Manwei comics China branch

Cartoonists in China expect that among future superheroes, a hero named "Made in China" will stand with Spider-Man, Iron Man and Captain America to stage a reliable China story.

C.B.Cebulski, senior vice president of international business development of Marvel Entertainment, was interviewed in the Walter Disney office on June 19 at 6 pm.

C.b. visited China many times, and every time he came and went in a hurry. In order to save time, four media were arranged to interview at the same time. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of Marvel Comics. C.B. and the reporter started Marvel Comics from Goodman, talking about Captain America, Thor, Hulk and Spider-Man ... and told the history of Marvel Comics and the heroic image that swept the world.

In the conference hall not far away, there is a group of people waiting for C.B. They are 15 cartoonists from all over China. "Book air tickets as soon as you receive the notice." The cartoonist RC is from Beijing. Together with other authors of 14, she was informed by Disney staff to come to Shanghai for an interview with C.B. ..

Disney staff did not expect that their impromptu recruitment of Weibo caused a sensation in the comic book circle.

Seven days ago, Weibo @ Marvel Pictures, the official subsidiary of Disney, published a long microblog titled "Working for Marvel Comics". Weibo listed the superheroes that Marvel Comics was proud of, and declared that he would "seek and recruit animation talents from China to build a grand Marvel universe together". They asked people who wanted to take part in the recruitment to "post Weibo and upload pictures of your work", and then added the topic of "Working for Marvel Comics" to Weibo's text, and @ Marvel Comics pictures.

There is no requirement for academic qualifications and qualifications in this job advertisement, but the word "artist" appearing in the article has already indicated the principle of employing people in Marvel comics.

"I saw the recruitment news of a group in Man Mei circle." RC said that the recruitment of Marvel comics was posted in several of her groups, and some people in the group @ her and several other comic writers encouraged them to send their works to participate.

"Then give it a try. Anyway, I usually paint a lot, and there are still some works. " RC selected 8 satisfactory works and uploaded them to Weibo. "Then I went to catch the manuscript."

@-Nabal-(hereinafter referred to as "Nabal") flew to Shanghai with RC, and the comic circle was not big. Both of them are in Beijing and have known each other before.

Nabal is a two-person comic group, and their work "Aircraft Carrier" is being serialized in "Strong Comics". They squeezed out two days when the deadline approached and ran to attend the interview. "I just tried it at first, so I came together. Consider it an attempt. " RC and NAVAR were both selected by this recruitment activity, so they walked together, stayed in the same hotel and took care of each other.

Among the 15 people who participated in this interview, there are newcomers and authors who are quite famous in the comic circle. A few years ago, @ Dark Dynasty (hereinafter referred to as "Dark Dynasty") was well known by comic book fans because of World of Warcraft comic book "Dark Zodel". This time, he also uploaded the recruitment works in Weibo. "I have always been dominated by black and white, with few colors, so I added some illustrations to supplement the figures." The dark dynasty spread carelessly, but Weibo attracted a group of netizens to worship. Some people say it is a "world-class brushwork".

Compared with these cartoonists who have already made their debut, @AnsaTc (hereinafter referred to as "AnsaTc") feels that his selection is purely a fluke. AnsaTc is a post-90 s author who is still studying in the Sculpture Department of Hubei Academy of Fine Arts. I drew a lot of cartoons, but I never published them. However, unlike most post-80s writers who moved from Japan to the United States, Ansaki's writing style was biased towards the United States from the beginning, which may be the reason for his selection.

"He asked me to draw some superheroes under Marvel comics, such as Spider-Man, Wolverine and Captain America."

Since Disney acquired Marvel Comics in 2009, Marvel Comics' China business has been under the sole responsibility of Disney's Shanghai company. This recruitment is specially arranged for C.B.: "He has been looking for excellent creators all over the world. He had met some authors before he came to China, but the cooperation was not smooth, so we thought of this open recruitment. " The staff said that after Weibo was sent out, it was forwarded more than 10,000 times and received thousands of works. A person in charge spent three days and two nights in the primary selection of works, and selected nearly 100 authors and submitted them to C.B. for final selection. "The workload is extremely heavy."

At 7 o'clock in the evening, C.B. finished the interview and rushed to the conference room to meet the cartoonist he personally selected. After exchanging pleasantries, C.B. explained the purpose of this recruitment. "He said that he has been looking for excellent cartoonists all over the world. He has seen all our works and thinks it is very suitable. If both parties are satisfied in the end, we hope to cooperate through the network. We don't need to come to Shanghai or work. " RC recalled.

After the group meeting, C.B. began to talk to each cartoonist individually. "We gave each author a maximum of 65,438+05 minutes and arranged for them to translate." The field staff said.

"I brought a portfolio and briefly introduced my background, so I mainly discussed the next task." Control of CB value RC on split lens. "Very energetic, it feels good. I hope I can take charge of the camera. " RC said that C.B. told her that she would send the task to her email later. "At that time, I thought I should draw something related to Deadpool. C.B. knew that I liked Deadpool, so I drew him in my work. "

"He asked me to draw some superheroes under Marvel comics, such as Spider-Man, Wolverine and Captain America." The Dark Dynasty said that C.B. liked his works very much, but there were no Marvel comic characters in his works. He wanted to see what kind of Marvel heroes he could draw.

