American comics: You're asked to fish, but you catch a Superman template?

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Because it was so unexpected, Charles Adams didn't even react for a moment.

“I mean, congratulations, Mr. Charles Adams, you’ve been accepted.”

Looking at Charles, whose face showed a slight expression of surprise, Xu Fu smiled and repeated.

At Xu Fu's prompting, Charles reacted as if waking from a dream, grabbing a strange hat with eyes embedded in it and muttering with a disbelieving expression, "I misheard, or..."

"You heard me right, Mr. Charles Adams, are you able to come to work tomorrow?"

"Yes, of course!"

Upon hearing Xu Fu's question, even in a daze, Charles Adams answered without hesitation, "Yes."

Handing the drawing back to Charles Adams, Xu Fu looked at the still somewhat incredulous man and said with a smile, "Your style is unique and creative, which is quite good for a cartoonist. Perhaps, Charles, you could try using this style in your other cartoons."

In the future, if given the opportunity, Xu Fu would be happy to hand over the Batman story to Charles Adams to write.

I believe that Charles Adams' unique darkness, gothic aura, and the story of Batman collided to create a relatively unique comic book style.

Of course, this is on the premise that Xu Fu created Batman and gave the Gotham City tycoon his own publications, separate from Superman's comic book stories.

"Mr. Lange, there is a letter for you."

New York, Second Avenue.

After a long wait, Agent Lange in New York finally received a reply from Augsburg.

Lange eagerly opened the envelope after receiving it from the postman, pulling out the 0.9 letter inside. But when he read the reply from Mannolan headquarters, Lange's expression froze.

In his letter, Manolo confirmed that he had received Lange's paper and did indeed notice the printing differences between the two papers.

However, factors such as Germany's turbulent period and domestic economic problems are affecting the current situation.

Manroland has suspended research on new rotary presses and will focus on rotary presses currently on the market for the next few years, which are already being sold and produced.

In short, Manroland had no money to support research and development, and could only make money from the printing presses it originally produced.

Chapter 660 Losing the Opportunity for Cooperation

In the letter, Manroland also informed Lange of this unfortunate news. After internal discussions, Manroland decided to temporarily abandon the American market. After all, the Great Depression was more severe in the US than in Germany, and Manroland could not continue investing in a loss-making market, especially given that the company was already struggling financially.

As a result, Lange, as Manroland's agent in New York, unfortunately lost his agency and became one of the unemployed.

"How could this happen?"

It took me some time to process the contents of the letter.

Lange looked at the letter from the Augsburg headquarters of Manroland, especially the aforementioned notice of cancellation of the agency rights, and muttered anxiously for a long time.

He never imagined that when he heard about the new printing technology on the market and tried to tell Manolo, he would lose his job.

If Lange had known it would end this way, he wouldn't have written the letter and sent it to Manolo.

But now that things have come to this point, no amount of regret will help.

After losing his position as an agent for Manroland, Lange had to consider how to spend the rest of his life as an unemployed man.

As a former rotary printing press repairman, Lange could find factory repair work if he wanted, for a lower wage than before the Great Depression.

Conversely, during the Great Depression, the demand for printing increased as everyone sought ways to escape reality, and for some, books were the preferred choice.

For Lange, taking off his suit and returning to being a worker after his life as a secret agent was a huge psychological leap. Furthermore, he had several workers on his payroll who would immediately lose their jobs if he left, some of whom might even become part of the homeless population.

Lange had seen homeless people, and he had seen them gather in alleyways and fight over kitchen garbage.

He neither wanted nor needed this to happen to people he knew, especially these workers who had worked with him for a long time, some of whom he had known since his days as a repairman.

Having an idea is one thing, but reality is another.

If you ask people on the street, they will all agree that they absolutely do not want to live their current lives.

But under the influence of the Great Depression, whether they liked it or not, they lost their jobs, their homes, and even their families, becoming homeless people on the streets. Some of them were even richer than Lange before becoming homeless; they were bank executives or even business owners.

Thinking of this, Lange's expression became even more serious.

With somewhat anxious expressions, the workers returned to their rooms, still unaware of the bad news of losing their jobs, and continued to work diligently.

When his gaze swept over the familiar faces of the workers, Lange opened his mouth, but he found it difficult to bring himself to say anything about the Mannolan headquarters.

If he discloses this information, not only will the workers be at risk, but their families will also struggle to support them.

