110 108. The Branches of Eidolon, New Acquisitions and Marvel's Rebirth.
Disclaimer: The story takes place on an Alternate Earth with a slightly different timeline of events. Therefore, people may be born earlier, later, or not at all. This gives me more freedom to write about the characters as I want.
Additionally, the characters in my story are not accurate portrayals of their real-life counterparts. Please remember that this story is a wish fulfillment tale set in Urban Hollywood with some fantasy elements due to the system's shenanigans, so please don't take it too seriously.
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Opening Author's Note: I am really happy to upload this chapter guys, as with this chapter we are officially once again 3 chapters ahead of the public release of this book.
If I keep up this pace then it won't be too long when I will be able to create the 2nd tier. Also, we got 4 new members as our patrons.
I am really happy to see the steady growth of these despite me not being able to provide too many extra chapters. But now with the new schedule I am certain I will complete the 4 chapters for the first tier soon.
Anyways, thanks for being patient with me, I really appreciate it. Let's get on with the chapter.
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Recap of the Previous Chapter –
We see the aftermath of Eisner's revenge for Mark and his company. We see Mark be scolded by his father for his mistake and he graciously accepts it as such. He then reflects on it and makes a promise and an apology to the crew members whom he put into danger though they quickly forgive him because he did the same to himself.
The shootings of the Killing Joke then continue in Chicago where we also see miss Kidman who is now shooting for home alone whose shootings are also happening in Chicago. Then we see a scene being shot on the set of killing joke and River achieves breakthrough and gives a bone chilling performance.
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~ Quote of the Chapter ~
You're the author and protagonist of your own life, don't let others write the script.
– TheRamenLord.
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~ Marc Spector's POV ~
..(The Protagonist)
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Date: 1st January, 1991.
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Time: 09:38 am.
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He had wanted to sleep in actually but like clockwork his body had woken up at 6:30 AM and as much as he wanted to laze around the whole and cuddle with Eva and Anne after the lovely night he had with them.
He just couldn't, as all three of them had many responsibilities and couldn't just lie in bed all day, also it would set a bad precedent for the new year. But he still cuddled with them for half an hour to recharge his battery and he was ready to face the day.
He was thinking about the different branches of his company. When he was just 14, what started as a business venture to just invest from his earnings had slowly grown into this huge tree with many branches in numerous companies, like his very own Yggdrasil.
[Eidolon] was the holding/parent company; underneath that there were various companies and subsidiaries. A major one was [Eidolon Entertainment], it was his media house that looked after the entertainment division.
Underneath it were his film studios, like – [Nirvana Pictures], [A-Team Productions], [Loving Hearth Studios], and finally [Monarch], that took care of his live-action movies.
Then there were [Eidolon Animations] and [Pixar Animation Studios] that took care of Animated movies. There were also [Hannah Barbera] and [Eidolon Animations Japan] that were in charge of creating cartoons and anime for TV.
On the comic books and novels side of things, he had [Eidolon Publication], which was actually the first publication house he signed up his Ben 10 graphic novel with and recently bought off entirely and renamed to get back the full rights to the series.
There was also [Eidolon Comics], which was the banner under which he had been releasing newer comics that weren't going to be a part of Marvel. Currently, there are three series under serialization: [Naruto], [My Hero Academia], and [Pokémon Adventures].
They were being dubbed the Big Three of Eidolon by the fans, as they were the most popular of their offerings and also the ones that's still being continued. [DOOM] and [Halo] unfortunately had to be discontinued because DOOM didn't have much content in terms of storyline.
Also, it fit the Halloween special criteria so well that he had decided it would only be released in the three months surrounding that particular festival. As for Halo, the larger fan base of novel readers just made it the more profitable pick of the two.
Then there was his Merchandising Division, which he simply called [Eidolon's Merch]. They are led by Graham Steel and the other artisans; they only need to design and develop the merch.
After that, the sample would be shipped to either China or Japan, depending on which one could provide them with a better product quality-to-price ratio.
Yes, he had created his own merchandise production department. He couldn't wait around with his dick in his hand to buy another studio that would have it. Also, it wasn't actually something that was difficult to set up; the hardest part is actually getting one's merchandise into stores and malls.
But he didn't really have that problem as he had the [Everything Eidolon Store], with a little help from Mrs. Daisy Shah at [Crown Estates]. He was able to set up an E.E. store in every city in America that had a sizable population of novel or comic book readers.