"He also asked me to draw some heroes for him." C.B. was surprised to learn that AnsaTc was still a student at school, but the works brought by AnsaTc did not have the heroic image of Marvel comics. "They still value the artist's understanding of the company culture, so we must draw their own roles." After the interview, AnsaTc made up some Hulk and sent it to C.B., completing the task assigned by the other party without delay.

Nabal is famous for his exquisite painting style and mature brushwork. C.b. thinks that Nabal is the right person to draw the inner cartoon or cover. "C.B. said, go back and communicate with the editor and send us a test draft to try. We agreed. This is a rare opportunity to cooperate with mature Man Mei companies.

"judging from the style of painters selected by C. B., some are good at drawing characters, some are good at drawing shots, and some are good at writing stories and drawing illustrations. This is a comprehensive recruitment. " RC reached this conclusion after communicating with other cartoonists.

Although everyone's interview time is strictly controlled within 15 minutes, it's already 9 o'clock after interviewing all 15 cartoonists.

"Some people come here, too." Disney's staff said, "On the day of the interview, there was a brother and sister. They don't know where they got the final interview time and place. They flew from Shenzhen overnight and begged us to give them a chance to meet C.B. girls in their early twenties and boys in their early twenties, who were very young. "

These two devout teenagers finally got the same interview opportunities as other cartoonists. C.b. also gave advice and guidance to the little boy's works. Many comic writers started to create at this age, and such guidance is precious for beginners.

At present, there is no final result of this recruitment, and everyone is waiting.

Although the cartoonist's fee income has not increased for ten years, the market is huge.

RC High School began to study in Australia, and later entered the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology to study animation. After graduation, I worked in Australia for several years, and I am already an Australian. But a year ago, RC quit his job in an Australian game company and returned to Beijing "just to draw cartoons".

RC said that Australia is a consumer market for comics, but there is no creative environment. "I don't know where I can vote for this painting. In contrast, China is better. " After returning to China, RC moved from nine to five to SOHO, making a living by drawing serial comics and receiving commercial bills. "Compared with Japan, Europe and America, most cartoonists in China have cabbage prices. At this stage, it is really impossible to survive without commercial bills. " RC said that one page of black-and-white cartoons in China does not exceed that of 300 yuan, and one page of 400 yuan for color manuscripts is already a good price. "It sounds ok, but it takes at least one day to draw a page. This is not the time to think about the story."

Therefore, most cartoonists like her have to collect some commercial manuscripts to support serial cartoons. The former is survival, the latter is ideal. Not long ago, she just took over the commercial cooperation of the film bride with white hair. "Movies and e-commerce companies have the best money, work fast and give more money."

This, the dark dynasty is also very clear. Besides drawing cartoons, he is also famous in the film circle. The Dark Dynasty and Sean, the "son of old boys", are classmates of the Middle School Attached to the Central Academy of Fine Arts and were admitted to the Beijing Film Academy together. In recent years, I have been doing art and drawing scripts, and I have been stepping on the film circle with half my foot. Tsui Hark is what he calls a "difficult old man". He once wrote story board for "Flying Sword at Longmen", and they were tied together for several months.

"Now draw cartoons, don't have time to go with the group. Even this interview is random. " The Dark Dynasty said that this recruitment in Marvel comics was just a "random attempt". He is skilled and knows beautiful routines. Friends have been looking for him to cooperate with DC (the sworn enemy of Marvel Comics), but he hasn't had time to think about it.

Nabal is a lucky combination. Their early works were taken by the editors of Japanese "Golden Comics" and invited them to serialize long stories. At present, three separate books have been published, and they have become one of the few professional cartoonists who can support themselves by the income of manuscript fees.

"A few years ago, Riman dominated the China market. In recent years, two American giants, Marvel Comics and DC Hero Movies, have become popular in China, and the United States has attracted more and more attention. " RC said that although the cartoonist's fee income has not increased for ten years, the market is huge. The medium-quality "Companion Comics" has a monthly circulation of 5 million, and the top three cartoonists in the royalty income list can also throw the network writer Nanpai Sanshu out of half a street. "Don't underestimate the spending power of teenagers. The comic book market in China is much bigger than you think. "

Whether it is movies or comics, Marvel comics and Disney as a whole are paying more and more attention to the China market. "China is already the largest film market outside the United States." But they denied that the recruitment was a stunt for film promotion. They said, "Compared with the promotion of a single film, we pay more attention to the dissemination and promotion of Disney and Marvel comic brands. If there is an opportunity, we also want to do recruitment on campus and cooperate with the Film Academy. "

Talking about why the recruitment of Marvel comics has caused such a great response in the domestic comic circle, RC said: "Hollywood, Disney and Marvel comics have always been out of reach for China audiences and China painters. Although stars like Robert Downey Jr. and Hugh Jackman will come to China, it is only for publicity and interaction. We have never participated in creative interaction. But this time, they didn't come to see the fans, but to choose the creators. This is the first time. "

American fans and cartoonists in China are expecting that among future superheroes, a hero named "Made in China" will stand with Spider-Man, Iron Man and Captain America to stage a reliable China story.