American comics: I drew Superman during the Great Depression

"Old John."

Interrupting Old John's persuasion, Colin turned his head and looked at the old employee of the newspaper.

"Do you think that with the current sales of the Courier, there is any essential difference between earning 5 cents more from the newsboy and earning 5 cents less?"

"..."

Colin's question unexpectedly made Old John fall into silence. He lowered his head and adjusted the brass glasses on his face, and shook his head helplessly for a long time.

"Maybe you are right, boss."

Indeed, the sales of the Courier have fallen to the bottom, even less than one-fifth of the peak period.

Such low sales have long been insufficient to support the operation of the newspaper.

The three people in the newspaper are aware of this, but no one is willing to expose it.

After all, once the bubble is punctured, what they have to face is the bloody reality under the Great Depression.

"So, instead of worrying about the 5 cents in the newsboy's hand, it's better to think about how to get the remaining news out of the Courier before the weekend publication."

Colin's words made Old John come back to his senses. Turning his slightly sore wrist, he looked back at the typesetting machine behind him. Old John said with some distress: "The rest is easy to say. I have asked Little John to prepare the materials for publication, but the most critical front page position has never been settled."

Originally, Old John planned to publish a photo of the actress Virginia Cherrill on the front page of the newspaper.

She is the actress who played the heroine Flower Girl in "City Lights" with Chaplin.

Although the popularity of the movie has long faded today, it is somewhat suspected that Virginia Cherrill is a rehash of the old news on the front page. However, with the current situation of the Courier, there is not much room for nitpicking.

It's a pity that even such an opportunity did not favor Old John and others.

Just as Colin heard outside the newspaper office, John's shooting was not smooth, and he did not take a clear photo of Cheryl as the cover photo of the newspaper.

"If it is the front page of the newspaper, I actually have an idea."

Looking at John's distressed look, Colin made a confident expression.

Then, in the surprise of the other party, he handed over the news release paper and photos he had written long ago.

"What is this?"

Subconsciously reaching out to take the manuscript handed over by Colin, John lowered his head and scanned the content on the paper, then frowned and hesitated: "Will such content be too..."

Although John did not say the rest of the words, Colin still understood his second half of the meaning from his expression.

"So, do you think there is anything wrong with what I wrote?"

Facing Colin's question, John read the content in his hand again, and then shook his head and said: "Indeed, as you said, boss, there is no problem with the content, except that the wording is a bit ruthless."

It is too ruthless.

He added a sentence silently in his heart, but on the surface, Old John did not dare to refute more, because he had already seen that since Colin had already prepared the manuscript of the news, no matter what he said, it would be useless.

In this case, why should he do the opposite and make his boss unhappy for no reason?

"Since there is no problem with the content, let's start typesetting immediately. There is not much time left before the publication date."

Today is Friday, and there is only less than a day and a half left before the publication date of the "Courier".

The newspaper typesetting of this era is far less convenient than that of later generations. Even the best typesetters need to spend several hours to complete the typesetting of a newspaper.

Therefore, after receiving the affirmative instructions, Old John no longer hesitated and immediately took the manuscript paper in his hand to the typesetting machine, and began to typesetting word by word according to the content above.

Here, Old John started working, and Colin on the other side was not free either.

In the Messenger newspaper, which only had three people, he was not only the boss, but also the editor of the newspaper.

Sitting at his desk, Colin picked up a fountain pen filled with ink and started to write quickly based on the various news materials collected by Little John.

Fortunately, as a reporter in another world, Colin was already familiar with the process of rushing news. Although the loss of the convenience of the computer slowed down the writing process, the urgency of time forced Colin to rush out the manuscript as quickly as possible.

Click click click --

Unconsciously, the sky outside the street gradually darkened.

Finally, after finishing the typesetting work in his hands, Old John took a long breath, twisted his sore shoulders, and looked back to see Colin still leaning over the desk, writing furiously.

"Cough cough..."

Seeing this, Old John hesitated for a moment, then put his hand to his mouth and deliberately coughed.

"What's wrong?"

Old John's cough did not attract Colin at the desk, but instead woke up Little John, who was dozing with his chin propped up.

Smacking his lips and looking around in a daze, Little John asked Old John in a half-asleep state.

"None of your business."

Looking at Little John speechlessly, Old John replied with a stern face and a heavier cough.

"Cough, cough, cough, cough!"

This time, Old John's cough had an effect.

Disturbed by the sound of coughing, Colin at the desk stopped the manuscript paper in his hand and turned his sore wrist.

When I looked up, I noticed the dark night outside the newspaper office.

"It's already so late."

Seeing this, Colin put down the pen in his hand, noticed the glances from Old John and his son, blinked his eyes, and his expression suddenly became a little confused.

"Sorry, I was so absorbed in writing that I forgot to inform you."

"It's okay, I just finished formatting the press release in my hand."

Hearing this, Old John responded quickly and never mentioned the cough he just had.

He shook his head and stood up from the desk.

Colin knew very well that the reason why the two of them stayed so late could not be as simple as being dedicated to their duties and loving their work.

Therefore, without saying anything, he reached into his pocket and took out the money bag, and then poured out two stacks of coins while Old John and Little John watched.

"Thank you, be careful on the road."

After handing the two stacks of ten-dollar coins to Old John and Little John, Colin gave a casual instruction.

"Thank you boss!"

After taking over this week's salary from Colin, Old John's skinny face showed a faint smile. As for Little John on the other side, he couldn't help but smile.

After watching John and his son leave the newspaper office, Colin sighed and weighed the weightless purse in his hand.

After paying the weekly wages to the workers, the Courier and Newspaper Company is really on the verge of running out of money.