Before the release of "The King of Painting", Kang Jianfei did not deliberately promote it, and his influence in the minds of comic fans was far less than that of Shangguan Xiaobao.

As a daily comic book newspaper, "The King of Paintings" only sold more than 8,000 copies on the first day of its release. This data is only a fraction of Huang Yulang's "Life Daily", but the most newly published magazine, selling more than 8,000 copies on the first day is already very rare, more than many doll newspapers that have been running for several years, mainly thanks to the strength of comic book publishers.

In addition to relying on the distribution ability of Tongde Book and Newspaper, "The King of Paintings" relied on the distribution channels of "Oriental Daily", so that the first issue was rolled out in the streets and alleys of Hong Kong.

If there is really publicity, it is that "Oriental Daily" left a line of small words at the end of "Turning Clouds and Rain" serialized on the first day: Kang Jianfei's fantasy masterpiece "Ethereal Journey" is about to come out, please pay attention to tomorrow's doll newspaper "Painting King".

This piece of news did not attract much attention on the first day, so that Huang Yulang was completely unaware of it, but loyal readers of "Ethereal Journey" rushed to tell him.

On the day of the inaugural issue of "The King of Paintings", many readers who bought "Oriental Daily" would ask in passing: Is there any "King of Paintings" for sale here?

Of the more than 8,000 copies sold in the first issue of "The Painting King", at least 5,000 copies were bought by fans of the novel "Ethereal Journey".

……

St. Stephen's Church Secondary School, Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong.

Zhou Huimin, who was wearing a school uniform, got off the bus, merged into the flow of people and walked into the gate of the school, but was chased by her friend Yaqin before she reached the classroom.

The trio who used to listen to Anita Mui's "Song of a Thousand Thousand Que" together, now there are only two left, Zhou Huimin and Yaqin, and Ah Wei went to find a job after reading Form 5.

At this time, Zhou Huimin is about to turn 18 years old, and she is no longer the chubby little girl she was 5 years ago, she is slender and outstanding, gentle and pure. The only pity is. Zhou Huimin had a huge black-framed glasses on the bridge of her nose, which made her look much rustic.

Zhou Huimin and his friend Yaqin came to the classroom on their front and back feet, and then sat in their seats together in a daze, and only a few people in the classroom were reading books and reviewing their homework.

Zhou Huimin is now studying Form 7 and has more than two months to take the entrance examination, but unfortunately she does not even have the confidence to be admitted to university.

The math teacher was talking about the formulas that made her dizzy again, and Zhou Huimin reluctantly gave up after listening to them for a few minutes, scribbling on the homework book with a pen.

The reason why Zhou Huimin is called a talented woman in the future is because she has all kinds of talents, not counting being an actor, singing, and writing songs. Zhou Huimin is also a pianist grade 10 and writes beautiful prose, and dozens of his paintings were later exhibited at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, and his painting "New / Old Man of Xinjiang" also won the New Era Award for Visual Art.

When professional painters saw Zhou Huimin's paintings for the first time, they thought she was from a painting academy. It is evident that the roots of his painting are behind him.

In fact, Zhou Huimin has never learned to draw systematically. The only practice is a drawing class assignment. and graffiti when you're bored in class.

With a few strokes, the math teacher on the podium appeared under Zhou Huimin's pen, but he drew with a thin neck and a big head, and he was an adult ET.

"Smack!"

The math teacher's whip struck startled Zhou Huimin, who was concentrating on drawing, and looked up to see that a boy's comic book in the front row had been confiscated.

Zhou Huimin hurriedly put away the "ET" he painted. Just as she was about to concentrate on the lecture, Yaqin, who was sitting behind her, suddenly quietly handed over a newspaper.

Zhou Huimin spread the newspaper on his lap and secretly read the contents of the newspaper with his spare eyes, and his eyes were extremely rough in the style of painting. The exaggerated character expressions and abstract bodies, as well as the plot that made people laugh, suddenly made Zhou Huimin laugh out loud.

The laughter was so loud that the classmates in the front rows collectively looked back at her, and Zhou Huimin immediately restrained her smile as if nothing had happened.

"Am I talking ridiculously?" The math teacher asked with a straight face.

Zhou Huimin hurriedly stood up, lowered his head and admitted his mistake: "Teacher, I'm sorry." ”

The math teacher was also very helpless for the graduating students of the preparatory department, sighed and asked Zhou Huimin to sit down, and said: "Be serious in class, even if you can't get into college, it's still useful for you to learn more." ”

Zhou Huimin didn't dare to desert anymore, and after concentrating on the morning class, he couldn't wait to take out the newspaper and look at it.

"Interesting, right?" Yaqin suddenly said behind Zhou Huimin.

"It's not bad, it's funny." Zhou Huimin then ran to see the comic author, and the words "Kang Jianfei" were written on it.

Yaqin came over and lay on Zhou Huimin's desk, and said adoringly: "It was painted by Boss Fei himself, he is really versatile." Just wrote "Lover's Confidant" and "Falling in Love with a Guy Who Doesn't Go Home" for Ye Qianwen, and she is still directing movies, so she can find time to create comics. ”

"Boss Fei" is the nickname given to him by some of Kang Jianfei's fans, and Zhou Huimin's nemesis Yaqin is obviously also an admirer of Kang Jianfei, and his eyes are full of stars when he mentions Kang Jianfei.

