Hong Kong Comic Master

Since 1972, when investors appointed Stan Lee as president and publisher of Marvel, he officially left the position of editor-in-chief of Marvel.

For a creative company like Marvel, the president is the facade, and the editor-in-chief is the soul.

To the outside world, Stan Lee plays the role of Marvel's totem and spiritual leader, flying around the world, participating in various public events, and reaching the peak of his reputation; behind closed doors in the company, Lee serves as a link between investors and creators, allowing these two groups of people who dislike each other to live in peace, and also strives for a salary increase for the authors.

However, for the vacant editor-in-chief position, it was found that there was no second person to take it!

So, throughout the 1970s, the editor-in-chief changed like a revolving lantern, just like the fate of Marvel.

As a matter of course, comics became more and more watery, boring, and superheroes were slowly forgotten.

For Stan Lee, as the president, he no longer has to work hard to draw comics, and can earn $150,000 a year without doing anything, and there is extra income from appearing on TV.

This kind of work of working less and earning more is almost the ultimate goal of life for every ordinary person.

However, after all, Stan Lee is a cartoonist, and he has long been tired of such a life.

At this time, when Li Wannian asked this question, it hit Stan Lee's soul!

He still likes to draw comics after all!

"Does it matter whether I draw comics or not?"

After all, Stan Lee is not a child, but a person who has served as the president of Marvel for more than ten years. How can he do things just based on his own preferences?

Therefore, the sadness in his eyes flashed by, and soon he returned to his calm appearance.

However, it was that flash of sadness that was captured by Li Wannian.

"It's important, but not important. Actually, I think you and I are the same kind of people. We are both cartoonists who make a living by our craft, and we are not suitable for managing a company.

Like me, I handed over the management of the company to my brother, and I concentrated on drawing, which made me less troubled and I could focus more on comics!"

"It's a pity that I don't have a brother like you!"

Stan Lee shrugged and joked with a look of pity.

"In fact, Mr. Li, you don't have to be too defensive against us. We know what you want to do!

You just want superheroes to go out of comics and go to the big screen. What you do is actually what my brother is doing!"

As Li Wanshui said, pushing Marvel superheroes to the big screen has always been Stan Lee's heart disease.

As early as 1978, the movie Superman adapted from DC Comics was released and won multiple Oscars in 1979.

Such an achievement stimulated Stan Lee and made him want to do so. Unfortunately, the financial backers behind Marvel did not agree with Stan Lee to develop the film business by acquiring small film and television studios.

Then he sold the copyright to Hollywood, hoping that the other party could make a good movie, but it still failed.

What kind of garbage are those movie companies making?

So Stan Lee was very curious about how the other young man solved this problem?

To be honest, when the Lee brothers came to Stan Lee and asked to meet, Stan Lee was very puzzled because he didn't know the two people at all.

So, after some investigation, he found out who the other party was, and then he found a few comics to learn about it.

As a result, after understanding it, he found that this young man was so talented, and he couldn't help but feel good about him, but also doubted his purpose.

Due to limited understanding, Stan Lee became very interested in how Li Wannian and others operated comics.

"Oh? Can you tell me more about it?"

"Actually, it's very similar to your plan, but we're going to be bolder! In addition to publishing houses and comic companies, we also have TV stations, film production companies, cinemas, and so on.

So once we have a good comic, we can turn it into a TV series or movie, or an animated movie, as soon as possible. It's precisely because of the omni-channel efforts that our company has developed very quickly. In just a few years, it has not only become the first in Hong Kong Island, but it can even be said to be the first in Asia!"

Stan Lee was very envious of Li Wanshui's omni-channel development model.

In Stan Lee's view, Li Wanshui's model is even better than his own ideas. They have even monopolized the upstream and downstream industries and formed a complete closed-loop industrial chain.

It's not an exaggeration to say that this company is a monopoly!

After all, in the United States, film production companies can no longer operate cinemas!

"We Marvel can't do what you do..." Stan Lee said with emotion.

"Of course it's impossible to copy it completely, but we can learn from each other! The more important point is that we understand what you want to do! We won't hinder you!"

Long before meeting with Stan Lee, Li Wanshui naturally did some research on Stan Lee and Marvel.

After investigation, it was learned that Stan Lee now has differences with Marvel's parent company, and this can help DreamWorks complete the acquisition of Marvel!

That's right, Li Wanshui and Li Wannian met with Stan Lee this time to acquire Marvel! In history, Marvel was bought by New World Company for $46 million in 1986, and then it was bought and sold by various companies, and finally all the superheroes in the company were sold out.

So in the 21st century, when Marvel planned to make its own movies, it found that it had no first-tier superheroes to make movies, so it had to choose a second-tier superhero, Iron Man, to make movies.

Although this move was a mistake and made Marvel successful and glorious, its predicament at the time was also foreseeable.

"Honestly, I enjoyed talking to you, but what exactly do you want to do?"

"Isn't it obvious yet? We want to buy Marvel!"

Faced with Stan Lee's straight-to-the-point question, Li Wanshui answered decisively.

"Acquire Marvel!" Although Stan Lee had guessed what the other party was thinking, he was still very surprised when he really confirmed it.

"Yes, I know that Marvel is currently experiencing some problems, but I believe that as long as Marvel is handed over to us, it can regain its glory! After all, compared to those capitalists who are full of money, we are the experts. Know what Marvel really needs!"

Li Wanshui's words made Stan Lee a little moved, but he still said: "I am just a part-time worker and I don't have any shares. I can't make the decision on your acquisition!"

"Don't worry about this, we know that we just need your introduction and support!"