Chapter 145: Fencing Deliberations

In essence, everything was in full motion from there with Alexander handing out the new outlines and characters for the new projects that he had already prepared.

As with what was currently available, the 50 comic artists were given the continued schematics of the February release and were hard at work to quota it all up for mass printing.

Fortunately for them, their little boss had already started things out on some parts and they were already used to picking things up from there.

They've been doing the job for nearly a year after all and they wouldn't be seniors and veterans if they weren't able to do something as simple as this.

They marveled at the new story and can't help but admire how their little boss has a romance story for the month of love.

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Alexander finally left for them to work on the new single issues while he was already drafting up the ones meant for March and onwards.

As much as delegation and having subordinates would ease his job, Alexander still had to put his full effort forward.

It wasn't that every month from February and onward was designated to have a new comic title or so to debut. This was a dangerous thing to do especially if it is not done right and applied wrongly.

Haphazard methods wouldn't cut it as Alexander had to be as strategic as can be for maximum impact.

He didn't want to flood the market and overwhelm them. The releases needed to be melodious, in a specific timing, and quite economical for everyone.

Of course, achieving success in that would be overachieving and terrifying. Perhaps only Alexander with his fearsome advantage can plausibly do it.

Nonetheless, the gears of Creed Comics were already turning and the comic book industry is set to be affected by it once again.

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With the old-timers or originals settled in and Alexander on his plundering, the recruitment part was what came next.

The hiring process was already underway as the recruitment and the hiring notice had already been sent out.

As one might expect from the tightknit comic community, word quickly spread among the industry, and aspirants from all comic ages were interested.

Of course, the 'all comic ages' part was an exaggeration but there were still a lot of people that went through with the process.

Being an artist wasn't exactly the most stable of jobs and it was even the butt of most lover jokes like dating a musician and all the other jobs that people consider as menial and derogatory.

Since the comic book single issues of the Creed brand had been circulating, every drawing artist, who was down in the dumps, knew that the production list was pretty stable all throughout.

This meant that their employment status and monthly wage would be stable if they got into an established company.

Of course, it also can't be denied that other factors came into play as well into elevating the prospects of being a Creed comic artist.

Creed Comics were all the rage since last year after all and being part of it meant that one could carry on with that honor as well. They aren't really sure how the creators or the creator team was feeling but they could imagine that it was probably something to brag about.

A quirk about most artists or people, in general, is that they tend to be braggarts, and being part under the tutelage of Alexander Creed must be quite the help in that.

Whatever the case or intentions of the potential hirees might be, they quickly compiled and sent their resumés for a chance.

After the requirements and profiling had been done, it was finally left for the hirers to deliberate on who missed out and who would get in.

Alexander and 3 editors aspirants were there to put their suggestions and votes in. There were only three from the original 5 as the other two had other plans for themselves.

One was more satisfied with being part of a normal production team as being an editor doesn't really seem appealing for her. While the other was much more Troy-jan animator in spirit and wanted to be an adviser when the upcoming animation projects would finally begin.

No one really had qualms with that as people had routes and ideals of their own. Alexander wasn't that forceful on them for the most part as he just facilitate their talents to the best that he can.

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With the career tracks of notable originals aside, the artist choosers continue to shuffle through resumés and artworks to get a better judgment on who would be in the final roster.

Mr. 5 suddenly found an interesting name and turned to the true authority for clarifications. "Little boss, there is an Alan Moore in the pile. Isn't he the one who made that re-imagining of the Miracleman story? Wasn't he also the one that made that V for Vendetta?"

Alexander remember a certain factoid distinctly and asked to affirm. "Does he look like Rasputin in his I.D. picture?"

"I don't know Rasputin but he looked like some sort of a cross between a wizard, Santa, and a bit of Jesus." Mr. 5 truthfully described. "But it would seem that he isn't asking for a job but asking if he could work on putting his own spin to our storylines."

"Just put him in the pile of special people." Alexander had great respect for Mr. Moore but he didn't want his existing stories to be much darker. Having the style of Dark Knight and Killing Joke in RoboCop was quite feasible though so he might just take up the offer.

Of course, Alan Moore wasn't the first and wasn't the last from the notable people in that the group has scuffled through.

The comic community was just too tightknit and a bit loose for notable comic artists to easily jump ship across brands and comic storytellings.

Alexander was just quite surprised to find Todd McFarlane among the job seekers. He was just the first of Image boys from past-future's Image Comics though as the rest was more or less there.

There was Erik Larsen the Savage Dragon creator, Marc Silvestri of sexy Witchblade, Filipino-American Whilce Portacio, Jim Valentino of Shadowhawk.

Jim Lee wasn't in the pile as it would seem that he may have not started his comic book passion yet.

In any case, Alexander was still deliberating on having them be part of his banner. They were at the forefront of fighting for creator rights after all and corporate Alexander wouldn't want that.

If they were under his banner, then they might just revolt with their friendship power as well and slap Creed Comics' face just like how they previously slapped the face of the Big Two with their amazing Image success.

Either way, they were a powerful bunch but also a ticking time bomb to keep. However, that shouldn't stop Alexander from taking note of their efforts and secretly plundering that glory before they even knew it.

Those poor guys that just wanted to be his subordinates didn't know that they were dangling their eventual success to a serial plunderer. If they did know, Alexander couldn't imagine how they would feel, how they would react, or what expression they would make.

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Ultimately, the deliberations were done on their part and non-comic book veterans were the direction that they chose.

The Image founders and Alan Moore were still on the fence though as the company may or may not have plans for them.