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Late yesterday afternoon, the marketing department at Sony decided that the time had finally come to induce the painful, 14-month buzz erection in the fanboy population that must precede the opening of the next installment of The Greatest Superhero Franchise Of Them All, Spider-Man 3. Superherohype.com has been anointed to kick off the priapic odyssey by displaying the first teaser pic, which will be obsessed over as if it were carved into a stone tablet and flown down from heaven by Moses riding on Superman's shoulders. [Ed.note—You mixed DC and Marvel universes in that last sentence, are you crazy? You'll be dead by the end of this post!] The questions begin: Why does Spidey look so sad? Where's his umbrella? Oooh, has Fat Tobey been working out again, or is that black costume just really slimming?

It's going to be a long 14 months.