Homelander Comics

Gwen came out of her room.

Fatigue is not easy to detect.

Because she didn't want to age too early, she went out to do justice one hour less than usual at night - the original plan was two hours, but she still couldn't suppress the wild power in her body.

"Morning, daddy."

When Gwen came to the living room, she saw George, neatly combed, sitting at the dining table reading a newspaper, while her mother was making breakfast in the kitchen.

"Ah."

George nodded to Gwen.

"…Regarding Black Superman, there are two types of people on the Internet. One type is those who oppose Black Superman. They believe that Black Superman has no power to kill Vulture, and that he is a criminal if he kills people at will. The other type is those who support Superman. They believe that the existence of Black Superman is the sword of Damocles hanging over the heads of criminals and dignitaries, preventing them from doing anything too outrageous…"

"Because the debate was too intense, people who were marching to support both viewpoints appeared on the street. The two sides were clearly divided, but because of the diametrically opposed thinking, there was already a small-scale physical conflict between the two..."

"That's the current public opinion, but let's make a bold guess: what is the official attitude towards this Superman? Will the New York Police Department identify this Superman as a criminal? If he is identified as a criminal, who will enforce the law to arrest him? What will happen if Superman resists? Even if Superman does not resist and appears in the court, how will he be tried in the end? Death penalty or life imprisonment? However, Superman did kill someone, and the evidence is irrefutable. If he is not wanted and arrested, will the New York Police Department be abusing its power for personal gain and bending the law? How will the NYPD..."

George, who was reading a newspaper, heard the conversation on TV and frowned. He said in a serious tone:

"Meli, it's almost time for dinner, turn off the TV!"

There are three children in Gwen's family. Gwen is the eldest sister, and she has two younger brothers, one named Meli and the other named Tangji, both of whom are naughty kids.

Of course, being naughty doesn't matter to anyone. Facing George, her always serious old father, Meli didn't dare to say anything. She stuck out her tongue, turned off the TV obediently, and sat at the dining table.

But there was inevitably a look of regret in their eyes, because children like them were very interested in Superman from the comics. The two younger ones even had Superman volumes from DC comics in their room.

George's speech slowed down, but still with a critical tone, he said to the two younger ones:

"The person on TV is not Superman, not the pure and flawless god on earth. The person in the comic book is impossible to appear in reality. He is just a human who happens to have special abilities, just a criminal. It is not worth your attention and study. Do you understand?"

Merry and Tangji looked at each other.

I don’t understand why my old father is so irritable today?

"Dad!" Gwen said, "You are too harsh on Merry and Donji. Maybe the way that Black Superman got into trouble was a little out of line and controversial, but he is not a complete bad guy, right? 'Vulture' is a bad guy who killed more than a dozen security guards belonging to the Osborn Group. If Black Superman hadn't stopped him, who knows what crazy things he would have done?"

——Since the copyright of Superman belongs to DC, the media cannot use this name to refer to Bai Ye, as it would infringe copyright. Since Bai Ye painted his Green Goblin armor black, the media used "Black Superman" to refer to Bai Ye, and public opinion gradually recognized the nickname "Black Superman". It's the same as calling Gwen Spider-Man when she wears a spider costume, and Batman Batman Batman when he wears a bat costume. It's just as simple and crude as that.

Gwen also felt that it was a little inappropriate for Black Superman to kill Vulture, but Black Superman saved her life at that time. Gwen was a grateful person deep down, so she didn't want her family to have too bad an impression of "Black Superman".

"Gwen, I knew that children like you who don't have much discernment would be easily deceived." George frowned and said, "Maybe the Black Superman did some good things for a while, but he is also doing bad things that will cause endless harm! He is destroying the current system and constitution of this country, and destroying the harmony and stability of society. The consequences are not yet visible, but I can conclude that when the consequences appear, all of us will suffer greatly!"

To put it bluntly, George is not disgusted by the chivalrous behavior of superheroes, but he is dissatisfied with the damage that superheroes have done to the social system and caused social unrest. Even if the police work is done by superheroes, then is there any need for them to exist as police officers? Should the number of police officers and benefits be reduced?