The stores, just like their namesake, sold everything that Eidolon Entertainment owned, from comic books and novels, to merchandise like [Displate] (Wall Art built to last forever), to even VHS tapes of his films like [Knives Out].
Speaking of Knives Out, with the beginning of the new year, he had decided that his movie had earned enough, and he didn't want to drag it out for too long. The film earned him a total of 825.4 million dollars in box office and also earned him 16.5 HP.
The HP being rewarded was doubled because the film was created before the Tutorial's end; from now on, he would only be rewarded with 1 HP per 100 million dollars his movie's earn.
[16.6 HP → 33.1 HP]
'Vani, can you show me the special skill Word's Worth?' He thought about grabbing the skill already, as it worked for all the creative works produced by him and not just his films.
[Of course, Mark. Here's the description of the special skill –
• Word's Worth (D-tier), (Passive) –
Raises the likelihood of people to spread the word about creative works owned by you that they have seen. It also raises their persuasiveness, making it more likely for a person to be influenced by this word-of-mouth effect and be drawn to try out your work for themselves.
If they like it as well they will also spread the word in turn and draw in an even bigger crowd, as this effect slowly snowballs.
Word of Caution: This skill is a double-edged sword, because if people genuinely dislike your work, then they will also be more likely to spread negative comments and drive people away from your work who dislike your work as well.
Price: 25 Hunting Points.]
'Vani, buy it for me; it will be invaluable to me in my upcoming event and also when my movies premier.'
[Executing the purchase..
*Ding*
Deducting 25 HP..
The Special Skill—Word's Worth has been added to the special skill tab; just think of the skill's name or special skills to view the new skill. As it is a full passive skill, it is always in effect.]
He even had various types of games under his banner that he sold at the E.E. store. Like [Warhammer 40K], a miniature wargame produced by the [Games Workshop Group]. Videogames like – [Final Fantasy], [Dragon Quest], [Ninja Gaiden], [Captain Tsubasa], etc.
All these videogames were older products from his video game development studio – [Square Enix Tecmo]; they were currently working on newer iterations of their successful video games like - Final Fantasy. But also focusing on creating new video games from Mark's IP.
Like a detective puzzle-solving game based on Knives Out. He would be calling them later today to get details on how the video game was turning out. It should be another month or two before it would be available for purchase at the E.E. store.
He was also planning to have them make a simple children's game based on the [Beauty and the Beast] and [Home Alone]. But that would only happen after [Knives Out: Murder Mystery] was completed, and he could check the quality of their finished product.
In Investment and Real Estate he had [Crown Ventures], [Crown Estates] and [Angel Studio's] that together formed the [Crown Consortium]. These were the companies that contributed the most to his net worth but they were just a shell for his [Eidolon Investments].
With most of the companies that he had bought an early stake in going public his net worth only grew everyday, right now it was at 4.5 billion dollars. Also, all the patents and inventions from [Engineering Marvels] also gave him a nice passive income that he kept pumping into real estate.
He was now making the rounds to see how one of his favorite branches of Eidolon was doing. It was the F&B division; it was made up of two restaurants - [The Red Lotus] and [The Black Lotus], [Ichiraku's] - a restaurant chain, and finally [WELLNESS] - a healthy food alternative.
And so he was being driven to Patty's. She called him in, saying that she wanted his first meal of the year to be the new ramen dish they had been working on. It got him thinking about Ichiraku's and just how well it had been doing.
Even though he had only been able to open three, with all of them being in California, They had been an instant hit, at first being frequented by readers of Naruto, and then as word of mouth spread.
People from all walks of life seemed to come in for a warm, comforting bowl of ramen.
The noodles of said ramen were created at a noodle factory that was funded by him and run by Mr. Hayato's family. Works for expanding it were underway with more efficient machinery to help produce larger quantities of dough.
After the expansion was done, it was estimated that the output of the noodle factory would increase by over five times. This would allow him to open even more restaurants in the future. In the meantime, he had chefs trained on the menu items at Ichiraku's.
Even though people might look at it as a fast food restaurant, he was very serious about maintaining the quality of the food that was served at the establishment.
"Sir, we've arrived." Rose said as she got out and gestured for him to come out.
