allowing Robin to be a Buccaneer on the ship.

Detective Comics Annual 7 1994 (3)

Next we cut to Capitana Felina (Catwoman) whose crew is in the midst of mutiny. She finds an unlikely ally in the Laughing Man (The Joker) who intervenes and kills off the mutinous crew mates. To pay him back for his help Felina agrees to seduce Leatherwing and tell the Laughing Man the location of his secret port.

Detective Comics Annual 7 1994 (5)

The Laughing Man has Felina walk the plank of his ship knowing that Leatherwing is near by and would intervene. Leatherwing does just that and saves Felina just as she is about to be eaten by a shark.

Detective Comics Annual 7 1994 (2)

Now a guest on Leatherwing’s ship Felina has a change of heart and begins to develop real feelings for Leatherwing. Before returning to Leatherwing’s secret port Felina decides to betray the Laughing Man and stay with Leatherwing. However, once the Flying Fox returns to port Princess Quext’chala throws her arms around Leatherwing and kisses him. Felina sees this and is shocked. She asks a crew member who this woman is and they answer that this is Leatherwing’s wife. Felina, feeling betrayed, leaves the secret port to give its location to the Laughing Man after all.

Detective Comics Annual 7 1994 (6)

Robin follows her and is captured by the Laughing Man’s crew. Once captured Robin berates Felina for betraying the man who loves her. Felina explains that he betrayed her by romancing her while he was already married. Robin explains the situation with the Princess and tells Felina how she means nothing to Leatherwing. Felina understanding what she just did rebels against the Laughing Man and frees Robin. Felina fires off a Cannon near Leatherwing’s secret port in order to give them warning of the impending attack.

Detective Comics Annual 7 1994 (8)

With Felina’s warning shot Leatherwing is able to get to the Flying Fox and attack the Laughing Man’s ship.  After some fighting Leatherwing eventually straight stabs the Laughing Man in the chest and kills him.  Felina explains what happens and apologizes and Leatherwing and Felina sail off to the sunset together.

jerry final thought

Overall the story is ok, but I never really got into it.  What I like about these Elseworlds stories the most is when they really flush out a universe.  This story had a lot of Batman elements in pirate form but I never felt that any of it really had legs of its own.  It was just “here’s pirate Robin, here’s pirate Alfred, here’s pirate Catwoman”.

There story felt like it was just a once over coat of paint.  It looked ok on first glance but if you really picked it apart there’s not much there.  For instance why was Batman so loyal to the English crown?  He was giving away the large majority of his pirating to the crown while only keeping a small portion to himself to rebuild his family fortune.  In the comic he says that he is pirating specifically because his parents were killed and all his titles / fortune were  stripped by the crown.  It just doesn’t make sense.

Again the overall story is feels fine, I just wish they had worked on the details more.  While this issue isn’t available digitally if you are interested in Leatherwing there is another adventure in Batman Chronicles Issue 11.


Mystery Comic 8: Blackest Night R.E.B.E.L.S. Issue 10

Comic (8)

I’ve never been a big Green Lantern fan, so most of my knowledge of the “Green Lantern Universe” is the broad cliff notes. From what I know (and Wikipedia backed up) the Blackest Night event centers around the rise of the Black Lanterns which embody death. This lead to a whole bunch of formerly dead DC characters rising back to life in zombie form. While I don’t know much about Green Lanterns, I know much less about R.E.B.E.L.S. or L.E.G.I.O.N.  Although this is Issue 10 in it’s series it is the first issue of R.E.B.E.L.S.’ Blackest Night arc, so that was helpful. There were a lot of characters in this issue that were introduced. Like a lot.

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From the best I can tell the story centers around Brainiac’s Son, Vril Dox, and Grandson, Lyrl Dox. Brainic’s son (Vril) becomes aware that his child (Lyrl) was becoming uncontrollable.  Vril uses his powers to put mental blocks in place to limit the amount of his mind Lyrl could use. This leads Lyrl to resent his father. So when Staru’s gang comes to kidnap Lyrl, he decides to go with them willingly. Staru was able to take down the mental blocks in Lyrl that Vril put in place giving him his full mental capacity.

Staru’s gang are still after Vril and his gang so they take off and are found by a group of Yellow Lanterns. These Yellow Lanterns are currently being attacked by a group of Black Lanterns so they try to take over Vril’s ship to escape. During the conflict Vril’s ship is destroyed and one of the Yellow Lanterns is killed by a Black Lantern Harbinger who then turns it’s attention to attack Virl. Vril is in a protective pill like object that momentarily distracts the Black Lantern Harbinger. The issue ends with the Yellow Power Ring of the recently killed Tribulus finding a new host in Vril and giving him the power of a Lantern. Also one of Vril’s gang Stealth who had been dead is reanimated as a Black Lantern and around during a lot of this.

