Mei Man: I drew Superman during the Great Depression

Chapter 182 The Addams Family

As Charles Adams said, his creative style is very special.

If the previous candidate, William Steiger, had a fairy-tale style, then the works of Charles Adams had a dark tone.

On the drawing, Charles Adams described a love story of a skeleton awakened from the cemetery with messy brushstrokes.

This is clearly something that Charles Adams has always loved.

Because it is the first draft, the content of the whole comic is a bit crude, but only through these rough characters, people can already feel the eerie, weird but slightly absurd and humorous comic style behind the whole story.

And this eerie caricature combined with the strangely dressed Charles Adams in front of him made Colin finally remember the identity of the other party.

Charles Adams, a representative figure of American black humor comics, is also the original author of the comic "The Addams Family".

It is worth mentioning that when "The Addams Family" was serialized, Charles Adams did not name the characters in the comics.

The names of these characters were not determined by Charles Adams and the screenwriters at the time when they were adapted into TV series and movies later.

For example, the full name of her daughter Wednesday is called Wednesday Friday Addams (Wednesday Friday Addams), which actually comes from an English ballad that helps remember time at that time:

"...

Wednesday's child is full of woe, (Wednesday's child is full of sorrow)
……

Friday's child is loving and giving, (children born on Friday give affectionately)

......"

Because Charles Adams thought it was funny, he took it as Wednesday's name.

And Charles Adams' black humor style with unique values ​​has also become the basis of the gothic style that will be sought after by the public in the future, and even once formed a special type of film and television in Hollywood, including director Tim Burton. A loyal flock of this style.

Of course, in this day and age, the Gothic style has yet to take hold.

The cartoonist Charles Adams, one of the founders of this style, has not yet created the classic cartoon "The Addams Family".

Right now, he is also troubled by the newspaper's rejection of the manuscript.

After all, no matter how obsessed he is with coffins, bones, and tombstones, he still has to fill his stomach.

Although Charles Adams liked these things, he had no intention of going to accompany them so early.

Thinking of this, Charles Adams looked up at Colin in the newspaper office, with a look of expectation in his eyes.

Although deep down in his heart, he didn't hold much hope for this recruitment.

"Very unique style."

Looking away from the drawing, Colin said slowly under the gaze of Charles Adams.

"But……"

Hearing this, Charles Adams felt a chill in his heart, and even imagined what Colin would say next.

"Congratulations, Mr. Charles Adams."

However, what Colin said immediately afterward was quite different from what Charles had originally expected.

"what?!"

Because of the unexpected relationship, Charles Adams didn't even react for a moment.

"I mean congratulations, Mr. Charles Adams, you've been admitted."

Looking at Charles with a slightly surprised expression in front of him, Colin smiled and repeated.

After Colin's reminder, Charles reacted as if he had just woken up from a dream. He grabbed the hat with weird eyes inlaid in his hand, and murmured with an unbelievable expression: "I heard it wrong Yes, or..."

"You heard Mr. Charles Adams right, can you go to work tomorrow?"

"Yes, of course!"

Hearing Colin's question, even in a trance, Charles Adams agreed without hesitation.

Returning the sketch in his hand to Charles Adams in front of him, Colin looked at the man who was still in disbelief, and said with a smile: "Your creative style is very unique, which is not a bad thing for cartoonists. Perhaps , Charles, you can try to incorporate this style into other comics."

If there is an opportunity in the future, Colin would be happy to hand over the Batman story to Charles Adams to create.

I believe that the collision of the unique dark gothic temperament of Charles Adams and the story of Batman will definitely form a relatively unique comic style.

Of course, the premise is that Colin creates "Batman", allowing this rich man in Gotham City to be independent from the comic stories of "Superman" and have his own publication.

……

"...Mr. Lange, there is your letter."

New York, Second Avenue.

After a long wait, Lange's agent in New York finally got a reply from Augsburg.

After receiving the envelope from the postman, Lange couldn't wait to open it and take out the letter inside. Looking at the reply letter from Manroland headquarters, the expression on Lange's face gradually froze.

In the letter, Manroland confirmed that he had received the newspaper from Lange, and indeed noticed the difference in the printing of the two newspapers.

However, due to the turmoil in the current situation and factors such as Germany's internal economic problems.

Manroland has suspended the research of new rotary presses, and in the next few years will focus on the rotary presses that have been released and produced as the main market.

To put it simply, Manroland has no money to support research and development, and can only make money from the printing machines it originally produced.

At the same time, in the letter, Manroland also conveyed a piece of unfortunate news to Lange.After internal discussions within the company, Manroland decided to temporarily abandon the American market. After all, the Great Depression in the United States was more serious than Germany. under the circumstances.

Therefore, Lange, as the agent of Manroland in New York, unfortunately lost his agency rights and became a member of the unemployed.

"How could this be?"

It took a while to accept the contents of the letter.

Looking at this letter from the Manroland headquarters in Augsburg, especially the notice of cancellation of agency rights, Lange muttered for a long time in astonishment.

He never expected that he was obviously aware of the emergence of new printing machine technology in the market, and wanted to inform Manroland of the news, but instead caused himself to lose his job.

If he knew it would end like this, he would not have written that letter and sent it to Manroland even if Lange was killed.

However, the matter has come to this point, and no amount of regret will be of any help.

Having lost his status as an agent of Manroland, what Langer needs to think about is how to face the next unemployed life.

As a former rotary printing machine maintenance worker, if Langer wanted to, he could find a maintenance salary in the factory at a cheaper wage than before the Great Depression.

During the Great Depression, the demand for printed products showed an increasing trend. Everyone was looking for a channel to get rid of reality, and books became the first choice of some people.

