Horrendous DC Golden Age Reprint/Restoration

if the original artwork isn't available and they are using trace's why not, ya know?
Not sell them as reissues.
What DC did is unexcusable

 

Original artwork or photostats are not available for pretty much anything from the 40s or earlier. As I noted, having production proofs for most of that first Batman story is an anomaly, and they only surfaced a few years ago. DC could certainly do a better job on the tracing, but I imagine they have a limited budget because these books don't sell in huge quantities. The alternative (at least prior to the digital age) would be that the stories are not available at all, unless you want to pay thousands for the original comics. As I noted though, nowadays you can find scans online of a great many of these books, and the online scans look much better than any copies printed in reprint books.

 

I am aware of what you are saying. I am aware that Original artwork or photostats are not available, I am aware that having production proofs for most of that first Batman story is an anomaly. I am aware that you can find scans online. my point was DC hyped this up as the definitive editions presented as all original books reprinted the best they have ever looked. they didn't even bother to recolor it based on the original colors!

 

so.. would someone like to comment on my restoration of the linework ?

 

The "redrawn" Porky Pig cartoons as they have become known, were done by Fred Ladd (the guy who brought a lot of Japanese cartoons to the U.S.) in the late 1960s. In the early 1990s, Warner had a bunch computer colorized, including some (but not all) of the ones which had been "redrawn" previously.

In 1987, Turner had the black and white Popeye cartoons redrawn under the same producer. (Ladd also did the Betty Boop redrawns in 1972.)

But by the late 1980s, they should have known better. Computer colorization was up and running by then, and while I still would have preferred them in B&W like they were made, computer colorization would have been preferable to the "redrawn" process, especially for the Fleischer studio animation. It just ruined those cartoons. They were a train wreck.

 

Reading this thread has awakened an interest in the early Batman comics for me. I am not a big comic guy, and my primary interest in Batman is the 1966 TV series. So please forgive my lack of expertise here.

But when I was a kid, DC did some large-size reprints of a few iconic issues -- Detective Comics #27, Batman #1 etc. I had the one for Detective #27 but no longer have it. Can anyone tell me what process they used there?

You guys have got me interested in looking into some reprints of the early Batman and maybe others. I probably wouldn't get into this too deep though. But it sounds like a lot of them are compromised, to say the least!

 

Thanks for posting that. When I have time tomorrow, I'll get my DC Archives Edition and compare.

 

I'm not familiar with the Archive Editions of Batman, but I think the Archive Editions in general suffered from the same problems. The art was reproduced at a tiny size with horrible coloring and loss of detail. I did a side-by-side comparison of a Spirit story between the Archive Edition and the Warren Magazines black & white reprint from the 70s and the lack of detail in the DC Archive version was astonishing, especially for a $40 hardcover.

 

You're probably talking about these oversized collectors' editions that DC (and Marvel) put out in the 70s:



I don't have any inside knowledge, but if they didn't have the original artwork or a proof, they probably just took pictures of an old copy of the original issue and blew it up optically. They probably would have had to recolor it which would probably result in a loss of detail.

If you're interested in reading the Golden Age Batman stories, you can get them now in a cheap paperback in the "Chronicles" series:



AFAIK it's the same lousy reproduction as the Archive Editions but at least it's cheap.

 

Thanks. I had the second one pictured, and possibly also Batman #1. Maybe Action Comics and/or Superman too, not sure. No idea where they ended up. They had the full-size cover inside the outer cover, which was card stock.

 

I remember an article a fair long while ago when these Archive collections were new about how they were recreated by tracing. It was either in the Comics Journal or possibly The Comics Buyer's Guide paper. I much prefer the approach that was used earlier on The Smithsonian Book Of Comic Book Comics where they reproduced each page from a photograph of the original comic book, here's an example from some early DC comics that appear in the book, and a Quality Plastic Man comic also included... however they managed it, all the comics were very clear and readable!

 

The trouble with using this approach for reprints is that the color ends up looking much darker and murkier than it's supposed to, and some linework gets lost. For this reason, the publishers tend to prefer the tracing method, which allows them to apply fresh color. I tend to agree with you though that this approach is preferable to tracing.

Ironically, the Superman story in this book is not photographed from the original comic, but from the trace job done for the Famous 1st Edition reprint version. So you end up having the worst of both worlds in that case. Here's what the image you posted actually looked like in the original comic:

 

Yeah, I had a ton of those, and a bunch of the Marvel Treasury Editions. Got rid of almost all of them decades ago, which I regret now. The Spider-Man vs. Superman one was amazing, with oversized art by Ross Andru. I saw it over at a friend's house about 10 years ago and thought "Why did I ever get rid of this?"

 

here are two versions of my new restoration
tell me what you want to see

1st one is clean crisp
second is emulating the DC 27 book I am referencing

Batman Panel 6

 

I am about 80% done colouring the page. These are the flat CMYK true colours that have been adjusted slightly to match with the highly graded book.
These are then under the black and white art work.

If I feel like it I might do another restoration recreating the Craftint colour separation, and lack of ink density to be printed on newsprint and be a recreation of the original

If one thing the archive editions got right it’s the paper. That newsprint is nearly perfect comic book stock. (If I had to complain I would want it a little more linen like) but the color is dead on to the “newsprint ascetic” not too creamy brown not too white.

If someone can track down what paper it was printed on, that would be greatly appreciated

 

Final Comic Recolor
final flat color book

 

That looks pretty nice.

 

Thank you

 

I can't see the image.

 

DC continues to make poor decisions. A prime example...canceling the early issues Detective Comics set because of the “Sinister Oriental” appearances. Woke!

 

Things have never really been the same at DC since AT&T bought out Warner and DC's headquarters moved to California. These media empires like Disney and Warner view their comic book divisions as antiquated IP factories in the dying business of print publishing, nothing more. AT&T put an executive in oversight of DC with no prior publishing experience.

DC actively looks for any reason to cancel possible trades. The bookstore bubble for comic trades burst a couple years ago and they've become far more skittish doing any of them.

 

I was able to do some digging and found what printing process, how to do it and the plates for printing detective comics 27 to make it authentic

It’s called Craftint Multicolour. And I got a digital emulation of the printing plates. Would you guys be interested in Craftint Emulation?

 

Here's my first test panel of using Craftint Color Emulation. With the black and white level's based on the a 5.0 DC 27

Craftint Color Emulation

 

what do you lot think?

 

Looks pretty good. DC itself has done very hit-or-miss restorations. You are probably spending more time and thought on it than their archival team.