TPBs, HCs, Absolutes, Omnibuses… discuss them all here!
The Trades Thread: Collected Editions
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Absolute Red Son – May 27th How does a 3 issue story warrant a very over-priced Absolute? I think I’ll pass.
In a world where even the 64-page Killing Joke got an Absolute, anything’s possible.
In that case, they bulked it up by including the story twice over (with both alternative colourings) and including a ton of extra material, so maybe they’ll be packing in the extras here too.
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After enjoying Universal War One (recommended by Ronnie and some of you) I keep checking on the progress of Universal War Two, which seems to have stalled after 3 issues.
But then I found a Wiki page…
After releasing the first issue in Sept. 2013, the second in Sept. 2014, the third in Nov. 2016, they have the 4th issue coming January 2025.
Hopefully he’ll focus on the remaining 2 issues with no distractions, but going to figure it’ll be a while before we see a collected hardcover. -
Seems Mike Grells The Warlord will get two omnibuses completing 133 issues.
From Mike Grell.com:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – 09132024
It’s my 77th birthday and the 5oth Anniversary of THE WARLORD. I’m pleased to announce that DC Comics will be publishing MIKE GRELL’S THE WARLORD OMNIBUS VOLUME 1 in 2025, to be followed by VOLUME 2 which will complete my full run on my very first comic creation. Over the decades THE WARLORD has proven a perennial favorite among fans around the world in many languages.
THE WARLORD tells the story of a US spy pilot whose SR-71 is damaged while on a mission over Russia and plunges through an opening at the North pole into Skartaris, the world at the center on the earth, where creatures of from mythology and Earth’s ancient past co-exist amid fantastic cities and leftovers of the civilization of Atlantis. TRAVIS MORGAN’S struggle to survive in this savage world is the heroic saga of a modern man in pursuit of his destiny in a land beyond time.
–Mike Grell
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Recent reads:
Gone
This is a great little with a good ambition and a good showcase for Jock skills as writer and artist. A story of a future sci-fi corporate dystopia,with less a gap and far more yawning chasm between rich and poor.
The opening sets this up very effectively, with kids running through a shanty town. A town revealed to be on another planet as oblivious starships pass overhead. The resulting tale from this is engaging, with a good set of characters. There’s a great sense of scale Abi’s on too.
In terms of production values. I hope DSTLRY keeps these as they are as this is a good, OHC edition that shows off the story.
Rogue Trooper: Blighty Valley
This is a very clever story that starts off as a rather standard war tale for Ennis, with a side of time travel and very sharp humour. But in its finale Ennis does some very smart sequences, which Goddard’s art brings to life incredibly well. Those elevate the story massively.
What are they? That would be telling and you don’t want me to be.
The Helltrekkers
An early Judge Dredd spin-off, this sees a load of MC1 citizens try to leg it across the Cursed Earth to a better life. Of course, the clue is in the name: Cursed. Earth.
And so it proves, with much of the fun being who gets offed next and how. It follows that Wagner takes full advantage of the setting to get creative. Nor does everyone die, just a lot.
As usual with 2000AD, the art is excellent, with a high level of density to its mix of colour and mono visuals.
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Beasts of Burden is getting an Omnibus TPB, 592 pages for $30:
https://www.darkhorse.com/Books/3015-352/Beasts-of-Burden-Omnibus-TPB
I’ve missed a few of the later issues, so will definitely pick this up.
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Recent reads.
All-Star Batman OHC
This is a good set of stories, with a good art roster. They may be boosted by being read in combination with Snyder’s Batman run.
On their own they work well, with an ongoing plot running across the 14 issues. It’s not an essential, must-read series, but it’s good.
Canary
An effective horror piece by Snyder and Panosian, this is another miniseries to join the others Snyder’s been doing over the last few years.
This one is set in the late 19th century, in Urah, concerning a mining town that delved too deep. Then it turns out the local geology is odd too.
As usual, it’s a good trade whose production values justify its price.
G.O.D.S.
After the mess that was his post-HoX-PoX X-Men work, there was some good stuff in there but overall it was a mess, it’s nice to see Hickman return to form here.
A stort of magical secret wars, politics and grudges and feuds, all played out across multiple dimensions and space and time. And, a first for Hickman, restrained use of diagrams.
I liked this a lot. It helped that the Panini trade was excellent too.
