Mei Man: I drew Superman during the Great Depression

Chapter 328 Civilian Hero The Flash

"That depends on you, Mr. William Fox."

He didn't reveal his offer easily, and Colin threw the question back with his backhand.

"There is more than one film company in Hollywood. If I remember correctly, Paramount was declared bankrupt not long ago, and it has already entered the reorganization process."

Although it has been confirmed in contact with Otto Kahn that the other party has no intention of selling Paramount, this does not prevent Colin from using this as a condition to strive for a more powerful result for himself.

With the current situation of William Fox in Hollywood, he does not think that the other party has a way to get in touch with Wall Street. If there is, William Fox will not lose control of Fox Films in the end.

"Fox Films is my blood."

Facing the aggressive posture shown by Colin, William Fox could only use this weak excuse to fight for conditions.

"Since Mr. William Fox cherishes Fox Films so much, it seems that I have no reason to take away his love. I hope that Mr. William Fox can continue to run Fox Films well and provide Hollywood with more excellent works."

Hearing this, Colin couldn't help but regretfully said.

"No, it's not like that!"

Although it is clear that this is likely to be a negotiating method used by the other party, Mr. William Fox still couldn't help but speak.

"In fact, I'd love to sell Fox Films."

The brutal financial pressure has made William Fox lose the bargaining chip, and the loss of Fox Film Company is dragging down his already shaky assets bit by bit.

"I can feel that Mr. Colin Luper really loves movies, so instead of handing Fox Films into the hands of Wall Street, it is better to hand it over to you, Mr. Colin Luper."

Colin didn't know where William Fox saw his love for movies, but since the other party said so, he naturally nodded and agreed.

"I have always believed that the Great Depression was just a small setback. In the future, Hollywood, no, the development of the entire film industry will only go in a better direction. This is one of the reasons why I am willing to invest in the film industry. .”

The reason for acquiring the film company is naturally not as simple as it seems on the surface, but this does not prevent Colin from using this reason to package his purpose of collecting [faith].

"I hope that day will come as soon as possible."

William Fox is also full of expectations for the future of the film industry that Colin said, but unfortunately he obviously has no way to participate in it.

The company's huge debt pressure and the federal anti-monopoly investigation have already caused him to suffer a lot, especially seeing his few assets decrease little by little every day. I believe it will not take long if it continues, William · Fox would have been forced to declare bankruptcy just like Paramount.

Moreover, unlike Paramount, as a leader in the film industry, there are still banks willing to restructure it even after declaring bankruptcy. If William Fox goes bankrupt, it will face a brutal bankruptcy liquidation by the court next.Even, in the original history, William Fox was sentenced to one year in prison for bribing a judge during the bankruptcy liquidation process, and has since left Hollywood completely.

The negotiation with the founder of the Fox Film Company was much smoother than that of Otto Kahn before. William Fox obviously has the obvious willingness to sell the company, but there is still a certain degree of gap between the two parties in terms of price .

William Fox wanted to sell the company, but he didn't want to compromise too much on the price.

As for Colin, he valued Fox Films' production capabilities and key theater assets, but he didn't plan to invest too much in this area.

However, generally speaking, Colin's side still had the upper hand in the entire negotiation process.

Affected by debts, William Fox's control over Fox Films has long been worse than before. Even according to the original historical trend, if the delay continues, the other party may directly lose control of the company.Perhaps because William Fox understood this, he appeared too anxious during the negotiations.

"I look forward to negotiating with you, Mr. William Fox, to reach a mutually satisfactory result next time."

After all, it is related to the acquisition of a large-scale Hollywood film company, and Colin does not expect to be able to negotiate it all at once.

After finishing the meeting in the restaurant, Colin reached out his hand in a friendly way to shake William Fox in front of him, and said expectantly.

"Hopefully Mr. Colin Looper will be able to make an early decision."

Compared with Colin's indifferent attitude, William Fox's expression was much more bitter. He pulled the corners of his mouth to force a smile on his face, opened his mouth and finally said in silence.

For William Fox, time is extremely unfavorable to him. The longer it is delayed, the less control he has over the company. Even if it continues to drag on, it is very likely that the next person to negotiate with Colin will be It's not him anymore, it's the other heads of Fox Films.

At that time, he really has no bargaining chips.

……

After meeting with William Fox, Colin took the train back to New York.

Since this period of time, although he has been dealing with the acquisition of the film company in Los Angeles, the serialization of "Superman" in the "Messenger World" has not stopped because of this.

Colin, who unlocked [Super Speed], was able to draw the structural diagram of the complex future technology in just a few seconds during his mutant time, and he was also able to leave enough drafts of comics for newspapers to serialize.

The emergence of the role of Wonder Woman has obviously pushed the already popular "Superman" comics to a higher level, and even in subsequent letters from readers, many fans have hoped to see about "Superman" Wonder Woman, the first personal journal of a female superhero in comic history.

However, just like Batman, at present, at least until the collection of [Faith] is completed, Colin will not publish any superhero publications other than "Superman", so as to avoid the appearance of these comic publications from affecting [Faith] Collection, the appearance of these comic characters also stimulated readers' enthusiasm for the serialization of "Superman" in a certain way.

Just like the same excellent work, not only the protagonist is outstanding alone, those supporting roles are often the key to making the story more vivid.

