It was quite the situation that Alexander had to go view things from a more personal perspective.

There's only so much that graphs and compiled data could tell.

No offense to Miss Marker, of course. Her grasp on these things was quite legit.

Anyways, it was not enough, so another trip to the comic book store it is.

-----

After giving Mr. Counterboy a heads-up, Alexander simply blended within the confines of the Creed Store.

A lot has changed with the place... but he still knew his way around. A much-needed expansion is in order though.

It's getting kinda cramped.

Anyways, those plans could be enacted later.

As of current, he is just a curious customer among all the other customers.

It was July and it was the summer, so it made sense for a lot of "fellow kids" to be here.

How do you do, fellow kids? He did not say.

Still, Alexander was an inconspicuous fellow amidst nerds, debating nerds, toy ooglers, and title browsers. And especially relevant are the "speculators".

He was getting a good grasp on the atmosphere and the attitude of the demographic as one would say.

Kind of like Neil Gaiman, during that one episode of The Big Bang Theory.

After a loop and stroll, Alexander quickly got a good grasp on stuff.

And the crux of the matter was at hand.

Especially when he was holding something like Dark Horse Presents...

Minus Concrete cause like other Dark Horse superstars, the concrete fellow had long been waiting as a designated protocol in Creed Comics' protocol vault.

Anyways, he was mentally getting off-topic.

He was here to inspect the new bubble, after all.

Not to say that Dark Horse Comics is to blame for this up-and-coming boom-bust catastrophe.

Even old suspect Mirage was not to blame for this one.

Alexander just believes that the dark horse mentality is what spurned this whole thing.

It wasn't just Dark Horse that was hoping to upend the industry as Creed did.

Each had a dark horse mentality and it was Creed Comics that may have egged all these new publishers to follow.

To pile up to that, the iconic Turtles is now Alexander's fault as well.

So... wouldn't that mean that Creed Comics is to blame for what's to come?

Well... yes...

He did note that Creed Comics is caught at the center of this one and at the center it truly is.

If anything, they may have taken the Black-and-White Comic Boom and Bust to a greater notch.

------

How so?

One might ask.

Alexander would just answer as follows.

Dragonball. A non-traditional superhero story that stood out against the usual comic book archetype. He checked and found Seven Wells and Phoenix Wishbones to be especially stand-offish.

TMNT. The spark of the old boom-bust and the usual boom-bust copycats are actually here. With stuff like Samurai Pizza Cats from dissatisfied Mirage itself. Then there's all the other heroic fellows with titular alliterations. Clearly, the old cycle was happening already.

And it was just going to get even bigger.

SilverHawks and TigerSharks Comics. RankinBass setting up publicity for their upcoming animated opus without ThunderCats in their hand.

Stalker. A five-page doodle comic most probably a joke for Predator.

Firebot. Full Robot. Full Fireman. Full RoboCop knock-off.

GoBots Comic. After their disastrous film from March, this was their new attempt at flanking ultra-popular The Cybertronian Chronicles and toyline.

Then there are plentiful lovestruck teen flicks. They didn't illicit the mysterious feeling of love. Rather, they elicited horridness cause the artists were wannabes with inconsistent art.

LiLi's Peculiar Journey. DoDo's Extinct Life. Just wow.

Deuce Doctor. What is that even a doctor of? Defecation.

Admittedly, Alexander found creativity in these things but not too much.

Of course, this development wasn't anything new, was it?

As early as March of 1985, there were Barbie, D&D: New Adventures, Hot Wheels, G.I. Joe's Back in Comics, He-Man Comic Re-imagining, and Strawberry Shortcake: The Series.

My Little Pony, I Have a Magic 8-Ball, Nerf Survival Against Aliens, Care Bears, Jenga Battle, In the Realm of Legos.

Even Teddy Ruxpin's masterminds had their shot at a comic story after the frustrating Ruxpin-Hobbes debacle.

It was clear that this has been gradually building and building up.

Then the true boom came...

Which was Watchmen's nuclear-infused explosion?

As for why this fact was important...

Well... this was the start of the speculations, after all.

