Joe Smith was a hippie.

At least, he thinks so.

"I'm Joe Smith, the last hippie in the American Commonwealth. ”

This was the first thing he said to Meng Qi, and it could also be regarded as introducing himself.

However, Meng Qi did not see how this white man, who may be less than thirty years old, looked like a hippie.

With his neat short hair and crisp suit and tie that hung down over his chest, he felt more like a lawyer or a Wall Street financial advisor.

"My name is Meng Qi, and you can call me Frank, Frank Miller, and that's the pen name I'm going to use. ”

Meng Qi maintained due social etiquette and introduced himself with a smile.

Of course, there is no cartoonist Frank Miller in this world who redefined Batman, and Meng Qi used this name as his pen name.

"You're not like a hippie. ”

After Meng Qi introduced himself, when he handed over the sketch, he finally couldn't help but say this.

"You don't look like Sunan's lover either. ”

Smith crossed his fingers and placed them under his nose, posing in the classic shape of Ikari Gentang in EVA, and looked at Meng Qi with burning eyes.

Meng Qi was stunned for a moment, thinking about what kind of mess this was unfolding, and replied: "I'm not her boyfriend." ”

"Really?"

"That's right. ”

"Then why did she ask me on the phone that I have to publish your comics?" Smith bit the word "must" hard.

This sentence is very informative. Sunan seems to have a considerable influence on Elk Books, and she also seems to value the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic.

Meng Qi used a second to consider the words, and then replied quickly: "Because my comics are very powerful." ”

Interesting answer, I hope your comics are just as interesting. "Joe Smith may be young and not a professional comic book publisher, but that doesn't mean he doesn't know anything about comics.

In fact, he is an avid comic book lover himself.

I am the last hippie of the American Federation, and comics are my utopia.

This is Joe Smith's self-introduction in the full version, and although there is a strong atmosphere of middle school, it can be seen from this that his love for comics is almost crazy.

Of course, his knowledge and cognition of comics has reached a very high level, and it is not much worse than some big editors and professional comic critics, so he has just turned a few pages of drawings when a voice in his heart is desperately shouting.

"I must sign it, no matter what, I must sign it!

Smith is pretty sure that in the twenty-nine years since he was born, he has never seen such a good comic book since he set foot in the publishing industry.

No, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is far beyond what "brilliant" can define.

Breaking through the conventional setting, ninjas, mutations, human-speaking turtles and mice, which is not the first time in the history of comics? Compared with this comic, the previous detectives and masked heroes have become ordinary reading materials.

In Smith's opinion, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" already has all the ingredients to become a classic, and as long as it is properly marketed, it is not impossible to grab a big piece of meat in today's crowded American comic market.

"Were all the publishers before me stupid? ”

Although the businessmen are unprofitable, although they have made up their minds to win "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", Joe Smith still suppressed his excitement, quickly glanced at Meng Qi, who had no expression, and then looked at his nose and nose, and continued to scroll through the comics quietly.

"I'm going to have this comic. ”

Smith shook the last page of the manuscript paper and said in the most bland tone he could.

Although Meng Qi has been very calm in the process of Smith's review, he is still a little apprehensive in his heart no matter what. Now hearing Smith's words, I also breathed a long sigh of relief.

"You have made a very wise decision, Mr. Smith. ”

Of course, Meng Qi's words are not compliments, but he believes that "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" can still sell well in this world where the comic industry is extremely deformed, and may even exceed the popularity on Earth.

"Now let's talk about the contract. The main play finally came, and Smith's tone seemed a little more cautious, "I can give you 8% of the royalties, and all copyrights except electronic rights are retained by you." What do you think?"

Smith's little abacus played loudly.

He confirmed that "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" has very good potential, but he still has reservations about the performance of these four turtles in animation, games and other fields, Meng Qi is a newcomer after all, in the animation industry where the competition is like a battlefield now, not to mention newcomers, most old cartoonists can't adapt their works into animations or games in their lifetimes.

Therefore, our dear hippie Mr. Smith does not think it is necessary to hold the rights to the game and anime adaptation of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in his own hands, but to keep the lucrative electronic copyright.

This was the first mistake Joe Smith made.

In the face of people and comics that are beyond common sense, if you make the first mistake, you will make mistakes one after another.

Meng Qi listened to Smith's words, with a smile on his face, "Don't be funny", and replied: "10% royalty, plus 50% electronic royalty." ”

Most of the comic books on the market are priced at $4.99 but cost no more than $3, and the 10% proposed by Meng Qi is only $0.5 per book, and the majority is still earned by publishers, middlemen and bookstores.

As for the electronic version, it does not cost anything, and can be completed by simple scanning and conversion.

So, the asking price is actually not too high.

"Hey, bro, your counteroffer is outrageous. Only then did Smith realize that the young Chinese man on the other side didn't seem to be so easy to be fooled, "30% for the electronic version and 8.5% for the physical book, which can't be higher." ”

"45% for the electronic version and 10% for the physical book, I can give you the rights to adapt the game. ”

"God, what's the use of me taking the goddamn game adaptation rights! I can agree with you about the royalties of the digital version, but definitely not the physical book. ”

"My plan is to make this comic a weekly, and from that point of view, I think the 10% royalty is even a bit low. ”

"Don't talk big, brother! Can you guarantee the quality? You're going to ruin a classic comic, I can't agree. ”

The production process of American comics is relatively complex, and it is basically once a month. But for Meng Qi, the speed of painting is not a problem at all.

"If the sales volume drops, your company has the right to reduce or deduct my royalties, and we can include this in the contract. ”

"As you wish. ”

Meng Qi's proposal would not cause any damage to Smith's interests, and after a short period of reflection, he agreed to pay Meng Qi's royalties at the rate of 10% for the physical book and 45% for the electronic version.

"What about the contract? Sign it now. The matter of comic publishing was finally settled, Meng Qi couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, "Don't you really want the game adaptation rights? Don't regret it then, if you increase the royalty of the physical book by another 3 percentage points, I can give you ......"

"Don't think about ......"

Joe Smith ended the meeting with a simple word.

……………………

……………………

After Meng Qi left, Joe Smith did not sit idle, but immediately contacted the printing house.

It's late September, and Smith is ready to get the inaugural issue of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the first week of October.

After arranging and taking care of a lot of things, and making sure that the work related to the publication of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" was foolproof, he walked to the floor-to-ceiling window with his coffee that had already cooled down.

After a few minutes, he pulled out his mobile phone and made a transatlantic call.

“…… I've already met him......"

“…… Probably not, trust my judgment, my dearest brother......"

“…… I'll help you keep an eye on him, but, man, that guy is really a genius!"