Courtyard House: Drunk and tipsy, the whole courtyard exposed at the start.

Late at night, Qin Jingru, He Yushui, and Mu Wanqing helped with the statistics.

A total of 320 book titles:

There are 112 categories related to the War of Resistance Against Japan. It seems that everyone still wants to live a peaceful life, which is good!

The 72 categories related to the Korean War are also good; they represent the mainstream.

45 spy-themed stories—that's a bit challenging, but not impossible.

There are 72 myths and legends, most of which are Journey to the West, Legend of the White Snake, and Investiture of the Gods. Zhang Dabiao himself wanted to draw these, but he was afraid that he couldn't draw as well as those masters. Moreover, as soon as he started drawing, he leaned towards game art and animation. It was hard to say whether people would accept this type of art in those days. In 62, the Astro Boy animation hadn't even been released yet. Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, Wang Jiaxi, using his eldest son "Wang Ze" as a pen name, began serializing "Old Master Q" in newspapers and magazines such as "Le Feng Bao". In Hong Kong, Stan Lee was having a great time drawing Marvel comics.

But doing these things in China these days... will cause trouble.

The rest were just a bunch of random miscellaneous items, which Zhang Dabiao didn't bother to look at.

But while browsing through these book lists, one item suddenly caught Zhang Dabiao's attention.

"I want to read Ba Jin's 'Reunion'."

Zhang Dabiao was taken aback—[What's "Reunion"? I've never heard of it. Didn't Ba Jin write the "Torrent Trilogy"?]

Zhang Dabiao had only heard of the book's title, but had never actually read it—he was reading "A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality"!

Upon inquiry, it was confirmed that Mu Wanqing and He Yushui had indeed read it; it was a novel published in Shanghai Literature in August 1961.

Zhang Dabiao had no recollection of it; he almost never bought magazines these days. Mu Wanqing and He Yushui only remembered the novel when their classmates were discussing it.

I don't remember the rest, but the basic plot is that "Wang Fang" meets her brother "Wang Cheng" on the battlefield, "Wang Cheng" bravely sacrifices himself, and "Wang Fang" is reunited with her biological father and adoptive father.

[Remember the fastest online novel website: 121999.com]

Zhang Dabiao was completely confused, but suddenly remembered something—"Wang Cheng"?

"Fire at me for victory?!" A movie version of "Heroes and Daughters"?!

The theme song is "Heroes' Hymn"?!

I had thought of this before when I was writing a song for Mu Wanqing, but I felt that I didn't have that experience and I didn't have any relatives in the military, so I didn't dare to plagiarize it for fear of being investigated.

Zhang Dabiao hadn't read this story, but the music video for this song was available on Bilibili!

Moreover, my grandfather especially loved this movie in his later years. The old man also watched it when he was in elementary school. Later, in order to find resources for my grandfather, the library in "Little Nest" even downloaded this movie!

Zhang Dabiao's eyes widened in disbelief. If this were made into a comic strip, it would almost certainly win an award!

After sending the three women back to sleep, he entered his "little nest" from the small cabin and began searching the database—since he didn't know which folder it was in, he simply searched for the filenames "Heroic Sons and Daughters" and "Heroic Praise"!

Finally, I found a 480p quality version of "Heroes and Daughters"!

After reviewing it again and combining the information, I finally understood.

Ba Jin's novel "Reunion" was published in 1961, and the movie "Heroes and Daughters" was released in 1964. Therefore, the comic strip about this movie should be from 64 onwards!

It's 62 now. If Zhang Dabiao were to draw a comic book based on the novel "Reunion," it would be perfectly legitimate! And there would be no copyright disputes!

perfect!

The next day, Mu Wanqing borrowed the August 1961 issue of "Shanghai Literature" magazine from the school. Zhang Dabiao looked at it for a long time but couldn't find the sentence "For victory, fire at me!"

Therefore, this line should be an original line from the movie version.

Zhang Dabiao had an idea. Based on the original novel "Reunion", he combined the scenes and lines from the movie "Heroes and Daughters" and made some changes on his own initiative. He also incorporated the expressive techniques of the movie scenes and used pen sketches to depict the scene. He had drawn this when he was a freshman in college.

A publishing company wanted to publish "The Story of Lei Feng," as well as "Kong Fansen," "Jiao Yulu," and so on. Picture books with these themes appeared every year, and the requirement was to express them in the form of pen and ink sketches. Zhang Dabiao also drew one back then and earned more than 3 yuan in royalties, averaging 35 yuan per page.

Zhang Dabiao thought about it and realized that this was a perfect combination of timing, location, and people!

Moreover, there are no copyright disputes; anyone can draw this kind of subject matter! It's just a matter of whether the publisher will accept it or not.

With this advantage in my favor, it would be difficult for us to lose!

This project has been officially approved!

Original work: Ba Jin's *Reunion*;

Novel adapted into... comic book: "Heroes and Daughters"!

Zhang Dabiao's expression was a bit strange... This is back to the old ways, isn't this just adapting a novel into a comic?

What's the difference?

This one is settled, but Zhang Dabiao also wants to create a comic book with a traditional mythological theme; he gets itchy if he doesn't draw it.

Everyone has drawn Journey to the West to death. Putting aside other versions, Zhang Dabiao could never capture the essence of Master Dai Dunbang's version of Journey to the West.

I didn't dare use the game's art style or anime techniques, so I simply stopped drawing monkeys.

When I went to the school and asked Teacher Zhou, I learned that the Shanghai Animation Film Studio had started producing "Havoc in Heaven" in 61. The ink-wash animation short film "Little Tadpoles Looking for Their Mother" in 61 was also produced by the Shanghai Animation Film Studio. It was the world's first ink-wash animation film, based on Qi Baishi's paintings, and pioneered a brand-new form of animation.

I've also heard that Shanghai Animation Film Studio is filming something called "No Brains and Unhappy".

Zhang Dabiao quickly went back and looked through the materials again—"Calabash Brothers" was an animation from 86, and there's still no news about it now.

So, does Zhang Dabiao have a lot of room to maneuver in comic strips with an animation style?

After thinking it over for a long time, Zhang Dabiao made a decision—

I want to draw Nezha, one of the three traitors of Heaven!

Because none of the animated versions of "Nezha Conquers the Dragon King" were ever released! That was an animated film directed by Wang Shuchen in 1979, while this one, which I, Zhang Dabiao, drew as a comic strip in 1962, is correct, right?

I'll revise it myself, I'm not going to copy it exactly, right?

Add a touch of cinematic language from later animation and comics—and you're all set!

This can't be made into an animated film, otherwise I would have done it myself! I can do voice acting, and I can sing the theme song!

It's done!

------------

Back at the courtyard house that evening, Zhang Dabiao announced his decision.

With "Heroes and Daughters" and "Nezha Conquers the Dragon King," everything is in place—the timing, the location, and the people are all in my favor! These two comic books should guarantee an award!

"I know the novel 'Reunion,' but Nezha?" He Yushui tilted her head and thought for a moment. "You mean that little brat who rides on wheels of fire?"

"That unruly brat from the Investiture of the Gods?"

"A brat?"

"Isn't that right?"

"He killed the disciple of Lady Shiji without any grudge or enmity, and caused chaos in the East Sea while taking a bath, resulting in the deaths of many aquatic creatures. When a patrolling sea yaksha came up to ask him something, he killed him."

"When Prince Ao Bing came up and asked again, he killed the man again and even pulled out his dragon tendons."

"When the Dragon King went to Heaven to complain, he stopped him and even changed his appearance to deceive the Dragon King..."

"This guy's a killer! Why did you draw him, Big Brother Biao?"