American comics: I drew Superman during the Great Depression

Putting down the newspaper in his hand, Colin's weakened version of [Super Hearing] took effect, and he heard a series of hurried footsteps approaching the newspaper office.

"Boss..."

He subconsciously looked up at the door and saw Little John's sweaty figure appear.

"I have investigated the nearby publishing houses as you instructed." Looking into Colin's eyes, Little John's originally excited voice subconsciously became a few decibels lower. He took a breath, calmed down his mood, and then continued: "Generally, the business of these publishers is not very good. I specifically asked, and many of them expressed their concerns, fearing that they would be implicated..."

At present, the specific bill has not yet been released.

However, some magazines have received lawsuits from the U.S. Postal Department because the magazines are suspected of being obscene and their content is not "public welfare information."

Many publishing houses, especially small and medium-sized publishers, began to worry whether they would become the next target.

"In order to avoid possible jail time, many publishers were forced to adjust the content of their magazines, but this also led to a problem, which was the loss of original subscribers. The publisher I encountered with the most serious situation had a magazine subscription loss of more than two-thirds."

The reading group attracted by vulgar content obviously would not like a "serious" magazine.

"So, have you completed what I asked you to do?"

In the Messenger newspaper, Colin carefully investigated Little John and then asked.

"It's done."

Little John nodded: "They even couldn't wait to say that as long as the Messenger was willing to publish the comics in the magazine, they would do anything."

Colin rejected the publisher's proposal, not because he was unwilling to serialize "Superman" in the magazine.

On the contrary, with the serialization of the comics, the sales of the Messenger gradually stabilized.

Therefore, he needed a new channel to increase the popularity of the "Superman" comics and gain more [belief].

Publishing magazines is obviously a good way.

Before, both "Famous Comics" and Humor Publishing House showed great sincerity.

However, all of them were rejected by Colin for various reasons, not only because he doubted the conditions they proposed, but also because he could not guarantee whether the response obtained by serializing "Superman" in the hands of others could be transformed into [belief].

Now it seems that his decision is obviously correct.

The current situation may be a crisis for large and small publishers in New York City, but it is a rare opportunity for Colin.

An opportunity to create a comic magazine for the Messenger Newspaper with his own hands.

…

In a small publishing house in New York.

Publisher Harry Donafield paced back and forth in the office a little uneasily.

"Calm down, Harry."

Looking at the restless Harry Donafield in front of him, his colleague and partner Jack Leibovitz couldn't help but speak up.

"How can I calm down..."

Hearing his friend's words, Harry stopped and said with a little anxiety in his tone: "Since the newspaper published the news about the damn Senate, the sales of the magazine have plummeted. Do you know how many copies of the magazine we sold yesterday? Three thousand copies, less than one-tenth of the previous ones. If this continues, we will go bankrupt soon!"

"I know, but this is not just our problem, it's the same for everyone." Hearing Harry's complaints, Jack's expression on his face was also helpless.

Before, the publishing house took advantage of the wave of the "yellow tabloid era" to publish and publish vulgar magazines to make money.

Now, with the end of the "yellow tabloid era" and the influence of policies, in order to avoid being imprisoned, the publishing house has to reluctantly abandon its original vulgar route and publish various fashionable and serious content, but it has been spurned by a large number of original readers. The sales of the magazine have plummeted and suffered losses.

If this continues, the two will not be able to support the deficit of the publishing house.

"Why don't we just continue to publish the original content?"

When Harry thought of the loss of the publishing house he saw in the morning, his heart couldn't help but twitch. He turned his head and looked at the new issue of the magazine piled up like a small mountain in the corner of the office, and said with gritted teeth.

"If you want to go to prison, I don't object to your suggestion."

"Even if you go to prison, it's better than bankruptcy. At least you can eat food in there."

Although he said this, Harry didn't have the courage to really follow his words. He still had a big family to support. Once he was put in prison, his family would not be able to survive the Great Depression.

Just when the two were worried about the difficult situation of the publishing house.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door from outside.

"Come in."

The sudden knock on the door interrupted their conversation.

In the office, Harry and Jack looked at each other in bewilderment. Jack carefully reached under the table and grabbed the gun handle. He looked up and nodded at Harry, who was relieved and replied to the door.

Don't think that their reactions were exaggerated. In fact, this was the most normal reaction in the Great Depression.

Harry had witnessed more than once that on the streets of New York City, robbers borrowed guns from police officers and shared the loot after the robbery.

This was a chaotic and crazy era. Everyone was trying their best to survive. For money, people could do anything. Uniforms were just a means of convenience for those guys. After all, the government had owed them wages for a long time.

Then, the two saw that the door of the office was pushed open and a man in a black windbreaker walked in.

He took off his hat, revealing a young face with confidence and leeway that was rare in this era.

"Good morning, Mr. Jack Leibowitz, Mr. Harry Donafield."

His eyes swept over the two people in the office. Colin ignored Jack's obviously abnormal sitting posture, put his hat in his hand on his chest, and greeted them calmly.

"I am Colin Looper, the owner of the Courier. The main purpose of my visit this time is to discuss some cooperation matters about magazines with the publisher."

"The Courier! Colin Looper?"

"Cooperation?"

After listening to Colin's self-introduction, Harry and Jack looked at each other in surprise.

Putting the gun handle a little further into the drawer, Jack at the desk muttered the name "The Courier" and asked uncertainly: "If I remember correctly, The Courier should be the newspaper that serialized the comic "Superman", right?"

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