"Hmm." He nodded with a hum as he exited the car.
He was dressed casually with just a black jacket, white T-Shirt, jeans and his mask as usual.
"You made it." Patricia called out to him as he exited.
"Wouldn't miss it." He said, as they hugged.
"Come, your order is up." She said with a smirk as she turned around and led them into the facility.
"Wait.. you actually did it?" Mark asked surprised, he didn't think they would be able to complete his request so soon.
"Yup, even though your demands were a bit absurd, you're lucky, I introduced you to Hayato. The guy is a freaking genius."
"Thanks, Patty. Tell me a little about this ramen you guys created?"
"The ramen is a simple, humble and comfort food, your request was to keep those elements while elevating it into a refined and elegant dish."
"One that someone would find on the menu of a Michelin star restaurant. Hayato had some help, it was a friend of his who had over 15 years of training in French cuisine that helped us create this dish."
"You wanted the dish to be delicious, elegant and yet simple so even a less experienced chef could prepare it after some training."
"It's a Chuka Soba style ramen."
"Nice, so it's gluten-free." Mark muttered in a lowered tone under his breath, knowing he could market it as a healthier option.
"What?" She asked, as she didn't hear him.
"Nothing, I was thinking about what's the catch." He replied as he took off the mask after seeing that they were alone.
"I think it's better if you heard it from the chef himself." She said as she gestured to Hayato who had his back to them and was tasting the soup.
"Hello, Mark, welcome to my kitchen." Hayato said, as he turned around, with a short bow.
"Hi, Mr. Hayato. Please tell me about the ramen you guys made." He requested politely with a short bow in return.
"Why don't I show you as well." He replied as he turned around and put the ramen bowl on the streamer to heal. After all, it's basic that ramen must always be served in a hot or warm bowl that's been heated up.
"The ramen soup we made is like a consommé. It's a clear liquid gold that's light yet complex and full of flavor." He explained as he lifted a ladle full of the beautiful golden liquid and poured it into a pot to be heated up.
"We make it by boiling down Nagoya Cochin chicken, duck, scallop, dried tomatoes and shiitake mushrooms, konbu, an heirloom green onion shipped from Kyoto, and cured ham." He said, listing off the ingredients in the soup, and he quickly moved around to prepare all the components to assemble his bowl of ramen.
Mark's eyes widened as heard the list of ingredients, and he then dreaded what the cost of the ball was going to be, as he had specifically asked it to be prepared for Ichiraku's menu and for it to be affordable.
Seeing that Hayato was a little occupied with preparations, she decided to take over and explain the unique selling point of this bowl of ramen.
"Where your standard bowl of ramen calls for tare, the sauce concentrate that acts like a seasoning, we instead replace that for a sprinkling of french sea salt to round out the flavors."
'Wait.. no tare? Doesn't that mean it's really low in sodium? The one thing that makes ramen a dish, something people can only have once in a while and not an everyday affair..'
'Damn, this could be a gold mine..'
"The bowl of noodles is then topped with strands of bamboo shoots, slivers of green onion and slices of chashu pork, and finished with a fresh crack of black pepper."
"Those fatty pork pieces are cooked so perfectly that the fat just coats your palette with a sweet, creamy, savory goodness. And it's just phenomenal."
"But don't take my word for it, try it yourself." She finished her peace and looked proud of the dish they had created.
"Sounds heavenly. So what's the damage?" He asked, wanting to know the price.
"How about you taste it, and then I will let you know?" Hayato replied as he turned around and placed the bowl in front of him.
"Fine by me." Mark replied as he leaned forward to breathe in the aroma, and then picked up the chopsticks and started raising up the noodles to see if they remembered his preference.
'Hmm, medium thickness.' He nodded and then scooped up some soup.
'A clear light golden color soup with some fragrant oil on top.' He brought the spoon close to his nose and breathed in the aroma.
'Perfect.' He then went for the noodles and slurped them up.
'They have a really nice mouth feel and the soup coats the noodles perfectly.'
'Let's try these pickled bamboo shoots.'
'It's got such a nice crunch and its subtle shoyu flavor that pairs really well with the richness of the broth.'
'The egg is just perfectly cooked, it doesn't look marinated by it has that light shio tare flavor.'
'Let's try the pork belly char siu, mmm the the fat to meat ratio is good, not too soft as well but it still just melts in my mouth and that freshly cracked black pepper just hits different.'
