Mei Man: I drew Superman during the Great Depression

Chapter 156 The Birth of the Villain Association

"Mr. Colin Luper, CBS is confident that "Superman" will be an excellent series..."

Inside the Messenger newspaper, Colin fell silent.

The person in charge of CBS immediately spoke and made a promise.

In this era, radio dramas are still a relatively new form of entertainment.

In January 1924, the London radio station broadcast a 1-minute radio play "Dangerous".

It was the world's first radio play, written by Chad Hughes exclusively for radio.

The development of radio dramas in the United States is associated with coffee advertisements.

Because of the impact of the Great Depression, a large number of unemployed people stayed at home, and the main form of entertainment at that time was listening to the radio.

Of course, the low literacy rate is also a reason for the popularity of radio. At that time, one in 20 people in the United States was illiterate. They could not read newspapers and books, but they could understand what the radio was saying.

That is, radio can reach housewives, unemployed people at home, illiterates and children.

A coffee merchant sensed this business opportunity and produced a radio play called "Maxwell Theater Boat", which mixed southern jazz, realistic oars, bells and flutes.In addition, coffee advertisements were inserted in the radio drama, and the creative team added the sound of pouring coffee, shaking the coffee cup, and the sound of applauding the coffee in the drama, so as to integrate the joyful feeling that Maxwell coffee brings to people into the script.

Limited by the unique broadcast form of radio dramas, listeners in front of the radio at that time had no right to choose at all. If they wanted to listen to a program in its entirety, they had to listen to the commercials along with it.

This also led to an 85% increase in Maxwell coffee sales by the end of the year when "Maxwell Theater Ship" aired.

Influenced by the "Maxwell Theater Ship" radio drama, more and more radio dramas have also begun to intersperse advertisements.

One of the most noteworthy is a radio program called "Major Bowes's Amateur Time", which can be called the American Dream Show of the radio age.

The program toured in various cities and highlighted the local performance characteristics of different cities. The program group asked the audience to vote to determine the winner, and interspersed with advertisements at the right time to encourage people to buy more Chase and Sanborn coffee, so that more contestants can be on board. Take the stage and become the star of tomorrow.

"The fate of the players is in your hands!"

"By buying Chase and Sanborn coffee with the date of manufacture, you are helping young Americans become famous and rich."

These are all the slogans that "Major Bowes's Spare Time" once played.

Except, of course, for the influence of coffee merchants on radio dramas.

Soap commercials are another factor contributing to the popularity of radio dramas, and even the origin of soap operas comes from this.

……

For the production of "Superman" radio drama, Colin did not resist.

The conditions proposed by CBS are also very generous, in stark contrast to the previous "World Journal".

Apparently, they were sincerely trying to cooperate with his Courier newspaper.

Rather than simply wanting the copyright of "Superman" like "World Journal".

"I can promise CBS to make a radio drama."

Therefore, after a little thought, Colin agreed.

"I assure you that Mr. Colin Luper will definitely produce works that satisfy you."

Hearing Colin's reply, the person in charge of CBS couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

CBS attaches great importance to this cooperation, and has repeatedly asked him to negotiate the adaptation rights of "Superman" before coming here.

"but……"

However, before he could rest assured, Colin in front of him raised his own terms again.

"As a condition, I need to participate in the production of the radio drama to ensure that the "Superman" radio drama produced by the radio station conforms to the setting of the comics."

The reason why Ke Lin participated in the production of the radio drama was not only to ensure that the content of the radio drama did not deviate from the setting of the story, but also to some extent with the intention of acquiring [faith] through the radio drama.

Since comics can collect [Faith], there is no reason why broadcasting cannot.

Moreover, unlike comics, radio dramas have a wider audience, and even some illiterate people who cannot read newspapers can understand the content of the radio.

This also helped Colin in disguise, bringing Superman to some groups that were otherwise inaccessible.

"No problem at all!"

At first, when I heard Colin propose conditions.

The head of CBS is still worried about what to do if his demands are too harsh.

However, when he heard that Ke Lin's condition was to participate in the production of radio dramas, the person in charge of CBS agreed without thinking.

With the participation of Colin, the creator of "Superman", for the radio drama that CBS is about to produce, it is a good thing that has no harm at all.

Of course, CBS has no reason to refuse.

……

After finalizing the adaptation of the "Superman" radio series.

The person in charge of CBS bid farewell to Colin and left the newspaper office.

Subsequent processing will be prepared by CBS professional lawyers to determine the formal contract and some related terms.

At the same time, CBS also needs to form a professional radio crew to prepare for the next adaptation of "Superman".

Unlike comics, radio dramas, as a repertoire composed entirely of voices, require actors' dubbing and live music to create a sense of presence.

Therefore, the quality of voice actors has become the key to the success of radio dramas.

Of course, these preparations are all in the charge of CBS.

There was no need for Colin to intervene.

The Messenger newspaper, with the departure of CBS, Harry, who had been in charge of the printing factory, also came to the newspaper.

He came to Colin for comics.

The quarterly issue of Superman is already set for print, just waiting for two pages of origin stories.

"This is a drawing for Superman."

Seeing Harry's arrival, Colin didn't say anything, and directly handed over the drawing he had prepared a long time ago.

After receiving the sketch of the origin story in Colin's hand, Little John and Jacob stood up at the same time, wanting to preview the origin story of Superman.

Details about the Kryptonian explosion debuted in the Origin comics prepared for the quarterly issue of Superman.

In these two pages of comics, Krypton, the home planet of Superman's origin, appears and is described as a highly developed planet, and the destruction of Krypton also comes from the over-exploitation of the planet by the Kryptonians.At the same time, in the sketch on the first page, Superman's father also made his debut. He put Superman in the spaceship, launched it to the earth, and was adopted by the adoptive parents in the countryside.

