chapter 172 part 2
In this era, the means of accumulating wealth were not limited to comic serialization alone.
…
"Sir, I've finished coloring."
Jacob's voice, sounding in his ear, brought Colin's thoughts back to the newspaper office.
"You did a great job, Jacob."
Colin reached out and took the comic manuscript from Jacob, glanced at the content, and said with a smile.
Although other ideas had surfaced in his mind, Colin did not neglect *Superman*, which was the foundation of his foothold during the Great Depression.
The comic manuscript Jacob colored was the latest serialized content for the weekend's *The Messenger Newspaper*.
The story continued from the plot of the 'Metropolis Society', narrating Superman's fight against the Prankster King, Toyman, and Luthor, three supervillains.
In this plot, the 'Metropolis Society' formed by the three made a brilliant debut.
This first evil group in superhero comic history had a profound impact on the later development of superhero comics.
And in the comic's serialization, the three-person group led by the Prankster King also brought great trouble to Superman.
In the story, the Prankster King took the lead, distributing free radios throughout Metropolis. Because of the free distribution, many unsuspecting people took these radios home. At first, these radios seemed to have no problems. Some people who turned on the radios were using them normally.
Until the evening, the Prankster King changed the frequency of the radios, and the special frequency emitted from the radios formed a hypnotic effect on the listeners. In a single night, the people of Metropolis were hypnotized into having the minds of two- or three-year-old infants.
Superman: "What is this?"
When Superman noticed this phenomenon, more than a thousand Metropolis citizens had been hypnotized into infants by the radio.
Looking at these citizens with adult bodies, yet constantly playing and wailing like children, even Superman felt a headache.
What made Superman feel even more helpless was that even Lois was affected by the hypnosis of the radio.
Superman: "Lois, you definitely don't want to see this."
Lois: "Wah, wah, wah..."
Looking at the city full of adult babies, just as Superman felt embarrassed, a large toy army suddenly appeared on the streets of Metropolis. Attracted by these toys, the adult babies of Metropolis were taken away by this toy army.
Superman: "Toys, this reminds me of someone."
Looking at the toy army that could move freely, Superman immediately thought of the Toyman who had fought against him before. He hid his Superman costume, followed these adult babies, and arrived at their destination, a huge amusement park.
This was an amusement park made entirely of toys. All kinds of toys filled the entire amusement park, and even Superman couldn't help but exclaim.
Superman: "If I had so many toys when I was a kid, that would be great."
Amidst Superman's exclamation, the Toyman appeared, sitting on a toy train. He looked at the many citizens in the amusement park and let out a triumphant laugh.
Toyman: "Haha, welcome to my paradise."
Superman: "It's Toyman."
Superman thought, looking at the Toyman who appeared sitting on the toy train.
Toyman: "Come out, Superman! I know you're in there."
Seeing that his hiding was exposed, Superman didn't hesitate and immediately showed up, revealing his iconic costume and looking at the Toyman, he said, "So, you did all this, Toyman?"
Toyman: "No, not me alone."
Faced with Superman's question, the Toyman immediately replied: "It's the 'Metropolis Society'!"
Superman: "Metropolis Society, what is that?"
In Superman's doubts, the members of the Metropolis Society appeared. The Prankster King and Luthor also appeared in the amusement park.
Looking at the three people in front of him, Superman immediately understood.
The colored comic manuscript also ended with the scene where Superman confronted the 'Metropolis Society'.
…
'Metropolis Society' was Colin's first attempt to incorporate a long plot into the *Superman* comic.
This was a very common plot arrangement later on. Even a serialized superhero plot could span dozens of comic books, but at this time, it was clearly a rare design.
Especially in the comic, the appearance of various characters and the arrangement of large-scale scenes.
For Jacob, who was responsible for coloring, it was a rather troublesome problem. After all, comic printing in this era was far less convenient than in later generations.
In order to allow the newspaper office's four-color rotary press to present the comic's colors, Jacob painstakingly distributed the color order for the comic manuscript. In particular, the panel with the most characters took Jacob an entire morning to arrange the colors, ensuring that the effect printed on the newspaper later would not blend into a blurry mess.
"Thank you for your hard work during this time, Jacob..."
Putting down the colored comic manuscript in his hand, Colin looked at the exhausted Jacob and said gently.
"Not only are you responsible for coloring the comics, but you also have to create new comics for *Messenger Comics*. Perhaps after this period, you can find some time to rest."
"This is what I should do, sir."
Hearing the word 'rest', the exhaustion in Jacob's eyes immediately disappeared, and he quickly said.
"I don't need to rest!"
During the Great Depression, 'rest' was not a welcome word.
Jacob's previous job at *World Daily News* ended because he 'rested'.
"You don't need to be too nervous, Jacob."
Faced with Jacob's intense resistance, Colin said with a wry smile.
"This is real rest, not what you think it is."
"Sir, I know, but I really don't need to rest."
Even though Colin had assured him, Jacob did not seem to believe it, and repeatedly insisted: "I still have a lot of work to do. The comics for *Messenger Comics* are almost completed, and the coloring for the *Superman* serialization also needs me to do it..."
Listing so many examples, Jacob seemed to want Colin to know that he could do a lot of work.
"Okay, since you insist."
Seeing Jacob repeatedly rejecting his rest request, Colin no longer insisted, just shook his head helplessly.
This phenomenon of workers refusing to rest may also be unique to the Great Depression.
(end of chapter)