'It's definitely made with high quality ingredients and it shows.'
'I can taste the chicken and the duck they used to create the broth. The light shio tare is perfect, the aromas as well..'
In just a short few minutes, Mark had already demolished the bowl and was ordering seconds.
"So, how was it?" Hayato asked with a knowing grin; he knew just how good that bowl of ramen was.
It had only been possible because Mark had asked for the impossible from him, and it had forced him to think outside the box. He had to even ask his friends for help, and in the end, he had created a bowl of ramen he was proud to call his best yet.
"It's definitely in the top 3 bowls of ramen I've ever had. Great work guys." Mark replied, giving them his honest assessment.
He had given them a really hard task and they had outdone themselves. This would be Ichiraku's premium bowl, the thing that would drive even the "posh" crowd into their humble restaurant for a taste.
But most importantly, it would help out a woman who was feeling homesick. It would be a nice surprise from him to her.
Hayato gave him a surprise when he told the price of this bowl of ramen. He was blown away when he heard of the price that they could sell this for – $18 per bowl. The
[Tokusei Chuka Soba Ramen]
He could already see the river of money flowing towards him, it made him want to open up even more noodle factories, open up more Ichiraku's and also trademark this secret recipe.
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After that delicious breakfast and the promise to raise the production of the ramen noodles and the instant ramen by 4 times, he took his leave.
Most of the factory's production capacity was used in creating instant ramen, as their [Ichiraku's Instant Ramen] were just selling like hot cakes.
They were now on their way to Mountain View in Silicon Valley; that's where they had set up [Nvidia's] headquarters. It was a 5-hour drive, but He wanted to see if they had made any headway and also to give a rundown of what it was that he wanted them to accomplish.
A face-to-face meeting with the engineers behind the operations would also be a good thing. After all, an absentee boss/director wasn't a good thing, but so was a micromanager.
So, he was just gonna tell them a little bit about what the future held for the company and be on his way. Though he finally felt the need to hire a CEO for Eidolon who would manage all of this for him.
He felt like he was being pulled every which way, and he needed to rest. Even though he wasn't mentally tired, he still didn't want to be tied up running Eidolon in his 30s.
Nicholas was already working on building up a team of talented business managers who would be the CEOs and managing directors of his companies.
Even now he wasn't free, he was on an international call with Tom Kirby, the GM. He was giving him a rundown of the operations at GWG and how the business was doing.
There wasn't anything out of the ordinary, they had already addressed the miniscule chance of lead poisoning that their models could have on children and even worked out an alternative already.
The expected public backlash also didn't happen except for a few overprotective parents as they were upfront with the thing and also willing to replace the older sets for newer ones for a nominal charge.
The news brought him relief, though the thing that brought him joy was the announcement of the writer's tourney. They were given 4 months to come up with a good story set in the universe of Warhammer or 40k.
The winners get not only the prize money, but also a chance for their story to be canonized. This tourney has many Warhammer fans in a frenzy, as the winners would actually be decided by public votes.
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After Warhammer from the GWG, it was on to talking with Mr. Miyazaki about his plans for making a short film on his manga [The Age of the Flying Boat]. They were being requested by Japan Airlines, Tokuma Shoten and Nippon TV.
The man wasn't sure if he should accept the deal, Mark had obviously asked him if something was the matter. After a brief silence, Hayao-san let out a sigh and replied.
"I want to make a different movie, Mark." He finally said, after deliberating for a while, he was hesitant because he didn't want to be a burden on the young man who he had recently befriended.
"Then make it; what's stopping you?" Mark asked back nonchalantly.
"The people who requested it aren't just someone I can say no to and do my own thing.." He replied, afraid of the backlash [Studio Ghibli] would suffer, if he were to offend [Nippon TV], a channel that had deep connections with their country's government.
"Hmm, I see the dilemma you're in, how about this, Hayao-san?" Mark replied after putting some thought into the matter.
"You can just outsource the production of the short film to my studio. We make it; you just put in a nominal amount of effort, and we will put you in as the director." Mark said trying to reassure him.
"Mark, that's.." He tried to counter as that was disambiguous.
"Wrong?" Mark asked frankly.
"Hayao-san, you can't say no to them, and you don't want to make it yourself as well. So let me make it for you, and you can concentrate on your dream project." He said, bluntly not wanting the old man to do something that will only make him miserable later down the line.
