New banners were put up on the front of the arena hall building overnight. The following morning, when the spectators arrived, pouring out of their municipal gondolas, they saw two vast images flanking the main doors.

On one of them was a composite of the faces of Brendan and Darknight, over text that said: THE DARK LORD vs THE KILLING JOKE. The subtitle underneath it reads: BUMPER SIDES.

The other was a composite of the faces of chiiika and SingularByte, this one reading YVETTE THE BOTMISTRESS vs HARD HAT. Underneath that was another subtitle: THE COLONEL and BUMPER SIDES.

When the ticket shutters opened a few minutes later, the queues were already a hundred deep.