Dreams of the Fragrant River

Although he has been famous for more than ten years, Shangguan Xiaobao will only be 40 years old in a few months, so he can still be regarded as a young talent. (First appearance) But compared with Huang Yulang, Shangguan Xiaobao is really not enough to watch. His painting skills and fame are on a par with Huang Yulang, and he is far more diligent and practical than Huang Yulang. street.

82 Painting Club is not far from Fulinmen, Shangguan Xiaobao put away the manuscript of today's painting and drove to Fulinmen Restaurant in less than ten minutes.

"How many gentlemen?" the waiter at Fulinmen asked.

Shangguan Xiaobao said, "Mr. Kang invited me here."

"It turned out to be Mr. Kang's guest, please come with me!" The waiter brought Shangguan Xiaobao to a private room.

There was no one in the private room, so Shangguan Xiaobao could only sit and drink tea and wait. When it was two or three minutes before seven o'clock, Kang Jianfei finally brought his attendants to the banquet.

Kang Jianfei shook hands with Shangguan Xiaobao and said politely, "Hello, Mr. Kwong, I take the liberty of inviting me, and look at Haihan."

Shangguan Xiaobao said with a smile: "Mr. Kang is very kind, you can invite me to dinner, I am too happy for someone Kuang."

The two chatted for a while and waited for the dishes to be ready. Kang Jianfei and Shangguan Xiaobao had a cup of tea before turning the topic to the comics: "I have also watched Mr. Kwong's 'Bruce Lee', and the drawing is very good."

"I'm also picking up people's teeth, and it's hard to get into Mr. Kang's eyes." Shangguan Xiaobao said modestly.

Shangguan Xiaobao is really not being modest, but telling the truth. He is a very conservative and passive person, which is the complete opposite of Huang Yulang, and Shangguan Xiaobao's comic creation also follows the rules. Back then, when Bruce Lee was popular in Hong Kong, Shangguan Xiaobao painted "Bruce Bruce" to the present. After that, Huang Feihong painted "Once Upon a Time", and Fang Shiyu painted "Fang Shiyu".

In the 1990s, Shangguan Xiaobao's son, Kwong Shijie, inherited his father's style. Taking advantage of "The King of Fighters" to take the opportunity to withdraw from the "King of Fighters 96" comics, after making a lot of money, "The King of Fighters 97" and "The King of Fighters 98" were launched one after another.

Kang Jianfei said with a smile: "It is also a skill to be able to pick up people's teeth and wisdom. Mr. Kwong can withstand the pressure of Yulang International. It is really admirable to have a firm foothold in the comics industry."

"Haha. I can't compare with Huang Yulang." Shangguan Xiaobao smiled reluctantly. He and Huang Yulang are a pair of enemies. When one is prosperous, the other is bound to be unlucky.

Now Huang Yulang is about to reach the peak of his career. In addition to pictorial and comic journals, he also operates 5 magazines and 3 newspapers. The 25-year-old "Daily Daily" was just acquired by Huang Yulang a while ago.

Chat a few words. Kang Jianfei suddenly asked, "What does Mr. Kuang think about the future of comics?"

This question was a serious question, and Shangguan Xiaobao thought about it seriously and said, "The comics in Japan are getting bigger and bigger, and they have penetrated into Hong Kong, Taiwan and Nanyang. From creation to distribution, it is worth learning from Hong Kong comics. Otherwise, sooner or later. The Japanese comics successfully seized the market.”

Shangguan Xiaobao's words were obviously not finished yet. Naturally, it was impossible for him to talk to Kang Jianfei at the first meeting, and it was enough to evaluate a sentence or two from a macro perspective. And what he said is not a unique opinion. In the Hong Kong comic industry, everyone can feel the threat of Japanese comics, and Huang Yulang's reform of the production line of comics. In fact, it is imitating and learning from the industrialization process of Japanese comics.

"Yeah, Japanese comics are very good," Kang Jianfei said with emotion, "so I think Hong Kong comics should mature quickly. The genres should also be rich, and we can't always rely on kung fu comics to prop up our appearance."

Shangguan Xiaobao didn't know why Kang Jianfei was looking for him at first, but now he has some eyebrows and asked tentatively, "Mr. Kang is very interested in the comic industry?"

"I'm a little interested." Kang Jianfei didn't directly say about the acquisition of the 82 Art Club, but expressed his thoughts on Hong Kong Manga, "The biggest drawback of Hong Kong Manga is that the market is too narrow, Taiwan's strict censorship is difficult to sell, and the Nanyang region is very difficult to sell. It is more difficult to distribute it. In addition, young people now have more choices of entertainment methods, and the comics market has shrunk by more than half compared with ten years ago. It is good to say that the three famous comics such as "Dragon Tiger Gate", "Bruce Bruce" and "Chinese Hero", There is no guarantee that other comics can make money.”

For a thing to form an industry, first of all, the market must be large enough. Only when there is a market can there be profits and talents can be attracted to join the industry. The huge reserve talent group can promote the prosperity of the industry. This is a virtuous circle.

However, due to the shrinking market in Hong Kong comics, there has been a huge loss of manga talents. Many talented young people can only help Huang Yulang and Shangguan Xiaobao.

Why doesn't Shangguan Xiaobao know this? He said with emotion: "The shrinking market is the general trend, what can be done?"

Character determines the way of doing things. Facing the cruel current situation of the Hong Kong comics market, Huang Yulang's approach is to reform the assembly line of Hong Kong comics, and rely on several famous comics to diversify comics, magazines and newspapers, and now he has done a good job. . Shangguan Xiaobao, on the other hand, is much more conservative. When he sees something that is popular, he follows the trend and draws it into a comic, so that he can make money without losing money.

