Chapter 63: Disney

Chapter 63: Disney

Colin took some careful consideration in the creation of Toyman, as he is Superman's regular adversary. However, due to the limitations of newspaper serialization, it was not possible to introduce Toyman's origin story within the plot.

During this period of comics, there weren't many decent origin stories in general. Even Superman, as the protagonist of the comic, had an incomplete origin from Krypton, with only a few panels briefly touching upon it.

Readers didn't seem to mind this and were more interested in Superman's battles against evil villains, saving the world, and his romantic storyline with Lois Lane in Metropolis.

In a way, the readers during the Great Depression were the best target audience for comics. They hadn't been exposed to the numerous comics of later years and didn't have preconceived notions.

Everything about "Superman" was filled with novelty and allure for them.

Just like the design of Toyman in the comics, such a character would only be considered a third-rate villain in later years. The concept of a scientist-villain like this would became quite common.

However, for the readers of this era, the character of Toyman was particularly intriguing.

With the introduction of new villains, "The Daily Messenger" broke its sales records once again.

In fact, this record was continuously being broken. To keep up with the increasing demand for "The Daily Messenger," Colin had already purchased printing machines from more than one bankrupt newspaper company. However, the supply of "The Daily Messenger" still couldn't meet the demand, and readers had complained about it more than once.

"Why can't I get 'The Daily Messenger' in my neighborhood?"

"The greatest comic in the world. I hope 'The Daily Messenger' keeps serializing forever..."

"...To see toys come to life, it's my childhood dream!"

"When I saw Toyman controlling an army of toys in Metropolis, even though I knew Superman was unbeatable, I couldn't help but feel a chill down my spine."

"Mickey, I saw the shadow of Mickey Mouse in Toyman's army of toys. I was completely stunned when I realized it because I have an identical Mickey Mouse doll at home!"

Indeed, in the latest issue of "Superman" comic, Colin also added a little Easter egg. In Toyman's army of toys, there was a doll that closely resembled Mickey Mouse, holding a ship's wheel, which unmistakably recreated Mickey's classic image from "Steamboat Willie."

The inspiration for this cameo appearance came from an impromptu drawing Colin made after reading a newspaper article about Disney.

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Los Angeles, Walt Disney Studios.

"Hey, Walt, maybe you should take a look at this."

Roy Disney walked into the studio's workshop holding a newspaper.

Inside the workshop, Walt Disney was experimenting with the latest film shooting technology developed by Technicolor. He placed a black and white still frame of Mickey Mouse animation in the center of the machine and gradually added color through the three-color printing technique.

Although in previous interviews, Roy Disney had claimed that Disney would produce the world's first color animated film, in reality, the world's first color animated film had already appeared in 1916. It was distributed by Paramount Pictures and produced by the Bray Studios. The film was titled "Feline Follies" and was created using the Brewster natural-color process.

However, due to technological limitations and cost considerations, after the release of "Feline Follies," there was a long period without further experiments with color animation.

It wasn't until 1930 when Universal Pictures released "King of Jazz" that Walter Lantz's color animation segments were interspersed in the film. At that time, the animation used the two-color process. It wasn't until 1932, two years after the release of "King of Jazz," that the animation technique progressed from the two-color process to the three-color printing technology, which Walt Disney then applied to animation production.

In the dimly lit workshop, Walt stopped his work upon hearing his brother Roy's voice and turned his head.

"What is it this time? Did you bring me the latest interview from the newspaper, or you are here for the completion date of 'Silly Symphony'? If it's the latter, it might take a few more days, maybe even a week or so..."

"A week? Didn't you tell me earlier that Episode 28, 'Just Dogs,' was almost done?" Roy responded to Walt's question, his brow furrowing.

"It's almost done, but there's still a little bit left that will take another week to finish."

"Why can't you stick to the plan, Walt?"

Faced with his brother's explanation, Roy felt his own emotions rise. Walt Disney was undoubtedly a genius when it came to animation, but his stubbornness in certain aspects often gave Roy, as the head of the studio, headaches.

"Besides that, you still haven't told me the reason for coming to the studio," Walt said, sensing his brother's rising anger. In order to avoid further nagging, he decided to ask directly.

"It's a newspaper from New York."

As Roy answered Walt's question, he had to suppress his own emotions and handed the newspaper to his younger brother.

"It seems that it's in high demand in New York, and if it weren't for the fact that the content serialized in the newspaper happens to be related to us, they wouldn't have sent it to us."

New York.

At the mention of New York from his brother Roy, Walt couldn't help but furrow his brow, as some unpleasant memories resurfaced in his mind.

Speaking of which, the birth of Mickey Mouse was influenced by that trip to New York.

In 1927, the Walt Disney Studios produced the "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit" series of animations, which received a good response upon release. In February 1928, Walt Disney and his wife went to New York to meet with their distributor at the time, Charles Mintz, to discuss contract renewal.

Walt's original intention was to negotiate a higher price, but Mintz demanded a lower price and informed Walt that he had already bought off most of the production staff of the "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit" series. According to the contract, Mintz owned the rights to the series, and if Walt didn't agree to the price reduction, Mintz could continue producing "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit" himself.

During that trip to New York, Walt not only lost the rights to "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit" but also had most of his animation staff poached.

This was undoubtedly a huge blow to the Walt Disney Studios.

On the train back to Hollywood, a dejected Walt Disney was struck by inspiration and created a cartoon character based on a mouse. Later, based on his wife's suggestion, Walt changed the name of this cartoon character to Mickey.

From that point on, Mickey Mouse became the symbol of the Walt Disney Studios.

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