Comic 8 - Image11

This is a lot to take in. I could, for the most part, follow along what was happening. However, this whole series deals with an entire group of comics I am unfamiliar with. I did recognize Staru from the cover of the classic Justice League 29.

Comic 8 - Image10

Justice League of America Vol. 1 Issue 28

I gleamed that this whole Blackest Night crossover deals with dead characters coming back to life as Black Lanterns. This is interesting and would much cooler for a series I am familiar with to see some dead characters back in action. A weird thing is that the Black Lanterns are basically zombies but still manage to be weirdly sexy. I don’t think I have ever seen sexy zombies in any of the many different interpretations of zombies I’ve seen.

Comic 8 - Image13

Overall this was a decent issue. I don’t think I’ll read any more from R.E.B.E.L.S., but I may read more from Blackest Night. At the very least I’m glad to be exposed to both and can add them to my base knowledge of comics.

I only have one ad for this issue I wanted to post.  It is for Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days for the Nintendo DS.  I played this game a few years ago and its a poster child confusing and complicated hot mess that Kingdom Hearts has become.

Comic 8 - Image12


Summer Pull List Cleaning

Avengers-Spiderman Cleaning

Source Hrjoe Photography

With DC launching their new DC You titles and Marvel finally announcing their plans for after Secret Wars I decided to do a little Spring Summer Cleaning of the old Pull List.  To start off, here is what my current Pull List looks like:

Physical Books

  • Wytches
  • Angela: Asgard’s Assassin
  • All-New X-Men
  • Spider-Gwen
  • Jupiter’s Circle
  • Fight Club 2 (LS)
  • Wonder Woman
  • Batman
  • Batgirl
  • Gotham Academy
  • Superman/Wonder Woman
  • Jupiter’s Legacy (LS)

Digital Books

  • Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman
  • Catwoman

*LS indicates it is a limited series and not ongoing

My ultimate goal is to bring this list down to a lean mean 10.  Fight Club 2 is a limited series but is coming out monthly so I consider it a number in my list.  Jupiter’s Legacy is so infrequent that while it is on the list I don’t really consider it a “monthly cost”.

Here are the books I dropped:

Jupiters Circle

  • Wytches
  • Angela: Asgard’s Assassin
  • Jupiter’s Circle
  • Gotham Academy
  • Superman / Wonder Woman

These books aren’t bad but I find my self letting them stack up 3-4 months at a time with no desire to read them.  I may pick them up as a trade later but as for now they are just costing me money.  I never really enjoyed Jupiter’s Circle so it was the easiest book to drop.  Jupiter’s Legacy has come out once so far this year so I feel pretty safe keeping it on my list.  Wytches was ok but I’d rather read it collected 6 issues at a time in a trade rather than go monthly.  Angela: Asgard’s Assassin and Gotham Academy were both pretty good for the first arc but I still lost interest.  Superman / Wonder Woman has been good but it lost a lot of what I liked when they switched artists and it was no longer Tony S. Daniel.

Here are the new books I’m adding:

Physical Books

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  • Extraordinary X-Men
  • Uncanny X-Men
  • Old Man Logan

Digital Books

JLA 1 All Covers

  • Justice League: Gods and Monsters
  • Justice League of America

This will have me pulling all of the main X-Men team books with the addition of the Old Man Logan solo book.  I’ve been pulling All-New X-Men for a while now and while I’ve really enjoyed it, have missed out on crucial information by not pulling the other main X-Men Books.  So with all of the Marvel books getting rebooted to number 1 it’s a good time to get in on the ground floor of all three main X-Men books at once.

The only ongoing new DC comic book that I’ll be adding is the new Justice League of America from Bryan Hitch.  I’ve gone through the whole list of new DC books and this new JLA is really the only one that I’m interested in.  I’ll be getting Justice League: Gods and Monsters but it is a limited series and will be ending on July 18th.


DC Comics Green Lantern 75th Anniversary Variant Covers

DC Comics is continuing their monthly theme variants covers this September with a slew of covers honoring the 75th Anniversary of Green Lantern.  I’ve got the complete collection below.


How to Enjoy San Diego Comic-Con From Home

Little Mermaid 2

This weekend is Nerd Christmas which sometimes goes by the name of San Diego Comic-Con.  If you were one of the lucky people who planned way ahead and were able to buy tickets, then you are there right now and basking it all it’s glory.  But if you are like me then you are at home, seething in jealousy, feverishly refreshing comic book resources for any morsel of news.