George was born into a middle-class family during the Cold War when America suppressed capital and could collect up to 90% tax. His old father worked to support a family of five, so he lived a happy life. He went to a prestigious university smoothly and got a good job as a policeman. Even when the Soviet Union collapsed and all Americans became losers, George became the chief of a New York City Police Department. Now he is the head of the New York City Police Department. What reason does he have not to resist Superman, who will cause changes in the social structure?

These American upper class people naturally hate Black Superman, who is beyond their control and will cause social changes. But who supports Black Superman? Most of them are American homeless people and other lower-class people. Anyway, they have only one life. How can Black Superman treat me more excessively than the American government? But Black Superman brought them a kind of fairness - under the hot vision, all beings are equal! You congressmen usually play very wildly. We can't punish you, so can't Black Superman punish you?

——Of course, these people don’t know that Bai Ye has no interest in ordinary crimes. He doesn’t care what the congressman does. He only wants to get points.

"Dad, aren't you being too arbitrary?" Gwen argued, "I think whether it's Superman or Spider-Woman, they just want to help the weak who have been violated! There are bound to be many omissions in the work done by the New York City Police Department. This is the New York City Police Department's own problem. Superman and Spider-Woman don't help those who have been violated. Do they just watch? Is this right? Dad, this is not what you taught me since I was a child. You told me that no matter when, when I have the ability, I should not forget to help the weak!"

George was a little confused by Gwen's scolding. He never expected that his usually well-behaved and sensible daughter would quarrel with him over two outsiders.

"Gwen, maybe it's a little early to tell you this, but since we've come to this point, I might as well start talking." George calmed down and said, "The core of the operation of this society is not justice and light, but stability and order! The New York City Police Department may have some omissions, but all its actions are regulated by the law and operate within the framework of the law. This ensures that the New York City Police Department will not lose control and become a tool to harm the people. But superheroes are different. They have extraordinary powers and do things according to their own preferences and moods. If everyone puts their hopes of fighting crime on them and neglects to take precautions, what if they betray one day? It will definitely cause great damage that we cannot imagine!"

"It's like the Simpson murder case. We all know he did it, but can we arrest him? No! Because we have no evidence. If we arrest him because we have no evidence, what if we encounter someone who seems to be a suspect but is actually innocent? To put it bluntly, maybe we let Simpson go, but we actually protected thousands of innocent people from being tortured and persecuted."

Gwen said, "But Dad, you are making a presumption of guilt, right? Police officers should know that presumption of guilt is wrong! How can you think of Superman and Spider-Woman when they haven't committed any crimes yet? When they really do something evil, we can deal with them then. At least they are doing the right thing now... Should the interests of the minority be sacrificed for the benefit of the majority? This is not right... I think that the existence of Black Superman and Spider-Woman is a supplement to order and rules, not a criminal... In short, we can't just forget things, right?"

"It's true that the presumption of guilt is wrong most of the time, but Gwen, you seem to have forgotten that in some special areas, there is a presumption of guilt - economic crimes on Wall Street! This is to restrict those giants from doing whatever they want. Similarly, I think the presumption of guilt can also be established for superheroes, because they possess powers far beyond ordinary people and must be restricted." George said.

"But Dad... do the laws on Wall Street really restrict those giants?" Gwen said, "And for someone like Black Superman, his power is so strong. If you want to restrict him, how should you restrict him? If you use the presumption of guilt on him, are you sure you won't push him to the other side?"

Seeing that the tension between the father and daughter was getting stronger and stronger, Gwen's mother quickly stepped out to smooth things over:

"Alright, alright, you two, why are you arguing so loudly so early in the morning? Be careful that the neighbors next door may complain! Eat well, breakfast is ready."

The war between Gwen and George finally stopped.

"I'm sorry, Dad."

Gwen calmed down and apologized first.

"No, I also did something wrong."

George also said, but his eyes looked at Gwen with some confusion.

Could it be that he is too old and his thinking can no longer connect with young people?

Why Gwen...

Suddenly, you have such a big ideological difference with him?

This is of course because George has been in a high position for too long. How could he know that his daughter walks around New York every night and sees the darkest side of New York. After experiencing this for a long time, her thinking will inevitably change. She will become more radical and have more real sympathy for the poor and weak. If it was before she became Spider-Woman, perhaps Gwen and George could still chat on the same channel.

The atmosphere suddenly cooled down.

