Mei Man: I drew Superman during the Great Depression

Chapter 262 Robin and the Advertisement
"Fisher-Price Sponsorship - The Adventures of Superman."

The invitation sent by Colin did not get an answer right away, this tough guy needed time to think.

Meanwhile, the next night at eight o'clock, CBS Radio.

In the impassioned advertising words of the announcer, the radio drama "The Adventures of Superman" aired the content of the new episode as scheduled.

Announcer: "Has an unbelievable adventurous character, faster than a flying bullet, stronger than a locomotive, and even an exploding bomb cannot penetrate his hard skin."

Passerby A: "Look at the sky!"

……

"It's Superman!"

Announcer: "Yes, it's Superman, a great superhero."

Announcer: "Today, Batman's young sidekick, Robin, will make his first appearance to tell Superman why he needs his help so badly, but before we join him on his exciting adventures, let's hear Herman What Fisher said, well let's go, Herman."

Herman Fisher: "My friends, one day I met a familiar guest who came to my factory to visit our toy production process. When he saw our toys, he proposed a groundbreaking idea. Why can't we create a more free-wheeling toy?"

Herman Fisher: "That's right, the familiar guest is Colin Looper, the creator of Superman, and the toy he talks about is Lego."

Herman Fisher: "The Superman LEGO series launched by the Fisher Toy Factory has reached the latest generation, adding two new characters, 'Giant Ape' and 'Louis', which allow you to perfectly copy comics. In the scene where 'Giant Ape' catches 'Louise', the new series of Superman Lego will be sold in various toy stores with windows tomorrow. If you don't want to miss this classic design that is worth collecting, just hurry up Time to buy."

Herman Fisher: "Remember, the latest Superman LEGO bricks are only available at toy stores with window displays!"

Herman Fisher: "Regular toys from the Fisher-Price (Fisher) toy factory."

……

Announcer: "And now, The Adventures of Superman, begins."

Announcer: "Being suspicious of a mysterious letter addressed to Superman, Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen charter a boat and sail to North Bay..."

The role of Jimmy Olsen was just a passer-by when he first appeared in "Superman", so Colin didn't spend too much time conceiving a name for him.

But after "The Adventures of Superman" was broadcast, in order to be able to accurately distinguish the names of the characters on the broadcast, Orson Welles made a suggestion to Colin, and the latter also adopted this point. Reporters who appeared briefly at the Daily Courier in China were given names.

It's just that Colin was a little lazy in it. The name Jimmy Olsen obviously came from Jimmy the newspaper boy.

He just took the other person's name and added a new surname to it, and he became a character in the comics.

Although the process was a bit lazy, Jimmy, the newsboy, obviously didn't think so. When he saw his name appearing in the comics, he immediately went to the Courier newspaper to express his gratitude to Colin, and said that this is the most important thing he has done since he was a child. Received the most precious gift.

It was also at that time that Colin knew the full name of the newsboy.

Jimmy Carter, a somewhat surprising name.

……

Announcer: "They found an unconscious boy in the wreckage of the machine in North Bay. When they were taking the boy back to shore, a speedboat suddenly came and ran into them, and they were about to drown them. Just in time, Superman showed up and rescued them."

Announcer: "At the doctor's house, the boy came to life and said his name was Dick Grayson. He said that the situation was serious and he had given the note to Superman, but he refused to discuss it with anyone but Superman."

Dick Grayson, or Robin, also made his first appearance in "The Adventures of Superman", and unlike Batman, this character is also a rare one. Without any comic image design, he first appeared in the role of a radio drama.

Even Jimmy Olsen, Louise and Clark's colleague, used his own image in the comics.

Of course, this is also related to the fact that Batman comics do not have a specific publication. As a superhero active in Gotham City in the "Superman" story, this superhero has not yet had his own personal publication.

But even so, Batman's popularity is not low now, and even letters from the Courier newspaper have many fans urging the newspaper to publish "Batman" exclusive comics and even Lego toys. Readers can't wait to know this Gotham city. The story behind the superhero.

Considering the current development of "Messenger Comics", Jack also suggested to Colin more than once that Batman's story should be separated from "Superman".

In this regard, Colin already has an idea, but the specific method will have to wait until he upgrades his [Bronze Mark] to [Silver]. Otherwise, he is worried that the rash creation of "Batman" origin will affect the subsequent [ Faith] Collecting influences.

Of course, he could have given the story to other painters at the publishing house, such as Charles Adams.

However, considering Charles Adams' unique creative style, the gothic style does complement the image of Batman.

But this also needs to be based on the premise of a complete origin. Otherwise, Colin is worried that if the story is handed over to Charles Adams to design without any restrictions, it is very likely that Batman will go out of style. Biased situation.

Imagine that under the pen of Charles Adams, Batman becomes a gothic superhero who sleeps in a coffin and is accompanied by skeletons all day long.

Although very interesting, it is obviously not the superhero image that most readers want to see.

A good superhero story is based on a specific origin context. Once the image of Batman is preconceived to become a gothic character described by Charles Adams, it will obviously be much more troublesome for Colin to reverse this image. up.

Therefore, instead of this, it is better to wait for a while.

During this period, although the story of Batman could not be presented in a specific form of comics, Colin also more or less responded to the readers' expectations and released the content of his creation as a radio drama.

