Chapter 393: Enter Inter-
A spider and the World Wide Web. That connection truly was... something else.
Stupid, probably.
Just as stupid as it was to try and compare a television network to the inner working of the Internet.
But hey... Alexander had his bit of stupid fun. Coupled with the fact that he's laid ground for his greatest plunder of all time.
It more than made up for it.
This was the World Wide Web, after all. Something that's often misconstrued with the Internet.
A misunderstanding that's probably good in the long run.
If it all ties down to Alexander, then there's probably quite a lot of interesting advantages to be had.
Old Tim Berners-Lee soaked up a lot of those.
Then again, it still going to take a long while for such a grand thing to come to fruition.
As it is now, he had just bared down his preliminary intentions. Getting everything set up to how the Web truly is... is going to take a lot of work.
A lot of convincing, too.
The Internet is a set of networks and wow-ing a DARPA representative and the UC Berkeley section of the ARPANET is only a part of it.
Since it's a collective...
There's still the NPL Network in the UK, the Merit Network and the burgeoning NSFNET, the CYCLADES of the Frenches, and a whole lot more networks from everywhere else. Even as far as reaching the computers at CERN.
Which goes to show the timeliness and importance of Alexander's move to introduce concepts like [Congestion Avoidance and Control].
Something that every other network and experts will come to know and come to use.
He was just a prodigious 11-year-old kid, so he needed this.
To establish himself from a dismissable unknown into someone whose idea has a fair shot.
If all goes well, the World Wide Web will be as good as viable and Alexander's status as its "creator" might as well be irrevocable.
This goes to show that one can really be ambitious when they can.
Alexander wasn't just satisfied with Fox's network, he even went as far as entering the Inter territory of it.
-------
Of course, networks aren't the only category that's going "Inter" in Alexander's October.
While he's many miles away, his inter-medium entertainment company is still in operation as it usually is.
Granted, there's quite a noticeable distinction from how it had been.
The business is the same but the parameters are very, very than usual.
Starting with costumes. Or the costume business.
It's something that generally has the spotlight with the nearing Halloween.
However, in the eyes of the Creed proprietors, it's mostly dismissable with mostly disappointing performance, year after year.
With plans like integrating it into film production or recycling it into the yet-to-be-bloomed clothing business... it was just good to set low bar expectations for it.
It's even already integrated with the Predator filming and the Top Gun bomber jacket sales were good enough, so those expectations were actually met.
So, there's really not much to expect.
Only this time...
Creed Costumes was actually sought after during this fall season and October. Much more sought after than how it mostly is.
With interest mostly in blue gis and shell-backed ninja attires.
Gee... it makes one wonder why this is happening.
To no surprise, that was sarcasm.
To no surprise, it's actually just the popularity of the branched-off Saturday Morning Cartoons.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle and Dragonball, these two animated shows are to blame for this.
Blame isn't really the right word for it. Praise is more like it.
Either way, costumes are at a boom and Creed Costumes were able to cling to it.
Interestingly enough, Goku's blue gi is so 1984 with stock already upgraded to the orange gi since 1985, yet it was revived once again in 1986.
Quite the imbalance in performance between the comic's first arc and the animation's first season.
Just goes to show how far-reaching and more ludicrous it is to base franchises on a televised series than on niche comic books.
Sure... comic books are the core of it but its visibility just isn't that much.
By virtue of comic books, they were popular but they were only somewhat popular compared to their leap in animation.
This was where they became truly popular.
Suffice to say, the landscape of most things changed a lot when these two cartoons came to the public's notice.
Aside from the droll costumes being in a boom, the respective toylines got that same kind of boost as well.
As covered, major and minor toy retailers were calling to stock some more on Dragonball and TMNT... and Creed Toys were more than happy enough to oblige to it.
Of course, they weren't haughty enough to over-produce. As always, they make just enough to meet the projected demand or even lesser than that to keep people wanting more.
The little boss just had the foresight to not get ahead of themselves and raise the perceived value of an otherwise throw-away mold of plastic.
As a curveball from these costumes and toys... interest in partnership deals and authorization negotiations also had quite the boom.
Costumes and toys aren't the only way in which cartoons can find extra value, after all.
There are sheets, pillows, notebooks, bags, mugs, lunch boxes, and all things wherein the Turtles and Goku can be plastered on.
Creed Entertainment will be stretched even thinner if they decided to get hands-on with those sorts of stuff.
