Versatile Superstar: Rise In Hollywood

"<Morpheus>? Looks like a new graphic novel. The art looks scary. It's probably a dark fantasy."

"Sounds cool."

"Yeah, but I don't know if it will be good. It's a completely new series, and you do know that there's not been a lot of good new characters or stories these days."

This was one of the problems with new age comics. None of their characters after a while had become iconic, and a majority of the sales were still from old and popular characters. 

A lot of reasons were there for this, but one of them was pretty vital — Too much quantity in the superhero genre that nothing looked original. 

That's why the three college students were unsure about it. 

They didn't want to read something that didn't turn out to be good. One of them, who has extensive knowledge about comic book writers, took a look at the name of the writer and found no one significant. 

So, he put it down but at that moment, the third friend who had earlier said that he didn't like comic books picked it up and marvelled at the cover art. 

"This looks cool."

He muttered. The cover was especially designed and had the art of a person screaming. The face of the person was unclear, giving it an unique aesthetic. 

Below it, the words, "A new age dark fantasy begins."

It was then that a big belly man walked out of a door behind the counter. He looked like the owner of the store, going by the atmosphere he was giving. 

"Boys, you all are here again. It had already become a habit of mine to look for you three after opening up my store."

"I will take that as a compliment, Mr. Frye."

One of the college students said and the eyes of Mr. Frye suddenly glanced at <Morpheus>. 

"Are you all buying that? It came yesterday."

"Have you read it?" The guy who was holding the comic asked. 

"Yeah, it's pretty good. Has a subtle dark tone to it and there's just something attractive about it. Starts out cliche but ends up at a nice hook—"

Mr. Frye started and he was quickly interrupted. 

"Don't tell me more." The guy said. "I will take it."

"Are you sure?" One of his friends asked. "You are not the type to buy comic books."

"I like dark and mature stuff. I will try this out."

Like that, the first issue got its first customer. 

Aiden who saw all of it happening smiled, thinking that a small step was achieved. The college students left after that and Aiden stayed in the comic book store for a while longer. 

Actually, he stayed for over an hour. 

In the entire hour, four more copies of <Morpheus> were sold. They were bought by two young girls who probably bought them due to being Aiden's fans, an old man and a kid whose mom bought him that. 

Seeing this, Aiden was satisfied, thinking that the graphic novel would do well and he didn't have to worry a lot. 

He bought a few comic books to read as he felt like it would be rude if he spent more than an hour in the store for nothing. 

As the store owner, Mr. Frye was putting his comics in a packet, he asked. 

"You are Aiden, right? Celebrity and author of <Morpheus>."

Aiden unconsciously pulled down on his hoodie hearing that but in the end, he nodded. There was no point hiding it. 

"Yeah. How did you find out? I thought I was hiding my face just enough."

"I have a good memory and it's easy to remember as not a lot of celebrities write graphic novels. Moreover, you were suspicious enough with that hoodie and not like you bought anything for an hour. You were either a comic book writer, trying to see if people are buying his works or a thief." Mr. Frye said before adding. "I enjoyed <Morpheus> a lot."

Aiden smiled hearing that. 

"Thank you."

"Do you mind giving me an autograph on the comic? I have a hobby of collecting them."

"Sure."

Mr. Frye grinned hearing that and quickly brought out a copy of <Morpheus>. Aiden signed it and Mr. Frye thanked him. 

"Feel free to come again anyday. I will be waiting for the next volume of <Morpheus>. 

***

There were a lot of websites and apps that had communities related to comic books. One of the most popular ones was Zeddit — A site that takes pride in having more quality than quality in terms of users. 

It had every community possible on it. From cat videos to murder tricks — Everything was there. The comic book community was also very popular, especially with the rise of superhero movies. 

On it, one of the users suddenly made a thread — [<Morpheus> — my mom got it for today and I loved it. Has anyone else read it yet?].

The post got a lot of varied responses. 

[Eat Your D: What's that? Did Zero International released a comic book for the cult classic [It's Morbin time]. I would actually buy it ngl.]

[My Best friend is named Loneliness: I think it's a newly released graphic novel by Vikings publishing. They are trying to make something worthwhile in this industry but no success yet. The art looks good from what I found online.]

[Old Basement Dad: I'm actually glad that there are new characters still releasing. Comics need something revolutionary at the moment because I feel like giving up these days. The quantity is too much now.]

[Owner of OnlyGrans: My boyfriend bought it for me today because I liked how the main character looked when I saw it. Really liked it and would be following it.]

[Blue Cat with Gadgets: Looks interesting but would need to see. Can't expect a new title to do well these days unless it's really interesting. The first chapter was a mess in my opinion.]

[GTA 6 hacker: I liked it a lot and it's by a celebrity Aiden Silvereye. I only found it out because his name was on the cover and then I googled it. I feel like it would get good traction just because of that.]

[Aunty Sugar: I liked it a lot. I Will be following it from now on.]

Like that, people talked about it and although not a lot of people had heard of it, it was still getting good response from the ones that had. 

It was undoubtedly a good sign for a new title that would just strengthen itself with the following issues. 

The thing with <Morpheus> was that it was treated as something disposable if it didn't perform well, straight from the first issue. 

That was the condition that Marshall had made after Aiden had told him to take a risk. His stance was harsh but according to him, it takes a lot to publish a graphic novel and there was no point in waiting for it to get picked up if it failed to perform initially. 

Aiden and Bruce had agreed, having no other choice and after a week of being out in the market, <Morpheus> sales record and critical reviews were finally out. 

***

'I feel like I would get a heart attack.'

Bruce thought as he sat in front of Jim. Aiden, who was beside him, looked far more composed than him. 

Bruce attributed it to him being a celebrity and knowing how to handle pressure situations. But for him, it was taxing. 

'I could lose my job if it's not good.'

He thought, frowning inwardly. 

His days had been going pretty well these days with him doing the thing that he loved the most in the world but there was a crippling anxiety about how the graphic novel would do. 

Aiden had told him not to think about it a lot but currently, he couldn't help but do. After all, the results were going to be clear to him. 

"Well, as you know, the sales report is out. It's only for the first week but I felt like I should tell you two. There are also the critical reviews."

Jim said, looking at the both of them. 

"How are they?" Aiden asked straight and Jim took his time to answer it. 

"Unexpected."

Bruce's heart fell hearing that but Jim wasn't finished yet. 

"It sold 15k units in a week. As you know, it's not a small number. The average comic sold around 30-50k a month, so we are sure of getting at least that much."

"Ain't that good news?"

"Yeah it is. Though, it's clear that your following played a part in it but it's just initial. The public review of the graphic novel is positive and even the critics liked it. Look at these."

Jim pushed forward a document with the critic reviews written on it. Bruce placed his gaze on it and saw that most of them were praising the graphic novel. 

A review called the art beautiful and the ending perfect for a monthly issued comic as it's a great hook. Another said that it's a solid start and the second and third issue would determine the faith of the comic. 

Bruce wasn't able to believe it for a second. 

"So, was the risk worth it?" Aiden asked, smiling. He already had a feeling that the graphic novel would do well and was keeping a track on the online reactions to the comic. 

"Yeah, it is worth it. We are going to continue it at least till the third issue as things would be much more clearer than. Anyway, for now, you two did a great job."