Part 5 (1/2)
”Super up the phone, with the tone of so an unknown dish in an outlandish restaurant He started to pace behind his desk, hands clasped behind his back
”Think of how much product we could sell if we had our on Super ”We can call the ”We can call them Joy Buzzer Comics Whoopie Cushi+on Comics Joy Buzzer Comics Whoopie Cushi+on Co Think-” Think of how h,” said Anapol He stopped pacing and flicked the switch on his telephone console again The cast of his face had altered, taking on a taut, faintly squeanize, after a year in his employ, as the repressed foreconsciousness of money His voice was a hoarse whisper ”I need Jack,” he said
Mavis placed a call upstairs to the offices of Racy Publications, Inc, home of Racy Police Stories, Racy Western, Racy Police Stories, Racy Western, and and Racy Romance Racy Romance Jack Ashkenazy was summoned to the phone He confirazine publisher in New York had taken notice of the explosive sales of National's Jack Ashkenazy was summoned to the phone He confirazine publisher in New York had taken notice of the explosive sales of National's Action Comics Action Comics and its caped and booted star and its caped and booted star
”Yeah?” Anapol said ”Yeah? ”Yeah?You are? Any luck?”
He took the receiver from his ear and stuffed it under his left ar around for a Superman of their own upstairs,” he told Saet him one, boss,” he said ”We can have hi But just between you and reat hero, John Garfield, tough and suave at the sao where the big money was, ”I'd advise you to keep a little piece of this for yourself?'
Anapol laughed ”Oh, you would, would you?” he said He shook his head ”I'll bear that in mind” He kept the receiver tucked under his ararette fros over, his big jaw tensed and bulging Then he rescued the receiver and blew smoke into the mouthpiece
”Maybe you'd better coain and nodded in Joe Kavalier's direction ”Is that your artist?”
”We both are,” said Sammy ”Artists, I mean” He decided to match Anapol's dubiety with a burst of self-confidence he was rapidly inducing himself to feel He went over to the partition and rapped, with a flourish, on the glass Joe turned, startled, froer his own display of confidence, didn't let himself look too closely at what Joe had done At least the whole page seemed to have been filled in
”May I-?” he said to Anapol, gesturing toward the door
”Might as well get hiht Joe stood up, gathering the portfolio and his stray pencils, then sidled into Anapol's office, sketchpad clutched to his chest, in his baggy tweed suit, with his hungry face and borrowed tie, his expression at once guarded and touchingly eager to please He was looking at the owner of E money Sammy had promised had been packed into the swollen carapace of Sheldon Anapol and would, at the slightest prick or tap, coreen torrent
”hello, young man,” said Anapol ”I'm told you can draw”
”Yes, sir!” Joe said, in a voice that sounded oddly strangled, startling them all
”Give it here” Sammy reached for the pad and found, to his surprise, that he couldn't pry it loose For an instant, he was afraid that his cousin had done so so aboli, where a fat moon peered fro across its face, and he saw that, on the contrary, his cousin sio
”Joe,” he said softly
”I need a littlethe pad to Saed the burning cigarette in a corner of his mouth, and took the pad fro it wasshadows There were evocative suggestions of tiled roofs, leaded s, icy puddles on the ground Out of the shadows and into the light of the bat-scarred moon strode a tall, brawny man His frame was as sturdy and thick as his hobnailed boots For costu, shapeless stocking hat like soular and handsoaze was empty There were four Hebrew characters etched into his forehead
”Is that the Golem?” Golem?” said Anapol ”My new Superman is the Golem?” said Anapol ”My new Superman is the Golem?”
”I didn't-the conceit is new forup on hi I could think of that resembledTo me, this Superman ismaybeonly an Aht?”
”Huh?” said Sa to conceal his dismay ”Yeah, sure, but, Joethe Golem iswell Jewish” Jewish”
Anapol rubbed his heavy chin, looking at the drawing He pointed to the portfolio ”Let ot in there”
”He had to leave all his work back in Prague,” Sammy put in quickly, as Joe untied the ribbon of the portfolio ”He just started throwing together so”
”Well, he isn't fast,” Anapol said when he saw that Joe's portfolio was empty ”He has talent, anyone can see that, but” The look of doubtfulness returned to his face
”Joe,” cried Sammy ”Tell hiue,” said Joe
Anapol stopped rubbing his chin ”The Acadeuys? What's going on in here?” Jack Ashkenazy burst into the office without warning or a knock He had all his hair, and was achecked vests and two-tone shoes Because he had prospered, in a Kra kind of way, more easily than Anapol, he had not been forced to develop the older man's rumpled sales America's youth of the oppressive national ar from his mouth and yanked the sketchpad out of Anapol's hands
”Beauteeful,” he said ”The head is too big”
”The head is too big?” said Anapol ”That's all you can say?”
”The body's too heavy Looks like he's made out of stone”
”He is is oleolehed ”I can do so you want,” said Sareed His eyes widened as an inspiration seeht to show them my fart”
”He's only ever read one coestion ”But I've read them all, boss I've read every issue of Action Action I've studied this stuff I kno it's done Look” He picked up his own portfolio and untied the strings It was a cheap pasteboard number from Woolworth's, like Joe's, but battered, scraped, and carefully dented You couldn't sit around in so portfolio Everyone would know you were a tyro Sa his with a ha across it in a pair of hiscoffee on it Unfortunately, since purchasing it he had ed to land only two cartoons, one in a coazine called I've studied this stuff I kno it's done Look” He picked up his own portfolio and untied the strings It was a cheap pasteboard number from Woolworth's, like Joe's, but battered, scraped, and carefully dented You couldn't sit around in so portfolio Everyone would know you were a tyro Sa his with a ha across it in a pair of hiscoffee on it Unfortunately, since purchasing it he had ed to land only two cartoons, one in a coazine called Laff Laff and the other in and the other in Belle-Views, Belle-Views, house organ of the psychiatric here his an of the psychiatric here hisout a fistful of sa them around What he meant, more precisely, was that he could steal it all
”It isn't half bad,” Anapol said
”It ain't beauteeful, either,” said Ashkenazy
Salared at Ashkenazy, not because Ashkenazy had insulted his work-no one was ever more aware of his own artistic limitations than Sa on the border of so wonderful, a land where wild cataracts of ination would, at last, lift his makeshi+ft little raft and carry it out to the boundless freedom of the open sea Jack Ashkenazy, whose watery eyes could easily, Sained, be stabbed out with the letter opener on Anapol's desk, was threatening to get in his way Anapol caught the look of visionary murder in Sammy's eyes and took a chance on it
”What say we let these boys go home over the weekend and try to come up with a Superman for us” He fixed Sammy with a hard look ”Our own kind of a Super is a Superes”
”I want a character and a twelve-page story by Monday”
”We're going to need a lot ot typically five or six characters in there You know, a spy A private eye A shadowy avenger of the helpless An evil Chinaman These two can't coot artists, Shelly I got George Deasey” draw it I got artists, Shelly I got George Deasey”
”No!” said Sae Deasey was the editor in chief of Racy Publications He was a tyrannical, ill-te's elevators with the exacerbated smell of rye ”It's mine Ours, me and Joe Boss, I can handle it”
”Absolutely, boss,” said Joe
Anapol grinned ”Get a load of this guy,” he said ”You just gethand on Sammy's shoulder ”Then we'll see about what you can handle or not All right, Jack?”