Became an American Retro Novelist - Chapter 213



Only Noblemtl

213.

DC Comics and Marvel Comics publish comics every Wednesday.

On average, that’s 50 issues a month, meaning the two major companies bring about 12 issues to market each week.

This comic book publishing format called ‘issue’ was a snack culture consisting of short 20 to 30 pages, and at that time, 10 to 20 issues of a series were grouped together and classified as ‘volumes’. Also, volumes or more were bound together and sold as a single volume, and single volumes released to the market in this form were also called ‘graphic novels’.

In any case, since each commercial publisher created its own standards for various reasons, such as to promote sales, another characteristic was that they were not uniform across companies.

The development of the American comics market was more like a struggle to survive the flow of the times.

They responded to the market’s demands by changing the design, setting, and story of each superhero in all sorts of ways to fit the times. They made them perform heroic feats, but they also killed them horribly. They were so reckless that it seemed like they had no respect for the characters.

But due to such continuous changes, ‘superheroes’ have experienced a revival.

They continued to create superheroes in the form that readers wanted according to the times, and for unpopular heroes, they boldly rebooted the settings or created a second generation with the same abilities.

And the reason each comic company could do that was because they owned the copyright to the characters.

So when DC Comics first approached the hardboiled publisher with a collaboration proposal, they took this into consideration.

There are issues such as ownership of characters and stories created through collaboration, or whether a new writer can understand the current comics market and write related content.

And as it turned out, it turned out to be a needless worry.

One day in April, at the DC Comics editorial office.

Just before the announcement of the Nebula Awards, which everyone in the genre is watching with interest, a completed manuscript of Kung Fury, 35,000 words long, and a detailed proposal for the work arrived from the new writer.

It seems like only yesterday that he came to the editorial office in person to say hello and signed a contract stating that Hardboiled Publishing would own the characters and story, but DC Comics would lease it, but no one in the editorial office expected that he would send over the completed manuscript so quickly.

“If this is the case, we need to prepare as quickly as possible.”

Robert, the editor-in-chief, gave special instructions to read the manuscript over the weekend, and each editor-in-chief began reading ‘Kung Fury’, even working on the weekends, which they usually did not do.

First of all, the most noticeable part was that there were some changes to the content in the first half.

‘Suicide is missing.’

‘I guess that can’t be helped.’

No matter how provocative the plot was, ‘suicide’ was a taboo subject.

No one can easily answer the question of whether it is more serious than murder, but in any case, DC Comics’ superheroes have a policy of avoiding murder as much as possible, and if they do, it is in the name of punishing evil.

‘If not, then it’s a world where everyone is crazy and out of their minds.’

However, even if there was a cushion built into the setting, using ‘suicide’, which is absolutely forbidden in Protestantism, as a subject matter, was a setting that many would find objectionable.

Everyone started reading Kung Fury, excluding the suicide setting, with a sense of public duty.

‘Whew. I can’t even rest on the weekend.’

‘I have to play with the kids.’

Since they were all heads of households, they came here prepared to be nagged by their wives.

The first part of the work was exactly as written in the plan.

Joe arrives in a country called America and goes through many hardships, and in the process, he meets Shifu and is hired as an instructor at a failing kung fu school simply because of his large size and good physique.

The process after that was similar.

The kung fu dojo gradually began to attract officials, and an incident occurred.

A night with rain pouring down.

A group of thugs fight among themselves to save an official in danger.

One of them died once, not knowing that he had a gun, but he came back to life and put everything back to normal, saving the official.

And there was someone watching that scene from the darkness.

It was Shifu.

The next day, Shifu saw what had happened the day before and insisted that they use Joe’s special powers to make more money.

Joe is initially taken aback, but is somewhat reassured by Shifu’s statement that he is only interested in money, and decides to hear what he intends to do about his offer to become a ‘superhero’.

‘Hoo.’

‘Like this?’

The plot has changed slightly.

To be exact, it got more interesting as details were added.

Everyone was interested in the detailed descriptions and the moderately fast pace of the story, and continued reading. It was their first time reading a ‘superhero novel’, but since they had read a lot of comics, they interpreted the content of the novel as the ‘origin’ of superheroes, and gradually delved into the story.