Well just because we can’t be there doesn’t mean we can’t reap some of the glory without even leaving our house!

One of the things I get most jealous about missing out on is the legendary Comic Con Exclusives.  The last couple of weeks I’ve been watching as every retailer announce their exclusives with the knowledge that the only way I’ll get a chance at them is paying 2 to 3 times face value on ebay.  Well not this year!

This year you can actually buy some of the San Diego Comic-Con exclusives from Hot Topic and Barnes and Noble, online, for face value!

Hot Topic

Hot Topic has a pretty amazing selection of Comic-Con Exclusive Funko POP Vinyl figures and T-Shirts.  They have a Metallic C-3PO, Dr. Who 11th Doctor, Castiel from Supernatural, Golden Frieza from Dragonball Z, Helena from Orphan Black, Twisty from American Horror Story, Golden Bender from Futurama, A special Minion, Sadness from Inside Out, and a X-Force version of Deadpool’s Chimichanga Truck. You can check them all out here.  Here are some of my personal favorites.

Deathstroke Unmasked

Deathstroke Unmasked

Heisenberg

Heisenberg

Rocket with Potted Groot (My Personal Favorite)

Rocket and Potted Groot

Barnes and Noble

Barnes and Noble has a selection of different Funko Figures and Pop Vinyls along with a few statues.  The Pop Vinyls include a black Ant-Man, Dr. Who Dalek, Joy from Inside Out, Captain America from Age of Ultron without his helmet on, and Star Wars K3PO (a white C3PO).  There also have a couple of action figures and more Funko items as well.  You can see the full list here.  My personal favorite is the Catwoman Statue from Batman the Animated Series.

SDCC 2015 Batman Animated Catwoman Bust

Catwoman Bust

Comic Books

What if you aren’t interested in buying toys or Funko Pop Vinyls?  It seems unlikely but it might true.  Well you can still appreciate San Diego Comic-Con by getting a lot of digital comics for real cheap!  Marvel, DC, and Dark Horse are all having big sales all weekend long on Comixology.

DC Comics

DC Comics

DC Comics is having a sale on a bunch of different Graphic Novels all for 4.99 a piece.  You can check it out here, the complete list is:

  • Crisis on Infinite Earths
  • Death of Superman
  • Batman Knightfall Vol. 1
  • Batman Knightfall Vol. 2
  • Batman Knightfall Vol. 3
  • Zero Hour: Crisis in Time
  • Identity Crisis
  • Infinite Crisis
  • 52 Vol. 1
  • 52 Vol. 2
  • 52 Vol. 3
  • 52 Vol. 4
  • Final Crisis
  • Batman RIP
  • Green Lantern: The Sinestro Corps War
  • Blackest Night
  • Brightest Day Vol. 1
  • Brightest Day Vol. 2
  • Brightest Day Vol. 3
  • Flashpoint
  • Green Lantern: Rise of the Third Army
  • Aquaman: Throne of Atlantis
  • Green Lantern: Wrath of the First Lantern
  • Justice League: Trinity War
  • Forever Evil
  • Superman: Doomed

Marvel Comics

Marvel is also having a sale on graphic novels, all of which are going for 4.99 as well.  You can get them here.  The complete list is as follows:

  • Death of Wolverine
  • Captain Marvel Vol. 1: Higher, Further, Faster, More
  • Legendary Star-Lord Vol. 1: Face it I Rule
  • Loki: Agent of Asgard Vol. 1: Trust Me
  • Silver Surfer Vol 1: New Dawn
  • Thanos: A God Up There Listening
  • Thanos: The Infinity Revelation
  • Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1: The Parker Luck
  • Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 2: Spider-Verse
  • Cable & Deadpool: If Looks Could Kill
  • Deadpool Classic Vol. 1
  • Deadpool Corps: Prelude
  • Deadpool Team-Up Vol. 1: Good Buddies
  • Deadpool Vol. 1: Dead Presidents
  • Deadpool Vol. 2: Soul Hunter
  • Deadpool Vol. 1: Secrete Invasion
  • Deadpool Vol. 2: Dark Reign
  • Deadpool vs. Carnage
  • Deadpool: Dracula’s Gauntlet

Dark Horse

Dark Horse (new to comixology) is having a line wide sale.  It is a little too much for me to put all of it in here but basically every graphic novel is on sale and the prices vary.  You can check out all of it here.

All of these comics are also price matched on Amazon and can be bought there for the sale price as well.

