chapter 196 part 1
Chapter 195: Brainiac's Debut
LaGuardia was clearly very tempted by the campaign advice Colin had proposed.
Therefore, the day after their meeting, he announced his campaign platform through his mayoral campaign headquarters in New York. He promised to crack down hard on corruption and organized crime in New York, investigate the corruption cases of Tammany Hall, and build public housing to improve living conditions in the slums.
LaGuardia's direct campaign style naturally drew the dissatisfaction of many, including those within the Democratic Party, with Tammany Hall reacting the most strongly.
After all, he had explicitly stated by name that he would thoroughly investigate Tammany Hall's corruption cases.
That same day, Tammany Hall issued a statement calling the accusations baseless and an "ugly trick" by LaGuardia for the New York mayoral election. They claimed that Tammany Hall had always been working to improve New York City's political environment and economic problems, and that LaGuardia's threats would not make them back down.
At the same time, Tammany Hall's statement pointed out that LaGuardia, as a Republican congressman, undoubtedly supported Hoover's policies. Once he became mayor, all of New York would plunge into the disaster of a second "Great Depression"—"Men and women will lose their jobs and become homeless people on the streets."
"There is no special Republican way to clean up garbage!"
This was LaGuardia's response in that afternoon's extra edition of the Daily Messenger.
"What New York City needs is a change to the terrible public safety and corruption, not to argue about who is a Democrat and who is a Republican. Jimmy Walker was the New York City Mayor elected by the Democratic Party, but what did he bring to this city? Severe corruption and a huge mess. The Democrats have been in New York long enough. It's time to let someone else have a try. There is no special Republican way to clean up garbage, and likewise, New York City does not have to be run by the Democratic Party..."
"What we are discussing here is not who has contributed to New York, but the need for a new mayor who can truly change New York's current economy and public safety!"
In the newspaper, LaGuardia expressed his firm determination for the New York mayoral race with a tough stance.
The publication of this news also signified that the Daily Messenger, represented by Colin, had officially joined the battle of the mayoral election.
Everyone could see that in this New York mayoral election, the Messenger Newspaper stood behind the Republican Party's LaGuardia.
A little later, the World Daily News pointed out in its editorial: "LaGuardia is just a theorist who makes empty promises. He has nothing to show for his time as a congressman. Why should we believe that such a person can be a good mayor for New York City? He might become New York City's 'next Hoover'."
During the Great Depression, Hoover had clearly become a negative label for any Republican campaign.
It was a common consensus in society that everyone hated Hoover.
And in this, Colin's Daily Messenger had, more or less, played a role in fanning the flames.
Facing the news commentary from the World Daily News, the Daily Messenger was not to be outdone and countered: "Choosing the Democratic Party is equivalent to choosing Tammany Hall!"
On one side was the incompetent next Hoover, and on the other was the corrupt Tammany Hall.
It seemed that no matter how the citizens of New York chose, they couldn't see the slightest glimmer of hope.
There was still some time before the actual New York mayoral election, even later than the presidential election.
So, for now, the dispute between the two sides was still limited to a war of words in the media.
While expressing its support for LaGuardia's mayoral campaign, the Daily Messenger also mercilessly expressed its opposition to Hoover's re-election campaign: "We have no chicken in our pot; we don't even have a pot!"
This became a widely circulated slogan from the Daily Messenger.
Its content mocked Hoover's promise during his presidential campaign: "A chicken in every American pot, and a car in every garage."
At the time, Hoover obviously never would have thought that his promise would be shattered by the onset of the Great Depression.
This adapted slogan from the Daily Messenger not only reminded the public of the promise Hoover had made but also gave them an outlet to vent their growing dissatisfaction with the Great Depression.
Riding the wave of the general election, the Daily Messenger successfully transitioned from a previously criticized comic newspaper toward credibility and authority.
For a newspaper, this was undoubtedly a positive direction for development.
Of course, besides reporting on political and social news, Colin hadn't forgotten about the schedule for the Superman serialized story.
In every issue of the Daily Messenger, he would intersperse short comic serials to remind readers to keep paying attention to Superman.
Meanwhile, on Wednesdays and weekends, he continued to use long-form serialized stories to solidify Superman's popularity.
For example, in the latest weekend serial, a new villain made his debut.
Lois: "Clark, I'm a little nervous..."
Clark: "Don't worry too much, Lois. Just think of this as an ordinary long-distance trip."
Lois: "But this time, we're going to Outer Space."
At the beginning of the story, Lois and Clark became participants on an Experimental Manned Rocket, heading to Outer Space with other crew members.
Although the technology for manned spaceships had not yet been developed in this era, the fantasy of space travel had been taking shape for a long time. As early as the late 19th century, Russian scientist Tsiolkovsky had published a science fiction novel titled "On the Moon" to introduce his astronautical theories.
In his early papers on manned spaceflight, he also described in detail the entire process of a manned spaceship from launch to entering orbit, making readers of his novel feel as if they were personally on a spaceship ascending to the heavens. This was, in fact, a forward-thinking imagination of manned spaceflight.
Of course, in the comic, the whole process was much more concise.
Colin used just two panels to depict the scene of Superman and Lois flying out of the atmosphere in the spaceship.
In the serialized plot, with the jump of a single panel, the spaceship had flown over 10,000 miles high, breaking all sorts of records.
But for some reason, the animals aboard the rocket began to grow restless. Then, the spaceship's pilot discovered a pink Unidentified Flying Object firing some kind of ray at them and cried out in alarm.
Lois: "What's wrong, Clark?"
Clark: "Nothing, probably just a little dizzy."
His Super Hearing picked up the pilot's cry. Clark took a look with his X-Ray Vision and discovered that a green-skinned alien and his white pet monkey named Koko were behind it all. The alien mistakenly believed that this rocket had been sent by the people of Earth to stop him.
The appearance of the alien threw the entire spaceship into chaos.
Clark also feigned panic, grabbed a spacesuit and a supersonic jet, and prepared to flee back to Earth.