There was again a short silence between them, maybe Hayao-san was coming to terms with it, he thought. Though the reality was that Hayao-san was actually really touched by Mark's care for him.
"Arigatō, Mark." He finally said in reply, feeling grateful.
"Daijōbu desu. It's ok. Hayao-san." Mark replied, saying that there was no need for thanks between friends.
"So tell me about this dream project of yours; do you have a name for it?" Mark finally asked intrigued to know about this project that Hayato was so passionate about.
"I do. I think I'm gonna call it [The Legend of Ashitaka]." Hayao-san replied with a smile, that automatically came to his face as he thought about his dream project.
"It contains an uncommon kanji, so you might not understand it properly, but it represents a legend passed down from–." He happily explained the name he had chosen for his work as he was always very selective and concious about what he named them.
"–ear to ear without being recorded in official history." Mark finished the translation, but his mind had gone on a completely different tangent.
'Isn't this Hayao-san's masterpiece [Princess Mononoke], that earned him global fame?'
'Have I changed history this much?'
'Oh, who am I kidding? Of course, I have.'
'Fu** me, it looks like I'll need to be more careful and plan even more contingencies for unexpected developments in the future.'
"–ark! Mark!" Hayao-san kept calling his name; he finally responded when Rose nudged him out of his thoughts.
"Yes, I am here. Sorry, my mind went off somewhere else." He replied, apologizing for his unconscious dismissal.
"It's fine. I was saying that I was willing to do the short film. It will also give me more time to research on The Legend of Ashitaka. So I can make it to the best of my ability." Hayao-san replied trying to look at situation with positive outlook after being reassured by Mark.
"Sure, Hayao-san, let's do that. And don't worry about the funding; I'll take care of it. This way, Japan Airlines or Nippon TV can't force you to do something you're against when you're making the movie." Mark said, knowing that this would really help out the man.
"Arigatō, Mark. I can rest easy knowing that you're looking out for this old man." Hayao-san replied with a grateful smile.
"Take care, Hayao-san. I will contact you soon in regards to the short film." Mark replied, as he cut the call.
"Hmm."
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After that, there weren't any new developments; he just checked up on the sales figures of the last quarter, behavioral misconduct, problems with the compensation of employees, health benefits, dividends to the other shareholders, decisions taken at the recent annual general meeting, etc.
Thankfully, his own intelligence and the management perks provided by the Harem King carried him through. It was quickly making him into a great administrator and manager, but he wanted to enjoy life for himself, and despite becoming good, it wasn't his calling.
He was better suited to directing and drawing the overarching narrative for them. Right now, he was in talks with two softdisk programmers: John Carmack and John Romero. The two together with two other of their friends wanted to create a video game studio.
He was connected to them through a friend of Nicholas; why were they important? Well, they were the original creators of DOOM. So who better than them to create doom once again? But this time it would be even better, as it would be running on Nvidia's Gen 1 GPU.
But there was still time for that, so he gave them a challenge: He would provide them with a monthly investment of 10k dollars for a total of 90k dollars.
If they were able to make a game that's up to his standards, he would buy a majority stake in their studio.
They agreed on Mark owning 55% of the company, but he would also take on the cost of marketing, distribution, publishing, etc.
The four had now left their jobs at softdisk and started [I'd Software]. But they lacked one crucial component of their team. Two of them were programmers; one was a game designer, and the last was an artist.
None of them were creatives who could come up with a story of their own. So he decided to lend them a hand, though he didn't give them one of his IPs. He wasn't going to take them out until they were done with the development of the Gen 1 GPU.
Because he knew that it could raise the specs of PCs so much that it would change the kinds of video games one could play on them. Nvidia's Gen 1 GPU chipset only came out in 1995, and it was a disaster, as they didn't pay heed to the needs of consumers or their affiliated PC developers.
They tried to run before they could even walk properly, and they failed, which cost them 10 million dollars. He knew of these mistakes, so obviously he was gonna be doing his best to avoid these pitfalls.
After their blunder, he remembered that it took them 4 years to design and develop their 256 series of chips. It was a game changer and a revolutionary chipset that put the term GPU on the search bar.
This was the chipset that he was after; he couldn't wait for 1999, though. Absolutely not, he had hired the best electrical engineers and chipset developers that Silicon Valley had to offer.
