Hong Kong Comic Master

The cold icy rain fell from the sky, hitting the black umbrellas and white tombstones, making crisp sounds, as if the sky was crying.

The whole world was blocked by the rain. In the music, people could be seen standing there solemnly. Although their faces could not be seen clearly, they could feel a sad atmosphere spreading everywhere. People and scenery outlined a tragic picture.

"Wuwuwu..."

In front of Li Wannian, it was Osamu Tezuka's family. Among them, Rumiko Tezuka cried like a tearful person. In Tezuka's arms, she could not calm down for a long time.

This was Osamu Tezuka's funeral. According to his last wish, he did not want to make a big fuss, so his family only notified his friends and some students during his lifetime.

But even so, more than 50 people came to the scene, filling up this small cemetery.

Li Wannian wore a black coat today, but when the cold wind blew, he still felt a chill, which came not only from the surface of the body, but also from the depths of his heart.

Near noon, with the burial of Tezuka Osamu, the whole funeral finally came to an end, and the guests who came began to leave in twos and threes.

"My condolences!"

Before leaving, Li Wannian bowed to Tezuka Osamu's wife and daughter.

"Ah Zhen, go and see Mr. Li off!"

"Zhen Jun, please stay, you still have to take care of the funeral today, take care of yourself!"

"It's okay, I'll see you off for a while!"

Tezuka Zhen did not accept Li Wannian's kindness, but insisted on seeing Li Wannian off, so Li Wannian did not refuse again and walked with Tezuka Zhen.

Obviously, Tezuka Zhen had something to say to him in private.

"My father wanted to paint until he died!"

The two walked on the road in the cemetery with umbrellas. Because it was winter, the flowers and leaves in the cemetery had withered, and only the dead branches were still swaying in the wind.

"This is him, I have always admired him for this!"

Li Wannian could hear the sadness in Tezuka Zhen's tone, so he spoke to comfort him.

In fact, Osamu Tezuka's death was more than half a year later than the original time and space. Thanks to Li Wannian's reminder, Tezuka's disease was discovered in advance and he received treatment in advance.

But correspondingly, Tezuka Osamu suffered more pain. It is said that when he was in the most pain, he would be awakened by pain in the middle of the night.

But even so, he was still unwilling to give up the pencil in his hand. Even if Tezuka Osamu was still alive, he would definitely be grateful to Li Wannian for extending his life by a few months so that he could draw more pages of comics.

For such a person, how could Li Wannian not admire him?

"Father also admires you. He said that among the young generation of cartoonists, you are the best one, but you have too much business aura!"

"Hahaha..."

"Aren't you angry?"

"What's there to be angry about? Isn't what your father said true?"

Over the years, Li Wannian has always adhered to the principle of making money by copying...drawing whatever he wants. Of course, this is mainly due to the environment he is in.

If I didn't have so many people under me and I was just an independent cartoonist, I would probably draw whatever I want, just like Osamu Tezuka.

In addition to drawing some well-known cartoons, Osamu Tezuka also created some works with extremely high artistic level, such as "Firebird".

In addition, he is also ahead of Japan and the whole world in the field of animation. For example, his "Adult Trilogy" "One Thousand and One Nights", "Cleopatra" and "Sad Belladonna" have greatly expanded the subject matter and expression methods of animation, presenting broad possibilities for animation art.

In the field of non-mainstream animation, Osamu Tezuka has successively created experimental color animation shorts such as "A Drop of Water", "Fragments", "Mermaid", "Jump", and "Male", which present the other side of Japanese animation in many aspects such as subject matter, narrative structure, visual style and techniques.

It can be said that in terms of business and popularity, Osamu Tezuka is not Li Wannian's opponent at all, but in the real artistic height, Li Wannian can't even see the taillights of Osamu Tezuka's car!

This is also why Osamu Tezuka said that Li Wannian has too much of a business aura. He really thinks that Li Wannian's professional ability is very good, and he should not just make money, but hope that he can explore and expand the boundaries of art such as comics and animation!

Unfortunately, family members know their own business. In terms of art, Li Wannian is really not good at it!

I'd better be a mediocre person!

"This... okay, I hope you can understand it! My father hopes that I will give up the management of "Century"!"

"Then what do you think?"

"I don't want to give up, but I don't want to go against my father's wishes, so I want to ask for your opinion?"

Tezuka looked at Li Wannian in confusion.

"It depends on whether this is what you want to do most in your heart! Your father's original intention is probably to hope that you can do what you want to do!"

Li Wannian knew that Tezuka was actually a director in the original time and space, and now he has become a boss!

"My father passed away. I want to give my mother and sister the best life. This is what I want to do most!"

After a long silence, Tezuka Shin finally showed a determined look on his face.

"Then do it. I support you!"

"Thank you!"

Tezuka Shin looked at Li Wannian gratefully.

"By the way, how is the company doing recently?"

"Everything is fine. The sales of Century have exceeded 4 million. It looks like it will take less than a year to reach 5 million."

Speaking of this, Tezuka Makoto, who had been immersed in sadness, showed some improvement on his face.

After the signing of the Hiroshima Agreement, the appreciation of the Japanese exchange rate led to more and more money in the hands of the entire Japanese people, which also made the Japanese economy more prosperous.

As a result, the money in the pockets of ordinary people also increased, causing the sales of comics to rise.

This situation continued until the collapse of the Japanese economic bubble, and then relied on the "lipstick economy" to persist for a few years, and then it was affected by the popularization of the Internet and began to go down all the way.

In other words, the sales of Century magazine will indeed increase, but it will not last too long. In other words, the golden age of comic magazines has been less than ten years!

However, Li Wannian did not discourage Tezuka's optimism, but followed his words and said: "That's good. I am very glad to see that the sales of Century have not been affected by the suspension of Naruto and Dragon Ball!"

"It was indeed affected at the beginning, but now with your One Piece, Slam Dunk and Fu Jian's Yu Yu Hakusho, the sales of the magazine are not a problem at all!"

"Fu Jianbo? That guy is really good now! By the way, why didn't I see that guy today?"

"Uh... Because I didn't invite him..."

"..."

Hearing Tezuka's words, Li Wannian suddenly realized that although Fu Jianbo's talent had begun to show, he was a newcomer who had just been serialized for a year, and who was able to attend Tezuka Osamu's funeral was not a big shot in the comics industry?

Moreover, according to Tezuka Osamu's last wish, Tezuka needed to control the number of people present. How could Fu Jianbo, who had little experience and had nothing to do with Tezuka Osamu, be invited?