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Recent reads:
The Midnight: Shadows
This is an OK story with OK art, though I’m not sure the mix of styles works. The flaw in it for me is the ambiguity of its central idea doesn’t work well for it, as it tries to suggest both realities are real.
The Me You Love In The Dark
This is a great little horror tale from Young, Corona and Beaulieu. It’s also an effective rendering of a toxic and domestically violent relationship through a horror lens.
Fall of the House of X / Rise of the Powers of X
They actually pulled it off. With everything I’d heard about Fall of X, it felt too vicious, too tipped to the negative for my liking. A too sharp mirror of the world? Also probably true.
Then there’s whole presentation of From The Ashes as a rebuild. That leaves a bad taste in the mouth because after reading this? The X-books do not need a rebuild, they’re not in a hole or scorched ash.
The 10 issues of the two minis collected here, along with the very important X-Men 35 / 700, concludes the Krakoan era very well. The only flaw is the missing pieces and references to other issues, but that, I suppose, is what the omnibus will be for.
I’m also far more disposed to reading the earlier Fall of X pieces, again, likely via a possible omnibus.
Will I continue or jump off the X-books? I don’t know. Marvel’s paperbacks are crappy, but they’re pricing their hardbacks upwards. If I decide I need a jump off point, Uncanny X-Men 700 is a perfect one.
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Most likely preaching to the choir, but maybe someone hasn’t read…
A Righteous Thirst For Vengeance is a gift for any occasion, and will get you two thumbs up.
Really though, couldn’t continue to be friends with someone who gives a negative review.
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A Righteous Thirst For Vengeance is a gift for any occasion
One of my favorite books of the past five years; I have the single issues, the two trades, and the oversize hardcover edition.
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The classic Dead Space comics are being reprinted after being out of print for more than a decade – GamesRadar/Newsarama
Antony Johnston and Ben Templesmith are behind the series
Survival horror franchise Dead Space (which just saw a remake of the original game last year) has been a multimedia project right from the start with comics, novels, and animated movies all expanding the story of the games. The comics, written by Antony Johnston and drawn by Ben Templesmith, are particular fan favorites but have been unavailable for years.
Well, not for much longer. Dead Space, Dead Space: Liberation, and Dead Space: Salvage will be reissued as a series of collected editions from Titan Comics, beginning in March next year with the original 2008 limited series, which acts as a prequel to the first game and the Dead Space: Downfall film.
Vol. 1 details the nightmarish final five weeks of the colony on planet Aegis VII. Titan’s official blurb for the new book reads:
“When P-SEC Sgt. Abraham Neumann encounters a reanimated corpse, he fights off wave after wave with one goal in mind: Survival. After the discovery of an Alien artefact prompts mysterious incidents to occur, the colony is shaken through psychological and vicious threats that break down their security. With the Church of Unitology slowly moving to awaken the Marker and push humanity to extinction. The onslaught grows as a gruesome undertaking takes place.”
The Dead Space license has moved about between publishers over the years. While the first comics were published by Image, Salvage was released by IDW, and Liberation by Titan.
“I’m so thrilled to be bringing these nail-biting graphic novels back after so long in the black void,” says Titan Comics Group Editor, Jake Devine. “I remember when I first played the game, sitting alone in the dark, holding my breath as I waited for terrifying monsters to unleash their fury! Fans of the game and newcomers are going to love getting this same terrifying experience once again.”
Dead Space Vol. 1 is published by Titan Comics on March 11, 2025. Release dates have yet to be announced for Vol. 2 and Vol. 3.
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Yes. It’s good, if messy, and bittersweet, and confusing, and funny, and sad, and sexy, and scary, … I could go on, but you get the idea.
I enjoyed it. It’s got a great set of artists. Be forewarned though that it doesn’t give you much in the way of answers at the end. Which you may or may not find annoying.
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Shade: The Changing Man Omnibus – no date listed
1104 pgs – issues 1 – 41
Man, I loved this back in the day. This is a definite maybe, but want that price to come down.
Flex Mentallo: Man of Muscle Mystery Deluxe Edition – July 8th 2024
I think I will.
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Shade: The Changing Man Omnibus – no date listed
1104 pgs – issues 1 – 41
Man, I loved this back in the day. This is a definite maybe, but want that price to come down.
