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

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In the office of the Messenger newspaper, Xu Fu turned to the pitiful applicant standing before him.

"Please give me a chance, sir, I will work hard!"

Reed pleaded desperately after receiving Xu Fu's cold reply.

“The Messenger Comics is applying for cartoonists, and you don’t even have the most basic drawing skills, so I’m sorry, Mr. Reed, we can’t hire you for this job.”

There was a line of job seekers outside the newspaper office, but most of them, like Reed, were simply determined to seize the opportunity.

“I can learn, sir. I believe I can learn to draw very quickly.”

In the newspaper's office, Reed remained somewhat dismissive.

"Messenger Comics is looking for qualified employees with drawing skills. If you want to learn to draw, please find someone to teach you on your own."

Frowning, Xu Fu turned his gaze to Little John.

As challenger Reed was ushered out of the press conference room by John Jr., Jacob, standing to the side, secretly breathed a sigh of relief. The events reported in the *Messenger* newspaper had given him a better understanding of the difficulties at the time. If he had put down his work, the candidates lining up outside might have been his future.

“John, tell the people in line outside that if they don’t have drawing experience like Reed, they shouldn’t keep waiting. Messenger Comics won’t hire these people.”

Xu Fu used his super-perspective to scan the line of applicants in front of the newsroom and gave orders to John.

After Xu Fu's reminder, some people in the queue outside became excited. Some left the queue to avoid wasting time on a job that had no chance of being filled. However, some people hesitated and were unwilling to continue queuing for a non-existent hope.

Chapter 658 Interested

"Mr. William Steiger, congratulations."

In any case, the vast majority of applicants below have some form of drawing experience, and only a few remain unmoved.

For example, Xu Fu's previous candidate, William Steiger, had extensive experience in drawing and creating: before being hired by Courier Comics, he had drawn illustrations and covers for The New Yorker.

After viewing William Steiger's work for The New Yorker, Xu Fu immediately made a decision.

As Jacob looked at William Steiger's work, the pressure on him steadily increased.

In terms of creative skills and level alone, William Steiger is clearly a much better cartoonist, worthy of being a cartoonist working for The New Yorker.

If there's nothing wrong with William Steiger's work, why did he leave The New Yorker?

Jacob's question was clearly of interest to Xu Fu as well, so after finishing the program, he asked him about it.

"Mr. William Steiger, why did you choose 'The Messenger Comics' again? Was it because you worked for 'The New Yorker' before?"

"Because I need money, and The Messenger Comics is offering more than The New Yorker, so I'm here."

Mr. William Steiger's answer was simple and persuasive.

Later, Stieg, dubbed the "King of Comics" by Newsweek, and author of several award-winning and bestselling children's picture books and children's books, told Xu Fu: "If I could choose my own path, I would be a professional athlete, or a sailor, or a beach tourist, or some other form of wanderer. Or a wanderer, or some other form of nomadic life, or an artist, or a gardener, or a writer, or a banjo player, or a traveler, or whatever I do, I will not be a rich man."

“When I was a young boy, Tahiti was my paradise. I was determined to settle there one day. I wanted to be a sailor like Melville, but due to the Great Depression, I had to work as a comic book writer to support my family.”

William Steiger's life trajectory was altered by the Great Depression.

His father went bankrupt due to the Great Depression, his older brother got married and started his own family, and his younger brother was only 17 years old, so he had to support his family by constantly painting and creating art.

"Believe me, Mr. William Steiger, you will not regret the choice you made."

Perhaps due to early family support, William Stig appeared more mature than he did, and after asking Xu Fu about work and time, he left the newspaper to work on the sequel to The New Yorker.

After William Steiger, the remaining applicants performed rather poorly.

Among them are art school graduates and people who have worked on movie posters but aren't particularly skilled at drawing. Of course, if they were professional colorists, they would do a great job at MessengerComics.

Therefore, a few future comic book colorists were barely selected from these applicants.

Just as the interview was about to end, a special candidate appeared in the newspaper's editorial department.

What made him stand out was the fact that the other candidate's attire differed from that of most applicants. While the usual attire for applicants was a suit, the candidate in front of him was unusually dressed in a black overcoat with a skull on the chest, a handsome mustache, and a strange hat.

His gaze fell on the two glasses-shaped hats on the candidates' heads, and then Xu Fu examined the candidates in front of him and asked calmly.

"Mr. Charles Adams, do you have any experience related to painting?"

Charles Adams’s answer seemed far more normal than his flamboyant attire, as he removed his hat and replied with a straight face, “No, but I have studied painting and tried to submit articles to newspapers, but so far nothing has been published.”