And at some point, all thoughts about working on weekends disappeared from my mind.

They were truly immersed in this story.

『’Kung-fury’.

“That’s your hero name.”

At Shifu’s words, Joe laughed as if he found it ridiculous and asked.

“Kung-Fury? What’s your name?”

“It’s to spread the word about the power of kung fu. If you wear a mask and act like that, many people will come to the kung fu gym. We can become rich. Joe. This is the center of capital that is absolutely important in America. This is our American dream! Hahahahaha!”

“I feel like things are getting bigger and bigger.”

“Okay. Remember this.”

Shifu slowly took a stance.

Immediately afterwards, he took a step forward and threw a punch.

“This is a bangkwon. I’m sure you can use it well.”

“······sincerity?”

“Kung-Fury must use kung fu!”

“You know how to use kung fu?! Then teach it yourself!”

“Even if an old Asian grandpa came out and taught me, who would come?!! Even Callie, a cashier at the supermarket, told me to gargle because my breath smelled! You dirty racist son of a bitch!”

“Why do you always call me a racist when I get cursed at all the time?!”

“Because that makes me feel at ease!!”

“Poohahaha!”

“Oh, this is crazy.”

Those who read the article showed various reactions.

It was a gag that reminded me of the famous comedian Johnny Yune.

A black comedy that humorously depicts the sorrows and struggles of East Asian immigrants who came to America later than other races, and their struggles to survive, while also being sarcastic like Scrooge McDuck.

It naturally made me want to continue reading what happened next.

As such, the work fundamentally made readers feel affection for ‘Joe’ and ‘Sifu’ through humor.

Joe wears a black mask over his head and a red band around his forehead. He covers his eyes at first because he can’t see where his forehead is because he’s wearing a mask, but then he gets scolded by Shifu, telling him to just go to that white woman and stick his butt out, and he’ll make her feel good. It was a comedy that worked in America, a time when women were actively entering society and the image of strong, independent women was being promoted.

Finally born as a superhero, Kung-Fury begins roaming the streets at night helping people.

The name quickly became known, and people began to call him Kung-Fury. The newspapers criticized him, saying that the only difference between the masked hero and the criminal was the red band on his head, but Joe and Shifu didn’t even care about that.

And while he was helping people revive their kung fu school, a problem arose.

“A store opened on the other side of the road.

‘Fujiyama Kung Fu’.

“This ●● is so annoying!!”

Shifu swore at him with his characteristically awkward Chinese accent.

“Ugh, ugh······! Phew!”

“Hahahahaha!”

“Wow, another dojo is opening at this timing?”

Even the explanation that followed that scene was a masterpiece.

Joe and Sifu were of Korean and Chinese descent, respectively. But their rival, Fujiyama, was the title of a song by jazz musician Dave Brubeck and also the name of the largest mountain in Japan.

In other words, it should be called something like ‘England Taco’.

After explaining in detail the absurdity he felt, Cho also agrees and keeps his mouth shut when Shifu rebukes him by saying, “Be quiet! Americans won’t care anyway!”

The two men go to Fujiyama, the president of Fujiyama Kung Fu (that’s how the novel puts it) and a Japanese-American, to protest.

However, Fujiyama acted like a traitor, saying, “I said I would pay for the business with my own money, so what did you give me in return?” As a result, Kung-Fury, who was very angry as his name suggests, ended up doing something that a hero should not do.

That’s what he was telling people, ‘Fujiyama Kung Fu is not real Kung Fu!’

“Hah, kehahaha!”

“This is driving me crazy, seriously······.”

Kung Fury, a masked hero who helps people, but whose true intentions are never good.

One day, while performing his duties for a purpose as usual, he meets another hero for the first time.

Sodapop, a government-affiliated female hero based in Los Angeles.

As her name suggests, she has the superpower to create and explode carbon dioxide gas. Thanks to her superpower, she has become so successful that she has been chosen as a model for a cola commercial. As a result, she has recently changed her costume from her original sky blue and white to the black and red that symbolizes cola.

