Chapter 53: Piracy Issues
2023-05-02 Author: Yue Shang Xintou
Of course, not all news related to Messenger Comics was good.
As Messenger Comics grew in popularity, Jack had already discovered pirated copies of the comic in some neighborhoods.
Meanwhile, Harry discovered even more traces of piracy in some 'Hoovervilles'.
These pirated Messenger Comics were even cruder in terms of printing than the original versions. Some pirates, to cut costs, even reverted the originally colored Messenger Comics to black-and-white.
Such pirated printing compressed the comic's cost to an extremely low level.
This gave a new option to readers who originally couldn't afford or were reluctant to buy the color edition of Messenger Comics.
"Can't they be caught?"
Inside the Messenger Newspaper Agency, Little John asked, looking at the crude black-and-white pirated Messenger Comics before him.
"It's difficult." Shaking his head, Harry, as a publisher, clearly understood the ins and outs of the situation. "The partners these publishers choose are basically small factories. As long as they're paid, they'll print anything. The factories simply don't care what impact the content they print will cause…"
Harry was deeply familiar with this issue.
After all, not long ago, the vulgar magazines printed by his Publishing House were precisely this type of publication.
"What about reporting to the police?"
"The police won't bother with these matters either."
Upon hearing Little John mention the police, a dismissive look appeared on Harry's face. "Unless you pay them to handle it, these greedy bloodsuckers won't pay attention to your pleas for help. Even if you're robbed right in front of them, these guys will just sit indifferently in their police car and watch the incident unfold. They might even take a cut from the robbery later."
"Lawyers would be happy for us to sue the pirates, but unfortunately, even if we win, they can't afford the compensation, and we'd end up paying a hefty sum in legal fees instead."
In an era with undeveloped technology like The Great Depression, catching these pirates was clearly not a simple matter.
It would be time-consuming and exhausting, and the results might not even be satisfactory.
"So, that's all we can do?"
After hearing Harry's answer, Little John was visibly disappointed.
"Looking at it from another perspective, the appearance of pirated copies precisely proves the popularity of Messenger Comics."
Withdrawing his gaze from the Faith counter, Colin's reaction wasn't as discouraged as Little John and the others.
At least, judging by the numbers in the Faith column, the sales of Messenger Comics hadn't been affected by the piracy incident. Colin even speculated that a small portion of the Faith he acquired might have come from pirated copies of Messenger Comics.
Although, financially, these pirated black-and-white Messenger Comics caused a certain degree of loss to the Newspaper Agency.
But at least in terms of Faith, he still gained something.
It wasn't a complete loss.
Watching the constantly growing numbers on the Faith counter, Colin silently comforted himself.
...
"Perhaps, you should take a look at this…"
Anti-World, Manhattan, 890 Fifth Avenue.
Inside the Dark Avengers' secret base, accompanied by Tony's slightly frivolous voice.
On the control console in front of Howard, a snippet of surveillance footage began to play.
"…The 32nd experiment… beginning… Subject's physical characteristics stable, commencing injection of 'combustion'…"
On the screen, a figure in a white sterile suit could be seen standing in front of the operating table, making a report to the surveillance camera. The figure picked up a syringe and injected it into the arm of the man on the operating table. Immediately afterwards, the man on the operating table let out a painful roar, and his entire body began to burn.
"The 62nd experiment, subject…"
There were three such segments of surveillance footage in total.
Tony played them in sequence, waiting until the last segment of surveillance footage finished playing.
It was only then that Tony continued, looking at the frozen image of the experiment: "These are the data recovered from Hydra's biological research laboratory at Fort Detrick during a previous operation. Most of the data was destroyed; I only managed to restore a small portion of it, which shows that Hydra conducted some kind of secret human experiment at Fort Detrick."
"Can the purpose of this experiment be confirmed?"
Howard withdrew his gaze from the burning experimental subject on the video and inquired of Tony.
"Currently, it's still unknown…"
"However, in the restored data, I found an interesting name—Phineas Horton."
"Phineas Horton?"
Hearing the name, the mechanical eye in Howard's eye socket rotated slightly, clearly indicating some familiarity with the name.
"Dr. Phineas Horton showed exceptional performance in the field of Synthezoid research. During World War II, he created the world's first Synthezoid—Human Torch. As long as it came into contact with oxygen, its entire body would burn, creating intense flames."
Standing before the control console, Howard's eyes flickered slightly upon hearing Tony utter the word 'Synthezoid'.
"At the time, the Synthezoid experiment led by Dr. Phineas Horton triggered public fear, with people believing his actions were a blasphemy against God's authority. This fear was further intensified, especially after the Human Torch demonstrated its powers of combustion."
"Under social pressure, Dr. Phineas Horton was forced to deal with the Human Torch. On the surface, he publicly announced that he had buried the Human Torch in cement. However, he secretly handed it over to The Military for protection. Later, with the outbreak of World War II, the Human Torch was chosen by The Military at the time to serve as a member of the Invaders Squad, actively fighting alongside Captain America on the battlefields of World War II…"
As Tony described, an old photograph appeared on the control console's screen.
In the photograph, one could faintly see the deceased Captain America, Steve Rogers, holding his shield, posing alongside the other members of the Invaders Squad.
To Captain America's left stood a grim-faced figure dressed in a red bodysuit.
Evidently, this was the Synthezoid created by Dr. Phineas Horton, the Human Torch.
Standing before the control console.
Howard's gaze swept across the familiar yet unfamiliar faces in the photograph, lingering on a blurry face behind Captain America. The expression on his cold, cybernetically modified face was somewhat lost in thought.
After a long while, he reined in his emotions and continued to inquire of Tony in a hoarse voice.
"What happened after that? I need to know the intelligence regarding Dr. Phineas Horton after he created the Synthezoid Human Torch."
Thanks to user 20210126142303372 for the 100 Qidian Coin reward.
(end of chapter)