Zhou Huimin did not take Yaqin's paintings, but continued to flip through the pages behind the pictorial, but unfortunately the kind of riot that made people spray rice was gone, and was replaced by an urban love comic called "Pink Girl".

It's not that there are no shoujo cartoons in Hong Kong, it's just that the production of this kind of comics is very small, and there has been a trend of not picking up the file in the past two years, and there have been no good girl cartoonists since Ding Xiaoxiang stopped writing.

Zhou Huimin doesn't like to read comics that fight and kill, and the "Pink Girl" in front of her made her eyes shine, and she was reluctant to put it down after reading it in one go, but unfortunately there was no more after reading the beginning.

I couldn't get enough of watching "Pink Girl" again, and Zhou Huimin remembered to read the comic book author, but she was startled again - planning: Kang Jianfei, main creator: Ding Xiaoxiang.

"Ding Xiaoxiang has started drawing comics again!" Zhou Huimin shouted in surprise.

Who is Lilac?

The most famous girl cartoonist in Hong Kong in the 70s, he not only drew girl love comics, but also thriller, erotic, and suspense comics. When he was prosperous, he founded Lilac Book Company, and Huang Yulang was an employee under him. And the pen name Huang Yulang was also helped by Ding Xiaoxiang, and Huang Yulang's pen name was called Huang Xuansheng before.

It's a pity that under the impact of Huang Yulang's comic assembly line, Ding Xiaoxiang's Lilac Book Company can't keep up with the fast pace, and has been acquired by Huang Yulang two years ago, and Ding Xiaoxiang herself has closed her pen and run to do publishing business.

Who would have thought that Kang Jianfei would actually invite Ding Xiaoxiang out of the mountain, and also opened a new "Pink Girl".

In fact, Kang Jianfei didn't know any Ding Xiaoxiang at all, he learned about this person from Shangguan Xiaobao's mouth, and when he knew that Ding Xiaoxiang was good at modern style comics, he temporarily asked Ding Xiaoxiang to draw "Pink Girl".

Zhou Huimin continued to flip through the pictorial, "Pink Girl" was followed by several four-panel comics, as well as a short comic story, and the most important is the comic version of "Ethereal Journey".

When Zhou Huimin read the short comics, there were already many classmates around, and she was not interested in "Ethereal Journey", and she was about to return the newspaper to Yaqin, but was immediately snatched by several boys, and those boys shouted: "It's the comic of "Ethereal Journey"! ”

Seeing that he couldn't snatch the pictorial back, Yaqin was not angry, but asked Zhou Huimin: "Amin, what are your plans if you can't get into college?" ”

"I don't know what to do," Zhou Hui was at a loss for a while, and after thinking for a while, he said, "I want to go to the singing contest." ”

Yaqin suddenly smiled and took off Zhou Huimin's glasses, and joked: "You don't wear glasses and look very beautiful, why don't you go to the beauty pageant, Sister Hong Kong and Sister Dong can do it, and I guarantee that I can come back with a beauty pageant champion." ”

……

Yulang International.

Huang Yulang's assistant ran into the office quickly with "The King of Paintings" and hurriedly said: "Boss, "The King of Paintings" is selling crazy!" ”

"I know the way, I know the way!" Huang Yulang stood up and paced back and forth, talking to himself. He watched the first issue of "The King of Paintings" yesterday, not to mention the finale "Ethereal Journey", just the modern comic "Pink Girl" in the middle can attract a large number of readers.

After coming and going for a while, Huang Yulang asked, "How much did "The King of Paintings" sell today?" ”

The assistant shook his head and said, "I don't know, but twenty or thirty thousand copies are definitely available, and many newsstands are out of stock." ”

Huang Yulang has a comic daily newspaper and a comic weekly newspaper in his hand, of which the sales of the comic daily newspaper are about 50,000 copies. And the second issue of "The King of Paintings" has only been released, and the sales have soared from 8,000 to 20,000 or 30,000 copies, which is really a big enemy that cannot be ignored.

……

"Ha Luha, this violent face is so decrepit, I also want to draw a picture to submit!"

"Really, you can't draw a little more at a time in "Pink Girl", it's not fun to watch."

"Ethereal Journey is well drawn, and although I have read novels, I still like to read comics."

“……”

The outside world applauded "The King of Paintings", but Shangguan Xiaobao, Ding Xiaoxiang and other comic creators were tired like dead dogs. Generally, it is tiring enough to publish a comic weekly newspaper, and the original comic daily newspaper is simply anti-human, especially after Shangguan Xiaobao drew "Ethereal Journey", he also had to create his own "Bruce Lee".

In order to improve efficiency, there are nearly 30 painters and apprentices in Dark Horse Comics Company, and Shangguan Xiaobao is so busy that he simply handed over the main task of "Ethereal Journey" to his disciple Niu Lao, who is only responsible for giving some guidance.

When the fifth issue of "The King of Painting" was released, Zhang Tianxi, the general manager of Dark Horse Comics Company, walked to the studio, slapped his face and shouted: "Colleagues, I now solemnly announce that the sales of "The King of Painting" exceeded 60,000 copies yesterday, becoming the largest selling comic daily newspaper in Hong Kong! ”

"Woohoo!"

The employees who were rushing to draw pictures all put down their brushes when they heard the news and cheered collectively.

The better the company's efficiency, the better the welfare of employees, which is something that everyone knows. (To be continued......)