I have all these in singles and I haven’t read them in decades. Would love this. Though it should run to issue 50.
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The trade dress for the new DC Finest line looks nice. DC trades department doing a great job right now:
https://bsky.app/profile/yonatans.bsky.social/post/3l7eo7ye7ym2z
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The 6th Astro City Metrobook is out in January, collecting the final three, very hard-to-find collections. I don’t think the last two were ever even in released in paperback.
Astro City Metrobook TP, Book 6
WRITER: Kurt Busiek
ARTIST: Mike Norton, Alex RossJANUARY 08 / 496 pages / FC/ T / $34.99
The Broken Man’s history, spanning over a century and a half, is revealed at last. Michael Tenicek, Astro City’s most tragic survivor, hosts a support group for others like himself. And in between, we meet or re-meet heroes and villains ranging from Jack-in-the-Box to Mister Manta to Kittyhawk, G-Dog and the Pet Patrol. Star creators KURT BUSIEK, BRENT ANDERSON, ALEX ROSS, and friends bring to live the heroes, villains, and others of comics’ most astonishing city.
Collects ASTRO CITY, VOL. 3 #35-521 user thanked author for this post.
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So not that long ago i bumped into the fact that Jason Aaron and Steve Dillon’s Punisher Max Omnibus is getting a reprint.
It arrives Tuesday.
Collecting PUNISHERMAX (2009) #1-22 and PUNISHER MAX X-MAS SPECIAL #1.Price is, I guess okay, and Steve Dillon smoothes that over and where was I in the first place?
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Lazarus: The Fourth Collection – June 3rd 2025
416 pgs.
The fourth deluxe hardcover collects Lazarus #27-28 and Lazarus: Risen #1-74 users thanked author for this post.
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Monstress Book 3: Deluxe Hardcover – August 5th 2025
528 pgs.
Collecting volumes 7-9 (issues #36-54) of the Eisner, Hugo, Harvey & British Fantasy Award-winning series by MARJORIE LIU and SANA TAKEDA, this deluxe, oversized hardcover brimming with more than 500 pages of art deco beauty and steampunk horror will make an elegant addition to any fan’s shelf.Got a great pre-order price.
Either a Black Friday week special, or a mistake. -
The Complete Harrow County slipcase is a thing of beauty.
Looks like a box with a quaint design, then you open and see the nasty.
The edge of the paper is black, which adds to the creepiness.I did find a copy of the first Library Edition and was awaiting re-issues of the rest, but then this was announced.
Im glad.
Looking forward to this (admit my ‘to read’ pile is fricking massive).1 user thanked author for this post.
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Monstress Book 3: Deluxe Hardcover – August 5th 2025
Got a great pre-order price.
Either a Black Friday week special, or a mistake.I had a good look but couldn’t see a great price – where were you looking?
Amazon.ca (Canada)
Our dollar sucks right now compared to the U.S.
They list the base price as $69.99, so I jumped at two copies at $23.27 each (67% off).Now it’s already gone up a bit to $40.77 (42% off)
Monstress Book Three: Deluxe Hardcover (Volume 3) https://a.co/d/eTdIcCh
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Sounds very DC.
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Who do you think supplied him the info?
Marvel knows they get free marketing via him.
I know. Just thought it’d be quite funny if he went rogue and announced something they didn’t know about. And then they were stuck going “well damn, now we have to make it”.
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Heheheh – I suspect Marvel might despatch a bounty hun – ahem, freelance peace-keeping agent on him if he did.
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The City Beneath Her Feet – May 6th 2025
152 pgs., Hardcover – DSTLRY
A bloody love letter to New York City, The City Beneath Her Feet is an action/thriller love story for a new generation by lauded creators James Tynion IV (Spectregraph, Something is Killing the Children) and Elsa Charretier (Room Service, Love Everlasting).
Jasper Jayne was the girl of Zara’s dreams, but their brief relationship came and went in such an intense blaze that Zara was left thinking Jasper was just that… a dream. Years later, Zara is thrust back into Jasper’s world — unknowingly listed as her emergency contact, Zara must piece together the mystery of Jasper’s life, all while being hunted by the assassins who once called Jasper one of their own.
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I ordered the Aquaman omnibus out on the 3rd and no sign of it being dispatched.
