What takes away gloss on comic magazines?

[blazingbob]

Where's Shuley who works in a printing shop, he'd know.

[blazingbob]

Hold on, I know how to get his attention.

 

Hey, George says the Shuley's are cheap and lose money on every deal!!!!!!

 

It's like a mating call, I think I hear them coming.

 

 

[PovertyRow]

gee. I must be on the right track if POV agrees!

thanx man.

 

Wait! I thought I disagreed?!

[jonnydouble]

Hold on, I know how to get his attention.

 

Hey, George says the Shuley's are cheap and lose money on every deal!!!!!!

 

It's like a mating call, I think I hear them coming.

 

 

 

ROFLMAO

 

[ninanina]

Speaking of that...if temperature or humidity knock gloss off, then you wouldn't see any books with tan or cream pages which still have gloss. This isn't something I've thought about looking for before...does anyone have any glossy books with tan or cream pages?

 

Good question. I checked out my All Star Western #10 (1st appearance of Johah Hex). Corners like a 9.4, no stress cracks (which is quite easy considering it's got a white spine). But...

 

Evidence of tanning along the top of the front cover and all around the edges of the inside cover. The back cover has tanning on both sides. Some foxing, not a lot. I compared the cover gloss to an All Star Western 22 which came out just a couple years later. The 22 had no tanning, no foxing and the gloss was a lot better on it than the 10. I suspect the only difference in the storing conditions were the #10 was on top of the pile, while the 22 was protected in the pile 12 copies down. Both comics were stored without a bag in high humidity conditions by the previous original owner. More than that, I don't know.

 

So, I would vote yes as far as humidity effecting cover gloss. Both comics were stored at room temperatures. Humidity was quite high expecially during the winter months as these were stored in a closed room, no circulation and exposed to an outside wall. That explains a lot as far as the All Star Western looking the way it does. Amazing what 27 years can do to a comic just sitting there minding it's own business.

 

Would be interested in a few more comments or experiences from other forumites.

[PovertyRow]

Speaking of that...if temperature or humidity knock gloss off, then you wouldn't see any books with tan or cream pages which still have gloss. This isn't something I've thought about looking for before...does anyone have any glossy books with tan or cream pages?

 

Absolutely - just look at the Harvey pre-code horror warehouse (aka file copies) books. Some tremendous cover gloss and often tan to cream pages.

 

My feeling is that humidity will impact gloss. My sense is that too much humidity penetrates and breaks down the calendared surface. This is quickly demonstrated by just taking an old glossy cover and floating it for a few minutes in water, face down. Let it dry and you'll see that dulling look. And there will be a slight roughness to the surface (not as rough as newsprint but less slick.)

[Zonker]

I've always thought sunlight played a major role in this. Most of us have seen at one time or another a comic whose cover is faded almost to a black-and-white from being exposed to direct sunlight over many years. My thought up until now has been the slightly dull look of the covers of many Golden Age books was simply this same effect taken to a much less extreme.

 

But of course I don't know for sure.

[PovertyRow]

I've always thought sunlight played a major role in this. Most of us have seen at one time or another a comic whose cover is faded almost to a black-and-white from being exposed to direct sunlight over many years. My thought up until now has been the slightly dull look of the covers of many Golden Age books was simply this same effect taken to a much less extreme.

 

But of course I don't know for sure.

 

My inclination is that it takes color to really highlight the gloss. When strong bad light, like sun or fluorescent etc. beam happily on a cover, fading the inks to nil, the overall impact is greatly reduced.

 

Where is Dice and Shuley?

[shiverbones]

i have wondered this myself. I just picked up several lots (about 100 books) of late bronze DC horror which were sadly stacked poorly, so all have some sort of roll, but they are the FRESHEST books i have ever seen. The cover gloss is blinding, the paper bone white and the smell of the inks is as unadulterated as i have ever smelled. Opening a book hits you in the face with that nostalgic smell of comic inks without a trace of any other odor or degradation, its remarkable. So i am guessing these were read, stacked poorly, hence rubbed a bit, but the conditions were perfect atmospherically. Also though as POV has said i have some very cream to tan pre codes with supernatural levels of gloss, so in that case, perhaps the opposite is true. Such a mystery! I am about to move to New Orleans in march, so i have been wondering about humidity there. I will have AC of course, but i still worry a bit. Of course New Jersy is extremely humid too, so it might not be too much worse.

[fantastic_four]

I've been wondering for years how the soiling patterns on the backs of books form into such weird, wavy shapes, and why some books get soiled and others don't. Could the gloss and dust lying on top of it rubbing off of the front of one book and onto the back of another when they're sitting together in a stack be responsible for why soiling occurs and why soiling patterns are so strangely shaped?