Charles Adams said, looking at Xu Fu standing in front of him, "Actually, I once submitted an article to The Messenger magazine."

The Messenger had been accepting cartoon submissions for some time, but at the time, Xu Fu was focused on serializing Superman in the newspaper, so he naturally didn't contact the cartoonists who submitted their work. Charles Adams was clearly one of those who were rejected at the time.

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"Then, Mr. Charles Adams, can you give me a reason why your work cannot be serialized in the newspaper?"

Nearly six months have passed since The Courier published its series of articles about Superman, and Charles Adams, who initially submitted the articles, still hasn't been able to publish a single cartoon in the newspaper, so there's clearly a problem.

"Perhaps it's a difference in style."

Charles Adams himself was clearly aware of this.

"Style differences?"

"Yes, I've been fascinated by things like coffins, skulls, and tombstones since I was a child, and that's often a major theme in my comics. Obviously, not everyone likes my style of comics."

... ... ...

Inside the offices of The Messenger magazine, after listening to Charles Adams' explanation, Xu Fu glanced at his partner's strange attire and suddenly thought of saying, "In that case, Mr. Charles Adams, may I take a look at your cartoons and see what you mean by saying you're surprised by this style?"

Charles Adams raised an eyebrow in surprise at Xu Fu's answer, clearly not expecting Xu Fu to be interested; he had originally thought that his chances of applying for the job again were slim, he sincerely thought, but his hand stepped forward without hesitation.

"of course."

He pulled out the first few sketches of the comic from his coat pocket, and Charles Adams handed them to Xu Fu. Xu Fu went closer and saw that Charles had a skull-shaped ring on his finger; clearly, as the latter said, he had taken a liking to things like coffins and skulls ten minutes earlier, even in his choice of jewelry.

"real."

Xu Fu reached out and took the drawings from Charles Adams, glanced at their contents, and a hint of approval flashed in his eyes.

Initially, the name Charles Adams didn't evoke any particular feeling in Xu Fu's mind, but when the man appeared in that somber outfit and described his comedic style, some speculations quietly began to form.

This part of the speculation was completed using drawings provided by Charles Adams.

Chapter 659 The Adams Family

As Charles Adams said, his compositional style was very unusual.

Former candidate William Steig wrote in a dreamlike style, while Charles Adams's work had a distinctly dark tone.

In this painting, Charles Adams casually depicts the love story of a skeleton awakened from its grave.

This is clearly something Charles Adams has always liked.

Since this is the first draft, the content of the comic is somewhat rough, but even from these rough characters, one can already feel the creepy, strange, yet somewhat absurd and humorous comic style that underpins the whole story.

The eerie "133" cartoon, paired with the strangely dressed Charles Adams standing in front of him, finally reminded Xu Fu of another person's identity.

Charles Adams, an iconic figure of dark humor in American comics, is the original author of the comic book series "The Addams Family".

It is worth noting that Charles Adams did not give the cartoon character a name when creating the "The Addams Family" series.

The names of these characters were determined by Charles Adams and the screenwriters at the time, when the film was later adapted into a television movie.

For example, the full title of "Daughter Wednesday" is "Wednesday-Friday-Adas," which actually comes from an English song at the time to help remember the time.

"

The chid on Wednesday is the woe of fu, and children born on Wednesday are full of sorrow.

The babies born on Friday are OVG and GIVG; babies born on Fridays are deeply blessed.

"

Charles Adams used the word as the name for Wednesday because he found it amusing.

Charles Adams' dark humor, with its unique values, became the foundation of the Gothic genre, gained popularity in Hollywood, and even stood out as a distinct genre for a time, including director Tim Burton, who was a big fan of the genre.

Of course, the Gothic style has not yet taken shape in modern times.

Charles Adams, one of the cartoonists who laid the foundation for this type of comic, has yet to create the classic Adams family comics.

He is still suffering because the newspaper rejected the article.

After all, even if he was fascinated by coffins, skulls, and tombstones, he still needed to fill his stomach.

Charles Adams liked them, but he didn't plan to spend time with them so soon.

With that in mind, Charles Adams looked at Xu Fu in the newspaper office with a slightly expectant expression in his eyes.

However, deep down, he didn't have high hopes for the show.

"A very unique style."

"Take your eyes off the picture," Xu Fu said slowly, his gaze fixed on Charles Adams.

"but."

Upon hearing this, Charles Adams' heart sank; he even imagined what Xu Fu would say next.

"Congratulations, Mr. Charles Adams."

However, what Xu Fu said next was quite different from Charles's initial expectations.

"What?".