Episode 23: Starting a Four-Panel Comic from Zero (3)
One day, the Publishing Guild introduced a system for serializing four-panel comics.
The first people to notice the news were the small number of readers who had already been reading The Moon, the newspaper published by the Publishing Guild.
“Hm? There’s something added at the end of the paper?”
“A four-panel comic serialization scheduled? A dedicated page where comics will be serialized is going to be added here from now on? What on earth does that mean?”
“They’re saying it’s some new culture? So what exactly is this comic thing supposed to be? There isn’t a single line of explanation.”
Naturally, the news of the comic serialization began to spread little by little by word of mouth from those who had no idea what it meant.
People grew curious as to what the Publishing Guild was suddenly up to.
And even before the comic properly began serialization, newspaper sales started to rise.
“I don’t know what a comic is.
But if they’re advertising it on this scale, I don’t think it’s going to be anything ordinary.”
“Considering Author Wei’s name is proudly attached to it as well, it definitely looks like something incredible is about to come out.”
“Damn it! They dangled Author Wei’s name as bait! Now I have no choice but to get my hopes up again!”
If it had been the usual kind of promotion announcing that a new book by Author Wei would be published,
people would have cheered, but it would not have become this much of a hot topic.
But from the use of the word serialization, it did not seem like they were announcing the publication of a completed book.
It carried the nuance of a work being printed in the newspaper.
And they were not even promoting it normally.
Several days before the serialization began, they added an extra page and counted down the D-days one by one, announcing that it was “coming soon.”
“Ah, what the hell is coming?!”
“Stop frustrating us and just reveal it already!”
“One of the two ways to annoy people the most is to start telling them news and then stop.”
There was no way the people’s curiosity and speculation would not swell.
“Could this be that they’re going to serialize the next volume of [The Genius Mage of the Slums] in the newspaper?”
“After publishing the other books just fine until now, why would they bother?”
“They split it into volumes because it was going to be a long-running series.
They could split it up as a newspaper serialization altogether!”
“That… makes sense!”
Some thought that Author Wei’s next volume would be serialized in the newspaper.
“No, you idiots! They said what’s being serialized is a new culture called comics! Not a novel that was already released!”
“So do you know what this comic thing is, then?
It could just mean a slightly different or more advanced form of novel!”
“Huh? Is that so?”
Some denied that, only to be denied in turn.
It was truly a barrage of deductions fired in every direction!
It could be said that Wade and the Publishing Guild had certainly succeeded in drawing attention.
And so, the speculation and debate over the identity of the comic that had once again thrown the kingdom into an uproar
continued without ending, even up to the very day the Publishing Guild had announced as the start of serialization.
—A new culture brought to you by Author Wei!
The four-panel comic [Omniscient Backstage Viewpoint] begins serialization with a bang!—
“It finally crawled out! Let’s hurry up and go see it!”
“After making us wait this long, it had better not be nothing special!
If it is, I’ll immediately mobilize every member of our discussion group and send 5,700 letters of protest to the Publishing Guild!”
“So what exactly is a comic?!”
“The contents of the newspaper? Is that important right now?! You can read that stuff later!”
At last, on the day the serialization began.
In front of the Publishing Guild, where the line stretched long like clouds, everyone’s anticipation and curiosity had reached their limit.
They skipped right past the information that could be called the essence of a newspaper, and the moment they looked at the extra page spread open—
“???”
“W-what is this?! It’s a picture, but it isn’t a picture?”
“The people inside the picture are talking…?”
All of the people’s various clumsy guesses, along with their composure, were utterly shattered without leaving even a fragment behind.
That was only natural, because the most they had imagined was a slightly unusual novel.
“But this is on the level of expressing writing entirely through pictures! You’re telling me something like this is possible?”
“It’s completely different from the pictures I know! It really feels like the people inside the pictures are moving around, talking, and living!”
Unlike ordinary paintings, which considered honest, realistic depiction to be a virtue, the figures were drawn in a slightly exaggerated, beautiful style.
But because of that, they felt all the more mysterious.
And that mysterious quality removed the sense of realism, allowing people to read the comic without any repulsion like the uncanny valley.
The people in the pictures spoke through speech bubbles, showing lively gestures and vivid emotional expressions.
And as the story continued each time their eyes moved down one square panel, then over to the side—
“Ooh! I can read it! I’m reading it! Why is this so easy to read? Has magic been cast on my eyes?”
“No one even told me how, but it just reads so smoothly, and it’s so easy to grasp the story!”
