Mei Man: I drew Superman during the Great Depression

Chapter 344 Green Lantern

"It's started, it's started!"

"The people in front give way, I can't see the TV screen clearly..."

"So, what program is on TV this time?"

"I heard it's a Superman cartoon."

"Cartoon, what is that?"

"It's a movie that animates cartoons. Listening to the radio introduction, it seems that this is the world's first cartoon to be broadcast on TV..."

"Comics, you mean to taste those serial works in the newspaper, how did they manage to make these pictures move!"

"Who knows, maybe it's some kind of technology. The speed of scientific development is so fast recently that I suspect that all of this is a masterpiece of aliens. After all, a year ago, who would have thought that a box like this could Watch animations."

"The ones in front, don't talk, the animation has already started, if you don't want to watch it, leave..."

On the streets of New York, amidst the noise, a large "S" mark appeared on the TV screen in the shop window, followed by the whistling sound of the plane, and the sound of exclamation came from the TV.

"Is that a bird? Is that a plane? That's Superman! (That's a bird? That's an airplane? That's—Superman!)"

Accompanied by this classic line that is familiar to New York citizens, the figure of Superman on the TV screen cuts through the screen and appears on the stage. Although it is only a black and white image, most people in front of the TV have subconsciously imagined I saw Superman wearing a red cloak, wearing a blue tight uniform, with the S mark on the chest.

And the animated adventure about Superman also kicked off from this episode.

……

【Faith (578300/1000000)】

The broadcast of "Superman" TV animation set off a frenzy throughout New York.

Compared with the serialized comics, this Superman appearing in the animation is more in line with the image of a superhero in the hearts of the people, because he is movable.Prior to this, although Colin also cooperated with Disney to launch the screen image of Superman in the animated film "Superman and Mickey", but the audience who actually watched the short film through the cinema is after all a minority, and many people may not have such a fortune. Money to buy tickets.

However, animation solves this problem very well.

After all, it is free, and through the promotion of Colin, as long as it is not too remote in New York, you can more or less see the shadow of the TV.

An animation that can be seen without spending money is obviously very attractive to the people of this era.

At the same time, with the help of the "Messenger of the World", the influence of the follow-up TV animation of "Superman" was almost expanded to the extreme.

In terms of media promotion, "The Courier World", as the well-deserved number one newspaper in New York, almost dominates the discourse power of the entire city. Aspects of collection speed.

However, limited by the progress of animation technology in this era, even Disney cannot achieve the smooth production speed as later generations, especially when Walt himself devoted most of his energy to the novel "Snow White" in the case of animation.

At present, the fastest animation creation speed that Disney can guarantee is the frequency of one episode per month. This does not include the delivery of film, and if it is shorter, it will affect the quality of the finished product.

Although, Colin himself doesn't care too much about this. After all, no matter how good Disney's production is, when the animation is broadcast on TV, its imaging effect will be greatly reduced.

However, Walt himself did not slack off in production because of this. Perhaps it was precisely because of his persistent requirements in animation that he established Disney's position in the animation industry in the future, although Walt in this era would never Thinking that in the future, Disney will go to two completely different extremes from him in film production.

He directly destroyed the beautiful fairy tale world he created for Disney, and replaced it with tireless efforts to present nightmares to the world.

"Perhaps, I should try to set some rules for Disney, such as absolutely not adapting live-action fairy tales..."

Thinking of a scavenger princess with dreadlocks who ruined the childhood of people all over the world by indulging in his own princess dream, Colin felt that he had to do something.

This is something more important than saving the world, saving everyone's eyes.

I secretly made a note of this, and planned to tell Walt the next time I met with him. As the third shareholder of Disney after the two Disney brothers, Colin inexplicably felt a sense of mission in his heart.

Of course, Disney is still far from achieving the same results as in the future. Even the animation of the first princess is still in the studio, and it is far from the time to consider these issues.

……

"According to readers' feedback, the sales volume of "Messenger Comics" has maintained a steady upward trend, and the circulation of each issue exceeds one million. In addition to "Superman", "The Addams Family" serialized by Charles Adams is also due to its The unique style has attracted many readers, and William Steiger's fairy tale comics are also the same, except..."

Pulitzer Building, top floor.

Jack Leibovitz actually reported the latest release of "Messenger Comics" to Colin. At present, the overall sales of comics are stable. Many cartoonists have gradually gained a foothold and attracted their own readers.

However, under such circumstances, some problems gradually appeared.

"The styles of William Steiger and Charles Adams are too conflicting, causing many readers of "Messenger Comics" to send letters asking to cancel each other's comics after reading their comics."

In fact, the conflict between Adams and Steiger's readers has also become a headache for Jack.

Gothic and fairytale, so there's very little commonality between the two readers, and you can't leave a guy who likes graveyard skeletons and sees Stieg's fairytale world and loves it, and vice versa.

"In that case, then publish a special issue for them."

With the experience of "Superman" independent publication, Colin quickly gave Jack a solution.

"It can not only divide the reader market, but also bring a new income for comic publishing houses."

The method proposed by Colin was actually also thought of by Jack, but all of this requires the nod of Colin as the boss.

"Understood, I'll arrange a special issue right away."

