chapter 182 part 1
Chapter 181: Comic Applicants
2023-05-02 Author: Yue Shang Xintou
"Extra, extra!"
"Republican Party President Hoover announces his re-election campaign!"
At six in the morning, the sky had just begun to lighten.
On the streets of New York, a newsboy was already waving a newspaper, starting a new day's work.
Colin took out a 2-cent coin and bought a copy of The Baltimore Sun from the newsboy. He flipped to the front page, which clearly featured a news report about Hoover's campaign announcement.
The Baltimore Sun was founded in 1837 and had a history of nearly a hundred years. It held tremendous influence on the East Coast and had always been guided by a strong political stance. In politics, The Baltimore Sun had close ties with the ruling Republican Party. Previously, during the Democratic Party's internal race, The Baltimore Sun had published an article mocking, "The Democratic Party has chosen their most cowardly candidate."
As the general election drew nearer, the media initiated the war of words.
The major newspapers began to fall in line, shedding their usual masks of impartiality to rally support for their preferred parties.
Lately, the possibility of Roosevelt securing the nomination within the Democratic Party seemed to be growing. His fellow party candidate Al Smith directly attacked him in the media, claiming the Democratic Party was committing suicide, and that Roosevelt would only lead the party to Hell and hand the next four years over to the Republican Party again.
Meanwhile, Hoover also began to publicly express his opinions in the media, likening the Democratic Party's primaries to "rotten meat in a foul soup," with no piece palatable. He labeled Roosevelt, the frontrunner, a "chameleon hiding under a blanket," and Al Smith an "eternal loser," dismissing both as worthless.
On the other hand, Roosevelt compared Hoover to a "fat, cowardly capon," believing him to be the root cause of the Great Depression.
The Baltimore Sun depicted Hoover as a defender of American tradition.
This was in line with the newspaper's usual style. As one of the oldest publications in America's brief history, The Baltimore Sun often prided itself on its venerable founding. It would occasionally criticize Colin's The Messenger, asserting that its opportunistic practices made it unworthy of being considered a legitimate newspaper.
Perhaps The Baltimore Sun was right. It was indeed time for The Messenger to start performing the media's essential duties.
Colin mused, drawing his gaze away from the newspaper in his hands.
As New York's second-largest newspaper, trailing only the World Daily News, The Messenger indeed needed to make some changes if it was to grow further.
Especially concerning its content. With the long-running serialized comic, The Messenger had already cemented a loyal readership. As long as the newspaper didn't undergo significant changes, these readers wouldn't easily alter their subscription habits.
Colin's next step was to expand to a wider audience while retaining his core readers.
To use The Messenger merely as a platform for serializing Superman would be a tremendous waste of the mass media's societal influence.
The World Daily News has occupied the top spot for long enough. It's time for it to yield.
…
Although he had ideas for The Messenger's future development, Colin didn't act on them immediately. Instead, he focused his attention on a more pressing matter—hiring for Messenger Comics.
As the circulation of Messenger Comics grew daily, Jacob alone was clearly being stretched thin.
Not only did he have to color the background characters for the serialized comic, but he had also recently begun serializing his own comic, Human Torch, in Messenger Comics. Although Jacob himself insisted he could handle the work, his daily state of fatigue showed that he had clearly reached his physical limit.
To prevent his hired cartoonist from "dying in the line of duty," and for the continued development of Messenger Comics, Colin decided to hire more staff. He published an announcement in the latest issue of The Messenger: "Messenger Comics is hiring cartoonists and artists with drawing skills. Interested parties, please come to the Messenger Newspaper office on the Avenue of the Americas, New York County."
In this era, very few truly made a living from creative drawing. Under the Great Depression, these freelancers had to find other employment if they didn't want to be truly "free."
Originally, Colin thought the recruitment notice he published would attract very few qualified applicants, but he had overlooked the sheer desperation for work among the unemployed during the Great Depression.
"I'm sorry, Reed, perhaps you could try somewhere else..."
Inside the newspaper office, Colin addressed the destitute applicant before him.
"Please give me a chance, sir, I'll work hard!" Reed pleaded desperately in response to Colin's cold refusal.
"Messenger Comics is hiring cartoonists, and you don't even possess the most basic drawing ability. So, I'm very sorry, Reed, we can't hire you."
Outside the newspaper office, many people were lined up for the job, but the vast majority, like Reed, were merely trying their luck.
"I can learn! Just give me some time, sir. Believe me, I'll learn to draw very quickly."
Inside the office, Reed persisted, unwilling to concede.
"Messenger Comics is recruiting skilled workers with drawing ability. If you wish to learn to draw, please find someone to teach you..."
Frowning, Colin spoke while signaling to Little John with his eyes.
As Little John "escorted" the applicant, Reed, out of the newspaper office, Jacob, standing to the side, breathed a sigh of relief. Everything that had happened in the newspaper office made him understand the era's hardships more clearly. If he slacked off even a little, the applicants lining up outside could represent his own future.
"Little John, tell the people waiting in line that if they, like Reed, have no work experience related to drawing, they shouldn't bother waiting any longer. Messenger Comics will not hire them."
Using his Super Vision, Colin glanced at the line of applicants outside the newspaper office and gave Little John the instruction.
Following Colin's reminder, a commotion stirred among the crowd outside. Some left the line, no longer wasting their time on a job they had no chance of securing. However, others still hesitated and remained, clinging to a non-existent hope.