Chapter 47: Topic-Worthy
Creed Comics went on as usual and as much as the employees and projects have stabilized themselves, the same can't be said with the direct market.
Dragonball became a popular topic and a comic title to grab from the shelves.
Some skeptical people didn't know why the tailed Son Goku was charismatic enough to be sold.
The weird boy isn't even a superhero as he just uses his martial arts to chop up wood or fight monstrous fish to eat.
What everyone can agree on is the fact that the art was way too pleasing and it is a unique concept that they had never encountered before.
No one bothered to refute or answer the skeptics though as it still isn't worthy to debate on as the story still hasn't been expanded.
Besides, even the skeptics were buying as anything weird is worth buying for its quirkiness because it might be an investment when comic book trading increases its exchange price.
Newsstand regulars also happen to hear the direct market craze for something that wasn't made available for newsstands and took their own little trip to where one could procure 'Son Goku'.
The non-CCA standard of the book troubled them but when they checked that nothing too troubling was shown they still bought it. Nothing yet at least for the first issue.
It has to be said that most newsstand buyers are parents who want to buy something to busy their clamoring children while they were paying for their daily newspaper.
When those newsstand buyers that took a stroll to the direct market would give their recommendations to those parents, the circle of Dragonball seekers would expand.
CCA approved or not, the parents who noticed the fervor for the talked about comic book followed the trend and became part of a herd that bought along with the crowd.
When those parents would have the occasional neighbor gathering and talk about something to buy for their children, Son Goku would be recommended again for the Dragonball influence to truly encroach on households.
The attention on the comic book ballooned further when magazines and notable publications made some detailed reporting on the comic craze of recent days.
It was all publicity that was welcomed by Creed Comics. Unlike the magazine advertisement that Sullivan paid for earlier, the publication people that printed those reports seem to have done it for free.
Since Son Goku was topic-worthy, they took that scoop and got an easy article for it.
Their articles would serve to be seen by mainstream society and Dragonball's societal expansion came underway.
Literature critics and noted comic book connoisseurs would notice and publish their reviews of the wild comic book that seems to have come from nowhere.
It wouldn't stagnate that way for long as television reporting usually correlates popular topics in newspapers and translate it into broadcasting form.
By the days that television reporters have tiny segments talk about how a weird new comic book is selling well on the market, it would then mark Dragonball's overall expansion.
Even radio broadcast would follow suit with the trend.
Through those unplanned but frequent television and radio reports, everyone who could have been interested would be reached one way or another.
Being talked about on television and radios would bolster direct market-goers, newsstand recommendations, news articles, and neighborhood back and forths.
Sales and attention would spike on all corners.
These sales that are driven by societal topic worthiness was the reason why DC and Marvel became political and laced with propaganda that it had become.
Superman and Captain America would not sell well unless they symbolize the personification of American will during times of war.
When that symbolism would fade due to the lack of wars and conflict, the Big Two would then be obsessed by finding topic-worthiness and retcon everything at frequent intervals to find the perfect version of a superhero that would be topic-worthy.
Every version must remain topic worthy and its continued churn of issues would depend on this.
Even as Creed Comics got sales through the topic-worthy method, Alexander would never compromise the stories just because it needs to be relevant.
The story would remain and end as intended regardless of its decline in popularity.
While Japan's Weekly Shonen Jump also follows a popularity trend, they were much more loyal and stuck to the story which was better than the Big Two's endless fanfic fare due to its many writers and iterations.
In any case, Creed Comics showcased its first title spectacularly and gained the attention of comic book enthusiasts and comic book publishing competitors alike.
If any of them thought that this new publishing company's success could be attributed to beginner's luck and would still fall to the same pitfalls as the rest of the comic book industry, then they might have to rethink that as everything was just getting started.
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After an entire week since Dragonball's debut, sales were nearing the 50,000 mark and rising.
Everyone believed that the Son Goku comic craze would eventually die down since new comic releases were coming up.
A new comic from this new batch should help divert the public's attention away from last week's sales champion.
Within everyone's expectations, the Son Goku craze was being overtaken and a preliminary sales champion is about to make its mark.
DC and Marvel should be relieved but insider news that reached them told otherwise. It wasn't going as their expectations intended it to be.
Still within but somewhat outside of everyone's expectation, a title from this week's new batch was becoming a best seller and followed the trend of Dragonball no. 1.
Buyers lined up to the cashiers and the common issue among their purchases is Creed Comics.
Those who had no clue thought they were just late buyers of Dragonball but when they strolled the Creed Comics shelves to find out what the fuss is all about, they were surprised to see another visually appealing cover art.
Beside martial posed Goku covers, a new innovative issue had debuted and it held four weird-looking figures that are posing in a cool and intimidating manner.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was lettered creatively and 'Created by Alexander Creed' was ever-present underneath it.
The new CC logo and the nerds grabbing hold of available copies to read in fervor were reminiscent of last week's Son Goku comic craze.
This time the issue title is 'The Turtles' Origin is Untold' and everyone was already dubbing this phenomenon as Turtles' Origin comic craze.
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle buying and reading became repeated in every comic book direct market it was made available to.
The Big Two was already predicting the new threat's sales trajectory and Sullivan was busy answering his telephone to hear his peers from the store owner group give him envious congratulations.
Another societal trend is starting and the follow-up to Dragonball was making its way to the comic book industry ladders.
Creed Comic's success happened for the second time and it was somewhat contrary to everyone's expectations once again.
A comic book became topic-worthy once again as slowpoke turtles became mutated and are about to fight crime in New York.