Neither spoke.

Merry and Tang Ji were trembling even more.

Two big bosses collide...

After breakfast, it was George who offered to take Gwen to school.

Gwen got out of the car at the entrance of Midtown High School.

"I'm sorry, Gwen." George apologized again: "I just... care about you."

"I know, Dad." Gwen nodded and said, "We just have different ideas. It's no big deal. We are still the closest father and daughter in the world!"

She smiled and waved to George, then walked into the campus with youthful vigor and vitality.

George looked at Gwen's back with mixed feelings. After a long while, he sighed:

"My daughter has really grown up!"

……

After leaving home, Bai Ye came to find Ikana.

"How's it going? Has the copyright of Black Superman been registered?"

Bai Ye asked.

After Bai Ye made his first appearance and dealt with the vulture, he sent a message to Ikana, asking her to register the copyright.

So that it can be used for commercial operation.

The nickname "Black Superman" was given by the American media because Bai Ye felt that shouting his own nickname was a bit low and it would be better to leave it to the public to judge.

In fact, he doesn't care about "fatherlander", "ancestor", "black superman" and so on.

"It's already been done, but Bai Ye..." Ikana hesitated, "You are the eldest son of the Osborn family, one of the richest people in the world. Is it really okay to take advantage of the situation like this? So far, we don't know what the Black Superman's temper is like. If you do this, you may anger him. What if he comes to you? What will you do?"

"What are you afraid of?" Bai Ye said, "We are helping Black Superman, not harming him! We have helped him publish comics, movies, and games, which has greatly increased his popularity. We are even going to give him a portion of the copyright fees from the money we earn. What reason does he have to deal with me?"

"If it were just this, it would be fine, but..." Ikana's expression was hard to describe: "Why are you using the power of the media to incite everyone to support Black Superman on the one hand, and to incite everyone to oppose Black Superman on the other?"

Yes, that's right. The reason why there is a serious situation of support and opposition to Black Superman now is inseparable from Bai Ye's contribution. He is fully mobilizing the resources in his hands to promote the formation of this phenomenon.

"Of course, this is also to help Black Superman." Bai Ye said confidently: "This method is called fan purification, to create a fan circle culture for Black Superman. Black Superman's fans seem to be a lot now, but in fact they are just clouds, just passers-by, useless and can't provide any value. But if the people around these passers-by say that Black Superman is a bad guy and does things wrong, then what will these passers-by think? Oh, the person I like is the bad guy, and the person you like is the good guy, why?"

Ikana pondered: "The rebellious mentality of fans?"

"That's right!" Bai Ye said, "That's what we want to do. We use this kind of fan circle culture to brainwash those fans with some IQ problems, screen them, and purify a group of Black Superman's die-hard fans. No matter what the idol does wrong, these fans will always say, 'My brother has a hard time, you don't understand him at all, no matter what my brother does, it's right, someone is framing him, even if he made a mistake, he will change, please stop talking nonsense'."

"In short, these fans may seem crazy to outsiders, but they are also a great group of leeks in the eyes of idols. It is so satisfying to harvest them. We want to create such a group of fans for Black Superman and provide him with real support!"

The fact is, ordinary, rational fans, who pursue their idols in a Buddhist way and refuse to quarrel with others, feel happy and enjoy the joy of chasing their idols, but they cannot provide points for Bai Ye at all. So does Bai Ye need to care about them?

Get out of here!

I don't want casual fans, I only want loyal fans!

There are so many Black Superman fans on the Internet now, and they are all looking at the huge crowd, but only Bai Ye knows that the points added to his score column are not that many.

This is also normal.

Just like the brothers’ Weibo fans, there are a lot of them, easily hundreds of millions. It looks scary, right?

But when the brothers' movies were released, their true colors were exposed. The box office of hundreds of thousands or millions failed miserably.

You know, a movie ticket generally costs 60 yuan. If the brothers' fans buy one ticket each, the movies made by the brothers will start from 60 billion yuan. That's like being able to kill anyone in the film industry. But why not?

Because there are too many so-called passing fans who just want to take advantage of the brothers’ handsome looks for free, but are not willing to spend a penny on them.

The purpose of Bai Ye’s fan purification is to put an end to this kind of freeloading behavior!

Damai, Damai!

