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A podcast where two pals journey through the works of manga superstar group CLAMP, one project at a time.
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Welcome to Storied Arcs! A read-along deep dive into comics, one story arc at a time... In each episode, we will discuss one story arc, typically in the form of a trade paperback, for a completed comic series. In general, we will be avoiding ongoing or continuing series so that we can discuss a work in its entirety. We’ll also be avoiding the “big two” (Marvel and DC.) While we love those comics, there are plenty of podcasts covering characters like Batman, Superman, Spiderman, and so on. In ...
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Social Media Summer | Intro to Mindset & Creator Spotlight: Zack Kaplan and John Pearson
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Send us a text This week, Mike and Alex are here to intro the final installment of Social Media Summer, Mindset by Zack Kaplan and John Pearson from Vault Comics. They start by covering the creative team behind the book (including mentioning letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, who's lettered seemingly every book they've covered that's been published wi…
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Send us a text "I was showing everyone that technology is nothing but a monster." "Technology is just a tool. Human beings still do the heavy lifting." Welcome to book three of Social Media Summer! This week, Mike and Alex dive into Thumbs (issues #1-5) from Image Comics by Sean Lewis and Hayden Sherman. They start by examining the slightly differe…
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Social Media Summer | Intro to Thumbs & Creator Spotlight: Sean Lewis and Hayden Sherman
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Send us a text Social Media Summer continues this week as Mike and Alex jump a little further forward on the decline of social media timeline (June to August 2019) to introduce Thumbs by Sean Lewis and Hayden Sherman from Image Comics. As usual, the guys give a quick rundown of the creative team's comics history, as well as whatever projects they m…
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Lucy and Robin discuss the first volume of Angelic Layer! Note: Lucy’s audio is a little rough in this episode! Should be fixed in the next one. ~ Website | Patreon | Bookshop.org Facebook | Bluesky | Threads | Instagram Rough Script* * Rough Script will take you to a pdf of the script we used to record the episode. This is not a permanent replacem…
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Send us a text "It is no longer white noise. It is a deafening crescendo. News flits by in a millisecond. Who can tell what is truth? Every moment of every day... we are besieged." Mike and Alex close out book two of Social Media Summer this week with a dive into Unfollow Volume 3: Turn It Off (issues #13-18) from DC Comics/Vertigo. The guys grappl…
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Send us a text "I mean, what's the point of doing something unless you can tell the whole world?" This week on Storied Arcs, Mike and Alex continue to make their way through Social Media Summer with Unfollow Volume 2: God Is Watching (issues #7-12) by Rob Williams and Michael Dowling from DC Comics/Vertigo. The guys discuss how narrowing the story …
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Send us a text "The great terror comes form the universe's actions that do not have a cognizant mind behind them. What if all we are is swept away by something that wants nothing? That means nothing?" Welcome to book two of Social Media Summer! This week, Mike and Alex begin their look at Unfollow by Rob Williams and Michael Dowling from DC Comics/…
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Social Media Summer | Intro to Unfollow & Creator Spotlight: Rob Williams, Michael Dowling, Quinton Winter, and Clem Robins
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Send us a text This week, Mike and Alex setup the next book in their Social Media Summer series, Unfollow from DC Comics/Vertigo by writer Rob Williams and artist Michael Dowling. They guys first give some background on the creative team, including colorist Quinton Winter and letterer Clem Robins, as well as acknowledge the handful of guest artists…
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Send us a text "I put the gun in their hands and I trusted them to use it wisely. Just like Tunisia. Just like Sirine. And they used it to kill. I have to stop them. There's no other choice, this is my responsibility. It's on my hands." This week, Social Media Summer continues with Hacktivist Volume 2 (issues #1-6) from Boom Studios by Alyssa Milan…
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Send us a text "It's Moore's Law. Every two years, transistors double on integrated circuits. This is a constant since 1958. That means that we the people, the ones with the technology, we're getting more powerful by the day." Welcome to the first entry in Social Media Summer! This week, Mike and Alex are jumping back to 2014 to dive into Hacktivis…
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Social Media Summer | Intro to Hacktivist
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Send us a text In this episode, Mike and Alex introduce their latest themed set of books (see: Death Month from January 2025), only this time, instead of just a month, it's going to stretch all season. They're calling it Social Media Summer and they're focusing on four comics that utilize and comment on society's relationship with technology, speci…
