Chapter 42: Boss Bashing?

Lord of the Rings meets Dune. This was how Alexander could put 2011 ThunderCats into perspective.

Thundera and all the anthropomorphic kingdoms and nations are yet to be explored.

Mumm-ra could even be set as someone from the First Earth and traces back to mysterious Egyptian culture. Meaning that the grand Third Earth could be the future that Earth would evolve into.

The characters and beasts are designed incredibly well that 80s Lion-o's thick thighs and spandex team could only hide in shame.

It has magic, lore, technology, and so much to explore than how the original creators and recreators could have imagined.

As much as how any 80s kid would defend the RankinBass produced one, the costume and character design had become awkward by the time the new century came around.

If they were wondering why toys never sold, it was because the main lion-man had a girly hairstyle and always wearing a speedo to showcase his muscled thighs.

Just like how he remastered Toriyama's Dragonball, Alexander would give ThunderCats a grandness that it much deserves through comic books and extended storylines.

------

Working on the first issue was mostly on introducing Third Earth, the Thundercats, the kingdom of Thundera, and the brashness of the inexperienced young prince Lion-o.

Drawing and working on quality paper felt much better than the flimsy bond paper and he might just make the switch into a permanent one from now on.

Working on Bristol paper should help his employees lessen their burden of remaking his every stroke.

Throughout the making of ThunderCats issue 1, he would make sure to come back to the coloring group to give his specifications.

Coloring is a much more tedious process than inking and sketching after all, so the progress might take a while.

Dividing an issue among the group might work as great as it had been last time but it isn't conducive for the groundwork of team efficiency that he was laying out for them.

Alexander just practiced patience as completing 30 plus Dragonball issues to its full majesty isn't really a day-long task as his over-productivity made it seem to be.

Thus, the day went by with him moving back and forth from his office work and little boss work.

Lunchtime was an interesting event with him asked to tag along and mingle around with the boisterous group.

Too bad, that the age gap and his identity as a boss were bringing complications. The lunch gathering wasn't exactly as how Alexander remembered a group lunch had been.

It is tradition for peer talk to be restricted by age and discrimination while it is also commonality for such peer talk to gossip about the boss.

Hence, from that lunch gathering, Alexander made it paramount to eat in his private office as a form of respect towards them.

This is to give his employees the freedom to talk about adult stuff while also giving them an area to vent about how meticulous and bossy he is.

Alexander was making his considerations as the little boss he should be. He wasn't the quiet observer, the work crush of office ladies, or the talented co-worker anymore.

-------

Closing time eventually made its way to them and everyone was packing up for their Sunday rest.

Every time that they reach this point, they put the company's most prized possessions in a safekeeping vault and this was what they were currently doing.

The ideas and art in those collected papers carry all their hard work and the little boss's concepts, so they do their best to guard it while they would be away.

Alexander was mostly finished with his 28-page first issue as the art style needed much more work than the other title. It was only a few pages left to be inked though, which still proved his efficiency.

"Can you store this for safekeeping as well, please?" He gave his work to the person tasked with vault storage and gave his simple farewell. "Thank you for your work today everybody. See you the next time that my school allows me to."

"Safe travels, little boss." This was what the storage-in-charge said which was echoed by the rest.

"Uhm." Alexander just gave their incoherent goodbyes a nod and he went off to see if his grandfather had already arrived.

The employees saw him off to the stairs with courtesy and gave each other a tacit stare of understanding.

-------

When Alexander was out of sight and busy on the first floor, they hurriedly huddled around the storage-in-charge and the folder in his hands.

"What's inside it? Could it be a new issue? I'm dying to know how Krillin would be overpowered by Goku." A lady inquiringly commented while the rest echoed in curiosity.

"I'd wager it's the next issue of Ninja Turtles." A New Yorker from the group was vocal with his bias to a fictional vigilante team from his hometown.

"What about if it's a new comic title? How many dollars are you going to cough up in that wager?" A gambler took up the wager.

As of the moment, they were eagerly waiting comic fans who were dying to know the next story that they were cliffhanged and not the serious employees they had been around Alexander.

This became a norm whenever a folder was given to them, so nobody was too surprised.

The storage-in-charge didn't make them wait much as he carefully laid out the folder on a table and opened its contents.

"The one who guessed new issue is a winner." The man announced but it only stirred the curiosity of the group even further.

It had to be known that Dragonball and Ninja Turtles are exciting concepts, so they were looking forward to newer ones.

"What's the gist of it?" This was hollered by someone at the edge of the crowd and couldn't share with the pages yet.

"It's called ThunderCats and way too detailed than anything we have worked on here. Mickey Mouse could only stand aside when compared to these cool-looking cat-people." A person who saw the contents helped with their inquiries.

"Little boss has done it again." An Alexander admirer praised. "He's even using Bristol paper now and inked it himself."

"What are we inkers and sketchers going to do now with the little boss being way too exceptional?" A paranoid employee could only think of the worse. Alexander's showcase of inking skills was quite a worrying development.

"Little boss is just probably sharing the troubles. It isn't like he could make these amazing comics on his own and for the long term. Hiring us also means that we could make our issues eventually and make Creed Comics self-sustaining." A sensible employee could see the bigger picture and gave his counseling words to the worriers.

With their talks out of the way, everyone eventually had their turn at the new comic story and then had it stored in the special vault.

They headed home and were quite looking forward to the next ThunderCats issue and the time when they could work on it.

If Alexander saw their little gathering, then he could stand corrected. His idea of boss bashing might have been wrong as his employees are mostly boss praising him.