……

Announcer: "Clark Kent took Dick to his apartment, and he went away for a while and reappeared as Superman, and he told Dick he saw the cloak under his coat and the letter R on it. The red uniform, and the boy told Superman that he was Batman's new companion, Robin."

Robin: "You must help me, Superman, you must help me!"

Superman: "Of course I'd help if I could."

Robin: "You're the only one who can help me."

Superman: "That sounds serious."

Robin: "Indeed, this is the worst thing that has ever happened to me!"

Superman: "That's a strong statement, Robin."

Robin: "It's true, look."

Superman: "YESIR..."

Robin: "Batman is missing!"

Superman: "What?!"

Robin: "Yes, Batman is missing."

Superman: "My God! Where? When?"

Robin: "I don't know, he left me in a cabin across the bay in Queens..."

Superman: "And then?"

Robin: "He told me to wait there for him, he said he'd be back by evening, but he didn't."

Superman: "He didn't, when did this happen? I mean when did he go?"

Robin: "Yesterday, Batman left after lunch. He said he'd be back in a few hours."

Superman: "Did he say where he went?"

Robin: "No, he just said he was working on the most important case of his life, and he was going to solve it that afternoon."

Superman: "Did he give you any hints about the case?"

Robin: "I asked him, but he refused to reveal what happened to me. He said it was too dangerous and even I couldn't get involved. He just told me that the fate of the whole world depends on this."

Superman: "The fate of the whole world?"

Robin: "Yeah, you gotta find him, Superman!"

In the radio play, through the conversation between Superman and Robin, the audience in front of the radio learned that Batman mysteriously disappeared because of an important case.Although it's just a conversation between Superman and Robin, the secret hidden behind it makes people can't wait to listen to it again.

They wanted to know what kind of secret put Batman in crisis, and what was the fate of the whole world that Robin said.

In Robin's account, Superman knew that after Batman left, suspicious people appeared around the house with a gun at the time, and the housekeeper Alfred Pennyworth reminded Robin of this.They cut the wires of the phone and lurked around the house with malicious intentions.

bang bang bang-

Beep, beep, beep——

Alfred: "The doorbell is ringing."

Robin: "So what do we do now? There are too many of them, and I can't handle it by myself."

Alfred: "I can also handle it a little bit."

Robin: "No, they have too many guns, Alfred."

With the rapid knock on the door and the ringing of the doorbell in the radio drama, the listeners in front of the radio seemed to be in Robin's dangerous environment at that time.

After that, Robin took Alfred to the secret tunnel of the house and hid for one night, but these people did not leave the house. In order to find out the reason for Batman's disappearance, Robin asked Mr. Go send the note to the Metropolitan Daily Courier while you stay there to keep these guys at bay.

Superman: "Wait a minute, when you opened the trap door of the house, you heard a guy say they took money from whom, and what was his name?"

And Superman also found some clues from Robin's memories.

Robin: "It's a strange name, sounds like Zoltans."

Telling Superman the name he heard, Robin recounted the story of fighting the group, grabbing a rowboat and escaping, before being shot and passed out.

Superman: "That explains the wound on your head, I guess they thought they were done with you."

Robin: "I think so."

Robin: "I passed out and didn't wake up until I was in the doctor's room with Mr. Clark Kent, Ms. Lois Lane and Mr. Jimmy Olsen."

Superman: "You may not know, that piece of yacht wreckage has been drifting at sea for a while, so Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen found you, and then you were attacked by that group of people, they are very Alright mate, alright Robin, I have work to do now."

Robin: "You're going to find Batman now?"

Superman: "In a way, yeah, listen Robin, Clark Kent might come before, uh, I come back, and if he does come, trust him and go with him understand?"

Robin: "Okay? But, what can Mr. Clark Kent do?"

Faced with Superman's arrangement, Robin was obviously a little puzzled.

Superman: "Almost as much as I can do, bye, Robin, maybe I'd better get used to calling you by your name Dick sooner rather than later."

Robin: "Where are you going?"

Superman: "Get out of this window..."

Robin: "I know, but what about Batman?"

Superman: "Let me worry about Batman from now on, hope to see you again soon, up, up, up!"

Because of the radio play, it was impossible for the audience to see Superman flying, because the voice actors in the play would make flying cries whenever Superman took off.

Announcer: "Superman jumped into the darkness and left quickly. Where is he going?"

Announcer: "We'll get back to the climax of today's show later, but first, I have a question for you..."

Herman Fisher: "Friends, do you know how many types of Superman LEGO have been produced, except for the original image of Superman..."

With the popularity of radio dramas, the requirements of advertisers have also become more and more.

From the very beginning, the advertising lines at the end of the radio drama, now more and more radio dramas have become accustomed to inserting advertisements at the beginning and middle of the broadcast. Although not most listeners accept this, but for their own love radio dramas, they were also forced to accept lines from advertisers.

This is only the initial stage. It is said that radio dramas with the largest number of advertisements, such as radio drama programs sponsored by soap companies, will intersperse commercial lines in the drama every 5 minutes for promotion. Even so, there are still a large number of housewives who are willing to watch Listen to the content of the radio drama in front of the radio.

(End of this chapter)