If Kang Jianfei is to choose a collaborator, Huang Yulang is the best candidate. It is a pity that Huang Yulang likes to eat alone like Kang Jianfei. In another time and space, his Yulang International suffered a stock market crash. In order to avoid being acquired, he even took the risk of making false accounts and was eventually imprisoned for this.

"Hong Kong's population is so large. If Hong Kong comics want to develop, they have to go out like Hong Kong films and sell comics to Nanyang and Taiwan. I heard that Huang Yulang is planning Yulang International's listing, maybe he can use it to go public. To sell "Dragon Tiger Gate" all over Nanyang." Kang Jianfei deliberately mentioned Huang Yulang to stimulate Shangguan Xiaobao.

Shangguan Xiaobao was really stimulated. His "Bruce Bruce" and Huang Yulang's "Dragon Tiger Gate" were both sold to Malaysia and Singapore. It is a pity that due to more than ten years of creation, the stories of the two comics are stinky and long, and overseas readers have become fewer and fewer. In the end, overseas publishing houses no longer help publish them.

On the contrary, "Heroes of China", which has become popular in the past two years, is selling well in Singapore, and its author Ma Rongcheng is an apprentice of Shangguan Xiaobao, but now he is helping Huang Yulang. Kang Jianfei deliberately mentioned that Huang Yulang was preparing for the listing of the company, how could Shangguan Xiaobao calm down?

"Huang Yulang is always whimsical. Whether Yulang International can go public is still a matter of debate." Shangguan Xiaobao said sourly.

Kang Jianfei said with a smile: "Going public is nothing more than to facilitate fundraising. I have a little spare money in my hand that is useless. I plan to invest in comics."

Shangguan Xiaobao's heart was beating wildly a few times, he didn't have Huang Yulang's ambition and aggressiveness, he just wanted to earn money by honestly drawing comics. If a rich man like Kang Jianfei invests in the 82 Painting Society, Shangguan Xiaobao would wake up laughing from a dream.

"If I inject 1 million yuan into the 82 Painting Society, how many shares can I get?" Kang Jianfei asked straight to the point.

Local tyrants are local tyrants!

Shangguan Xiaobao smiled bitterly: "It's more than enough to buy the entire painting studio."

The broken machines of the 82 Painting Society are not worth a lot of money. The most valuable ones are the "Bruce Bruce" series of comics that have been famous for more than ten years, as well as the copyrights of more than 20 other comics, as well as some of the books that Shangguan Xiaobao personally trained. A comic master. Among them is Niu Lao, who was only a disciple of Shangguan Xiaobao at this time, but his future masterpiece "Young and Dangerous" was made into a movie and became a smash hit. In addition, Ma Rongcheng, who painted "Chinese Heroes", was also taught by Shangguan Xiaobao. Unfortunately, Huang Yulang won over and did not leave Yulang International with him.

Kang Jianfei asked again, "I heard that there are still two shareholders in the Eighty Two Art Club?"

"Tongde Books and Newspapers and Yousheng Printing Company, the former is responsible for the distribution of comics, and the latter is responsible for printing," Shangguan Xiaobao said, "The bosses of both companies are my old friends, and they each own 10% of the painting studio. shares."

Kang Jianfei thought for a while and said, "Look, can this work? I'll spend 1 million to buy the 82 Painting Society and its comic copyrights."

Shangguan Xiaobao asked, "After Mr. Kang bought the painting studio, what are you going to do with me?"

Kang Jianfei said with a smile: "I will also buy my brother Shangguan Xiaowei's comics club. When the time comes, a new painting club will be merged, and I will give you a reasonable share of the new painting club."

Shangguan Xiaobao really didn't expect Kang Jianfei to buy his younger brother's painting club. He asked, "Mr. Kang is really going to enter the comics world to show his strength?"

"Let's put it this way, the new painting society has become a subsidiary of the Oriental Culture and Entertainment Group, and can obtain the copyrights of DreamWorks and Phoenix TV's movies, TV series and comics at a low price. At the same time, the copyright of my novels adapted comics will also be handed over to the painting club." Kang Jianfei explained his thoughts, "Because Mr. Kwong, you are not good at running~www.wuxiaspot.com~, the general manager of the painting club is someone else, and your position is the creative director of the painting club. Tongde Books and Newspapers and Yousheng The printing company, their shares in the 82 Painting Society will be acquired by me, but the printing and distribution business of the painting society in Hong Kong will still be left to them in the future.”

Shangguan Xiaobao asked, "How many shares can I get in the new painting club?"

"Up to 10% of the shares, but you can get 1 million cash at one time, which is the money for me to buy your shares in the 82 Painting Society, and I will give you additional money for the shares of the other two shareholders of the 82 Painting Society, so that you can Are you satisfied?" Kang Jianfei said.

Shangguan Xiaobao is very content, he thought about it and quickly replied: "Deal!"

Kang Jianfei said with a smile: "Then Mr. Kwong is ready to move the painting studio to the Tseung Kwan O Film and Television City. In addition, "The Misty Journey" is going to be a cartoon. I hope you can organize and plan the adaptation work, and I will ask someone to help you promote it. Hype."

"The Misty Journey? That's great!" Shangguan Xiaobao was overjoyed. "The Misty Journey" is very suitable for adapting comics. Huang Yulang tried to buy the comic copyright of this novel several times, but Kang Jianfei never agreed.