Chapter 46: Major Flap
The week passed by with worry on Alexander's part and a tiny bit of uprising on the comic book industry's part.
Saturday has come again and Sullivan dropped off his grandson as always on Creed Comics headquarters to make the boy handle its matters.
He had already given the 'bad news' of Son Goku's failure in the market.
It was unfortunate that the boy was already used to his pranking methodologies, skeptical of the 'bad news', and didn't show much expression on his face as usual.
Sullivan could say that the boy truly inherited their family's superior looks but carried it with a sense of mystery and charm from the indifferent and stable temperament.
What worries the old man from that habit is the fact that it was way too indifferent that the boy might have lost any semblance of emotion.
The recent and somewhat hidden stress about his comic book's performance helped ease Sullivan's worries about the emotionless theories.
He still had to pile the boy up with shocking pranks though to try and illicit the boy to have a normal boy's array of expressions.
Too bad that Sullivan's efforts would never come to fruition because Alexander already mistook his emotion therapy efforts as an elderly man's weird sense of humor.
Alexander has already cemented that elderly mischief trait within the 47 years of his soul's existence.
Justifying those pranks as expression therapy probably won't change anything anyway.
He would always be the mysteriously reclusive and stoically handsome Alexander that Silicone Valley neighbors and Silicon Valley co-workers know him to be.
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After getting out of the car and heading to the building, Alexander gave a cursory greeting to Mr. Security and wanted to get to the facts himself.
Sullivan's prank or (expression therapy) was thus busted as usual and the workers at Creed Comics' first floor can attest to it.
Alexander felt a massive burden lifted off from him as he heard the marketing correspondent give him the details of Dragonball's performance.
10,000 units have been sold so far since the day of release, it is only a fraction of the total printed units but a good start for the succeeding months that it would be on store shelves.
The impressiveness of such number would be elevated when factoring in its lack of newsstand distribution. If it had been, then the numbers would have ballooned even more.
Too bad that it is something that can't be worked around on so they had to make do with what they had.
They had to make it a goal to make the regular clients of comic book stores become their title's regular clients.
When the Dragonball gain accumulated traction from the next issues, the remaining units would eventually be consumed and reach the 'sold out' mark.
It is in the virtue of long-term sales that Creed Comics would profit and carve out the market share.
Those are matters of tomorrow though as Alexander was just thankful that he didn't fall for the 'bad news' that his mischievous grandfather had given him.
The current traction and the projected trajectories are probably catching the attention of competitors already so there was no need for Alexander to continue drowning in troubled thoughts.
He gave his orders to the first-floor people after their congratulatory mood so that their smugness wouldn't mess up the next comic title to be released.
Old Creed had already given these marketers his connections and contacts, so they were now in charge of delegating the printing and distribution work.
Alexander wanted to leave them in tiptop mentality before he went up to the second floor.
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The weekend was meant for his little boss duties and everything contained on the upper floor is his advantage to always be comic issues ahead.
If Creed Comics would release new issues every other week, then Alexander's stockpile at the moment had already filled the Dragonball quota of four months.
He just needed to divert his resources more on the other comic titles and he needed the second-floor team's assistance to make that happen.
Like the first floor, it was celebratory after they got to know the market data in a much earlier time than him.
Unfortunately, he had to cut off their share of the sales glory as a lot of unfinished projects need finishing.
They still haven't finished coloring his pre-prepared issues and Alexander wanted to be done with that so that they can catch up with his monstrous progress.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was the perfect training title for these people and freeing their schedule from their unfinished tasks is of top priority.
When his participation would become editorially minimal is the time that the self-sufficiency of the company is truly achieved.
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The little boss day of Saturday had played out in the same way as it had been the first time.
However, it was only now that the comic artist employees realized that their little boss had finished inking another issue of ThunderCats while simultaneously guiding them occasionally throughout the day.
When they compared Alexander's capabilities to their group's effort, it only made them depressed and their little boss worship was pushed to another level.
They still haven't even finished coloring and he has already given them another pending issue to work on.
They vowed to reach his level at some point in their career. It was unfortunate that their goals are unlikely to happen though.
Alexander's combination advantage is way too special of a circumstance to replicate.
His versatile type of Kim Jung Gi's level of skill was due to his art inclinations that were honed throughout his whole life ever since the death of his mother.
Having an enhanced memory with a stockpile of his lifetime's entertainment could not be accessed without the chaos butterfly achievement and a brain that has been death momented twice.
It could probably be done though if one has divination skills that are sanctioned by natural order and an eidetic memory to jumble through those future visions.
Although his 9-year-old body's youthful drive of energy and dexterity is probably not something that can stump his grown-up employees, there is still something innately special in being a child that gave Alexander an edge over the others.
Perhaps a child's complexities are something that even his adult soul has already missed out on but is subconsciously triggering.
Even if Alexander knew the grim truth of their aspirations to catch up to him, he still wouldn't expose that truth as their enthusiasm only serve to help his comic-making cause.
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All in all, Sullivan was pranking as usual but failed once again whilst Creed Comics was on its way to long-term sustainability as progress was being shown as the every workdays passes.
The artsy employees hope to reach their little boss' attainments while Alexander would always be far ahead of them.
Everything was stable as usual on Alexander's proximity but his reaches have already spread far.
Dragonball was his first major butterfly flap to truly be distributed on the world. Although it was just to a niche of nerds, its influence is bound to continue spreading.
Comic book enthusiasts were just the first afflictees as his re-life and its future achievements are still scheduled to stackingly impact the world.