Chapter 41: Roaring Potential
Alexander and the lady were finally on the second floor where he noticed that the layout has changed a bit from how he remembered it to be.
It also fit the changes he suggested his grandfather to make. The chemistry lab set-up was perfect for the job introduction but wasn't suitable for the long run.
Every huddle of tables was now arranged to accommodate a group of ten. The artist numbers have also hiked up to 50 people which meant that there were 5 gathering points on the floor.
From what his grandfather told him, they were from the second batch of stayers who were on leave when last Saturday's major shifts were happening.
Each ten-person group should have already formed a group dynamic from the five-day assignments he had left them.
If his assumptions were correct, these five groups would be enough to sustain working on a comic title, which would open up Creed Comics to 3 new titles to work on aside from the already establish Dragonball and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
From what he has seen so far, his weekday absences still warranted the progress that he wanted them to have.
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As the groups were busy with their idle chats, the stairwell-accompanying lady was the one to break their fun as she hollered. "Hey, guys! There are new folder-ed issues and the little boss is here."
That certainly got their attention as Alexander became the target of their line of sight.
A discordant array of greetings is what came next with 'little boss' here and there being unsynchronized in their utterings.
"Well, hello to you too." This was all the boy could say from their unpracticed enthusiasm. "Let's cut the greetings short for now as the Saturday is still fresh. Whoever is group 5 can work on reworking the fresh issues while the rest can ready up your colorists to finish the blandly uncolored issues."
Nobody had any complaints about that as they all got to work. The fresh faces had their curiosities but they kept to themselves as the majority had already taken to their posts.
Talks and banters seem to be something that the little boss isn't fond of.
The indifferent expression on his young and dashing face couldn't show anything but those calculating eyes were reflecting its intolerance for procrastination.
Those unnecessary things were then put to the back of their minds as someone handed over the samples of their five days of hard work.
Alexander inspected their reworks and guided them through his color schemes. Dragonball was simple as it is but his presence would give the lighter judgment to make the color flow much smoother for future reference.
They only worked on coloring one issue after all and only Goku's and Bulma's designs were familiar with them.
The new characters and background designs on panels needed his input and as they get used to everything within the first arc, they would then have the confidence to give their true input in the following arcs.
As usual, he didn't just want to confine each of them into a robotic production team but to make them contributors that would make him see beyond what he is seeing.
His future foresight and detached hindsight allowed him to see what the original creators of his plundered art hasn't realized. Their hindsight might just come in handy to cover the blindspots he hasn't taken into consideration.
If he improved on what had existed, then they could make better what he had improved.
That idealistic scenario would take a while though and Alexander currently has to single-handedly spearhead everything on his own.
Dictating demands on others could take some getting used to as well, so Alexander could more or less tell what they are coping with. They are being told what to do by a kid after all.
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After a while of setting things up, progress went underway and Alexander took his timely break like a boss.
What better way to do so than lounge in the boss room meant for himself.
It was as unappealing as he saw it last time. Any trace of old Edgar Williams was gone and it was up for Alexander to fix things up and make himself in his room.
He can't take inspiration from his work at CREED though as the room wouldn't be able to fit at all.
Of course, Alexander wouldn't be spoiled with his privileges inside of here as he set the tables and the seat for his time alone on his solo projects.
Working on a lot of pencil works was really getting to him, so he decided to direct the whole content processing himself.
Dividing the burden with others is effectively productive but sometimes completing it all to the end is much more satisfying.
He has already tested his capabilities with pencil work and planning so this was the perfect opportunity to improve on his inking and coloring work.
Being all bark out there in the production team would be shameful if they found out that he didn't have enough of the bite skills to back it up.
Bristol paper was laid out and a preliminary story was already on the page he brought along with him.
His full version iteration wouldn't be any of the established Dragonball or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle follow-ups. This was a new title that would become the third after its predecessors.
A redheaded lion, a resourceful tiger, a speedy cheetah lady, a buffed panther, a sibling pair of teening cats, and a non-talking but cute, cat-like pet.
He also designed an insignia of a roaring feline head against a red background. Alexander also opted for a wearable gauntlet for a special sword.
Designing other human-like figures laced with animal species also took precedence and their distinctive attires is enough to get a lot of creative points from everyone who could see it.
The animal kingdom counterpart of He-man was locked on with Third Earth as its prime designation.
As far as Alexander knows of the ThunderCats, it is an unfortunate franchise that never got to reach its full potential. Even its storyline never got to see its conclusion with all the cancellations, reboots, and retcons.
Initially debuted in 1985 through an animated series that ran for 130 episodes but got sank due to the decline in ratings and the drop in toy sales.
ThunderCats 2011 was probably the most underrated while also the better reimagining in Alexander's opinion but never got to full potential due to the problem with ratings once again.
As for the 2020 cartoony version, he didn't even have to guess that it might fall into the same fate as the acclaimed Teen Titans with Teen Titans Go.
To avoid all these pitfalls and give it the proper story it should have, Alexander simply forego animations and toys for later and give it the proper platform of comic books.
The 2011 iteration with a maturely mainstreamed story and tone would be what he would be expanding on.
ThunderCats would roar into its full potential under Creed Comics and bolster his arsenal of pirated intellectual property.
If anything, Alexander was doing Ted Wolf a favor by helping it avoid the pitfalls it could have fallen into.