Digital Exclusive Variant Covers

Comixology Exclusive Covers

Comixology is also selling six different exclusive variant covers only during the duration of Comic Con.  I’ve never seen a digital exclusive variant cover before but it seems like a cool idea.  You can get them here.  Comixology will be released one each day, and you can check them all out below.


Comic Block June 2015 Unboxing

Comic Block Web Clipping

A new month and a new Comic Block!  I guess if I do more than one of these unboxings I’m going to convince myself I need to do them every month.  The slightly odd thing about these Comic Blocks is that because they ship at the end of the month you don’t actually get June’s box until July so the month constantly seems off.  It’s not that big of a deal I just don’t want the internets to feel I waited a whole month to post this, the box just came in the mail this week.

First lets look at the full box and all it’s glory

Comic Block June - Full Unboxing

Here is the full rundown of items in the June Comic Block:

  • Groot #1 Exclusive Comic Block Variant Cover
  • Ghostbusters Get Real #1 Exclusive Comic Block Variant Cover
  • 21st Century Tank Girl #1 Exclusive Comic Block Variant Cover
  • BVS. T-Shirt from ShirtPunch
  • Avengers Pen and Note Pad

Here is a look at the insert that comes in that box that explains all the items.

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This month every comic book was an exclusive Variant cover instead of 2 out of 3 from the May Comic Block which is awesome.  Still no sign of the elusive trade paper back that we were promised would be in some of the boxes, so perhaps next month?  The overall quality of comic books remains very high.  The issue of Groot and 21st Century Tank Girl justify the purchase price of the box alone in my opinion (sorry Ghostbusters).  It looks like the trend will be that all the comic books are number 1 issues of new ongoing series which is awesome.  They are trying to get people on board new series rather than handing out random overstock back issues.  We’ll start by taking a look at the non Comic Book items in the box.  This month had a cool Batman vs. Superman T-Shirt which I like a lot more than I did last month’s Comic Book Guy T-Shirt.  The box also came with a Avengers Pen and note pad which looks like something you’d find on the shelf at Wal-Mart or Target and is pretty meh.  I would have rather they included an art print like they did last month then have something so generic as this pen.

Last month I posted my unboxing before I actually read the books so I thought it might be better this month if I read them first and wrote a little blurb about each one.

Groot #1

Comic Block June - Groot 1

As Rocket famously stated, Groot “Don’t know talkin’ good…, so his vocabulistics is limited to “I” and “am” and “Groot,” exclusively in that order”.  So when Marvel announced they were going to release a Groot solo ongoing series I was curious how it would turn out.  While this may be a Groot solo series, Rocket is just as much a star and does the heavy lifting in the speech department.  However, the end of this issue makes me think that Rocket and Groot won’t actually be with each other going forward like they were in this issue.

This comic was great.  It had the humor and wit that the Guardians of the Galaxy Film brought and was a joy to read cover to cover.  I’m still not sure I’m going to pick up Groot as an ongoing series but I will definitely be keeping an eye out for it to start appearing on Marvel Comics Digital Unlimited.  My favorite part though had to be this little reference to Man of Steel.

21st Century Tank Girl #1

Comic Block June - Tank Girl 1

This is actually the book I was most exciting about.  I don’t know much about Tank Girl so it was pretty sweet to find an issue in this month’s box.  This issue (and series I’m assuming) is an anthology issue so it had 4 different stories with various writers and artists in it.  All the stories were funny, raunchy, and violent.  I don’t know if I will add this to my pull list but if future issues are in this anthology format this it will be good to know I can pick them up later and not be lost.

Ghostbusters Get Real #1

Comic Block June - Ghostbusters Get Real 1

This is the comic that I was least excited about in the whole bunch.  In general I am pretty weary of comic books that are based off of TV Shows or Movies.  I’m sure that there are plenty of good books out there but it just isn’t my cup of tea.  That being said this comic was ok.  I’m not going to buy more of the series, but I enjoyed the issue well enough.  The plot is that the elder God Proteus attacks the Real Ghostbusters (from the 90’s cartoon) causing them to go into the universe of the regular Ghostbusters.

I am vaguely aware that the Real Ghostbusters existed and that it is different from the normal Ghostbusters so I was able to understand that part.  They give you all the information you need anyway so even if you aren’t familiar with the intricacies of Ghostbusters you would be able to follow along.

The target audience for this book is for children around 8 to 12 so if you got a kid that is into Ghostbusters this might be a good pick for them.

Full disclosure I was not paid for this post and bought this comic block with my own money.  I am doing this unboxing for my own entertainment, however, if the people at nerd block wanted to give me free things I would love to take them and review them here.


Netflix PSA: July 2015

These are the fresh new additions to Netflix all starting on July 1st.