I can see the publication date of Aquaman was he 3rd of December. Unfortunately, our supplier is still waiting for stock to arrive from the publisher. We would expect this to be very soon.
Once your item has been dispatched, you will receive a dispatch confirmation email.
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I’ve been getting a lot of that over here when I pre-order through Amazon.ca
With the pre-order lowest price guarantee I’m noticing the bigger the savings the longer the wait.
(Like with price fluctuations and when someone ordered, the higher priced ones go first and that’s more immediate money for Amazon.
Got yourself a great deal? Just wait for a while…).They will honor their side, but any complaints and they say “supply chain issues”, and I can cancel my order without penalty, or send back when it arrives.
When my dollar sucks so bad compared to the U.S., it is nice to get the Harrow County Complete Omnibus for $123 as compared to $194 (and note for that both those numbers are approx $50 higher than in 2019 for similar items), but this is not the intention of pre-order which should be oldest order fulfilled first.
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Has anyone had any issues pre-ordering with Speedy Hen lately? I had two pre-orders for books released on 3rd Dec (one’s for me and one’s a Christmas present). There’s no sign of them being dispatched. I contacted SH and they say they’re both out of stock with their supplier and will take 1-2 weeks to come in. Which seems kind of not the point of pre-orders.
Yeah I had pre-ordered the Extremity HC from them and it didn’t come through for a while so I switched to someone else. Unusual for them as they’re usually quick to despatch and sometimes even before release date.
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SpeedyHen are a little odd at the moment.
Had the BZJRKR OHC cancelled.
They seem to be having problems with DC books, they don’t seem able to get the King WW Volume 2 in.
At the same time, there’s been other stuff they’ve sent early. There’s no pattern to it.
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You could look at SciFier.
They take a little time to despatch but do also give a timetable. £2 postage flat rate but items are well packed. Yodel is their carrier.
Used them twice recently and they’ve been pretty good.
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You could look at SciFier.
They take a little time to despatch but do also give a timetable. £2 postage flat rate but items are well packed. Yodel is their carrier.
Used them twice recently and they’ve been pretty good.
Never heard of them, but €5 per order flat postage to Ireland is pretty good.
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They used to be Aphrohead Books. Bought a couple of books from them years ago.
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Worth trying
ukgndealscode with SciFier, maybe get 5% off?1 user thanked author for this post.
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SciFier.
Oh cool, I used them a couple of times when they were Aphrohead. I’m not too fussed about when the DC trade turns up really, it’s the (non-SF novel) that’s the real issue. It only seems to be in stock with Amazon now, which is annoying – I try to minimise how much money I send their way. I find it ironic that the publishing house has on their website fluff about being proudly independent and stuff, but seem to have prioritised sending stock to the big global megacorp rather than smaller independent book-sellers. I get the economics of it, but not a great look.
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So considering the fact that there’s a Kraven movie in theatres (for a couple of days anyways), why is there no re-issue of Spider-Man: Kraven’s Last Hunt in a deluxe HC format?
I would pre-order right now.1 user thanked author for this post.
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So considering the fact that there’s a Kraven movie in theatres (for a couple of days anyways), why is there no re-issue of Spider-Man: Kraven’s Last Hunt in a deluxe HC format?
I would pre-order right now.It was supposed to come out in January 2023, so the reissues came out over two years ago (not in hardcover though):
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want a HC? what about this classic?
SPIDER-MAN – FEARFUL SYMMETRY: KRAVEN'S LAST HUNT. VFN- CONDITION.1 user thanked author for this post.
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Recent reads:
Masterpiece
Is it? It’s not that perfect but it is very good. The book isn’t quite the heist story it is pitched as though, it’s something more interesting. That is of how one generation takes over from one with no interest in succession planning.
In style it is very reflective of its creators. Maleev’s art is as good as ever, but Bendis is more restrained – his usual style is here, but more stripped back.
Blacksad: All Fall Down Books 1-2
This was a superb two-part tale, using the structure that many BD series opt for – part one drops the character into trouble, part two is how they get out of it.
In a lot of ways the book’s riffs on 1950s US, rendered through animals, are familar ground. What the series has always had going for it is an excellent sense of style and execution. And these two volumes are no exception, page after page of great art with story to match.
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I’m mostly curious as to why Revolution issue 3 isn’t in there
I approve of this new policy of DC telling you in advance exactly what collected edition cock-ups they’re making on $125 books, rather than saving it as a surprise for after you’ve bought it.