It was time to see just how much faster the chipset that revolutionized the future of the video game industry was.
"Sir, we've arrived." Rose said as she got out and held the door open for him.
"Thanks, Rose. Is there a room here where I can sleep?" He asked as he exited the car, still dressed in his casual wear.
"Unfortunately, no, sir. But I've booked a room at the nearest hotel." She replied in an apologetic tone.
"It's fine; thanks for taking me, so well." Mark replied with a smile as he patted her back.
"My pleasure, sir." She replied smoothly with a practiced smile, but her upturned lips showed just how much she appreciated his words.
"Let's go meet the people who will build the future." Mark said as he walked towards the front gate of the building.
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~ Two Weeks Later ~
"We made it!" A teenager called out as he jumped out of the car and saw the venue and the familiar but an even bigger [Marvel×Eidolon] banner brought a smile to his face.
"We would have, even if you didn't drive like a fu**ing lunatic. We could have died, Rian," another guy said as he got out of the car, but he still had a smile on his face as he looked up at the banner.
"Language." Rian replied, quipping one his favorite lines from the recent Secret Wars storyline.
"Duck you, Captain America fanboy," said the third as he got out while holding his hands to his mouth and controlling his breath so he wouldn't vomit.
"HAHAHA!" The last person in the group just laughed.
"Let's head in, there's only an hour till the event starts and I want a bowl or two of ramen before that." Rian said as he locked the car and made his way to the building with his friends.
They were at the San Diego Comic-Con venue, but it wasn't the San Diego Comic-Con, but rather the Marvel×Eidolon-Con. Mark advertised the event in the newspaper, including the latest issues of [Naruto], [My Hero Academia], [Pokémon Adventures] and the last issue of [Marvel's Secret Wars].
He remembered reading the final issue of Secret Wars as Reed finally wins against Dr. Doom and then uses the power of the molecule man to save whatever's left of the Marvel Multiverse and recreate it, or at least he thinks he did.
He reminisces about the final page of the comic book as it zoomed out and it showed the creator of the Marvel Multiverse - The One Above All; surrounded by his children.
The Living Tribunal, Eternity, Infinity, Death, Oblivion, Master Order, Lord Chaos, the In-Betweener, Mistress Love, Sire Hate, the Phoenix Force, and many others.
"For if nothing is changed and I recreate the Marvel Multiverse, then it will just be destroyed again one way or another."
"When the odds are so stacked up against the good, that even they are in need of saving. He will come. Marvel's Saviour, my last and final creation - EIDOLON."
He still remembered the chills he got as read that line from TOAA.
Mark was inserting his own superhero into the Marvel comics, at least that's what his gut instincts told him. After all, the similarity of the name between the superhero and Mark's company can't be a coincidence.
Though the pessimist in their group couldn't help chime in that he will just be reduced to a boring Gary Stu kind of character who nobody cares for after the first few issues. At least that was what he inferred from TOAA calling him his failsafe.
But for now, he didn't care for all that; for now, all he wanted was the tonkatsu bowl with the extra meat and a second order of noodles.
His hunger took him to Ichiraku's but he was in for a surprise with two new additions to the menu, a free bowl for everyone and the huge line before the stall.
He decided to go for the [Chuka Soba Ramen Bowl]. He already had Ichiraku's before and knew just how good they were; after all, he ate there once every week.
But this bowl blew everything he had till that point in life out of the water. He had never been to a 5-star restaurant before, but he felt like this bowl of ramen was better than anything he could get there.
He couldn't help but want to know more about it, so he called over a waitress who looked unoccupied.
"Miss, could you tell me if –." He tried asking her but it looked like she already knew his question.
"It will be available starting Feb at your nearest Ichiraku's; it costs $18 per bowl. Though they will only sell a hundred of these a day, I would recommend you head in early." She replied in a tone that was filled with equal amounts of amusement and annoyance.
"Umm. Thank you."
She nodded and left.
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Mark had told her that it was events like these that served as the perfect place to see the popularity of one's comic book and also to get feedback of what else the readers wanted to see more of in the future.
Before, most of these answers would be just filled with superheroes of one kind or another, but after the introduction of Naruto and DOOM to the comic readers. Their minds had been opened up to new possibilities.
