American comics: I drew Superman during the Great Depression

It's not hard to hear it in Piero Siegel's words.

Before meeting Colin, "Famous Comics" had already been in contact with several cartoonists and had even negotiated publishing matters.

The reason why I went to the door specially to find him.

Naturally it was for the "Superman" comics that Colin had.

"Superman", serialized in "The Courier", is one of the most popular comics nowadays.

Since "Famous Comics" wants to gain fame by reprinting comics, it will naturally not miss the popularity of "Superman".

"For the "Superman" comics serialized by you, Mr. Colin Looper, we at Famous Comics are very sincere. After internal discussions, we are willing to give you a royalty of US$50 per issue..."

In the newspaper office, when he heard the price from Piero's mouth, Old John's fingers on the typesetting machine trembled slightly.

Fifty dollars was not a small amount of money during the Great Depression.

You must know that during this period, the average salary of Americans was only $17 per week, and even the poorest people were earning $7 per week. The salary of John Sr. and John Sr. at The Courier was only US$10 per week. Even doctors, a symbol of high-paying professions, only earned about US$60 per week in this era.

Of course, prices in this era are generally much lower, especially under the impact of the Great Depression.

But no matter what, "Famous Comics" is willing to pay 50 US dollars per issue to buy the "Superman" comic and publish it in the magazine, which is obviously a very sincere move.

If I remember correctly, the first royalties received by the two "Superman" creators were only US$20.

If Colin was just an ordinary comic book writer, then he would most likely have been impressed by the generous remuneration offered by "Famous Comics".

Just like the cartoonists of "Dick Tracy".

It's a pity that in addition to being the author of "Superman", he is also the boss of "The Courier".

Today, the Courier has long since escaped its initial predicament.

Therefore, after hearing the quotation of US$50 per issue from "Famous Comics", although Colin felt a little moved in his heart, he did not show anything.

Then, the conditions put forward by Piero, the editor of "Famous Comics", caused his slight change to disappear without a trace in an instant.

"Of course, "Famous Comics" is willing to buy the reprint of "Superman" with such royalties, and it is not without conditions. We hope to have the exclusive reprint copyright of the comics, which means that in addition to the "Superman" that continues to be serialized in "The Courier" In addition to the "Superman" comics, "Superman" comics will only be serialized in "Famous Comics" in the future."

Piero believed that the conditions proposed by "Famous Comics" were not too harsh.

After all, they had allowed Superman to be serialized in newspapers and magazines at the same time, which meant that Colin was able to make two bucks from comics.

The reason for such a request was also affected by the page competition between the World Journal and the New York News in the past. During the era when the competition between the two major newspapers was fiercest, both sides even poached each other, and the New York News even He managed to poach all the people from the Sunday edition of "World Journal", causing the cartoons originally serialized in "World Journal" to appear openly on the pages of "New York News", triggering a fierce fight between the two sides of the newspaper. war.

The newsboy strike of 1899 was also a social incident that occurred during the period of fiercest competition between the two major newspapers.

"Sorry, Piero Siegel."

After hearing Piero's subsequent request, Colin had already made a decision in his mind.

He shook his head and politely expressed his rejection to the other party.

"Currently, I have no plans to serialize Superman in other magazines."

"All right."

Hearing the rejection in Colin's words, Piero Siegel, the editor of "Famous Comics", did not bother much.

From this point of view, he is obviously much more polite than the people at World Journal.

Putting on the peaked cap in his hand, Piero held up the brim of the hat and said to Colin in front of him: "If Mr. Colin Looper, you have plans to serialize comics in a magazine, you can ask someone to inform you "I, the publishing house of "Famous Comics" is located near Sixth Avenue, not far from the newspaper office, and the conditions we have given are still valid."

"Okay, I'll think about it."

In this regard, Colin didn't say much, just smiled and nodded to show that he heard.

…

In the next few days, publishers came to my door one after another.

Ask Colin if he would like to serialize "Superman" in a magazine owned by the publisher.

The conditions they proposed were all different. Some were comparable to "Famous Comics", while others were much worse.

The most sincere among them, a company called Humor Publishing House, not only offered a 'huge' royalties of US$60 per issue, but also did not even ask for exclusive reprints like the previous "Famous Comics".

However, no matter whether the terms offered by the publisher were good or bad, Colin refused them all.

He had already gotten a clue from the actions of these publishers.

Sure enough, not long after Colin rejected the publisher's proposal to serialize "Superman" magazine.

News reports related to it were published in newspapers.

"... The senator accepted the wishes of local religious groups, expressed his concern about vulgar magazines, promised to actively promote relevant bills to ban the sale of these vulgar magazines, and said that those publishers who publish violent and pornographic magazines for sale will be punished accordingly, and even... "

It is not difficult to see from the report that the federal government intends to take action against these so-called vulgar crime magazines.

Religious teams have always been known for their conservatism, and their opposition is not surprising. When the new wave of "yellow tabloids" resurfaced, they stood up and launched a boycott with serious newspapers and media, which led to the gradual decline of this type of newspaper media.

The senator's willingness to make a statement on this matter has obviously expressed a certain official attitude. Trapped by the influence of the Great Depression, the conditions of publishers are generally not ideal. Therefore, in order to increase sales, they will more or less mix some vulgar content into magazines to attract readers to subscribe.

And now, this situation seems to have caused dissatisfaction and backlash from some people in society.

In order to avoid jail time, these publishers turned their attention to content other than vulgarity.

Under this premise, comics entered their field of vision.