Mei Man: I drew Superman during the Great Depression

Chapter 91 Colored Newspapers
"Plagiarism, this is shameless plagiarism!"

"Superman's copyright has always been in the hands of the "Messenger Newspaper". Can't the "World Journal" be sued?"

"No, I asked my lawyer friend. "World Journal" has obviously been prepared for a long time. He has modified many plots of "Super Soldier" comics to a certain extent, making the whole comics look similar but difficult. Determine whether it is really plagiarism..."

"Such an obvious image, with the word 'U' on the chest, completely imitating the shape of Superman, why can't it be judged as plagiarism?!"

"Obviously, this is not defined in the law. Just like in detective comics, the detective has the same look. The World Journal can also infer that this is the image of a superhero. Don't forget, the World Journal used to be in the 'Yellow Children's comics have experience and know more about comic copyright issues than we do."

'Yellow Kid' cartoon.

It refers to the cartoon characters that appeared in the cartoon column of "World Journal" that year, and is the most representative cartoon character in the era of "yellow news".The protagonist is a child with only a few hairs and no teeth, wearing a long and big yellow dress, which is a common image of children in the poor areas of New York at that time.

In the comics, the little boy Huang wandered around and expressed his impressions, which attracted a lot of attention for the "World Journal" at that time.

Only later, the 'Yellow Kid' was poached from author Outcott by William Randolph Hearst, owner of the New York News, which annoyed Pulitzer and rehired painter George Lax to continue his work in the World "Newspaper" continued to paint "Yellow Children" and took Hirst to court.

When the competition between the two newspapers was fiercest, the cartoons of "Yellow Child" were serialized in each other's newspapers for a full year.

The "World Journal" and "New York News" are even more at odds with each other.

With the author's copyright so clear, the comic character 'Huang Zizi' could be divided into two and serialized in two competing newspapers.

Not to mention, the "Super Soldier" that is now serialized in the newspaper by "World Journal".

Even, once Colin filed a lawsuit, it directly raised the status of "Super Soldier" to the same level as "Superman", giving "World Journal" a chance to hype.

"Is that the case?!"

In the Messenger newspaper office, we are faced with the flagrant plagiarism of "World Journal".

Little John and the others seemed a little outraged.

Except for Francis and the employees who have just joined the newspaper for a short time, they are careful not to express their opinions too much.

Little John and Harry and others have already had heated discussions.

And the focus of their attack is naturally the counterfeit superman "Super Soldier" serialized in the latest issue of "World Daily".

In the newspaper office, looking at the cartoon shape of "Super Soldier" on the table, Little John only felt that it was particularly dazzling, and he wanted to tear it off the newspaper directly.

"Of course that's impossible."

For the appearance of the copycat Superman, Colin was not too surprised.

In later generations, with the rise of superhero themes, copycats or imitations like this will only become more frequent.

Even, as far as Colin knows, there are more than one superhero characters based on the image of Superman.

Even later, during the period when superheroes flourished, such "plagiarism" practices were repeatedly banned, not to mention the current period of the Great Depression when this superhero was just born.

However, no matter how imitated these comics are, they still cannot surpass the real Superman.

Of course, it's one thing to know that 'plagiarism' is inevitable.

How to deal with it is another matter.

Just like what Colin said to Jimmy the paperboy before, he obviously will not be indifferent to the "plagiarism" practice of "World Journal".

"Jack, do you know where I can get a rotary machine for color printing?"

Thinking of this, Colin asked Jack Leibovitz directly.

Hearing Ke Lin's question, Little John and others who had been discussing fiercely in the newspaper seemed to shut their mouths.

Jack frowned, thought carefully, and then replied with some doubts: "I remember, there seems to be a printing factory with idle color printing rotary machines."

While speaking, Jack looked up at Colin in front of him, and tentatively said, "You intend."

Nodding his head, he didn't deny Jack's guess.

"I see this as an opportunity to turn the Courier from black and white into a color newspaper."

The earliest color-printed newspaper in the world was produced by the "World Journal" in front of them. Although the concept of color printing is not new, Joseph Pulitzer's "World Journal" was the first to use this concept in newspapers. It published color illustrations and was the first newspaper to set up a page dedicated to color printed comics.

'Yellow Child' is famous precisely because of the color printing.

If the "Courier" wants to fight against the "World Journal", it is obviously still a bit difficult to rely only on the black and white "Superman" comics.

"But in this way, what is the cost of the newspaper?"

Hearing that Colin wanted to turn the Courier into color, John Sr. raised his concerns.

Compared with black and white newspapers, the cost of color newspapers is naturally different.Especially in this era, the technology of color printing is far from being as mature as it was later.To color a color illustration, it often needs to use the color printing machine several times in a row, covering one color by one color.

This is why, in the earlier comics, the characters on the stage often have only one color.

"Cost is not an issue."

The hot sales of "Messenger Comics" and the production of Superman dolls are the confidence that Colin is willing to turn "Messenger News" into a colorful newspaper.

At the same time, if Ke Lin wants to defeat the "World Journal" head-on in the newspaper, the colorization of the "Courier" is also the key.

Otherwise, the counterfeit superman "Super Soldier" that appeared in the "World Journal" here has already been colored, and the genuine "Superman" on the other side is still serialized in black and white in the newspaper.

Even loyal readers of the "Superman" comics will be troubled in the long run.

Even some readers who haven't read "Superman" will subconsciously regard "Super Soldier" on "World Daily" as the real Superman.

Neither of these two situations was acceptable to Colin.

In particular, the plagiarism of "World Journal" is not only related to the image of "Superman", but also has a certain degree of influence on his acquisition of "faith".

After all, the copycat Superman will not obtain [Faith] for him.

(End of this chapter)