To some extent, Batman and Wonder Woman have played such a role in the "Superman" series.

And in the latest issue of the series, the same new superhero has also injected new vitality into the serialized comics.

Jay Garrick, an ordinary college student, accidentally knocked over a flask containing chemicals in the laboratory, and the volatilized drugs made him unconscious.After waking up, the doctor told Jay that the hard water vapor he inhaled gave him extremely high reflexes and movement speed, even faster than a bullet.

As the origin story of The Flash, this story may be quite simple in the eyes of later generations, but it has already left a deep impression on the readers of the "Messenger of the World".

Unlike Superman's almost invincible ability, Jay Garrick only highlights his ability in super speed, but as the first speedster in American history, the appearance of this character still sparked a lot of discussion.

Even, many readers who have read the comics have begun to discuss whether Jay Garrick runs faster or Superman runs faster.

This debate, which will last for decades in the future, has become an eternal topic on The Flash since the birth of the character of Jay Garrick.

Of course, as the debut superhero, Jay Garrick is different from Wonder Woman Diana. He has no rich combat experience and no blessing from the gods. In the early days of the comics, his image was also a hat with a lightning mark ordinary people.Colin had some thoughts about the image design of Jay Garrick. At first, he wanted to directly follow the classic setting of the later Flash, and let Jay Garrick also wear the tight uniform that belonged to the Flash.

However, later, considering that the image of Jay Garrick's student in the story setting was not suitable for wearing the classic superhero uniform as soon as he appeared on the stage, he was finally allowed to wear his own simple uniform again.

At the same time, in the comics, Jay Garrick's opponents are not God of War like Wonder Woman Diana. On the contrary, the opponents chosen by this fledgling superhero are mostly street thieves and gangsters.

Superman and Jay Garrick, also because of the "Messenger Daily" got a tip, there is a guy who runs very fast appeared in the metropolis to maintain law and order, but because the other party is running too fast, so far there is no one The newspaper photographed each other's appearance, so the editor-in-chief arranged for Clark to take a photo of The Flash.

The plot of the entire comic revolves around Superman taking a photo of Jay Garrick as the main body.

At first Superman used his super speed and wanted to take a photo of The Flash directly, but found that the camera couldn't respond at such a fast speed, and only had time to take a blurry image. Prepare, plan to wait until the crime occurs before going to the scene to shoot.

Unexpectedly, when the gangsters on the street saw the appearance of Superman, they did not dare to act immediately, and his appearance directly stopped the occurrence of crime.

In desperation, Superman could only disguise and shoot secretly, but he didn't expect The Flash to disappear suddenly. It turned out that Jay Garrick was studying hard at school because of the school exam.

Because there is still no way to take a satisfactory photo, Superman has even begun to think about whether to freeze Jay Garrick directly before taking the photo.

Just when Superman was troubled by the photos, a new crime suddenly appeared, and when he felt the scene that day, he actually bumped into Jay Garrick, whom he had been looking for all this time.

Jay Garrick: "It's Superman!"

Superman: "It's The Flash!"

Looking at each other who appeared at the crime scene, the two superheroes exclaimed.

Criminal: "It's Superman and The Flash!"

In the end, it naturally ends with Superman and Flash teaming up to defeat criminals, and at the end of the comic is a photo of Superman and Flash published in the "Messenger Daily" as the end of the story.

……

The story of Jay Garrick, the new superhero, is not as interesting as Batman or Wonder Woman, but the character of The Flash fills in the gaps in the story very well.

In the comics, although Superman also has the ability of super speed, he has always been flying in his usual movement, which makes the existence of Jay Garrick provide readers with another superhero perspective. They can see both Superman soaring in the sky and The Flash zipping through the city.

What's more, Jay Garrick's own identity, compared to Superman's son of Krypton, Batman's rich man in Gotham City, and even Wonder Woman's Amazon princess, the setting of an ordinary college student makes some people who read comics Readers have a sense of substitution.

Just like, the later "Spider-Man" became the representative of civilian heroes. In fact, in the history of DC, Flash is also a symbol of civilian heroes, and even now he has become the first real civilian in the history of superhero comics. hero.Sometimes, a simple origin story is not only not troublesome, but it can create a sense of substitution.

Even, because of the appearance of the superhero The Flash, the hard water vapor that caused him to acquire superpowers became the focus of readers' discussions.

The laboratories of some universities in New York have been stolen more frequently, and the news about gastrointestinal disorders caused by drinking hard water has become a frequent thing in this period of time, which is different from other superheroes in comics. The process of Jay Garrick's ability acquisition was too simple, causing many people to try it involuntarily, what if it really worked.

In the end, because too many related things happened, Colin's "Messenger of the World" had to make a formal response, explaining that the hard water vapor that Jay Garrick acquired in the comics is just the setting of the comics That's it, it's not a substance that exists in the real world. The hard water in the comics and the hard water in reality are completely different things.

Even with the endorsement of the "Messenger of the World", there is no way to completely eliminate related matters. Later, in desperation, Colin can only let the Flash appear in the comics for the first time in the story of Jay Garrick's appearance again. Trying to go back in time changed the continuity of history, and changed the potion that gave him the ability in the past laboratory from hard water vapor to heavy water vapor, which completely solved this problem.

(End of this chapter)