Miscuts

[murph0]

Is anyone else finding it REALLY difficult to find books that were produced inbetween 70-74 with anything less then a slight miscut? Almost all the books that I've seen in this era all have to some extent a bit of a mistcut. Am I just getting unlucky or has anyone else had this problem?

 

Brian

[fantastic_four]

You're not the only one, the printers in the 1970s seemed to consider a plus-or-minus 1/4" offset acceptable. For some reason, most Silver Age Marvels have the front wrapping to the back, whereas on Bronze Age Marvels the back wraps around to the front. There are exceptions in both ages, but those appear to be the way the majority of miscuts go.

[Darthdiesel]

You can blame the prevalence of miscuts due to the rampant drug use in the comic printing business in the 70's - that or the "high"ly narcotic fumes the inking process emitted - It's a wonder how anyone back then could see straight!

[murph0]

I seriously think I must be extremely unlucky...almost every book from this period I own has to some degree a miscut.

 

Brian

[Bronty]

I don't think you're unlucky at all. Very few books from that period aren't miscut, at least in my experience.

[murph0]

Yeh, I figured most books from that period are (especially Ghost Rider #1) but I always tend to get the big miscut books...like the Marvel banner going at a 15-30 degree angle :\

 

Brian

[greggy]

Danny, where are you? I'm tempted to read mine/your Cerebus #1. Damn, too bad I have the Sword of Cerebus reprint. I actually agree with Dan this time.

[vic6string]

I'm with you on this one, I have rarely seen perfect 50/50 books (to use card centering terms). I hate seeing a big line of white running down the left of my covers, but most of my books from that time period have it. From what I have seen CGC doesn't see it the same. I have seen books get as high as 9.6 with really bad centering, and some 9.8s with some of the back showing on the front. I saw a Marvel Premiere 15 get a CGC 9.6 that I would have graded no better than a 9.0 due to the miscut. Also, some of the covers are cut either way too big or way too small. I have a few books that look like they would have to have been cropped, but I know they weren't. They are sometimes up to a half inch shorter than standard, and there are some other books with so much extra cover that I can probably crop them and no one would be able to tell.

[greggy]

Unfortunately, better grades sometimes happens with miscut books because the white "hides" the spine breaks. That is why I started to submit had to rethink which books to send in to CGC when I had doubles because what I consider to be superior book due to its centering may show more spine wear. Oh well, at least CGC has helped me sell books at a tidy profit.

[Bronty]

Hi Greg,

 

If you care to read the Cerebus 1, please feel free! I wouldn't have it if it wasn't for you kindly buying it at San Diego.

 

Cheers.

 

By the way, I couldn't agree more as to your point about the white border hiding spine breaks!

[greggy]

No, I ready the reprint already. Anyways, I subjected that book to enough potential problems by using it as padding for my other books when I sent them up via fed-ex. See, no problems at the airport by customs. Too bad my travelling buddy got "randomnly" picked for a full luggage search. They looked through every page of the 3-4 Carnal comics he just happened to buy on Sunday. If you stay on that audit any longer, I will surpass your number of posts soon. You are missed! How about August 25th at Heritage Hall for the drop-off of the book?

[Kevin76]

Let me clear up a few things about how a mis-cut happens (im a 2nd pressman for a living) All comics go through whats called a "trimmer" all the edges get cut off to make them the desired size,they go down a conveyer belt and go through the trimmer,well sometimes the books don't go through the trimmer straight and then we have a "Mis-Cut" but it still gets stacked into a nice neat pile and then put on a pallet and shipped to the distibutor and then into your comic store:)

 

I can answer any printing problems you would like to know about comics fell free to email me Shuley76@yahoo.com

[blowout]

.....ok, can you clear up the differences between off-centered and mis-cut..................as i think this is a very grey area...............

[murph0]

ok, why were most comics between 70-74 printed with some sort of printing flaw pretty much half the time?

 

Brian

[Kevin76]

When it is printed the book,it goes through a "ribbon deck" and cut into strips,the book is all one big piece of paper cut into strips BTW anyhow,when those strips of paper go through the ribbion deck,it goes over an "angle bar" and then over a few "compensators" or called "comps" for short.What these do is line the book up from front to back cover,it's suppose to be centered.Well every now and again it goes off and goes off center,no one even has to touch the controls to go off,it'll do it by itself,it's ok for them to be off a hair and still be able to save them,that is why they are in your hands today,if it's off too far,they are thrown away.Now all those ribbons go into a folder from the ribbon deck where it gets folded then stitched.

[drbanner]

can you clear up the differences between off-centered and mis-cut

 

From the definitions in the Overstreet Grading Guide:

 

Miscut - bindery defect where cover and/or pages are not cut square or are cut to wrong size.

 

Off-center folding (see "Folding Error") - A bindery defect in which the comic is folded off-center, resulting in part of the front cover appearing on the back cover, or more seriously, part of the back cover appearing on the front cover.

 

So I believe what Murph is referring to is an off-center cover, not a miscut.

[Kevin76]

i didn't know bob overstreet was also a pressman..thanx for clearing that up

[Kevin76]

I already explained why the cover is off center sometimes

[drbanner]

i didn't know bob overstreet was also a pressman..thanx for clearing that up

 

You're welcome.

[drbanner]

I already explained why the cover is off center sometimes

 

Okay.