Became an American Retro Novelist - Chapter 209



Only Noblemtl

209.

The ‘organization’ forced him to make a choice.

That too was a very cruel choice······.

Henry Abbott, a member of the organization, had a hard time making decisions and had been struggling with this for a whole week. Raised in a British immigrant family, he was a laid-back person who enjoyed afternoon tea, but what was happening now was difficult enough to make even him feel irritated and sensitive.

This was because we had to vote for the ‘1985 Nebula Award Winner’, which would be announced in April 1986.

‘The deadline is approaching soon.’

He groaned and agonized over his worries.

Henry was a member of the ‘SFWA (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association)’ and, at the young age of 20, had already published several short stories and was currently planning a full-length novel.

During his time as a teacher in New Orleans, Louisiana, he wrote novels on weekends and at night.

And his work gained some popularity in the SF industry he was in. His dream was to write a full-length novel that would be so successful that he would quit his job as a teacher and devote himself to writing.

Because they are so dedicated to SF and the genre, it was extremely difficult to select each winner.

In particular, the ‘Best Feature Film’ award was a concern among the various categories.

Each of the candidates was so compelling, and they were all fun to read. There were many works that taught Henry a lot.

He fiddled with his hands, thinking about it over and over again.

I tore up pieces of paper, wrote the names of the candidate works on them, and placed them randomly on the desk.

His eyes scanned the desk, and each title reminded him of how Henry felt when he read each piece.

And, among them, my eyes lingered for a long time on the ‘Losers’ series, which was divided into upper and lower parts.

Henry felt the overwhelming emptiness, the admiration for humanity, and the loneliness that ‘The Book’ must have felt.

For a moment, I got goosebumps.

‘ah.’

Suddenly, I remembered the conversation I had with the editor about this novel.

[This writer is a monster.]

Not many people know how to write a novel like this.

It is rare to find an author who has such a detailed and deep imagination and who can clearly show his world through it.

It will definitely be big. No, it already is. This work is one that will be of interest to not only North America, but also Europe and even the entire world.

Henry agreed with that statement.

This work was like a stone thrown into the hearts of people who tried hard to remain calm and unshaken.

We live in an age where we are desperately optimistic that science will solve all our problems. But the world is not like that. The gap between the rich and the poor, poverty, hunger, and environmental problems have always followed us.

‘There.’

The ‘Challenger disaster’ that shocked the entire United States not long ago.

A space shuttle that was being broadcast live exploded in midair in a fiery blast, killing all seven crew members on board.

Watching that moment on the news, Henry was devastated. He was so shocked that he couldn’t eat for a day.

Before that incident, everyone was laughing and believing that they would be able to take the first ever remote class in space. That made it even more shocking.

The space shuttle carrying a civilian teacher exploded so abruptly. And his parents were there to watch.

‘iced coffee······.’

The world is not so optimistic.

The universe, science, gives us despair.

That great despair reminded me of the story of ‘Country of Losers’, which states that even after the arrival of the overwhelming scientific power called ‘The North’, humans will continue to live their lives struggling between unhappiness and happiness.

Henry bit his lips tightly and then recalled the contents of ‘Universe of Losers’ in his head.

But that is why human existence is valuable.

“Yeah, right.”

Just because we’re human.

Even if you feel like you’re crying, sad, and in despair, in the end, everyone will try to shake off their current problems and move forward.

Each individual human being is nothing more than a pawn used for the sake of humanity, and that fact sometimes brings despair to each individual, including Henry.

And yet humanity will move forward.

“······.”

After much deliberation, I finally made up my mind.

‘Each and every piece is truly wonderful, though.’

Henry’s heart pointed to this work.

It was the ‘Losers’ series.

***

DC Comics wasn’t the only one offering collaboration.

I also received calls from all kinds of film studios, publishers, and overseas distribution specialists.

They’ve reached out to the Losers series, hard-boiled publishers, and even new writers directly, and several of them have even made specific offers.

After hearing the story over the phone, God made this request.

[Could you elaborate? And······ The DC Comics thing is interesting.]

“Do you have any thoughts?”

Simon asked with sparkling eyes.

DC Comics has approached the new writer with an offer to create a new comic book.

In simple terms, the idea was that if God shared ideas with them and wrote an original story, they would produce comics and publish novels at the same time.

It was an unusual move for DC Comics, which has a strong tendency to take characters and stories as its own work, but it wasn’t completely unreasonable.

Because they acquired Heaven’s Comics.

Heaven’s Comics, which had grown rapidly by turning one of Shin’s previous works, ‘Double Spy’, into a comic book, chose the path of being acquired and merged with the large company called DC Comics.

DC Comics, which saw a spy film with good sales and a good story and characters, contacted the new writer, who was just beginning to make a name for himself across North America with the ‘Losers’ series.

And God answered Simon’s question with a smirk.

[Actually, the next work I’m thinking about right now is a superhero movie.]

“A superhero?”

Simon’s eyes widened.

Superheroes. And fiction at that.

It wasn’t an unexpected genre, but I thought it was definitely on the minor side. If we were to categorize it, superheroes were a genre mainly used in modern comics.

Of course, its origins were pulp fiction.

Or penny dreadfuls, a term referring to cheap publications popular in 19th century Britain.

‘Zorro’, ‘Green Hornet’, ‘Doc Savage’, ‘Spider’, ‘Tarzan’, ‘Shadow’, etc.

All of these were superheroes whose origins were in pulp fiction magazines. Their existence influenced the birth of Superman and made possible the existence of the current comics market.

Even now, there are occasional ‘superhero’ novels, but they do not attract much attention.