You can’t get it for free!

Moreover, only controversies can attract traffic. One-sided news without sufficient factual support will not only fail to attract public attention, but will most likely be disliked. Only by creating controversy can the publicity effect be maximized. After all, it is difficult to "not fight back when being beaten" in such a situation. Moreover, people who can remain rational and speak well will be ridiculed as trash. After being ridiculed for a long time, even the most rational people will get angry.

"Okay, you have a point," Ikana said, "but I always feel like you are playing with fire."

"Just listen to me!" Bai Ye said, "Like I told you before, registering characters from New York's urban legends and adapting them into comics will definitely lead to great success. Sure enough, not long after Spider-Woman appeared, Black Superman appeared. The whole world more or less knows the name of Black Superman. We have two popular IPs in our hands in an instant. And I have a hunch that Spider-Woman and Black Superman are just the beginning. There will be more and more characters from New York's urban legends in the future. Our Marvel comics will definitely be able to take advantage of this favorable trend and grow bigger and bigger."

"Of course, you have a keen business sense, but... I still have a question."

"explain."

Ikana said, "It's fine that the Vulture that Black Superman dealt with died this time, but what if we encounter some super villains in the future who are unhappy with our comic adaptations of them and come to attack our headquarters?"

"That's a problem..." Bai Ye touched his chin and thought, "Then you say, we go buy the building opposite the New York City Police Headquarters and use it as the headquarters of Marvel Comics. That shouldn't be a problem, right? If we encounter a super villain, we can get support immediately. These policemen in New York are all supported by us rich people who pay so much tax to New York. In this case, shouldn't we let them take over at the critical moment?"

"Uh……"

Ikana had to admit that Bai Ye was right. American police were tools of the rich.

As we all know, America is a dangerous country where everyone carries a gun. There are frequent incidents of violence. So why are the rich not afraid? Why are the rich all over the world running to America? Because the civilian areas and the rich areas in America are two completely different concepts.

Simply put, rich people like to buy houses and settle down in areas with good security. When an area has good security and there are more rich people, housing prices will rise. When housing prices rise, taxes will increase. When taxes increase, more police can be hired, and more police also ensure better security in the area.

Therefore, the richer the area, the safer it is; the poorer the area, the more dangerous it is!

It is no exaggeration to say that in America, there is a world of difference between stealing and highway robbery.

So if a wealthy man like Bai Ye's industry is in danger, the NYPD police officers next door will have to go up and risk their lives!

Ikana: "Then I will arrange a batch of funds as soon as possible to purchase a building around the New York City Police Headquarters as the headquarters of Marvel Comics."

"Isn't it that simple to solve the problem? You should think more about it. Nothing is difficult for those who are determined."

Bai Ye smiled softly.

In fact, there was no need for the New York City Police Department to take action.

Whenever there is a super villain who is blinded by maggots and wants to destroy his industry, Bai Ye will let them know what it looks like when a chrysanthemum blooms into a sunflower.

The points gained by repeatedly manipulating one or two super villains are probably far less than the points gained by Bai Ye's fan circle by turning himself into a black supervillain. Then Bai Ye will not be polite to those super villains.

“When can the Spider-Man movie start filming?”

Bai Ye took a sip of coffee and asked.

"I have been busy integrating Summit Entertainment these days and haven't had the time yet. I think it will take at most another week to complete the integration, start the project, and make formal preparations," said Ikana.

"OK."

Bai Ye nodded, indicating that he understood:

"In short, the sooner the better. After the Spider-Man movie is released, we can start planning a Black Superman movie and let Spider-Man be linked in the Black Superman movie to increase its popularity. When more and more urban legend characters appear, we can make a big league movie, just like DC's Justice League."

When Ikana heard Bai Ye say this before, she didn't feel much, but now when she thinks about it, with Black Superman's popularity, using him as the real prototype to create a movie universe, the possibility of success... is really very great.

……

Osborne Building.

Gwen had just entered the building and got on the elevator when, by chance, she ran into Parker who was also visiting Osborne Building.

"Hi, Parker."

In the elevator, Gwen took the initiative to say hello.

"Hi, Gwen."

Parker scratched his head, feeling a little silly.

"Are you here to serve as Dr. Connors's lab assistant?"

Gwen asked curiously.