Chapter 244: Comic Debut

The studio quickly got on track.

It was originally a very mature studio with high-quality resources in all aspects. It was precisely because of this quality that it caught the attention of Mi Xiaolin’s venture capital group. Seizing an opportunity during a certain investment round, they used various unethical methods to push out the original manager and turn the studio into their group’s asset…

Many of the resources separated during this foreclosure were of such high quality. Xie Wenyuan, Zhong Yi, Old Zhu, and even that Xia Junjie must have reaped many benefits from this. Leaving that aside, for Chu Ge and Qiu Wuji, this studio was incredibly valuable.

Experienced and skilled artists were one thing, but they also had departments for copyrights and operations, along with collaborations with major websites. The studio had several ongoing projects, some of which were quite well-known. Chu Ge used to pay little attention to comic authors, not even knowing who drew what. Now he knew; it was his own company’s work…

Due to the company’s relocation to Nanjiang, a small number of local employees resigned and did not follow along. However, the majority of out-of-town employees made the move. Besides the locals, most people in this industry were young and unattached, so working anywhere was pretty much the same. The treatment offered by Zhu Mengmeng was even better.

Therefore, the overall structure of the studio was relatively intact and ready to operate immediately. There was hardly any awkwardness following the restructuring. It felt like they had merely changed locations… with a more beautiful boss.

In fact, most of the employees in the animation industry were avid internet users and had a strong presence in the world of anime. Among them were even fans of the “Sweetest Love In Early Autumn” couple… So when they discovered that their new bosses were actually that couple, they couldn’t have been happier.

The other female boss was a wealthy single woman. Well… anyway, no matter what, it was much more comfortable than when they were under the command of that detestable manager dispatched by the previous group.

With everyone working together, they managed to bring Chu Ge’s adapted script for the first three episodes to life within three days.

Qiu Wuji looked very satisfied. The visual representation of the scenes was indeed much more intuitive than just words. Chu Ge’s adaptation was excellent, and even his initial clichés had been transformed into the most delicate artwork.

Although she didn’t know much about the comic market, from her own perspective, she believed that it should be very popular.

“Chief Qiu, this comic is going to be a hit, I guarantee it with all my years of experience in this industry! I’ve never seen a comic portrayed so vividly before. Chief, you’re amazing!” the operations director patted his chest and said, “I’ll coordinate with the novel website right away, and we can launch it this week! Chief Qiu, you just need to check the data!”

November 11th, Singles’ Day.

The comic adaptation of ‘Chu Tian Wu Ji’ officially debuts on the Penguin Comics platform and simultaneously releases on multiple anime websites, with the first three episodes available. Updates will be on Tuesdays.

Whether or not the operations director patted his chest didn’t matter. The initial popularity of this comic had already exceeded his expectations for a new comic within the first hour of release.

Due to the involvement of Xie Wenyuan’s project investment, this project was, in a sense, one of the group’s own projects and received relatively high attention. Xie Wenyuan even allocated additional promotional expenses, which meant that when this comic was launched, it came with a large recommended spot, making it a thousand times better treated than when Chu Ge started a new book.

Qiu Wujie posted a new Weibo article: “The comic I drew, adapted from my boyfriend’s book. Do you all think the cover looks good?”

Chu Ge himself also posted a single chapter in the book: “The comic is online, adapted from my script, drawn by Qiuqiu.”

Both of them emphasized each other, and strangely, people bought into it. Just the titles were enough to send all the CP fans and original fans into a frenzy.

With the official endorsement and the influx of original fans and CP fans, within ten minutes of the comic going online, it soared into the top ten of Penguin Comics’ new works list and reached the number one spot within an hour.

The operations director was dumbfounded. Only the first three chapters had been released, and it had only been an hour. This was even with multiple channels splitting the traffic… After so many years in the comic industry, he had never seen anything like this.

But initial popularity couldn’t represent everything; word of mouth and retention were the most important. Otherwise, everyone would gather for fun, but if the comic wasn’t good, it would eventually die out, which would be meaningless.

The operations director nervously monitored the comments section. Slowly, a relaxed smile appeared on his face.

“Damn, this is the Chu Tiange I imagined in my heart! I recognized him at first glance! He really captured my heart!”

“What the heck, I had no idea this was drawn by Qiuqiu. Her art skills are godly!”

“Compared to those comics where everyone looks the same except for their hair, this is a breath of fresh air. How was this even drawn? It’s so exaggerated.”

“Yeah, I thought I was here for some fun, but this is scaring me. I need to go tell everyone in the group; don’t miss out!”

“No need to tell them. All the groups have already exploded. 99+ messages in a second. I can’t keep up.”

“The best part is that the story closely follows the original. I’m afraid of adaptations that change everything beyond recognition, but this one, even though it’s been tweaked a bit, feels so smooth.”

“Because Brother Chu personally handled it!”

“What an amazing duo.”

The original fans were ecstatic, like celebrating the New Year.

CP fans were also ecstatic: “Damn, I thought ‘Sweetest Love In Early Autumn’ was just some internet celebrity selling an image and concept. This comic is amazing!”

“I went for a team-building event at the original novel’s platform before. I only read half a chapter; I don’t like reading… Having a comic is great; the art is fantastic!”

“Qiuqiu posted her comic drafts before, and she said she was an student at that time. I already said back then that her illustrations didn’t look like a student’s work. She’s really skilled.”

“Don’t just talk about the art style; the story is good too. Don’t forget that it’s Chu Chu’s book.”

“So it’s a perfect match, right? That’s why we’re fans of this couple.”

While some people had a favorable bias because they liked the people involved, there were also many newcomers who came due to the app’s recommendation and were completely bewildered:

“What are you guys talking about? Who are Chu Chu and Qiuqiu? There’s no one named Chu Chu in this comic.”

“Are you guys newcomers? Hey, from an outsider’s perspective, is the art good?”

“…Even though I have no idea about this Chu Chu or Qiuqiu, I’ve been in the comic industry for many years. Just based on the art alone, it’s enough to make me continue reading. As long as the story isn’t garbage, I’ll probably follow.”

“Don’t worry, how could Brother Chu’s story possibly be garbage?”

“The story in the first three chapters seems quite engaging. How often is it updated?”

“Oh, it’s two updates per week… That’s not too bad. But I can’t wait; I’m going to read the original novel first.”

The operations director could tell that it was taking off.

What is most feared in novel-to-comic adaptations? Original fans not recognizing it, and relying on newcomers who haven’t read the original to build buzz is very challenging.

Currently, the buzz was exploding from all sides, although the total number of readers didn’t seem very high; it had only been three chapters. As long as the quality of the later chapters was maintained, it would be difficult for it not to become popular given the current momentum.

Chu Ge and Qiu Wuji were both reading comments, and they were both stunned.

After reading for a long time, Qiu Wuji murmured softly, “Why do I always feel like… your book might not be as successful without the comic?”

“Be more confident and remove the ‘might.’ Or you can say the comic isn’t guaranteed to be successful, but if the anime adaptation is done well, it’s bound to be more successful than my original work.” Chu Ge remained quite composed. “My original work has a certain reading threshold, so there’s inevitably a limit. However, images have no threshold, which is why I’ve been longing to adapt… Only then can we achieve our world’s identity. Now, we’ve successfully taken the most crucial step.”

Chu Ge was still more clear-headed than anyone else.

Others wanted to be successful, while he wanted success only as a means to an end for the world’s authenticity.

Everyone’s pursuits were different.