The net 1995

July 1st

  • Hell on Wheels Season 4
  • White Collar Season 6
  • Knights of Sidonia Season 2
  • Baby Boom (1987)
  • Alive (1993)
  • Almost Famous (2000)
  • Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid (2004)
  • Bandits (2001)
  • Batman (1989)
  • The Beverly Hillbillies (1993)
  • Big Daddy (1999)
  • Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey (1991)
  • Black Butler Season 1
  • Bulworth (1998)
  • Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
  • Chocolat (2000)
  • Conan the Barbarian (1982)
  • Dave Attell: Road Work (2014)
  • The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951)
  • The Delta Force (1986)
  • Drive Me Crazy (1999)
  • Flashdance (1983)
  • Grandma’s Boy (2006)
  • Hostage (2005)
  • Hot I Got Over (2014)
  • Kung Fu Hustle (2004)
  • The Net (1995)
  • Pi (1998)
  • Roadhouse (1989)
  • Rocky I – V
  • Saw V (2008)
  • Scary Movie (2000)
  • Silence of the Lambs (1991)
  • Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)
  • Teeth (2007)
  • The Terminator (1984)
  • Underworld and Underworld Evolution
  • You Got Served (2004)
  • NCIS Seasons 1 – 10

July 7th

  • Witches of East End Season 2

July 9th

  • Serena (2014)
  • Chris Tucker Live (2015)

July 15th

  • Penguins of Madagascar (2014)

July 17th

  • BoJack Horseman Season 2
  • Glee Season 6
  • The Human Experiment (2013)
  • Tig (2015)
  • Changeling (2008)

July 25th

  • The Guest (2014)

July 31st

  • Wet Hot America Summer: First Day of Camp

In Memorium

Shes All That

Here is where we say goodbye to the movies that are no longer streaming on Netflix as of July 1st.  You are gone, but not forgotten.

  • The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Vol. 1­-3
  • Beauty and the Beast: Season 1­-3 (2012 series)
  • Big Fish (2003)
  • Big Top Pee­wee (1988)
  • Bowling for Columbine (2002)
  • Cast Away (2000)
  • Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
  • The Fly 2 (1989)
  • Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)
  • Fried Green Tomatoes (1991)
  • Hawaii Five­-O: Season 1­-10 (1968 series)
  • Jack Frost (1997)
  • Knight Rider: Season 1­-4 (1982 series)
  • The Last Samurai (2003)
  • Louis C.K.: Hilarious (2009)
  • The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
  • Melrose Place 2.0 (2009 series)
  • Melrose Place: Season 1­-7 (1992 series)
  • Mission: Impossible: Season 1­-7 (1966 series)
  • Moonstruck (1987)
  • The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984)
  • Natural Born Killers: Director’s Cut (1994)
  • Patton (1970)
  • Racing Stripes (2005)
  • Seven Years in Tibet (1997)
  • She’s All That (1999)
  • Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)
  • Space Cowboys (2000)
  • Stephen King’s The Stand (1994)
  • Super Troopers (2001)
  • Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
  • Three Kings (1999)
  • Trailer Park Boys: The Movie (2006)
  • Wings: Season 1­-8 (1990 series)
  • X­-Men: Evolution: Season 1 (2000 series)

Justice League: Gods and Monsters

Justice League Gods and Monsters Deluxe

The next DC Comics Original Animated Movie is coming out on July 28th and will be a little different than the usual fanfare.  Instead of being a movie based on classic story arc from the comic books, this film will be a completely original property from Bruce Timm (the man who created the look of Batman: The Animated Series from the 90’s).  This will be an Elseworlds story that will be taking a radically different approach to the Justice League we know and love.

Justice League Gods and Monsters

In this world Batman is not Bruce Wayne but actually Kirk Langstorm (Man-Bat) and is a Vampire.  Superman is still the last son of Krypton but no longer the son of Jor-El.  In this world Superman is instead the son of General Zod.  Wonder Woman isn’t an Amazon in this world but one of Jack Kirby’s New Gods named Bekka.

Not only will there be a new movie but there will be a slew of other material as well.  First, there is a 3 part web series by Machinama, which you can watch below.  DC has already announced will be a second season in early 2016 featuring 10 additional episodes.

There will also be a line of action figures.

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And lastly, a daily digital-first comic book.  The series will debut digitally on July 1st and release 18 issues daily ending on July 18th.  This series will be a prequel that will dig into the origins of the Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman of this new universe (source).  You can the first part featuring Batman here on comiXology.

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I am planning on going all in and buying the movie along with getting all the issues of the digital-first comic series.  It is no secret that I love a good Elseworlds story so this whole thing is right up my ally.


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