American comics: I drew Superman during the Great Depression

The early Superman comics were not complicated.

In addition, the Courier was serialized in the form of four-frame comics. In order to attract readers' interest from the first issue, Colin chose the simplest and crudest comic method.

He did not introduce Superman's origin in detail, but rather briefly skipped his growth background and directly showed his abilities.

Of course, during this creative process, Colin also repaired some of the original Superman settings to make the background of the comics closer to what people in later generations are familiar with.

For example, in the original version of the Superman story, after Superman landed on the earth, he was discovered by a passing car driver and sent to an orphanage. That is to say, when the comics were first serialized, Superman was an orphan who grew up in an orphanage, and the place where he first showed his abilities was also in the orphanage, lifting the sofa in the appearance of a baby.

Colin corrected this part of the plot, deleted the orphanage plot and chose the more familiar farm parents as the background setting.

The plot was patched up, and Clark's identity as Superman was introduced through a few comic strips.

"Huh~"

In the Courier Newspaper, Colin turned his sore wrist, put down the brush in his hand, and looked at the four comic strips on the manuscript paper and breathed a sigh of relief.

The comics of this period, especially those serialized in newspapers, were not as demanding in terms of style as in later generations due to the deadline. Therefore, although Colin's painting skills were average, it was barely enough to be serialized as a comic.

For an excellent comic, painting skills are certainly important, but the most important thing is to tell a good story.

With a good story as a foreshadowing, even if it is matched with bad painting skills, it can also attract readers' pursuit, but vice versa. After all, the empty content piled up by the gorgeous style is still empty.

...

After completing the content of the first issue of "Superman" comics, Colin handed it over to Old John.

Little John, who helped on the side, became the first person in this era to witness the birth of a superhero.

"So, this is a superhero!"

After reading Colin's manuscript, Little John handed the manuscript paper to Old John in front of the typesetting machine, and asked Colin impatiently: "So, how did Superman's ability come about? Is there really such a person as Superman in the real world?"

"Who knows, maybe there is, maybe not."

Without directly answering Little John's question, Colin smiled and answered with a meaningful expression.

Perhaps, in the world of the Great Depression, there are no so-called superheroes.

But for Colin, superheroes are real existences in his life.

It's just that they are not in the world in front of him.

...

In the next few days, Colin concentrated on the "creation" of "Superman".

The content of the last two issues of the comics was quickly completed. As expected, the stories of these two episodes were also sought after by Little John, and the other party even vowed to guarantee it.

The "Superman" created by Colin is the most exciting comic he has ever seen.

After all, although some comics of this period have already had some heroes, their abilities are far less powerful than the Superman created by Colin. This superpower that only exists in science fiction stories and far exceeds that of humans is a power that everyone yearns for but cannot achieve.

Completing the creation of comics does not mean that Colin's work is over.

On the contrary, what he has to do has just begun.

In the Messenger newspaper, Jimmy held up the big newsboy hat on his head and greeted Colin carefully.

"Hello, Mr. Colin..."

"Hello, Jimmy."

Greeting the newsboy in front of him with a smile, Colin looked at his freckled face, but there was no trace of contempt on his face.

In this era, everyone is working hard to live, even the newsboy is no exception.

Sensing the kindness in Colin's smile, Jimmy's originally nervous expression gradually eased, but soon he seemed to think of something and restrained his expression on his face.

Reaching out and pulling his clothes, trying to make himself look more mature, Jimmy said to Colin in front of him with a stern face: "So, sir, the purpose of you asking someone to contact me is for negotiation, right?"

"Negotiation?"

The content of the newspaper story surprised Colin a little.

And Jimmy nodded calmly: "That's right, negotiation. In fact, all newsboys understand one thing, that is, generosity has a time limit. The Courier cannot always give us newspapers at a discount of 5 cents per bundle. During this period, as the nursery rhyme spreads, the effect of the newsboys singing has become less and less. So your plan to withdraw the discount is not too surprising..."

If so, in this era, who is most sensitive to the direction of newspapers.

That is undoubtedly the newsboys.

As the leader of the newsboys in this area, Jimmy naturally has the responsibility to protect the income of the newsboys: "Newsboys understand the practice of the Courier. We just hope that the newspaper company will not increase the price of newspapers, and just maintain the original price without discounts and sell them to us, sir."

"We just want a chance to make a living..."

At this point, Jimmy's tone was a little pleading.

Under the impact of the Great Depression, the lives of newsboys were not easy. Even adults had a very difficult life in this era, not to mention children like them. Especially with the popularity of newsstands, more and more people began to get used to choosing publications in front of newsstands instead of buying limited newspapers from newsboys.

This made the living environment of newsboys even more difficult. They had to walk farther to sell newspapers in neighborhoods where newsstands were not yet popular.

After looking at Jimmy's firm and expectant eyes, Colin restrained the smile on his face and said, "Don't be nervous, Jimmy, the purpose of looking for you here is not to negotiate a discount for the Courier. In fact, I have never thought of raising the price of newspapers again."

The work of newsboys is crucial to both the Courier and Colin himself.

Of course, he couldn't break up with them for a mere 5 cents. After all, the previous newspaper that did so had tasted the bitter fruit, proving that newsboys are indispensable. Without their hard work, in this era without home delivery and electronic media, newspapers would lose their market.

Perhaps it is precisely because of this that the newspaper industry actively develops newsstands to replace the role of newsboys.

However, at least so far, the existence of newsboys is still necessary, especially for local tabloids such as the Courier, which are not very competitive in newsstands.

Not to mention, for Colin.

The existence of newsboys has another more important meaning, that is, he needs to obtain more [Faith] through the hard work of newsboys to complete the cohesion of [Black Iron Mark].