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Reason for unreal colors on Barks Duck books?

Started by Transplant,

29 posts in this topic

Transplant

Transplant

Posted
Posted

With exceptions certainly, most of the earlier Barks books seem to have almost unnaturally amazing colors. Maybe it's a limited sample size but even many of the beaters I've seen have covers that sparkle. Does anyone know if the printing done by Dell on these books had any special color process or cover gloss?

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selegue

selegue

Posted
Posted
With exceptions certainly, most of the earlier Barks books seem to have almost unnaturally amazing colors. Maybe it's a limited sample size but even many of the beaters I've seen have covers that sparkle. Does anyone know if the printing done by Dell on these books had any special color process or cover gloss?

 

I undersood that Dell production quality was higher than the competition during the 40s to early 60s because of their association with a quality printer, Western Printing and Lithographing Co., instead of the lowest bidder. That's why Dell/Gold Key was able to use gutterless page layouts, right?

 

Didn't they also pay their artists and craftsmen better than most publishers?

 

Jack

 

 

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selegue

selegue

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Posted
Gutterless? Please explain for the short bus crowd.

 

"Borderless panels" is really what I meant. No black line ruled around each panel. The higher the production quality, the less they're needed to cover up small mistakes and ink bleed.

 

Here's a Gold Key page without ruled borders:

 

h2.gif

 

Gutters are the spaces between panels.

Strictly speaking, here's a gutterless page (found on line)

 

Storeyville page

 

(The link doesn't quite work. Click on an image on the page this takes you to.)

 

I hope one of the artists in the group will chime in with more details (or corrections).

 

Jack

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Scrooge

Scrooge

Posted
Posted
With exceptions certainly, most of the earlier Barks books seem to have almost unnaturally amazing colors. Maybe it's a limited sample size but even many of the beaters I've seen have covers that sparkle. Does anyone know if the printing done by Dell on these books had any special color process or cover gloss?

 

I undersood that Dell production quality was higher than the competition during the 40s to early 60s because of their association with a quality printer, Western Printing and Lithographing Co., instead of the lowest bidder. That's why Dell/Gold Key was able to use gutterless page layouts, right?

 

Didn't they also pay their artists and craftsmen better than most publishers?

 

Jack

 

 

Maybe Lake Michigan water is better?

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Transplant

Transplant

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Examples of what I'm referring to.

a 5.0

wdcs19.jpg

 

a 9.4

fc147.jpg

 

143sk's

956700-wdcs.jpg

 

another 9.4

fc300.jpg

 

flashfan's:

1111179019083_duck4.jpg

 

These are all from the show your Ducks thread. I think it illustrates the concept I'm talking about and the fact that I'm not just referring to HG copies. Some of this seems to die out the FC386. That's a great cover but the colors don't pop. There is some of it FC 495 so I'm not entirely sure it meant there was a change in production.

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adamstrange

adamstrange

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This book below definitely has a thick paper stock over and was produced with a high gloss finish. That is not necessarily true of some of the other issues that you point out, and, having seen them in person, I would not all characterize them as having the same quality of finish.

 

A thicker cover stock is alway a good thing as it prevents tanning of the pages from having too much impact in dulling the cover the way it would with cheaper books from the 50s. Dell also produced some of their 40s books (e.g. Ghost of the Grotto) with a matte finish so there was not uniformity in their line that was interrupted by FC 386. FC 386 can be quite attractive and is a glossy book, but there was a time in the 50s when they had thin covers and super high gloss. The photo covers and painted covers from this time outshone their competition.

 

wdcs19.jpg

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tth2

tth2

Posted
Posted
With exceptions certainly, most of the earlier Barks books seem to have almost unnaturally amazing colors. Maybe it's a limited sample size but even many of the beaters I've seen have covers that sparkle. Does anyone know if the printing done by Dell on these books had any special color process or cover gloss?

 

I undersood that Dell production quality was higher than the competition during the 40s to early 60s because of their association with a quality printer, Western Printing and Lithographing Co., instead of the lowest bidder. That's why Dell/Gold Key was able to use gutterless page layouts, right?

 

Didn't they also pay their artists and craftsmen better than most publishers?

 

Jack

 

This makes sense. You almost never see a miswrapped Dell or GK cover, whereas they seem so common in DCs, Timelys, Marvels, etc.

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selegue

selegue

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Posted
This book below definitely has a thick paper stock over and was produced with a high gloss finish. That is not necessarily true of some of the other issues that you point out, and, having seen them in person, I would not all characterize them as having the same quality of finish.

 

A thicker cover stock is alway a good thing as it prevents tanning of the pages from having too much impact in dulling the cover the way it would with cheaper books from the 50s. Dell also produced some of their 40s books (e.g. Ghost of the Grotto) with a matte finish so there was not uniformity in their line that was interrupted by FC 386. FC 386 can be quite attractive and is a glossy book, but there was a time in the 50s when they had thin covers and super high gloss. The photo covers and painted covers from this time outshone their competition.

 

wdcs19.jpg

 

Good points, adamstrange.

Dell definitely used good quality, heavy cover stock, which seems to keep them from dulling and chipping. I'm not sure if you were making a point about colors on the matte finish books, but the ones I have (Four Color 179, maybe others) have held their color well.

 

Jack

Dell Comics are Good Comics!

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adamstrange

adamstrange

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I'm not sure if you were making a point about colors on the matte finish books, but the ones I have (Four Color 179, maybe others) have held their color well.

 

Just noting that they aren't shiny and intense like the earlier books. I personally like GA and 50s books because of the variety of printing methods.

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