Mei Man: I drew Superman during the Great Depression

Chapter 53 The Piracy Problem
Of course, it's not all good news when it comes to Messenger Comics.

With the popularity of "Messenger Comics", Jack has found pirated copies of the comics in some neighborhoods.

And Harry found more piracy in some 'Hoovervilles'.

These pirated "Messenger Comics" are more rough in printing than the original version, and some pirates even directly replaced the original color "Messenger Comics" with black and white printing in order to save costs.

Such pirated printing reduces the cost of comics to an extremely low level.

Some readers who couldn't afford it or were reluctant to buy the color version of "Messenger Comics" have a new choice.

"Can't you catch them?"

Inside the Messenger newspaper office, Little John asked as he looked at the rough black and white pirated "Messenger Comics".

"It's hard." Shaking his head, as a publisher, Harry clearly knows the way behind this: "The partners chosen by these publishers are basically small factories, as long as they are paid, they can print anything. , the factory doesn't care about the things it prints, what kind of impact it will cause..."

Harry seemed deeply moved by this.

After all, not long ago, the vulgar magazines printed by his publishing house were of this type.

"What about calling the police?"

"The police don't care about this."

Hearing Little John mentioned the police, Harry showed a look of disapproval: "Unless you give them money to help them deal with it, otherwise, these greedy bloodsuckers will never pay attention to your plea for help, even if you When he is robbed in front of him, these guys will just sit in the police car and watch the incident happen indifferently, and maybe even get a share of the robbery at some point."

"The lawyers are very happy for us to fight the lawsuit with the pirates. Unfortunately, even if we win in the end, they can't afford the compensation. Instead, they have to pay a sum of money as the lawyer's fee."

In an era of underdeveloped technology like the Great Depression, it is obviously not an easy task to catch these pirates.

Not to mention time-consuming and laborious, the result may not be satisfactory.

"So, is that the only way?"

After hearing Harry's answer, Little John was obviously a little disappointed.

"Looking at it from another perspective, the emergence of piracy just proves the popularity of "Messenger Comics"."

Withdrawing his eyes from the [Faith] in the text, Colin's reaction was not as discouraged as Little John and the others.

At least, judging from the figures in the [Faith] column, the sales volume of "Messenger Comics" has not been affected by the piracy incident. Colin even guessed that among the [Faith] he obtained, there may be a small amount of it. Part of it was a bootleg comic from Messenger Comics.

Although, in terms of money, these pirated black and white "Messenger Comics" have caused a certain degree of loss to the newspaper.

But at least in terms of [faith], he still has something to gain.

Not to the point where people and money are empty.

Looking at the increasing value on [Faith], Colin comforted himself silently in his heart.

……

"Maybe, you should take a look at this..."

The Counterworld, Manhattan, 890 Fifth Avenue.

Inside the secret base of the Dark Avengers, accompanied by Tony's slightly frivolous voice.

On the console in front of Howard, a clip of surveillance video began to play.

"...the 32nd trial...beginning...the target's physical characteristics stabilized, and the injection of 'burning...' began..."

In the picture, a figure in a white sterile suit can be seen standing in front of the operating table and reporting to the surveillance video. The other party took the needle and injected it into the arm of the man on the operating table.Immediately afterwards, I saw the man on the operating table screaming in pain, and his whole body began to burn.

"Test 62, target..."

There are three surveillance videos like this one.

Tony released them in sequence, and waited until the last surveillance video was played.

Tony continued in the frame of the experiment, "This is the data found in the Hydera Biological Research Laboratory in Fort Detrick in the previous operation. Most of the data was destroyed. I only repaired the data. A small part of the information shows that Hydera once conducted some kind of secret human experiment in Fort Detrick."

"Can you confirm the purpose of this experiment?"

Looking away from the burning experimental body on the video, Howard asked Tony.

"Currently, it is unknown..."

"However, on the restored materials, I found an interesting name - Phineas Horton."

"Phineas Holden?"

Hearing this name, the mechanical eyes in Howard's eye sockets turned slightly, obviously familiar with such a name.

"Dr. Phineas Horton has outstanding performance in the field of biochemical human research. During World War II, he created the world's first biochemical human——Human Torch (Thunderbolt), as long as it comes into contact with oxygen, it will The whole body burns, forming a violent flame."

In front of the console, Howard's eyes flickered slightly when he heard the word 'cyborg' pronounced by Tony.

"At that time, the biochemical human experiment led by Dr. Phineas Horton aroused the fear of the public, thinking that his behavior was a blasphemy of God's authority, especially when the Human Torch showed the ability to burn. After that, it further exacerbated the panic among the people."

"Under social pressure, Dr. Phineas Horton had to deal with the Human Torch. On the surface, he advertised that he buried the Human Torch with cement. But in fact, he secretly handed it over to the military for protection. Later, with the outbreak of World War II, Human Torch was selected by the military at that time, as a member of the Raider Squad, he was active in the battlefield of World War II with Captain America..."

Following Tony's description, an old photo appeared on the screen of the console.

In the photo, you can vaguely see the deceased Captain America, Steve Rogers, holding a shield and taking pictures side by side with the members of the Raider Squad.

On the left-hand side of Captain America, stood a serious figure in a red tights.

Apparently, this is Dr. Phineas Horton's cyborg, the Human Torch.

Stand in front of the console.

Howard's eyes swept over the familiar but unfamiliar faces in the photo, and stopped on a blurred face behind Captain America, the expression on the mechanically transformed cold appearance was a little lost.

After a while, he calmed down his emotions and continued to ask Tony in a hoarse voice.

"As for the follow-up, I need to know the information about Dr. Phineas Horton after he created the Human Torch."

　Thanks to the book friend 20210126142303372 for the reward of 100 starting coins.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)