American comics: You're asked to fish, but you catch a Superman template?

Page 566

Therefore, opening the newspaper every morning became a habitual part of Xu Fu's daily life in this world.

"Affected by fluctuations in steel prices, Stutz Motors declared bankruptcy, becoming the sixteenth automobile company to do so during the Great Depression."

During the Great Depression, the automotive industry experienced an unprecedented contraction. When even the most basic necessities like food and clothing became a problem for the public, they naturally had no money to buy new cars.

Not only the automobile industry was affected, but the locomotive industry was also impacted. In the 1920s, the locomotive industry was still selling an average of 600 locomotives per year, which was quite good for a small manufacturing sector. However, by 1932, only one locomotive was sold for the entire year.

This huge difference is just a microcosm of the manufacturing industry in the United States.

Opening the newspaper in his hand, Xu Fu skipped the economics page and focused his gaze on the politics page.

Just like the lamenting economics section, the political section was filled with gloomy speculation about the upcoming Democratic nomination. Although Roosevelt had overwhelming support within the party, Al Smith, the first-party candidate, did not seem to support Roosevelt as his opponent.

Even Al Smith publicly opposed Roosevelt's political views in some newspapers, believing that his candidacy was a disaster for the Democratic Party and a way to hand the presidency to his opponent.

"Democrats abstained from early voting!"

"Hoover cheered at the White House, and people howled in Hooverville."

The press disliked Hoover, but the Democratic nomination offered them no hope whatsoever.

Despite the media and newspapers being filled with pessimistic views.

But this is good news for Xu Fu at least. Once Roosevelt successfully secures the party nomination, the presidential election will be meaningless.

His confidence stemmed not from Roosevelt's popularity during this period, but entirely from Hoover's utter obnoxiousness.

In fact, if you only look at elections...

The 1932 general election appears remarkably similar to some later elections, in which a less wicked leader is chosen from two candidates.

During the Great Depression, the American people made the right choice in a sense, but unfortunately, one day in the future, their choice will prove to be not so right.

As election day approaches, campaign news occupies the majority of newspaper pages.

Republican newspapers criticized Democrats for their weakness, while Democratic newspapers accused Republicans of incompetence and making a mess of the country.

Partisan competition intensified during the Great Depression, with the media playing a crucial role in it.

Everyone knows that the only way to deal with this is through opposition.

Xu Fu closed the newspaper in his hand, paused for a moment, and collected the information he had obtained in his mind.

In a positive world, the superbrain is limited, but it can still provide tremendous impetus.

As various pieces of information are sorted through his mind, inspiration flashes through his mind amidst the collision of numerous pieces of information.

Xu Fu opened a newspaper lying in front of him and focused his gaze on an article about stock information in the economics section.

"Shares of Coastal United Oil, the nation’s ninth-largest oil company, continued to plummet, with the total share price falling by 90 percent to less than $3 per share."

Oil and automobiles are closely intertwined industries, and even oil companies have been affected by the decline of the automotive industry.

Especially earlier this year, two wealthy individuals committed suicide.

On March 12, Swedish matchmaker Yvonne Kro-Inge committed suicide in a Paris hotel. Two days later, Hugh Insmann of Insmann Kodak committed suicide by jumping into the sea in Rochester.

The deaths of these two individuals had a devastating impact on the entire stock market.

This was an extremely smart entry point, as the financial industry was in such disarray that no one could see things clearly at the time.

Now, he has made a fortune through the production of the Superman series and related merchandise.

The safest approach would naturally be to continue investing these assets in the newspaper industry.

However, Xu Fu did not seem to think so.

Nowadays, there is more than one way to make money from comic book series.

"Sir, I have finished coloring."

Jacob's shrill voice brought Xu Fu's thoughts back to the newspaper's editorial office.

“You did a great job, Jacob.”

Reaching out to take the blueprints from Jacob's hand, Xu Fu smiled as he looked at their contents.

Although he had other ideas in mind, Xu Fu did not ignore Superman, his own basic pillar during the Great Depression.

This comic book, colored by Jacob, is the latest installment in the Weekend Messenger series.

The story begins where it ended in Metropolitan Society, following Superman's battle against three supervillains: Troublemaker, Toyman, and Luther.

The three-person Metropolitan Association shines in this episode.