And in the origin story on page two, it explains why Superman has such unusual abilities.

Superman's superpowers are due to Earth's weaker gravity and the yellow sun.

Because of the different physique from the people on earth, Superman can absorb the brilliance of the sun as his own strength, and at the same time, because of the long-term exposure to the sun, Superman awakens some special abilities.

Incredible?
of course not!
In fact, this is how plants grow. They are rooted in the soil and can grow vigorously by absorbing the power of sunlight, and they can even grow as tall as a building.And Superman also has a similar ability to be able to grow continuously by absorbing the energy of the sun.

In order to explain why Superman has this ability, Colin also deliberately mentioned the example of plants in the notes.

The purpose is to make the source of Superman's ability look more 'reasonable'.

"It turns out that the key to the source of Superman's power is because of the sun!"

Sure enough, after reading the setting of Superman in the origin, Little John couldn't help sighing.

Apparently, he has identified with his setting in the comics.

"No wonder his eyes are capable of burning everything with a hot gaze."

And began to revolve around this setting, substituting the plot of the previous comic series.

……

Whether it's the printing of the "Superman" quarterly, or the production of the CBS radio drama, it takes time to prepare.

Therefore, the works related to Superman that readers come into contact with still come from the serialization of the latest issue of "The Courier".

In this issue of the series, the prankster makes his debut again.

He was sent to prison by Superman because of the English tax before, but even in prison, the prank king is also a restless guy.By sabotaging the prison's radio and broadcasting false broadcasts, the Prankster manages to spark a riot in the prison.

And he also took advantage of this opportunity to successfully complete his escape.

After escaping from prison, the King of Mischief vows to exact revenge on Superman with a new great prank.

Before that, though, he needs some company.

Also in this series, a group based on super villains was born. This is also the earliest super villain group to appear in superhero comics, even earlier than the appearance of superhero groups.

After escaping from prison, the prankster finds the toy people first.Obviously, this guy didn't die in the previous big explosion, but the toy man is also full of hatred for Superman, the guy who destroyed his own toy army, so when the two villains met, they decided to join forces.

Prank King: "You have an opponent, and I have an opponent, why don't we join forces to deal with him?"

Toyman: "This opponent of mine is not so easy to deal with!"

Prank King: "Exactly, my opponent is the same."

Toyman: "He's Superman."

Prank King: "Because we are Superman, it is worthy of our cooperation. Isn't this an interesting thing?"

Of course, both the prankster and the toy man know that the two of them alone are far from being Superman's opponents.Therefore, they found another guy who frequently caused trouble for Superman in previous crimes-Luthor.

Luther also showed great interest in the Prankster's proposal, but he obviously didn't agree with the Prankster as the leader of their group.In the position of leader, he also had a quarrel with the prank king. In the end, relying on his identity as the proposer and the support of the toy man, the prank king successfully became the leader of their criminal group.

At the same time, it also paved the way for their subsequent failure.

"Luthor is obviously not satisfied with the Prank King as the leader of the team, but in order to be able to defeat Superman, he reluctantly joined the team."

From the accompanying text around Luther, readers can clearly know Luther's inner dissatisfaction.

After confirming the alliance, Luthor suggested that they should think of a name for the group, and finally the Metropolitan Association was determined to be the name of the group.

Prankster: "Metropolitan Society, that's a nice name, I like it!"

Toyman: "Superman, he is the key."

Luthor: "A stupid name, as if you want people to know your position."

On the newspaper, the last frame of the comic.

The three villains, the Prankster, the Toyman and Luther, were frozen in front of the table.

At Colin's request, a large amount of black was used to fill the background in this frame, giving the realism of a secret crime.

In particular, the faces of Luthor's three villains who once fought against Superman, which emerged from the shadows, gave readers a feeling as if they were on the scene and participated in the evil plan.

……

Unsurprisingly, the content of the new serial has aroused heated discussions among readers.

Especially when they saw in the comics, when the Prankster, Toyman and Luthor teamed up, they all began to worry about Superman, how would this criminal group appear.

For a while, letters from readers who were worried about this flooded the mailbox of the Courier-Journal.

"...I think that Superman should make preparations as soon as possible, and can't let the prank king and the others join forces. This is the evil existence that once caused the entire metropolis to fall into huge chaos on the English tax!"

"Why didn't the prison respond, and let a dangerous guy like the prank king escape so easily!"

"I think the 'Metropolis Society' will definitely fail, because Luthor is obviously not a guy who would like to be under the prank king, he is different from the toy man, he is an ambitious villain!"

"Why don't you let Mr. Troublemaker join the 'Metropolitan Association'? If Mr. Troublemaker becomes a member of the association, then Superman will definitely be in a big crisis."

"It is strongly recommended that Human Torch join the 'Metropolis Association'. Luthor is the maker of Human Torch, and he must be able to control it to fight Superman."

……

"...Mr. Colin Luper was very good at integrating the current events in New York into his own comic creations, such as the character 'Mr. , which was, in fact, the same paper that had been competing with the Courier-Journal in New York City at the time."

"At the same time, the setting of the 'Metropolitan Association' also has its realistic prototype. At that time, the New York Tammany Association and the Mafia family were still serious social problems, and they were also the objects exposed by the newspaper. Therefore, Colin Mr. Looper integrated it into the "Superman" comics at that time, and it was precisely because of Mr. Colin Loper's pioneering creative concept that "Superman" was always loved by readers in the following decades. Like and pursue, because it is not only a comic, but also a witness to the history of New York!" - Excerpted from "The Golden Age of 1932 Comics"

Author: John Walker
(End of this chapter)