“To think that a small amount of text and different pictures could show this level of communication and continuity.
So there really was a reason they were confident enough to call it a new culture.”
Though they were clearly individual pictures divided into panels, their minds corrected them as though they were connected into a single scene, making them easy to read.
It felt as though they had unknowingly fallen under an illusion spell.
“Huh? I thought the people drawn here looked familiar. Aren’t they all characters from Author Wei’s previous works?!”
“Really? Oh, then is that what the title [Omniscient Backstage Viewpoint] means?
It’s showing what they’re like backstage after the stage called the book has ended!”
“I think you’re right.
Since it deals with the story after the main plot, there’s a recommendation written here saying it’s more fun if you read the previous works first.”
And those moving pictures featured characters from his previous works who were extremely familiar!
They had enjoyed those stories, applauded happily at their happy endings, and yet inwardly felt sad to part with them and wanted to see them again.
Now those very characters were laughing and chatting, showing their everyday lives after the main story.
Naturally, the mouths of those who saw it curved into warm smiles, and satisfied sighs escaped them.
The sight looked so enjoyable and happy that—
“Why are only you looking! Why are only you looking! Why are only you looking!!”
“What on earth did you see to make such a fuss?
Show me what you saw as well!”
“No! Don’t show me!
I’m going to take it home and savor it slowly and calmly!”
“Kraaagh! Don’t pour advance information into my head!!”
Those who had not yet bought the newspaper and were still standing in line grew so anxious that they groaned, while some even asked what on earth was going on.
On the other hand, some people fought back, telling them not to spoil things where everyone could see and hear.
And the chaos created by all those different kinds of people mixed together only began to accelerate as time went on.
“Hm? There’s a warning note at the end?
Let’s see… No! Starting with the next installment, only four pages will be printed?!”
“What?! Why is it getting so short?!
I read through twenty-five pages in an instant, and they’re cutting it down to less than a quarter of that?!”
“Damn it! How are we supposed to wait after reading only that?!
Are they trying to kill us by leaving us hungry for more?!”
It was because the people who were starting to finish the first chapter were realizing the terrifying aspect of comic serialization.
Those who had read the comic now had to live in the pain of waiting from this point onward.
“You madmen! Are you saying you’re going to chop it up and sell it?”
“You’re committing such a vicious act just to sell newspapers?!”
“If you don’t release the next chapter right now or increase the number of pages, I’ll take a dump in front of the Publishing Guild!!”
“No, why do you people keep doing that in front of our Publishing Guild?!”
And they also realized that once they read it, they would not be able to endure it and would have to keep buying the newspaper to read more.
They had fallen into the Publishing Guild’s trap.
Then why not simply stop reading and wait until later, when it would supposedly be collected and released as a book, and read it all at once?
Even priests would not be able to endure such a dreadful wait.
“What wicked commercial tactics! This is surely an evil deed that even the Goddess will not forgive!”
In fact, there were even a few priests mixed in among the people getting angry over there.
And so, on one side, people raged.
On another side, those who had not yet read it closed their eyes and covered their ears to avoid being spoiled, creating a hellish scene where they looked ready to die of frustration.
“Boo! The Publishing Guild must wake up!”
“Stop chasing money and obediently guarantee the comic’s page count!”
“I don’t know what it is, but print lots and lots of newspapers so I can read it already!”
Those who had read it, and those who were waiting.
For now, they all began cursing the Publishing Guild that was right in front of them.
“No… This isn’t our fault, is it?!
It’s just that Author Wei said more than four pages would be difficult…”
“Shh! Shut up and just do your work.
Do you think those people are in any state to listen if you explain the truth to them right now?
It won’t work anyway, so don’t provoke them for no reason.”
“And what if we explain honestly, and those curses really shift over to Author Wei?
If Author Wei gets angry after being cursed and says he’s stopping the serialization, can you handle those people?
If they really storm into the Publishing Guild, will you take responsibility?”
“…I’ll just work hard.”
From the Publishing Guild’s perspective, being cursed in his stead was utterly unfair.
But they cleanly acknowledged that it was impossible to persuade the furious public.
In the end, they had no choice but to decide to explain properly later and quietly do their work.
Still, the fortunate thing was
that the newspaper was selling extremely well, enough to cause such an uproar.
So well that even though they were being unfairly cursed and had been working overtime for days, the smiles did not leave their faces.
And so, the first comic in this world, jointly dropped by Wade and Aria,
fulfilled its duty and threw the kingdom into an uproar once again.