This evil group, the first ever featured in a superhero comic, had a profound influence on the development of superhero comics.

In the comic book series, this trio led by the troublemaker caused Superman a lot of trouble.

In the story, Pranker leads the distribution of free radios throughout Metropolis. Because they are free, many unsuspecting people take them home, and at first the radios seem to have no problems; some people turn them on and use them normally.

Only at night would the pranksters change the radio frequency, and the special frequency emitted by the radio had a hypnotic effect on the listeners. Over the course of the night, the residents of the metropolis were all turned into hypnotized babies, with the minds of two- or three-year-old children.

Superman: "What is this?"

When Superman discovered this phenomenon, more than a thousand residents of Metropolis had been radio-hypnotized into babies.

Even Superman felt a bit of a headache watching these citizens who had adult bodies but played and cried like children.

What made Superman even more aware was that even Lois Lane was hypnotized by the broadcast.

Superman: "Louise, you definitely don't want to see this."

Louise: "Wow, wow, wow."

Just as Superman was trapped, an army of toys suddenly appeared on the streets of Metropolis, and the city's adults and children were kidnapped by these toys.

Superman: "Toys, they remind me of someone."

Looking at this army of freely moving toys, Superman immediately thought of the toy people he had fought before and hid his Superman costume. Following in the footsteps of these grown-up children, he arrived at their destination: a huge playground.

This is an amusement park made entirely of toys, and even Superman, who is in the park, can't help but marvel at the variety of toys that fill the amusement park.

Superman: "I wish I had this many toys when I was a kid."

Amidst Superman's exclamations of admiration, the toy man drove into the toy train, looked at the many people on the playground, and burst into triumphant laughter.

Toy Man: "Haha, welcome to my paradise."

Superman: "This is Toyman."

Superman wondered what was happening as he looked at the toy people appearing on the toy train.

Toy Man: "Come out, Superman! I know you're in there."

Just as Superman was thinking, Toy Man spoke up and revealed his hidden identity.

Seeing his hiding place exposed, Superman didn't hesitate to immediately reveal his identity, displaying his signature costume and looking at Toyman. "So you did all this, Toyman?"

Toy Man: "No, it's not just me."

To Superman's question, Tøyman immediately replied, "Metropolitan Association!"

Superman: "Metropolitan society, what's that?"

Amid Superman's confusion, members of the Metropolitan Society appear, and the Mischief Makers and Luther also show up at the 120 Center in the amusement park.

Looking at the three people in front of him, Superman immediately understood.

The plot of this colored comic is based on the image of the conflict between Superman and the Metropolitan Association.

Metropolitan Association was Xu Fu's first attempt to incorporate a long-standing storyline into Superman comics.

This is a common storyline in later generations, and the storyline of a single superhero can even extend into dozens of comic books, but it was clearly rare in this period.

Especially in comics, different characters appear, and grand scenes are also arranged.

This gave Jacob, who was in charge of coloring, a big headache, because printing comics in that era was far less easy than it would be in later times.

In order to enable the newspaper's four-color rotary printing press to convey the colors of the comics, Jacob volunteered to assign the color order of the illustrations, especially for the sections with the most characters. Jacob spent a whole morning arranging the colors so that they wouldn't be printed as one block.

“This is a difficult time for you, Jacob.”

Xu Fu carefully placed the colored sketch in his hand, looked at the exhausted Jacob in front of him, and said casually.

"You'll not only be responsible for coloring the comics, but also for creating new comics for Messenger Comics, so maybe you can find some free time after you finish."

“That’s what I’m going to do, sir.”

Upon hearing the word "rest," the weariness in Jacob's eyes vanished, and he spoke.

"I don't need to rest!"

During the Great Depression, rest was not a good word.

Jacob's previous job at the World Journal has ended, and he is now on leave.

“You don’t need to be too nervous, Jacob.”

Xu Fu said with a smile through his tears, watching Jacob's fierce resistance.

"This is a real breakthrough, it's not what you think."

“Sir, I know, but I really don’t need to rest.”

Despite Xu Fu's assurances, Jacob seemed unconvinced, repeatedly saying, "I have a lot of work to do. The Messenger comics are almost finished, and I still need to color the Superman series."

By giving so many examples, Jacob seems to want to let Xu Fu know that he is capable of accomplishing a great deal of work.