Although they've tried during the Comic-Con displays, that was hardly anything serious... especially when it was testing the product and gauging their clientele.
They found it better to delegate to those that are truly focused on those types of merchandise and just collect royalties with ease.
Finding the right partner is important though. They can't just authorize Creed characters to just about any interested company.
Ensuring quality collaborators is essential in ensuring the longevity of the Creed brand.
Fortunately, the old boss has a fair share of extensive contacts and will settle those processes. Just as soon as he wasn't too busy with film production.
Despite Creed Entertainment already being the inter-medium and inter-company business, it's only going to double down on the inter-company part some more.
That's just how franchises are.
A boom on all fronts is a boom to everything.
Which is why the need to circle back to comic books.
An industry that has been struck with a boom and a bust... but it was on its way back to a boom once again.
Surprise, surprise. With all that has been said, is there really a need to elaborate more on it?
Yada yada... animation and comic books... yada yada.
Then again, there's an actual shock in the community.
Namely Marvel.
This comic giant didn't go into much detail but they did announce a sudden hiatus to all their publications... and that's quite shocking, isn't it?!
There's a lot to speculate and it really made people wonder what's it about.
Did Creed's animation boom come too late? Has Marvel folded in on itself? Or is this all inter-connected to each other?
In any case, Marvel fans were close to instigating a panicked riot.
As for Creed fans... well... they're more than happy than they usually are.
Regardless of Marvel being in a shocking limbo, there's just a lot for them to be positive about.
Given that's it October, a certain Octoberian tradition is one of them.
Other than the Predator, what else could it be?
After last year's past-themed spectacle with "Prey"... it would seem that Alexander Creed changed it up. That's just how it is.
It would seem that this time around the Predator enters Inter... of the inter-planetary scale.
With something like...
[The Predator and the Metroid]
--------
Quite a blast of a story. Literally to the future! Or is it?
In the year 20X5 of the Cosmic Calendar...
A space vessel manned by galactic bounty hunters was tasked to discretely transfer a single sampling of a parasitic lifeform.
Discovered on planet SR388... this lifeform was a Metroid.
A tiny jellyfish-like creature... which is as weird as the crew that's hired to guard it.
Bounty hunters. Of all shapes and sizes. Among them was the less conspicuous but also conspicuous Samus Aran.
Given Samus' toy counterpart... he should be a character to look out for.
Then again, with all the bounty hunters... and their manner of weapons, habits, and characteristics. There's a lot to look out for.
If anything, Samus with just his space armor is the most unassuming.
Will some tragedy morph him into the Predator or is he the one to go against it?
Either way, all readers were just anticipating how much the Predator lore was going to be expanded.
And expand it did!
Out of nowhere... this boisterous vessel of bounty hunters suddenly got blasted!
The ambushing culprit came out of nowhere as well.
Unmasking itself from a camouflage of space into a familiar ship that Predator fans speculated about since its reveal in the Slaughterous Hunt trilogy.
"Space crap! It's the Hish!" Exclaimed a tanky bounty hunter.
"Isn't it the Yautja?" Doubted a skinny other.
"Hish. Yautja. It's all the same!" Corrected the designated leader. "It's clearly here for the package and we better prepare ourselves!"
Too bad. Their ship was already blasted open.
And a thrilling, exotic, and futuristic battle ensued.
The Predator, now revealed to be the Hish or Yautja, still has the same invisibility and hunting arsenal that it's known for.
However, these galactic hunters had their own arsenals as well.
Creating quite the action sequences and spectacular panels that readers savoringly flipped through.
Alas. The Predator prevailed. Mercilessly slaughtering his enemies to prove what race really deserved to be the true hunters.
Unassuming but resourceful Samus survived, however, the packaged Metroid was already in the Yautja's grasp.
A struggle and a back-and-forth commenced from there on out.
Samus damaged the Yautja's ships before they could warp away, leading both of their vessels to crash land into a nearby ancient terrestrial planet.
With ginormous forestry, all manner of dangers, and elder horrors of the galaxy...
The infamous hunter of hunters and determined bounty hunter goes head to head.
Armed with what they have... survival, escape, and a little Metroid were on the line!
------
Granted, there's a lot more to cinematically unwrap from this volume-sized comic book story...
But without a doubt, for comic book fans, these annual Predator stories just never disappoint!
Even when it goes on to Intergalactic levels or even beyond.