Now, they are more accepting of comics that focus on martial arts and fantasy like Dragon Ball or even sports like Hajime no Ippo or Captain Tsubasa.
They had tried going out on dates, but unfortunately due to her being so busy with Viz Media and him with the shooting of the Killing Joke and overseeing the shooting of Home Alone.
They didn't really get much time to spend together, go on dates, or even just catch up. Though she found him to be a very considerate man who would always call her up at night and ask her about how her day went.
It would make her feel so happy, that he would listen to her worries. He was a really great listener and would always give creative solutions to her problems.
She was missing ramen and even though Ichiraku's was good, she preferred an even lighter and nourishing kind of bowl of ramen. And she was surprised to find just that in Ichiraku's Ramen booth at the convention.
It had been a few months since she had told him about the kind of ramen she liked, and he had made it an item on the menu of his restaurant. So she could order it whenever she felt like having ramen.
"Thank you, Mark." She said this as she lifted the bowl and drank the last bit of the soup. It warmed her up on the inside, and on this cold January morning, she needed it.
"You're welcome. Just remember the code, if you use it when you're ordering, you'll never be denied that bowl." She nodded in understanding.
"Anyways let's go. I need to show you something cool." He said, holding her hand and taking her towards the backstage.
"What is it?" She felt intrigued.
"You remember the costumes of Master Chief and Doomslayer in my office?" He asked as he took her along, past the massive lines out the Marvel Comics booth that were selling the Marvel Ultimates.
"Yeah.."
"Well, I made a few more."
"And I plan on starting this convention with a bang."
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.
After finishing up the Chuka Soba ramen, Rian didn't hesitate for a second and immediately ordered a second serving for himself. It was just that good. After finishing that he made a beeline for the Marvel Comics booth to buy the new issues from Marvel.
They had a huge makeover, the art looked so much better and closely resembled that at the end of the Secret Wars. What he had gotten were two issues of Spider-Man, one titled Marvel 616: The Amazing Spider-Man and the other being Marvel Ultimates: Spider-Man #1.
But it was the name of the writer that had really excited him.
Published:
January 10th, 1991.
Writer:
Marc Spector.
Penciler:
Heather Brown, Terry Dodson.
Cover Artist:
Heather Brown.
In the writer's credit section there was only Marc's name to be found and after meeting up with his friends they found out that it was like that in all the other issues of Marvel Ultimates.
Captain America #1
Writer: Marc Spector.
Iron-man #1
Writer: Marc Spector.
Thor #1
Writer: Marc Spector.
X-Men #1
Writer: Marc Spector.
Fantastic Four #1
Writer: Marc Spector.
"This can't be for real! Did he write them all?"
"Damn!"
"Looks like things at Marvel really will be different this time around.."
"Yep."
"Let's go for the event. I am excited to see what Marc has in store for us." Rian said, as they made their way towards the huge auditorium.
It was the same place where Mark had displayed the short films of Doom and Halo. With their hearts thumping with anticipation, these young adults made their way to witness the "Rebirth" of Marvel and Eidolon's new offerings for 1991.
— To be continued…
In the next episode of X̶-̶M̶e̶n̶ '9̶7̶
*Cough* *Cough*
I meant in the next chapter of Hollywood: Head-Hunting System.
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Word Count: 5821 words (after excluding the disclaimer, opening Author's Note and the closing Author's Note.)
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{Closing Author's Note: Sorry for being a day late with the upload of this chapter. I had to rewrite this chapter as I had forgotten some important information. Also mid way I got a new idea that I just had to make part of this chapter.
if you guys want to support me or read ahead then I would recommend you guys to head over to my Pat. Reon and subscribe. This will allow you to read 3 advanced chapters of this Hollywood fanfic as well as 5 exclusive chapters of my Naruto fanfic – The Road to Kage that I have been working on over on Pat. Reon.
The link to my pat. Reon will be in the Authors Thoughts section at the bottom of the chapter or you can add my discord username – theramenlord and I will send you the link to my Pat. Reon in the message.
Also if you guys haven't seen X-Men 97 which is a new animated X-Men TV show released by Marvel. Then I would definitely recommend you to give it a try, as it is really good. With one of the best depictions of cyclops that I have seen outside of the comics. It truly puts respect to the name of cyclops as the leader of X-Men and character.
I hope you all have a beautiful day.}