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Send us a text This week, Mike and Alex are honored to be a joined by artist Marcus To, one of the co-creators of Joyride! They start with an quick overview on Marcus' work on Hacktivist with Alyssa Milano, Jackson Lanzing, and Collin Kelly (a comic you may want to consider picking up soon for discussion on this podcast) before diving into Joyride.…
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Send us a text "Good and bad, humanity can transform anything into something. We express. We create. Even when we're under a dictator. Even when we can't see the stars, we imagine them." In this week's episode, Mike and Alex return to Earth to wrap up their discussion of Joyride from Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, and Marcus To with deep dive into …
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Send us a text "The dead are dead-- and their sacrifices kept me alive. They made this place possible. They made me possible. Moments like this... they matter 'cause they end." This week, Mike and Alex throw a planet-wide rave and jump into Joyride Volume 2 (issues #5-8) by Jackson Lanzing, Colin Kelley, and Marcus To. The guys start by discussing …
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Lucy and Robin discuss the third (and finally) volume of Suki Dakara Suki! You can check out Elle Skinner’s art here: https://www.instagram.com/ellescribbles ~ Website | Patreon | Bookshop.org Facebook | Bluesky | Threads | Instagram Rough Script* * Rough Script will take you to a pdf of the script we used to record the episode. This is not a perma…
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Send us a text "Right now, you gotta get it through your propaganda-themed brain that you're not the one giving me the choice. It's 100% the other way around. I'm not going back to a world without stars." Kicking off this season of Stories Arcs, Mike and Alex hijack a spaceship and head out into the unknown as they dive into Joyride Volume 1 (issue…
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Intro to Joyride & Creator Spotlight: Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, Marcus To, and Irma Kniivila
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Send us a text For this season of Storied Arcs, Mike and Alex are heading back into outer space to dive into Boom Studios' Joyride from co-writers Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly (aka the "Hivemind"), artist Marcus To, and colorist Irma Kniivila. The guys run through the comic book history of the full creative team (including letterer Jim Campbell…
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Send us a text “Just look above you. Do you see? That is called the Immense Board of Lights. And there is the Great Black. And, strewn across it, small and surrounded and vulnerable and brave… there is the Great White.” This week, Mike and Alex wrap up their discussion of Top 10 by Alan Moore, Gene Ha, and Zander Cannon with Volume 2 (issues #8-12)…
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It’s been over six years since we launched this podcast! It’s hard to believe we’ve been doing it for so long, and we’re so grateful for our listeners (old and new) who keep us going. ~ Website | Patreon | Bookshop.org Facebook | Bluesky | Threads | Instagram Rough Script* * Rough Script will take you to a pdf of the script we used to record the ep…
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Send us a text "Listen, I got a call for you and Slinger. Irma and Li are at Seventh and Macaroni handling some kind of psychokinetic Santa." Welcome to a new season of Storied Arcs, and Mike and Alex are here to dive into Alan Moore, Gene Ha, and Zander Cannon's Top 10 Volume 1 (issues #1-7) from America's Best Comics/DC Comics. The guys jump righ…
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Intro to Top 10 & Creator Spotlight: Alan Moore, Gene Ha, Zander Cannon, and Todd Klein
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Send us a text For this season of Storied Arcs, Mike and Alex will be tackling the critically-acclaimed, multi-dimensional police procedural comic Top 10 (issues #1-12 of the original series only) from America's Best Comics (aka Wildstorm aka DC) by Alan Moore, Gene Ha, and Zander Cannon. They start with some background on America's Best Comics and…
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Send us a text This week, Mike and Alex have the good fortune to be joined by another incredible member of the Deep Cuts team, all the way from Italy, artist Helena Masellis! Helena starts by describing the comic scene she was exposed to growing up in Brazil, from both the US and Asia, and how that influenced a whole generation of Brazilian artists…
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Send us a text In this week's episode, Mike and Alex are elated to be joined by Joe Clark, one of the co-writers/creators of Deep Cuts! Joe starts off by giving his origin story, both in comics and in music, and tells us how the meeting of those two things in high school led him to befriending Kyle Higgins, this co-writer/creator on this project. T…
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Send us a text "Jazz, America's music, was born from a combination of uptown and downtown, of high art and low places. Now, it combines the free, the electronic, the spiritual, the revolutionary, the ancient, the immediate." In this week's discussion, Mike and Alex jump right into Deep Cuts by co-writers Kyle Higgins and Joe Clark and a stable of b…
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Intro to Deep Cuts & Creator Spotlight: Kyle Higgins, Joe Clark, et al
