RE:Zero and the Pirate King

Plenty of companies in Hollywood made animation, and Disney was the most famous.

Starlight Pictures had never planned to make animated films. Li Chen only wanted to create serialized comics and then adapt them into anime, riding two waves of popularity. His reputation points would surely explode.

The next day, Li Chen went straight to the animation department.

As far as he was concerned, Superman was already a thing of the past. He had to create a new work.

Compared with a movie's production cycle, comics were undoubtedly much faster.

Before, funding had been tight. After all, even if investors had money, it didn't grow on trees.

In fact, Li Chen had invested very little of his own money in making "Superman." The money had all been raised through financing...

There was a classic saying in Hollywood: never use your own money to make a movie.

And there was no shortage of speculators in this world.

An investment was an investment, whatever it went into. Movies were no different, and the returns were high.

Of course, that was assuming the film company didn't cook the books...

Otherwise, even a movie like Harry Potter, a massive global box-office hit, could be made to show a loss by Warner Bros.

Li Chen didn't plan to do that, because he still wanted to use other people's money to make movies.

Now that Starlight Pictures had proven its capabilities, raising more financing would be much easier.

So comics could finally be put on the agenda.

The animation department was already full of people, including artists poached from other companies and recent college graduates.

The college graduates might have had innocent eyes, but their drawing skills were good.

Li Chen made a round of the department, then stepped onto the stage and clapped his hands.

Everyone immediately turned to look at him, all struck by how young he was.

Li Chen looked far too young. He was in his twenties at most and looked like a college student.

"Hello, everyone. I'm your boss. You can call me Li."

Li Chen said, "I won't say much. The Starlight Pictures animation department didn't have any projects before, but your salaries were still paid in full."

"Things are different now. Everyone's going to be busy. As long as the comics we produce are well made, no one will be short on bonuses!"

Money was the most useful thing in the world. Now that money was involved, everyone cheered.

"Boss!"

Katherine, the head of the animation department, asked, "What kind of comic are we making?"

Katherine was in her forties. She had worked in Hollywood for a long time and knew the rules of the industry well.

Li Chen smiled and said, "I already have the proposals right here."

He had to admit, the Kryptonian Bloodline was truly impressive.

Yesterday, Li Chen had merely basked in the sun, and not only had he avoided feeling groggy, but his mind had grown clearer and clearer.

Then he used his "super brain" to put together the comic proposals.

He had given it some thought. Since he had the Kryptonian Bloodline and could already protect himself, the abilities in the comics he chose were no longer very important. What mattered was improving his life.

For example, drawing a maid or something...

Thus, Li Chen's first choice was "Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World."

There was no other reason. It simply had a lot of female leads: Emilia, Ram, Rem, and the others. As long as he could summon them, Li Chen's life would be taken care of.

After all, the estate was so big that he really did need people to serve him.

As for the second work, Li Chen felt it needed to be something that could generate buzz.

So he searched online and found that this world didn't yet have classic works like "Pirate King"...

After all, although this was Earth, it was a parallel world in the Marvel Universe. It differed in many ways from the Earth of Li Chen's previous life, and those differences could be seen across every industry.

For example, smartphones were already widespread in this world in 2008.

Therefore, it was perfectly normal that works like "Pirate King" might not have appeared because of some chance difference.

That was perfect for Li Chen to become a literary copyist.

Thus, his second choice was naturally "Pirate King."

As a comic that had taken the world by storm, and had even later been adapted into a Hollywood "live-action version" that was still a great success, it was clearly capable of appealing to everyone. There was no need to worry about any risks.

Even if there were risks, they wouldn't be a big problem. He only had to step up the promotion.

After all, the main reason the "Harry Potter" series had become a global sensation wasn't how well J. K. Rowling had written it. It was because, after acquiring the rights, Warner Bros. had spent heavily promoting it around the world and generating buzz.

Only after confirming it was a massive hit had Warner Bros. begun filming the movies.

Warner Bros. Pictures had recognized its potential long ago and spared no time or money promoting it, ultimately turning it into a huge commercial miracle.

So promotion was important.

Li Chen handed out the scripts and plans for the two comics.

"Draw all the main characters first. I'll review them when they're ready."

Katherine looked over the scripts and thought they were indeed a little interesting, but she had some concerns. "Boss, aren't these styles too different from American comics?"

"Readers have been looking at the same kind of thing for so long. Don't they deserve something fresh?"

Li Chen wasn't worried.

Even if he lost money, it didn't matter. He could draw prizes anyway...

Besides, it would be the investors' money he lost.

Was that even a problem?

"All right."

Katherine might not have been particularly capable in other respects, but she was very good at reading her boss's intentions. She immediately said, "I have to say, this is a brilliant idea."

Li Chen smiled and shook his head. No wonder emperors had so many sycophants around them. People liked hearing nice things.

And so, the animation department immediately got to work in a flurry of activity.

The first priority was to draw all the characters.

Over the next few days, Li Chen rediscovered the pleasure of being the boss.

He went to the animation department every day, and with money as an incentive, the work progressed quickly.

"Emilia looks good, but Ram and Rem need to be prettier. I want them refined and beautiful, so readers will fall in love with these characters at first sight."

"It doesn't matter if the male lead is a little ugly..."

The target audience for "Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World" was simple: it was aimed at otaku readers.

But Pirate King was different.

"Who drew Nami and Robin? This is excellent work."

Li Chen was immediately surprised when he saw the drawings.

Katherine replied, "A young man named Joseph. I think his drawing skills are good too."

"Use this version. The female characters in Pirate King should all be beautiful, and the male characters should be handsome too."

In Li Chen's view, "Pirate King" was a work for the general public, so naturally every aspect had to be perfect, and the plot and everything else had to be taken to the max.

"Okay."

After several days, Li Chen confirmed, "That's it for the characters. Next, start producing the comics."

At this point, the benefits of working with DC Comics became apparent. They didn't need to find a separate distribution channel for the comics they produced; they could just ask DC for help.

They could even benefit from DC's traffic and popularity, killing several birds with one stone.