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I know nothing of this, but I’ll pre-order it on star power alone.
Hello Darkness vol. 1 – April 1st
Boom! Studios – 176 pgs. – paperback
The industry’s greatest minds share twisted nightmares from the darkest corners of their minds in this modern horror anthology!
Today’s top horror storytellers invite you deep into the gloomiest recesses of your nightmares, never letting you forget that… the darkness will always define us! From the trenches and tunnels of World War I to cushy Brooklyn apartments to lonely lighthouses, the darkness comes for us all. Modern fears of a collapsing society come for privileged Millennial yuppies in “The War” by Garth Ennis (Preacher, The Boys) and Becky Cloonan (Wonder Woman, Somna), while Erica Slaughter stars in an exclusive brand-new adventure of the Eisner award-winning Something is Killing the Children by James Tynion IV and Werther Dell’Edera. Be very afraid as even more new horror tales are unveiled by Wes Craig (Deadly Class), Sarah Andersen (Fangs), Andy Lanning (Guardians of the Galaxy), Trevor Hairsine (DCeased), and more! Collects Hello Darkness #1-4.
Like all anthologies it’s hit and miss, but the Ennis/Cloonan story is excellent and well worth reading, and some of the others are decent too.
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I got the first volume of Friday by Brubaker and Martin for Christmas, which I read today.
It’s very small. Not just in page count, but it’s got a weirdly diminished trim size as well, which I’m not wild about.
The book itself is a bit underwhelming, really. What if Encyclopedia Brown and Sally grew up a bit and also Lovecraftian horrors existed in their town. Which is not a dreadful concept, but not enough happens in this (only three issues, slightly over-sized ones, I think) to make me care. It feels very Brubaker by numbers and because the characters are so patently derivative of Encyclopaedia Brown, there’s no innate hook to them. It’s all very slight.
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I thought the three volumes of FRIDAY were a very good example of art and words blending seamlessly to present a complex but coherent story, a storyline which surprised me more than once during my reading. It’s not the best that Brubaker has written, but it was a successful attempt at merging Encyclopedia Brown with Leave It To Chance and HP Lovecraft.
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I stumbled across The Dollhouse Family, a Mike Carey/Peter Gross book from a few years ago that I’d never heard about before. Which is what you get when you destroy an imprint like Vertigo, create a new one with Black Label and then a sub-imprint focused on one guy (Joe Hill) publishing horror fare. Stuff gets buried.
Anyway, it was great to see those two working together again, and it was a really good creepy story. Well worth reading.
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Interesting that Mike Carey’s brought his “M.R. Carey” author branding back to comics with him.
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Well, this is disappointing. I’m reading Avengers: The Crossing Line epic collection (that’s from a 1990 Niciezia written story about working with Soviets, not the Crossing, where Iron Man turns out to have murdered a load of people) and there’s just been no remastering/restoration on the colouring (in the first six issues at least). It’s been printed “flat” (without ben-day dots or anything, I mean) but they’ve not tidied it up in any way, so there’s copious amounts of colouring that’s gone outside the lines, vague suggestions of the right shape on details, blank white space where they’ve not coloured the background all the way up to the speech balloons. It looks ropey as shit. I genuinely haven’t read a Marvel trade with colouring this bad since the 90s/very early 00s copy of Under Siege I had, which just reprinted the original files with no remastering at all. I shouldn’t be reading a professionally published comic and thinking “I genuinely could have done a better job of that”. It’s really surprising for an epic collection, as even the ones that are using material that hasn’t been reprinted before (like this) have really good remastering. They just seem to have not bothered with this one.
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The manager at my LCS absolutely HATES the trade departments at the Big Two.
On a DC trade, she showed me it was Vol 4. The problem is they print that at the top of BACK cover. Not on the front cover. Not on the spine. On the BACK cover. And it took a moment for me to find that! She that is not uncommon.
She said Marvel will release trades of miniseries for a characters as Vol I and Vol II, even though the minis have completely different creative teams.
Her biggest gripe with the Big Two is the inconsistent trade dress and numbering. Trades may change look within a series, and due to all the relaunches, it’s easy to get confused as to which trade goes with which run.
She says manga collections sell so much better than Big Two because the dress is consistent and clearly numbered.
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