Simon thought that the reason was probably the difference between ‘drawing’ and ‘writing’. The overwhelming and powerful abilities of superheroes are more noticeable when seen with one’s own eyes. The difference in narrative also played a part.

“Author, what kind of superhero story are you thinking of?”

[I want to try a story with a little more realistic colors. A story where superheroes actually exist in the world we live in, and they are influenced by the rules of reality. In that kind of story, wouldn’t it be interesting enough to stand up to a huge ‘man’ like Superman or Thor?]

“I see. Could you possibly organize the plan and send it to me later?”

[Okay, Simon. Just wait.]

A god who answers confidently.

In front of him, Simon felt a sense of relief and anticipation at the same time.

After hanging up the phone, he glanced at the collaboration proposals he had lined up on his desk.

‘I guess I should first organize the parts that could be helpful to the author’s work.’

Because the size of the hardboiled publisher itself is small, there were places that just gave it a try.

***

The Dark Knight Returns was a comic book series published from February to June, divided into four issues.

This was a work in which Bruce Wayne, who retired from his alter ego as ‘Batman’, returned to his original form for some reason, defeated the evil rampant in the world, and compared such activities with reality, while raising political and philosophical themes.

Until then, Batman often played the role of the father of Robin, a character that children could relate to, thanks to the TV series in the 1960s. After the 1970s, he tried various things to regain his original vigilante nature, but the recognition through the TV series was still strong.

It was ‘The Dark Knight Returns’ that put a stop to that trend and turned Batman back into a vigilante.

The enormous success of this work led superhero films to tell more realistic and darker stories, creating a variety of stories in the process.

That’s what’s happening in reality right now.

Due to the success of The Dark Knight Returns, children who are sensitive to trends and easily accept anything immediately took to the setting.

A friend who played Batman went through time travel and became an old Batman, but he didn’t give up and fought for what he believed in.

······The problem was that the opponent was none other than Ms. Kate Moore.

“Thud-! Thud-!”

Boy Batman attacks Kate Moore as she walks down the hallway, making noises with her mouth and punching her.

He fights to regain his right to roam the halls freely.

Behind him stood other heroes, villains, and Ninja Alliance friends with serious faces, who had been asked not to interfere in the man’s fight.

“······.”

Kate Moore stood there with a look on her face like, ‘What should I do with this?’

Then he rebuked me.

“stop.”

“Kwaaak-!!”

Batman is bounced off of Kate’s sonic attack due to her (relatively) large body.

But then, he threw a batarang made of foil paper. It landed brilliantly on Kate… without reaching her… and clattered to the floor. And Batman excitedly shouted out his ‘setup’.

“It hit me in the eye and chest!”

“What, what?”

“That’s right!”

“······Oh my! It hurts!”

and.

This is truly a disastrous performance.

I looked at Kate with a cold face.

She fell to her knees, clutching her chest, and Batman rushed in front of her, punching the air wildly and breathing heavily.

Alas, that old body could no longer withstand Batman’s spirit.

Yet the spirit was eternal.

“It is my victory.”

“Ugh, it hurts.”

Kate, who is getting longer and longer.

I watched the whole process with interest until the battle ended with the victory of good.

‘Is that why there are so many Batmans among kids these days?’

A few weekends later, I headed to California and stopped by Kittens Comic Book Store for the first time in a while.

And I realized again how well ‘The Dark Knight Returns’ sold.

“I’m Batman.”

“······Hello. Bill.”

“I’m Batman.”

“······Hello. Batman.”

A man wearing a Batman mask was walking around a comic book store. Anyone who saw him would think it was a Batman pop-up store.

I laughed in disbelief and went into the store.

Inside, the talk about The Dark Knight Returns was already in full swing.

“There’s something off about Bruce Wayne’s vigilante activities.”

“Why are you upset? He’s just resuming his old calling.”

“It’s the feeling of clinging to something that you’ve failed at and still have no regrets about.”

“But he’s still the same. He’s still the same Bruce Wayne.”

‘······This side is certainly not that different.’

It felt like we were just as engrossed in Batman as the kids were, thoroughly deconstructing and analyzing him, except we delved a little deeper into the story.

And the reason why that was possible was because this work reflected the framework called reality.

Gotham City, where vigilante activities are denied and citizens fight each other with distrust.

The fight between the United States and the Soviet Union causes anger and anxiety in the hearts of the people, and in the midst of all this, Bruce Wayne returns as Batman.

His inner anxiety and anger resonated with people.

And I saw this work as a subject of controversy because the process of expressing each of them is different.

‘Some people will accept Batman’s vigilante activities, and some will not.’

I guess it’s the difference between honestly admitting the anxiety and anger about reality that exists within you or not.

Anyway, the direction that both groups wanted to pursue was the same.

I smiled as I listened to their conversation.

‘A relatable superhero.’

It was a little different from what I thought.

But that’s okay. Readers want fresh stories as much as they want relatable stories.

In that sense, I thought it would be a good idea to add a little seasoning to the direction I am thinking about now.

The point of sympathy I think was ‘censorship’.

As we live, we are subject to all kinds of censorship, whether voluntary or involuntary, by law or ethics.

So, it seemed right that the ‘superhero’ I was trying to write about would be subject to ‘censorship’.

‘Censorship for being Asian, national censorship for being American.’

But that doesn’t mean I want to categorize him as just a victim.

Rather, I wanted to go one step further and make the protagonist of this work someone who uses that censorship.

‘The narrative that simply portrays Asians as victims no longer exists in me.’

Sometimes we are the perpetrators and sometimes we are the victims.

That’s the reality.

A story that reflects that reality.

The puzzle is just starting to come together in my head.