American comics: I drew Superman during the Great Depression

It's early morning in the world.

Walking on the dim streets reflected by the street lights, Colin, who survived the disaster, walked on the way to the Courier Newspaper office.

It was only early four in the morning, the sky was gray and there was no light in sight, and the streets around were so quiet and deserted.

Passing by the benches, homeless people slept wrapped in newspapers. Whites and blacks crowded together on the same bench, but there was no gap at all.

When people are so poor that it doesn’t matter, there will naturally be no discrimination.

The impact of the Great Depression on black people was smaller than that of white people in this era, because they were born poor, and their daily lives were not much different from the Great Depression.

When a person is poor enough, the Great Depression cannot hurt them.

Passing by rows of homeless people wrapped in 'Hoover blankets', Colin's footsteps were particularly loud on the calm street. The homeless people on the benches twisted and muttered a few words, but none of them People are willing to open their eyes and take a look. They finally got rid of the troubles of hunger and poverty and fell asleep, but they are not willing to wake up just like that.

After walking through the deserted streets, the rest of the road became much more familiar.

Walking through the deserted shop streets, Colin stopped in front of the old newspaper office on the corner with the dim light of the street lights.

He took out the key from his pocket, inserted it in, and pushed open the door of the Courier Newspaper Office with the crunching sound of the handle turning.

Snap!

Pressing the switch, the light from the newspaper office penetrated the glass and reflected on the street.

He took off his clothes and hat, walked to the stove with ease, picked up the charcoal, put it in, and placed the kettle on it.

While waiting for the hot water to boil, Colin was not idle.

He came to the desk and sat down, reached out and took out the manuscript paper from the drawer, and filled the pen with ink.

Looking at the blank drawing paper in front of me, I picked up the brush, took a deep breath, and devoted myself to intense creation.

…

"...Maybe you should try to get in touch with more girls instead of holding on to those piles of comics... They won't bring you girls..."

"But at least they won't deceive me..."

At six o'clock in the morning, Old John and Little John appeared at the door of the newspaper office together.

"Did you lock the door when you left yesterday?"

He took out the key and inserted it into the keyhole. Before Old John could turn it, the door of the newspaper office in front of him was easily opened.

Seeing this, Old John frowned and asked his son behind him.

"I remember it was locked."

Looking at the door that was opened in front of him, Little John quickly spoke his mind and promised.

"I swear!"

"It's useless for you to swear to me. Now, you'd better pray that nothing is missing from the newspaper office..."

Sighing silently, Old John said something to the helpless Little John behind him, and then stretched out his hand to push open the door of the newspaper office with a worried look on his face.

As expected, the scene of the newspaper office being looted did not appear.

On the contrary, the two saw Colin working hard in the newspaper office.

"Good morning, you two."

Hearing the noise from Old John and Little John outside the newspaper office, Colin stopped the painting in his hand, raised his head and greeted the two people at the door. At the same time, he reached out to pick up the cup on the table and drank the coffee inside. And done.

"Good morning, boss."

Seeing Colin appearing in the newspaper office, Old John and Little John looked at each other, and then replied with some hindrance.

"Boss, how could you do this?"

Walking into the newspaper office, Old John couldn't help but look at the scattered drawings on his desk.

"So early..."

"Some inspiration suddenly came to me. In order not to let these inspirations run away, I rushed over a little early."

When faced with questioning, it was naturally impossible for Colin to tell Old John and the two of him about the crisis he encountered in the counter-world, so he casually found an excuse.

"But it looks like you're not just a little early."

His eyes rested on the coffee cup and kettle in front of Colin for a moment, and Old John couldn't help but murmured.

"Really, I don't pay much attention to time."

He shook his head to suppress the sleepiness that appeared in his mind.

Colin looked at the half-finished drawing in his hand, stood up and moved his stiff body.

During Colin's break in activities, Little John's eyes were already attracted by the content of the drawing in front of him.

There is no doubt that what is on the table is the plot of the latest serialization of "Superman". In this comic, a villain called the King of Pranks appears and commits crimes in a very special way.

In the first scene of the comic, the King of Pranks led his men into the bank, but what he did was not a robbery, but forced a lot of money into the bank, and even pedestrians passing by were given money. Because his 'crime' was so special that even Superman was helpless about it.

Because there was no victim in this 'crime', not even the bank that was robbed.

Because of the special robbery before, the Prank King became famous, and soon he launched his second crime, leading his men to rush into another bank, but this time his action changed from giving money to A real money grab.

In the comics, a maverick villain like the King of Pranks immediately caught Little John's attention.

In the newspaper office, he stared at the contents of the draft with wide eyes without blinking, until the plot described the second crime of the Prank King, and then he withdrew his gaze with some reluctance. It was not that Little John did not want to continue reading, it was simply because the content of the comic ended here.

"So next, will Superman arrive in time to stop the crime?"

"What kind of confrontation will happen between the Prank King and Superman?"

"Can the Prank King defeat Superman? No, it should be impossible. Superman's ability is so strong that the Prank King will definitely not be his opponent..."

Although the plot of the "Superman" comic ended here, Little John could not help but imagine the subsequent plot in his mind.

The more he imagined, the deeper his respect for Colin was.

Who could have expected that the birth of the "Superman" comic was just an occasional conversation between himself and his boss in the newspaper office?

……

“…At that time, my boss, Mr. Colin Looper, asked me, what are you reading? "Dick Tracy", I told him…I saw Mr. Colin Looper in the newspaper office was silent for a few minutes, and then he told us to serialize the comics in the newspaper, and then Superman was born, everything was so sudden…” - Excerpted from "Superman and Me in 1931"

Author: John Walker