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Send us a text For this season of Storied Arcs, Mike and Alex dive into the beautiful chaos that is jazz as they get ready to discuss Deep Cuts from Image Comics by co-writers Kyle Higgins and Joe Clark along with a litany of incredible artists. A different artist is brought in for each of the 6 double-sized issues of this anthology miniseries: Dan…
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Send us a text This week, Mike and Alex are super stoked to be joined by Matthew Erman, one of the co-writers/creators of Golgotha Motor Mountain! Matthew first gives his comic origin story before diving head first into the entire publishing saga (and that might be an understatement) of Golgotha Motor Mountain. He covers where the initial idea for …
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Send us a text "Grief is the ether-like fumes of memory evaporating into nothingness. But from nothing, things can appear. From the void and blackness, magic can arrive." In this one-shot episode, Mike and Alex travel to the backwoods of Kentucky to discuss Golgotha Motor Mountain by Matthew Erman, Lonnie Nadler, and Robbi Rodriguez from IDW Publis…
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Lucy and Robin discuss the second volume of Suki (aka Suki Dakara Suki). ~ Website | Patreon | Bookshop.org Facebook | Bluesky | Threads | Instagram Rough Script* * Rough Script will take you to a pdf of the script we used to record the episode. This is not a permanent replacement for transcripts, but until Lucy finds a way to streamline that proce…
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Intro to Golgotha Motor Mountain & Creator Spotlight: IDW Publishing, Matthew Erman, Lonnie Nadler, Robbi Rodriguez, Marissa Louise, Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
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Send us a text In this new season of Storied Arcs, Mike and Alex are diving into a one-shot discussion about Golgotha Motor Mountain from IDW Publishing by Matthew Erman, Lonnie Nadler, and Robbi Rodriguez. They first give a little history about IDW (a publisher they somehow haven't covered properly before), then give a rundown of the full creative…
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Send us a text "Can’t paint on a smile and expect it to work, ya know?” This week, Mike and Alex break down the mind-bendy conclusion to Christopher Cantwell and I.N.J. Culbard's Everything from Dark Horse Comics and Berger Books with Volume 2: Black Friday. The guys jump right into the end and discuss how the ultimate reveal for the explanation of…
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Send us a text "I just... I just want to be happy. Or at least... happy with being sad." Welcome to Everything! Mike and Alex are ready to start a new season of Storied Arcs by wandering the aisles of Everything Volume 1: Grand Opening (issues #6-10) from Dark Horse Comics and Berger Books by Christopher Cantwell and I.N.J. Culbard. The guys start …
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Intro to Everything & Creator Spotlight on Christopher Cantwell & I.N.J Culbard
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Send us a text For this season of Storied Arcs, Mike and Alex are talking about Everything. Well, not everything everything, but Everything by Christopher Cantwell and I.N.J. Culbard from Dark Horse Comics and Berger Books. The guys give a quick rundown of the of the creative team, including Cantwell's television work (like AMC's Halt and Catch Fir…
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Daytripper by Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá
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1:24:44
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Send us a text "Only when you accept that one day you'll die can you let you and make the best out of life. And that's the big secret. That's the miracle." Mike and Alex are closing out Death Month with a comic that's been on their to-discuss list since the earliest days of the show, Daytripper by Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba from DC Comics/Vertigo. A…
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Lucy and Robin discuss the first volume of Suki Dakara Suki! ~ Website | Patreon | Bookshop.org Facebook | Bluesky | Threads | Instagram Rough Script* * Rough Script will take you to a pdf of the script we used to record the episode. This is not a permanent replacement for transcripts, but until Lucy finds a way to streamline that process, this is …
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I Kill Giants by Joe Kelly and JM Ken Niimura
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Send us a text "All things that live, die. This is why you must find joy in the living, while the time is yours, and not fear the end. To deny this is to deny life. TO fear this... is to fear life." Death Month rolls on as Mike and Alex face down monsters with I Kill Giants (issues #1-7) by Joe Kelly and JM Ken Niimura from Image Comics. The guys s…
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The Many Deaths of Laila Starr by Ram V and Filipe Andrade
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1:17:48
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Send us a text "Who is to say exactly how things end? If there is one thing we have learned, it is that life's endings are bereft of answers." Welcome to Week 2 of Death Month, where Mike and Alex head to Mumbai (in a storytelling sense) to discuss Ram V and Filipe Andrade's The Many Deaths of Laila Starr (issues #1-5) from Boom Studios. The guys j…
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Swan Songs by W. Maxwell Prince et al.
