Chapter 44: Nerve-Wracking
Alexander finally cooled down on his enthusiasm for the first printing achievement and had to voice out his concerns.
"How did the direct market and distributors even agree to the unconventional printing style of pricings and barcodes? I thought they'd push back on this kind of disconformity?"
As much as Alexander's praise for the 2010s cool conventionalities, he also knew the stubbornness of the comic book demographic and its resistance to change.
Market leaders such as DC and Marvel that want to snuff out any form of cake sharers would denounce the new Dragonball cover design with fervor.
Granted, the Dragonball threat still isn't clear but the gang up would come eventually when the franchise truly blossoms.
"It is no problem at all. Some comic book insiders I've met were quite jovial with displacing the barcodes and price prints." Sullivan had his grandson's dislike for messy cover pages to thank for that. "The people in charge of printing these things gave it some good commendations. They say it's quite hip and cool than anything they've worked on."
"Isn't there like a limited number of prints, grandpa? How come there are piles of them here?" Alexander finally put down that worry but still had to ask for some of the more important details.
"Don't forget that Creed Toys is also a comic book store so some of them are stored here for now. Besides, the unboxed ones are excess prints meant to be given to your employees." Sullivan gave him the gist of it. "You could consider the free comic book copies as employee benefits."
Alexander could only agree to that idea. He has seen so many workshop workers and hired craftsmen that make all the people's necessities but never get to afford any of what they are working on.
Rice farmers that couldn't afford a sack of rice that they harvest.
Shoemakers that don't have the luxury to afford the 'brandedness' of what they are making with their own hands.
Some are even teachers that don't get to afford to pay for their children's tuition, even though it is the same education that they are used to giving to their students.
Of course, that unfairness is a norm in other societies or other states but it is still a good idea to give their hired comic workers some free copies.
Alexander already noticed his employees bagging their copies. The original 45 were happy to see their names on the credit list while the other 5 were looking forward to having their names on the next issues.
Even the marketing and legal workers have secured copies of their own while he could also see Mr. Security from early in the day flipping through the pages in his post.
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There was no point in continuing to fixate on with those free copies, so he had to do some of his responsibilities and get updates from the first-floor team.
Like how his grandfather has said before and from what he has gathered from their progress reports, the copies are legitimately being shipped off to every direct market possible.
His grandfather even secured a full page of certain comic magazines to incentivize comic book nerds to know the up-and-coming title and comic book publishing company.
The newsstands were still stubborn with their views on non-CCA comic books though and rejected Dragonball outright.
Fortunately, old Creed was part of the comic book store owner association so his published titles had some perks.
One of the advertising strategies that he procured from the perks was to have a poster of Dragonball postered on entrances.
Throughout the North American sectors, Dragonball was evenly shared out with 100,000 copies in circulation.
As for the remaining 50,000 from the 150,000 printing plan, they are made available to comic book accepting countries.
Although the overseas market isn't exactly great, being able to secure Japan is already a win that he would give to his grandfather.
Alexander was already wondering how Toriyama would feel when he sees Dragonball and compared it with his Dragon Boy.
He had already checked with the legal consultant and the chances of Toriyama winning or applying for a lawsuit would be improbable.
They had already acquired all the necessary and specific image rights so any matter of close resemblance from Goku and Tangtong wouldn't be an attack point.
The Dragonball prototype, Dragon Boy manga, in the previous history wouldn't have that title but could only be a downgrade of an American comic book.
When it comes to having thick skin in matters of taking undeserved credit, Alexander didn't have any guilt as he just embodied the way of capitalists.
Even if Toriyama would be stubborn in his cause to take down Dragonball, it wasn't like he would be the only one to use the Chinese' Journey to the West as his inspiration.
As for the similarities in art design, Alexander's art version with the help of 45 art school specialists had already refined the design to be levels ahead of Toriyama's.
Its color dynamics are far ahead of what the black and white manga could compare to.
Akira Toriyama should just bottle his frustrations or Alexander would use all of his prepared methods to win out in the end.
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The hubbub, the excitement, and the gratification of having their work cut out for them were still carried on as they all went home.
The stayers and reluctant stayers should already be celebrating that they were part of something that has something to show for it.
They may even be bragging to the leavers about the milestone they achieved. Whether those people would regret their decision to leave or not, it is already a thing of the past as the future is still uncertain.
However, for Alexander who is somewhat certain of the future, the fog of tomorrow felt heavier than normal.
Alexander can't represent for his employees but he was in between excitement and doubts.
Even his worries about Toriyama's lawsuit and pushback from comic book competitors have been heightened by the sense of unease.
The chances of him succeeding are just about the same as his chances of failing. Even if Dragonball was a success in the past timeline, it isn't guaranteed that it would be a success in this altered timeline.
His flapping chaos butterfly wings had already turned things to whack and the appeal of Goku's adventures to the audience might have been changed because of it.
For Alexander whose confidence has been boosted due to his future-knowing advantage, the prospects of Dragonball's and Creed Comics' debut were snowballing his uncertainties.
He could liken the feeling to how a pass or fail to a major subject is determined by a single essay. His nerves would be tightened to full sensitivity until the results would finally be revealed.
As much as he is outwardly indifferent to all things, he is still human that could be tormented by the tensions of the unknown.
Since there was no getting around the stress, he could only bury himself in something he could be busy with before the fateful performance debut of Creed Comics' Dragonball.
Re-life was turning out to be as nerve-wracking as normal life had been and Alexander could only shake his head at that.