But what does it matter? Even if Lange manages to keep it a secret for a while, can he really maintain it? The dismantling of the Manroland organization will inevitably be discovered sooner or later. Besides, without the money from Manroland headquarters, Lange won't be able to cover the remaining wages of his workers.

This worker not only has to support his family, but also has a wife and daughter to raise.

"It's time to make a decision."

Thinking of his wife and daughter at home, Lang took a deep breath, composed himself, and found it difficult to tell everyone that he had lost his agent job at the Manroland headquarters.

Suddenly, without his own awareness, his gaze fell on the newspaper lying on the worker's table.

Looking at the clearly visible comic strip in the newspaper, Lange stopped, picked up the newspaper, and asked, "Does anyone know which newspaper is printing this?"

"I believe it was a messenger report?"

The workers, unaware that they were on the verge of losing their jobs, stared at each other for a moment, and then one of them spoke in an uncertain tone.

"Messenger report."

Hearing the worker's reply, Lang muttered something to himself.

As far as he knew, the printing technology used by the Messenger was only used in his newspaper. In other words, this printing technology was not available on the market at the time, although it is unclear whether this new printing technology was actually invented by Xu Fu, the owner of the Messenger, as rumored.

But Lange was determined to see him.

"This may be the only chance."

Lange muttered to himself as he looked at the indifferent workers before him.

Place all your hopes on the Messenger newspaper.

"Mr. Langerwurst?"

Inside the Messenger newspaper.

Xu Fu looked at the hesitant middle-aged man standing in front of him and thought to himself.

"So, what was the purpose of you waiting outside the newspaper's editorial department so early this morning?"

According to John Jr., the man who identified himself as Langwart waited a long time outside the newspaper's newsroom before opening the door, indicating that he had been waiting for quite some time.

"If you'd like to apply for this job, I'm sorry, the application period for the Comic Messenger position has already ended."

Judging from Lange's expression, Xu Fu had clearly mistaken him for someone who had seen the messenger's message and applied for the job.

“No, you don’t understand, Mr. Xu Fu, I’m not here to apply for a job.”

He shook his head, denying that he was a candidate for the position.

Although Lange was indeed unemployed after losing his agency rights with Manroland, he clearly had not yet accepted this change in status and did not intend to make any effort to do so.

"So who are you?"

Upon hearing Lange's denial, Xu Fu looked at the bewildered middle-aged man standing in front of him with slight surprise and asked.

"In fact, I am a rotating news agent, or at least I was 133 until recently."

Under Xu Fu-Lang's watchful gaze, he slowly revealed his identity, while making no attempt to conceal the fact that he had now lost his agency over Manolo.

This is something that can be verified, and Lange doesn't want to lose the opportunity to cooperate because of his concealment.

"A Rotary Club press agent?"

Upon hearing Lange's self-introduction, Xu Fu raised an eyebrow.

He hadn't expected that the other party's target was the four-color double-sided offset printing press he possessed. It wasn't that Xu Fu didn't care about the printing process, but since the *Messenger* had only recently started using a four-color double-sided offset printing press, Xu Fu thought it would take some time for people to notice its features.

But I didn't expect Lange to find out so early and even come to me.

For example, if Lange knew what Xu Fu was thinking.

The report was undoubtedly delivered with a wry smile. He not only discovered the differences in the four-color double-sided offset printing technology mastered by Xu Fu, but also reported it to the Manroland headquarters in Augsburg.

This action led him to discover prematurely the losses suffered by Manroland headquarters in the American market, resulting in the loss of his agency rights and job.

It could be argued that without Lange's insight, Manroland would not have paid such prompt attention to the situation in the American market; after all, they were too focused on Germany's internal problems to notice the issue of a foreign agent.

Chapter 661 Express Delivery Machinery Factory

"I'm very sorry, Mr. Langworth, but the Messenger has no intention of purchasing a new rotary printing press at this time."

A quick thought in Georg's mind told him that Lange had brought with him the technology of a four-color double-sided offset printing machine.

However, outwardly he feigned refusal.

“No, Mr. Xu Fu, I am not here to sell rotary printing presses.”

Judging from Xu Fu's behavior, Lange clearly felt rejected, but remained unmoved.

"The main purpose of my trip is to see the new printing technology you have mastered firsthand, and if possible, I would like to cooperate with you."

Lange clearly didn't do enough in terms of negotiation.

Because he handed all the cards to Xu Fu, but from a practical point of view, perhaps the reality forced Lange to do so.