American manga: I drew Superman in the Great Depression

Of course, it's not all good news when it comes to Courier Comics.

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

And Harry discovered more signs of piracy in some Hoovervilles.

The printing of these pirated "Messenger Comics" is rougher than the original version. Some pirates even directly changed the original color "Messenger Comics" to black and white printing in order to save costs.

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

This gives some readers who could not afford or were reluctant to buy the color version of "The Courier Comics" a new choice.

"Can't we catch them?"

In the Courier newspaper office, Little John looked at the rough black and white pirated copy of "The Courier Comics" in front of him and asked.

"It's difficult." He shook his head. As a publisher, Harry obviously knew the secret behind this: "The partners these publishers choose to cooperate with are basically small factories. As long as you give them money, you can print whatever they want.

, the factory doesn’t care about what it prints and what kind of impact it will have..."

Harry seemed deeply touched by this.

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

"What about calling the police?"

"The police won't care about this."

Hearing Little John mention the police, Harry showed a look of disapproval on his face: "Unless you give them money to help deal with it, otherwise, these greedy blood-sucking bugs will not pay attention to your call for help, even if you

If someone is robbed in front of him, these guys will just sit in a police car and watch the incident happen indifferently, and they might even get a share of the robbery."

"The lawyers are happy for us to litigate against the pirates. Unfortunately, even if we win in the end, they won't be able to pay the compensation. Instead, they will have to pay a sum of money as legal fees."

In an era of underdeveloped technology like the Great Depression, it was obviously not a simple matter to catch these pirates.

Not to mention the time and effort required, the results may not be satisfactory.

"So, is this 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"."

Looking away from the word "faith" in the text, Colin's reaction was not as discouraged as that of Little John and others.

At least, judging from the figures in the [Belief] column, the sales of "Messenger Comics" have not been affected by the piracy incident. Colin even guessed that among the [Beliefs] he obtained, perhaps there was a small amount of it.

Some of them are pirated comics from "Messenger Comics".

Although, in terms of money, these pirated black and white copies of "The Courier Comics" caused the newspaper company a certain degree of loss.

But at least in terms of [faith], he still gained something.

Not to the point where both people and money are wasted.

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

…

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

Counterworld, Manhattan, 890 Fifth Avenue.

In the secret base of the Dark Avengers, Tony's slightly frivolous voice was heard.

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

"...The 32nd test...begins...the target's physical characteristics are stable, and the injection of 'burning..."

In the picture, you can see a figure wearing a white sterile suit, standing in front of the operating table and making a report to the surveillance video. The other person picked up the needle and injected it into the man's arm on the operating table. Immediately afterwards, he saw

The man on the operating table screamed in pain, and his whole body began to burn.

"The 62nd test, target..."

There are three surveillance videos like this.

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

In the scene where the experiment was frozen, Tony continued: "This is the data found from the Hydera Biological Research Laboratory in Fort Detrick during the previous operation. Most of the data was destroyed. I only restored it.

We have obtained a small part of the information, showing that Hydera once conducted some kind of secret human experiment at Fort Detrick."

"Can you confirm the purpose of this experiment?"

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

"At present, it is still unknown..."

"However, in the restored information, I found an interesting name - Phineas Horton."

"Phineas Holden?"

Hearing this name, the mechanical eyes in Howard's eyes moved slightly, obviously he was somewhat familiar with this name.

"Dr. Phineas Horton has outstanding performance in the field of biochemical research. During World War II, he created the world's first biochemical human - Human Torch (Human Torch). As long as it comes into contact with oxygen, it will

The whole body burned, forming a violent flame."

In front of the console, Howard's eyes flashed slightly when he heard Tony pronounce the word 'cyborg'.

"At that time, the cyborg experiment led by Dr. Phineas Horton aroused fear among the people, who believed that his behavior was blaspheming the authority of God, especially when the Human Torch showed the ability to burn.

After that, it further aggravated people’s panic.”

"Due to 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, the Human Torch was selected by the military at that time, and as a member of the Invaders team, he was active on the battlefield of World War II with Captain America..."

As Tony described, an old photo appeared on the console screen.

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

To Captain America's left, stood a stern figure wearing a red tights.

Obviously, this is the humanoid, the Human Torch, created by Dr. Phineas Horton.

Stand in front of the console.

Howard's eyes swept over the familiar but unfamiliar faces in the photo, and stopped on a blurry face behind Captain America. The expression on the cold appearance that had been mechanically modified was a little lost.

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

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