Mei Man: I drew Superman during the Great Depression

Chapter 23 Detective Comics
In this era, the media is the real 'uncrowned king'.

Knowing this, Colin's desire to reverse the direction of the "Courier" became stronger.

pat, pat...

As noon approached, the sound of old John knocking on the typesetting gradually became weaker.

I moved my sore shoulders, fixed the last row of content, and double-checked whether there were any mistakes in the layout.Old John breathed a sigh of relief, got up and left from the typesetting machine.

On the side, Little John, who was already hungry, took out the lunch he had prepared in advance.

Affected by the snowy weather, he was unable to go out to collect materials, so he had to stay in the newspaper office to help Old John.

Cut the pink bread into slices with a knife, spread a small amount of peanut butter on it, and serve it with coffee brewed in hot water. A simple staff meal is complete.

"Boss, your lunch."

Single out the loaf of bread with the most peanut butter spread, and Little John delivers it to the desk with the coffee.

"Thank you."

Looking down at the lunch Little John brought, Colin casually thanked him.

Put down the old newspaper in your hand, open the drawer, take out a can of salad with only one-third of it left, open it, and pour half of the amount on the plate, so that the whole lunch becomes full of meat and vegetables There is bread.

Sighing silently, he stuffed the bread into his mouth.

The taste of the pink bread slices is very strange, with a rustling and delicate feeling, and occasionally you can taste a little aroma of beans or grains, but after repeated chewing, you can taste a little smell of internal organs. Too much peanut butter can't hide the taste.

A small piece of bread can produce such a responsible and weird taste, which is naturally closely related to its raw materials.

Pork Liver Bread, or Pork Liver Roll, Pork Liver Cake.

It is a kind of meat bread made by mashing pork liver, adding beans, oats, tomato paste and other auxiliary materials, and baking it into a long loaf of bread. It is also what Ke Lin said, the meat in lunch one of the sources.

During the Great Depression, the price of offal was cheap, and pork liver bread became the first choice on the table for families who could not afford pork, beef, chicken and other ordinary meats.

At the same time, it has also become one of the standard side dishes of the Messenger newspaper's lunch 'cooking'.

Pinching his nose, he stuffed the remaining pork liver bread into his mouth, and swallowed it with the help of coffee. Colin shuddered uncontrollably as he recalled the strange taste of the bread.

"Perhaps, Old John should remove the pork liver bread from the lunch list. This thing is a proper dark dish."

With a bitter face, he looked at Old John and his son in the newspaper office.

The two of them ate the bread calmly, and there was nothing unusual on their faces.

For people living in the Great Depression, being able to fill their stomachs is already the most important thing. As for the taste and taste, that is something only rich people will consider.

While eating the pork liver bread, Little John spread out the newspaper and flipped through it to find the part he was thinking about, and immediately put his full attention into it.

The fifteen-minute lunch time seemed extremely long to Colin.

After finishing the last sip of coffee in the cup, he tidied up the pitiful tableware on the table, got up and put the plate on the side of the stove, and the rest was left to Little John.

One good thing about being a boss is that you don't need to worry about trivial matters.

Especially during the Great Depression, workers will become extraordinarily diligent, fearing that their own negligence will lose valuable job opportunities.

Reducing excesses was a common practice among workers during the Great Depression, who learned to accept low-paying and unfair jobs in order to preserve vital sources of income.

At the same time, the boss will often remind the workers that if they slack off, there are many people willing to take their place.

If it weren't for the bad economy, maybe the Great Depression would become the era that all capitalists yearn for.

Shaking his head, he swept away the inexplicable thoughts in his mind.

Lifting the coffee pot on the stove to refill the empty cup, Colin passed the place where Old John and the two were holding the coffee in one hand, and his gaze inadvertently turned to the contents of the newspaper.

What Little John read was not the news reports he thought, but a series of comic strips with the characteristics of the times.

Swallowing the last piece of pork liver bread in his mouth, Colin watched as Colin stopped behind Little John. Old John blinked his eyes behind the brass presbyopic glasses, and opened his mouth to remind him.

"Shh."

Stretching out his index finger and putting it on his mouth, preventing Old John from reminding him, Colin looked at the cartoon in Little John's hand.

The content of the comic is not complicated, it mainly tells a detective story of fighting against evil.

The protagonist is equipped with standard private detective equipment, and shoots at the criminals if there is any disagreement, which is obviously different from the traditional image of a detective who relies on intelligence to catch and solve crimes.

"What cartoon is this?"

After roughly scanning the storyline of the comic strip, an idea suddenly flashed in Colin's mind, and he quickly asked Little John.

"'Dick Tracy'..."

When hearing the inquiry from behind, Little John subconsciously replied.

Immediately afterwards, he reacted belatedly, looked up at the old John who was shaking his head towards him, turned his head stiffly to look at Colin behind him, and said with a bewildered face: "... Hug, sorry, Boss, I didn't intend to see... I didn't know you were here..."

"Take it easy, it's lunch break."

Looking at the bewildered little John in front of him, Colin offered a word of comfort, pointed at the newspaper crumpled in his hand due to nervousness, and continued to ask: "I'm just a little curious about the comics you read, can you tell me this? What comic is it?"

Hearing that Colin had no intention of pursuing himself in this matter, Little John couldn't help but heaved a sigh of relief, and at the same time, Old John who was on the other side couldn't help letting go of his original concerns.

Following the direction that Colin pointed, he glanced at the wrinkled newspaper in his hand, Little John quickly spread it out and said, "It's "Dick Tracy", this is a detective serial that started serialization in newspapers recently. A comic about the main character, Dick Tracy, fighting criminals to bring them to justice..."

"Serial comics."

Repeating the sentence in his mouth, Ke Lin looked at the black and white comics printed in the newspaper, and asked the most important and crucial question in his heart.

"So, is 'Dick Tracy' popular?"

"this?"

Facing Colin's question, Little John glanced down at the cartoon protagonist in the newspaper, and then replied in an uncertain tone.

"It should be popular, otherwise "Dick Tracy" wouldn't have been serialized in the newspaper..."

(End of this chapter)