The so-called special issue, in fact, is to reorganize the comics serialized in "Messenger Comics" before and issue them as a separate publication, which is familiar to Jack, after all, "Superman" before.

After explaining the issue of comic publications, and asking Jack about the publishing house, Colin naturally led the topic to the serialization of "Superman".

With the rapid development of the newspaper, the business section under Ke Lin has also expanded several times compared to the original.

Therefore, the employees under him are no longer as ambiguous as they were at the beginning. Except for the old John who was assigned to San Francisco to expand the territory of the newspaper, John Jr. is currently mainly responsible for the news work of the "Messenger of the World", while Jack was assigned to the comic book. related things.

"Whether it is Wonder Woman or The Flash, they have formed a wide range of support among readers, and letters about serializing other superhero stories are also being sent to the publishing house in an endless stream."

To be honest, Jack didn't really understand why Colin didn't publish or serialize superheroes other than Superman for so long.In his opinion, these comic characters are extremely popular, no matter which one is taken out, it can become a superhero no less than Superman.

However, Ke Lin never agreed to this point, but still used these distinctive superheroes as supporting roles in the serialization of "Superman".

In this way, other comic book publishers may have already forced cartoonists to create other superheroes.

But, besides being the creator of "Superman", Colin is also the boss of the newspaper, his immediate boss.

Therefore, even if Jack has a lot of incomprehensions in his heart, he can only keep it in his heart, and only occasionally use euphemisms to tell Colin the reader's thoughts.

"Whether it's Batman, or Wonder Woman, or The Flash, they will all have their own personal publications, but it will take a while, not now."

Colin is naturally clear about the thoughts of Jack or the readers.

However, considering the collection of [Faith], he obviously has no plans to separate these superheroes. On the contrary, he intends to gather more superheroes in "Superman", so as to increase the popularity of Superman on the other hand and speed up […] Faith] collection speed.

"At present, I am planning to gather more superheroes and design a brand new team in the serialized story of "Superman."

"A whole new team?"

Regarding the team that Colin mentioned, Jack's expression was a little dazed. He obviously hadn't come to understand the true meaning of Colin's words.

However, it doesn't matter, he soon understood everything in the latest serial of the newspaper.

……

On the second day, in the serialization of the "Messenger of the World", another new superhero appeared.

Green Lantern, Alan Scott.

In the original setting of the story, Green Lantern was originally a railway engineer. An accident occurred during a train ride, and the train derailed.At a critical moment, Alan grabbed a green train lantern in a panic. The magical power contained in this lantern saved him, and no one in the train survived except him.

Since then, Alan has become a superhero who upholds justice and begins his adventure as a Green Lantern.

In the comics, the background setting of the story about Green Lantern is far from as grand as it was later. Even about the ring in Green Lantern’s hand, a mysterious voice in the lantern instructed Alan to take materials from the base of the lamp and make it into a ring. rings.

Even, regarding the setting of the green lantern, it was also a meteorite that landed in China, and was later carved into a palace lantern. Later, this lantern was transferred to the United States several times, and fell into the hands of a mental patient. It became the shape of a train lantern.

Alan Scott exerts his power by shouting the slogan of the green light: "I will show three green flames, one will kill, two will turn around, and three will show magic power!"

The origin setting of Alan Scott, the original Green Lantern, is interesting but does not conform to Colin's vision. Therefore, in the comics serialized in the "Messenger of the World", he modified this setting, combining Alan's origin and The second-generation Green Lantern Hal Jordan's origin story combined.

The design was completed. Alan Scott encountered an accident during a train ride and was selected by the green light to become a superhero.

At the same time, in this story, the setting of the Green Lantern Corps was added to make the background of the character of Alan Scott more grand.

Although, Colin did not elaborate on the stories related to the Green Lantern Corps in the serialization of "Superman", and even the origin of Alan Scott was simply skipped in two comics, but the Green Lantern The appearance of the characters immediately gained the love of a large number of readers.

At the same time, letters from readers about the release of other superhero personal publications have crowded the mailboxes of newspapers and publishing houses.

Of course, Colin arranged for the appearance of the superhero Green Lantern. In addition to enriching the world view of Superman's comics like the previous superheroes, he also developed the background of the story from the previous superheroes alone to the team.

The Green Lantern played by Alan Scott appeared as a cosmic policeman. At the same time, he came to the 2814 sector earth he was protecting, and also brought a message to Superman, that is, there will be super villains from other universes Attacking the Earth, this is a formidable opponent, Staro, who cannot be defeated by the power of Green Lantern alone, so he needs the assistance of Superman.

Faced with Green Lantern's request, Superman agreed without hesitation. At the same time, he also summoned his superhero partners who had fought side by side to defend the earth together.

The name Justice League also appeared in comics for the first time, becoming the first superhero team to appear in comic history.

Regarding the name of the team, in fact, Colin was somewhat hesitant when he first chose it.

In addition to the Justice League, the Justice Society of America is also within his consideration. After all, according to the original history, the Justice Society is the first superhero team in the true sense. It's just a social club where superheroes meet, drink tea, tell their own stories, and exchange heroes' lives.

However, considering the spread, Colin finally chose the more familiar name of the Justice League as the first superhero team in the comics.

(End of this chapter)