And she confirms Kung-Fury’s great strength and durability and offers him a scout offer.

In this way, the world view began to expand little by little.

‘Oh······.’

Unlike the team leaders, Robert, the editor-in-chief of DC Comics, who was reading the novel at home, could not hide his surprise at the natural expansion of the world view.

‘Heroes’ who steadily build up their wealth and fame while saving people according to government bills and corporate advertisements, and also doing charity work by donating the money they earn to reduce taxes.

The new writer portrayed the superheroes of this world as beings subject to government censorship and control, and at the same time as a commodity. In doing so, the actual circumstances of reality and the existence of superheroes in comics were exquisitely overlapped, allowing for all sorts of interesting interpretations and imaginations.

In addition, the settings of each hero were strangely realistic, which made it very interesting.

Many of the superheroes in this world were created through failed scientific experiments or acquired efforts. Additionally, most of them suffered from identity issues big and small due to having to live their lives wearing a ‘mask’.

For example, Sodapop, who is depicted later, is portrayed as a hero who will do anything to earn ‘money’.

“Think about it.”

Sodapop said, walking with a proud gait.

According to her own words, everything she does is ‘to gain popularity by making people crazy about her femininity, and at the same time, to satisfy men’s sexual desires and make money.’ Kung-Fury listened to Sodapop’s words as he thought that reality was truly bitter no matter which country he went to.

“What would I have done if I hadn’t been a hero? At best, I would have worked at a drive-thru, adding carbonation to cola. But what about me now? I am Human-Cola! The Coke Company pays me a ton of money every quarter to wear this outfit and appear in their commercials!!”

The cold reality called ‘money’.

Superheroes who mobilize their race, abilities, and even their egos to do so, and take risks.

The reason they were able to gain such wealth and fame was because they had sworn allegiance to the government and contracted to follow its control thoroughly.

In fact, Sodapop also had a strong desire to expose her body a little more, but was unable to do so due to censorship by the government.

‘Oh, hoo, hoo······.’

It was reminiscent of the moment when female characters in DC Comics were censored by the state for their nudity.

Of course, there were those who wanted to engage in vigilante activities freely, free from government control.

However, many of these people were arrested on suspicious grounds soon after, and some even became corrupt and became villains.

As Joe begins to learn more about how the world works, he makes up his mind.

Become a government-licensed superhero and earn more money!

‘······I really need to get started on this as quickly as possible.’

Superheroes were basically beings that symbolized ‘hope’.

But this work seemed to point out that even these people are in fact just individuals. Of course, saving people and fighting crime are important, but if you are not happy in the process, what’s the point?

‘This will definitely work.’

Kung Fury, a work that depicts a superhero living in the cruel world of reality.

Robert continued reading the novel, his eyes sparkling with excitement at the exciting development.

***

After finishing the first draft of Kung Fury around April, I returned to school to begin the spring semester of my sophomore year.

The manuscript received rave reviews from Simon and Julia.

Simon said it was “flawless,” and Julia said, “Even if it was a superhero novel, people would enjoy it.”

This worldview, which twisted the very existence of superheroes and superimposed reality on them, seemed to be very entertaining to those living in America in the 80s.

But aside from the evaluations of those I trust the most as partners, I was curious to know how DC Comics would evaluate it.

‘Because what I wrote was a novel.’

If you ask me whether it would be fun to make this into a ‘comic’ that you can see with your eyes… I don’t know about that.

So, naturally, we were considering adapting the story for the comic version. Unlike novels that are made up of only text, comics tend to compete on visuals.

Anyway, I continued to write, and the circumstances surrounding me changed little by little, but there were no major changes in my life.

I continued my school life leisurely, waiting for an answer as I had been doing until now, while adding my work-related hobbies to my schedule.

And then, in the meantime, I got a call from Simon.

[Author······.]

A trembling voice despite trying hard to appear calm.

From there I got the general idea.

[The 21st Nebula Award for Best Novel······’Losers’ series won.]

The moment I’ve been waiting for has finally arrived.