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Send us a text "The fact that we know things will end actually presents each of us with an amazing choice: What will you do with the limited time you get on this spinning rock?" To kick off Death Month, Mike and Alex are looking into the W. Maxwell Prince-penned anthology comic Swan Songs (issues #1-6) from Image Comics. In each issue of the series…
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Intro to Death Month: Swan Songs, The Many Deaths of Laila Starr, I Kill Giants, Daytripper and their creative teams
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Send us a text Welcome to a new season (and year!) of the Storied Arcs podcast! Mike and Alex have returned with another theme month- DEATH. Or dying. But, living. Or ending. But, continuing on. It’s kinda all the same thing. Every story about death is really a story about life, and that’s the thing we’re hoping to explore with the books we’ve pick…
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Crowded Volume 03 Cutting-Edge Desolation
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Send us a text "It became this giant spectacle. The more attention it got, the more money it raised. Because it dumb or funny or stupid. Who cares why. People wanted in." This week, Mike and Alex wrap up their look at Crowded by Christopher Sebela, Ro Stein, and Ted Brandt with Volume 3: Cutting-Edge Desolation. They get right to it and start at th…
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Send us a text "Charlie, from what I've seen in the last four days, the fact that he knows you doesn't mean he's not gonna try to kill you." In this episode, the action heats up in Crowded Volume 2: Glitter Dystopia (issues #7-12) by Christopher Sebela, Ro Stein, and Ted Brandt, and Mike and Alex are ready to break it all down. They start with some…
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Send us a text "You Just pretend to be people's friends. You don't have feelings. I didn't start the campaign, but I wish I could thank whoever did. You deserve this." Mike and Alex are here to kick off a new season of Stories Arcs by diving into the action-comedy-romance-question mark comic Crowded Volume 1: Soft Apocalypse (issues #1-6) from Imag…
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Intro to Crowded & Creator Spotlight: Christopher Sebela, Ro Stein, and Ted Brandt
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Send us a text On this season of Storied Arcs, Mike and Alex are backing the campaign for Crowded from Image Comics by writer Christopher Sebela and the art team of Ro Stein and Ted Brandt. The guys start with a quick synopsis for the comic (crowded funded assassinations, anyone?), their histories reading it (don't judge a comic solely by its cover…
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Lucy and Robin discuss the final volume of Clover (and the anime short). CORRECTION: we’ll be discussing Suki volume 1 in the next episode. Angelic Layer will come after. ~ Website | Patreon | Bookshop.org Facebook | Bluesky | Threads | Instagram Rough Script* * Rough Script will take you to a pdf of the script we used to record the episode. This i…
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Send us a text "And when it comes down to it, really, time is all we have. And it doesn't matter how long you live if you're not spending it the way you want." This week, Mike and Alex are here to wrap up their discussion of Time Before Time from Image Comics with Volumes 5 and 6 (issues #25-29 and #6, #12, #18, and #24). They start at the end (of …
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Send us a text "I really thought things were going to be better when we came back here. Maybe the world's just cruel no matter what time you're in, though." Mike and Alex are here to continue their trip through time and space with Image Comics' Time Before Time, this week examining Volumes 3 and 4 (issues #13-17 and #19-23). They guys discuss the i…
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Send us a text "Well, let me put it this way... if the past could be changed, do you really think the world would be like this?" It's been a while since Mike and Alex have tackled time travel (you have to go all the way back to the very first book they covered, Paper Girls), and it felt overdue in returning to the concept. So inn this season of Sto…
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Intro to Time Before Time & Creator Spotlight: Declan Shalvey, Rory McConville, and Joe Palmer
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Send us a text Welcome to another season of Storied Arcs! This go-round, Mike and Alex are ready to tackle time travel paradoxes head on as they dive into Time Before Time from Image Comics from Declan Shalvey, Rory McConville, and Joe Palmer. The guys start by giving a run down of the full creative team behind this book (to start, at least; a rost…
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Halloween Horror Special with Rosie Knight
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Send us a text In honor of Halloween, Mike and Alex are delighted to chat all things horror comics with special guest and comics connoisseur Rosie Knight, co-host of X-Ray Vision! They start with a big picture look at horror as a genre and why it has such lasting appeal in comics, and also discuss their own history consuming horror stories. The tri…
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Creator Interview: Tim Seeley & Mike Norton
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Send us a text This week, Mike and Alex are incredibly excited to be joined by the creators of Revival, Tim Seeley and Mike Norton. They start by discussing the origin of Revival (it helps when you work in the same studio) and how it evolved to incorporate multiple different genres, all working under the umbrella of "rural noir." Tim and Mike then …
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Send us a text "But after Revival Day, we all went back to being within reach of the scythe. It made us remember how little time we get together. It made us honest. It made us human." This week, Mike and Alex warp up their discussion of Tim Seeley and Mike Norton's rural noir, Revival, as they dive deep into Deluxe Volume 4 (issues #36-47). The guy…
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