However, after experiencing the life of an agent, it is obviously a huge psychological gap for Lange to take off his suit and become a worker again.What's more, there are still a few workers under him. Once he leaves these workers, they will immediately fall into unemployment, and some of them may even become members of the wandering army.

Lange has seen the appearance of those homeless people, and the appearance of them gathering in the alleys to fight for kitchen garbage.

He didn't want and didn't want to see this scene happen to people he knew, especially these workers had been with him for a long time, and in fact some of them he had known since they were maintenance workers.

It's just that the idea is one thing, but the reality is another.

Those who are on the street, if you ask, they are [-]% unwilling to live the life they are living now.

However, under the impact of the Great Depression, whether they wanted to or not, they lost their jobs, homes and even their families, and became displaced people on the streets.Some of them were even richer than Lange before they became homeless, and they were bank executives or even company owners.

Thinking of this, the expression on Lange's face became a little more serious.

With a preoccupied look, they returned to the office. The workers were not aware of the bad news of unemployment and worked hard.

Looking at the familiar faces of these workers, Lange opened his mouth, but it was difficult to convince himself to tell everyone the news from Manroland headquarters.

Once he disclosed the news, not only the workers would be hit, but also the families they were struggling to support.

But, what's the difference? Even if Lange can hide it for a while, can it continue to hide it forever? Manroland's cancellation of agency rights will be known to everyone sooner or later.What's more, once there is no funds from the Manroland headquarters, Lange alone cannot support the remaining wages of the workers.

Not only does the worker need to support his family, he also has a wife and daughter to support.

"...it's time to make a decision."

Thinking of his wife and daughter at home, Lange couldn't help but take a deep breath, and was about to tell everyone that he had lost the agency rights of Manroland's head office and lost his job.

Suddenly, his gaze inadvertently fell to a newspaper on the worker's desk.

Looking at the clearly visible serial comics on the newspaper, Lange quickly stopped what he was saying, picked up the newspaper and asked, "Who knows which newspaper company printed this newspaper?"

"It must be the Courier?"

Facing Lange's question, the workers who had no idea that they were on the verge of unemployment just now looked at each other, and one of them spoke in an uncertain tone.

"The Courier."

Listening to the worker's answer, Lange muttered to himself.

At present, according to his observation during this period, the printing technology used by the "Courier" is only used in its newspapers.In other words, this printing process has not been popularized in the market, although it is not clear whether this so-called brand new printing technology was really invented by Ke Lin, the owner of the Courier newspaper, as rumored.

But Langer decided to meet with each other.

"This may be the only chance."

Saying something silently to himself in his heart, Lange looked at the unaware worker in front of him.

Put all your hopes on the Courier-Journal.

……

"Mr. Lange Voorster?"

Inside the Courier Office.

Ke Lin looked at the hesitant middle-aged man in front of him and asked in doubt.

"So, what is your purpose of waiting at the gate of the newspaper office early in the morning?"

According to Little John, the man who called himself Lange Vorst had already been waiting at the gate of the newspaper office before he opened the door, and he seemed to have been waiting for a long time.

"If you want to apply for a job, I'm sorry, the previous application for "Messenger Comics" has ended."

Judging from Lange's appearance, Colin obviously regarded him as someone who applied for the job after reading the information from the "Courier".

"No, you're mistaken, Mr. Colin Luper, I'm not here to apply for a job."

Shaking his head, he denied his identity as an applicant.

Although Lange has indeed become unemployed after losing the agency rights of Manroland, he obviously has not accepted this change of identity, or plans to work hard.

"So, who are you?"

Hearing Lange's denial, Colin looked slightly surprised, looked at the embarrassed middle-aged man in front of him, and asked.

"Actually, I was a rotary press agent, at least not so long ago..."

Under Colin's gaze, Lange slowly revealed his identity. At the same time, he did not hide the fact that he had lost Manroland's agency right now.

This is something that can be verified. Lange doesn't want to lose the opportunity to cooperate because of his concealment.

"A rotary press agent?"

Hearing Lange's self-introduction, Colin raised some eyebrows.

He did not expect that the other party's goal was actually the four-color double-sided paper offset printing machine he had mastered.It’s not that Ke Lin didn’t pay much attention to this printing process, but because it didn’t take long for the “Courier” to use a four-color double-sided paper offset printing machine. Ke Lin originally thought that it would take a while before everyone noticed this. What's special about it.

Unexpectedly, Lange had discovered it so early and came to the door.

If, let Lange know what Colin thinks in his heart.

He would definitely respond with a wry smile. Not only did he discover the difference in the four-color double-sided paper offset printing machine technology mastered by Ke Lin, he even reported it to the Manroland headquarters in Augsburg.

It was precisely because of his actions that he was discovered in advance by Manroland headquarters that he was losing money in the US market, which led to the fact that he was cancelled.

It can be said that if it weren't for Lange's "sensitivity", Manroland would not have noticed the situation in the US market so quickly. After all, they are a bit overwhelmed with their internal problems in Germany, so how can they have the energy to pay attention to the problem of an overseas agent? .

　All the ballads: Monday's child is fair of face, a child born on Monday has a beautiful face

　　Tuesday's child is full of grace; Tuesday's child is full of grace
　　Wednesday's child is full of woe, Wednesday's child is full of woe

　　Thursday's child has far to go; Thursday's child has far to go;
　　Friday's child is loving and giving, children born on Friday give affectionately

　　Saturday's child works hard for its living; Saturday's child works hard for its living
　　But the child that is born on the Sabbath day

　　Is bonny and blithe, and good and gay. healthy and happy
　　
　
(End of this chapter)