Speculations of Alexander Creed being as crazy as Adrien Veidt. Speculations of Creed Comics phasing out. Pretty much just speculations from comic book speculators.

Most importantly, speculation of Watchmen #12, sold at 75 cents, being rare and probably costing a fortune when re-sold.

Akin to the crazy 6,600 percent markup from the cheap black-and-white TMNT of old. Watchmen was this timeline's spark.

Of course, this whole thing was just speculators being crazy but it actually worked.

It had to be noted that everyone knew that Action Comics #1 was a beast of a collector's item.

Didn't it just make sense for the ultra-popular and much-acclaimed Watchmen to be of the same status?

Of course, the floodgates opened with that.

As Alexander looked at the dynamic inside of Creed Store, speculators are all around.

Probably thinking that they just snagged 20 dollars worth of titles that will earn them thousands.

Buying 10 copies of the same issue as if it's the smartest decision they've ever made.

Gosh, it's starting already. Everyone was now collectively stupid and absurdly speculative.

The calamity was already here.

What's even stupider is the idiot publishers putting no unit caps in their releases.

The incredibly steep spike in the charts could very well be understood.

Marvel, DC, and all the others are probably thinking that with their unit sales reaching millions, their companies are at an unstoppable high.

Even the newly popped-up wannabes clearly have 100,000 and 200,000 copies and more on the way for their trashy titles.

No doubt, financers were aiding them just like how there had been a secret financier in the old boom-and-bust.

Who most probably are the Top Gun envious competitions.

It was unclear whether they are just getting back on Creed Entertainment or actively testing their push into this unexpected entertainment expansion...

Either way, it would most probably be a win in their opinion.

After all, Creed is disadvantaged wherever they looked at it.

With factors coinciding and certain powers egging it on, the comic book market is sure to be affected.

As of now, it's still the boom...

Then again, the bust must be looming close.

Undisputedly, a dreadful market calamity is here already.

--------

Oh my gosh.

Oh my gosh.

Oh my gosh.

Fake-panicking aside, Alexander would be lying if he said he didn't expect such a development.

The very fact that he could list out many examples and know the Black-and-White bubble by expositionary logic... is a telltale sign.

A telltale sign that he had a solution already.

As for his solution. Well, he always had one from the start.

Why else would he restrict his issue releases to only the 100,000-400,000s then?

Of course, it pave way for the Volume Books but also a saving grace for these kinds of speculative market disasters.

Rise or fall. Issue releases would always be steadily limited and just enough.

Smart, is it not?

Why else would he not release new comic titles already?

Of course, it is to limit the damage that the boom-and-bust could do.

Do people actually think that Creed is phasing out comic books?

Do people seriously think that Creed Comics is still hung up on the legal problems? If so, then these people are idiots.

Then again, wouldn't these supposed "solutions" just work for Creed Comics?

What about the rest of the industry?

Wouldn't the boom-and-bust still happen, regardless?

Well... it will. There's just no stopping it. Alexander was no saint or miracle worker.

What could he even do? Publish more comics?

Aside from the obvious, why would some even think that producing more comic books will make this boom-and-bust cycle go away?

Would founding new dot-com companies even stop the dot-com disaster?

Would newer and fancier properties even do anything positive for the mortgage crisis?

Would an even bull-er market take down the bull market during Black Monday? Seriously, is the stock market some bullfight?

Maybe... but sheesh...

Of course, if he put his mind to it, perhaps Alexander could work something out for the comic book community.

However... why would he do that?

More than anything, he actually wanted this whole thing to happen.

This was his chance, after all.

If there's anything to take away from the Black-and-White Comic crisis, it was that comic book companies are going to be in trouble. In deep trouble.

The wannabes were crushed while certain comic book giants were barely hanging in there.

Anyways, wasn't Creed Comics also caught in the center of this concerning situation?

Well, it was. It was in the same situation but concerning it was not.

All that this little trip did was confirm the boom-and-bust cycle which so happens to inadvertently make Alexander sneak a smile.

Together with an accursed duck and a stupidly-designed nuclear human...

Wasn't everything just falling into place?