1977 Sparta Press Tour Film Footage. Get a glimpse how comic books were made. 0

[Kevin76]

Ah good times.

I shelpped that job/business in my 17 years printing....first 3 weeks is a blast, after the 3rd week it's just another shnitty job.

 

I'm still doing it after 22 years.

 

 

Still doing it after 12 years here...

[DiceX]

You guys even know what you're looking at? These are community web presses meaning...everything was done by hand. Mix the ink up by hand, jog the books up by hand as they came off the press (try doing that for 12 hours a day) Think your job is tough? Web breaks and it's your fault, get yelled at and called a POS! Pressman can send you home! not the supervisor.

 

Need more red or blue in a certain spot, ok walk down the press with safety guards off the press, get a screwdriver, turn the key by hand, walk back up to the front of the press see how it looks, doesn't look right, walk back do it again and again,all night long for each color.

 

It's not a picnic even though they printed comics.

 

And the press guys would work an 8, 10, 12, or 16 hour shift without a lunch break. The only break they would get is if they could get a supervisor to fill in for them for a few minutes so they could run to the bathroom and back.

 

Sometimes the new guy would work a few hours and get someone to let him run to the bathroom and they'd never see the guy again. That happened a LOT.

 

 

[Kevin76]

You guys even know what you're looking at? These are community web presses meaning...everything was done by hand. Mix the ink up by hand, jog the books up by hand as they came off the press (try doing that for 12 hours a day) Think your job is tough? Web breaks and it's your fault, get yelled at and called a POS! Pressman can send you home! not the supervisor.

 

Need more red or blue in a certain spot, ok walk down the press with safety guards off the press, get a screwdriver, turn the key by hand, walk back up to the front of the press see how it looks, doesn't look right, walk back do it again and again,all night long for each color.

 

It's not a picnic even though they printed comics.

 

And the press guys would work an 8, 10, 12, or 16 hour shift without a lunch break. The only break they would get is if they could get a supervisor to fill in for them for a few minutes so they could run to the bathroom and back.

 

Sometimes the new guy would work a few hours and get someone to let him run to the bathroom and they'd never see the guy again. That happened a LOT.

 

 

Seen that a few times...hungry? Eat your lunch on the press! How about the guys that go to the bathroom and don't tell you they left? He could be rolling around underneth the press for all anyone knows... How about the press guys running for at least 45 mins and not picking up a book only to find they ran 75,000 copies with no blue ink inside. "Oh right "printing error, must be worth more"

[Naruto Uzumaki]

You guys even know what you're looking at? These are community web presses meaning...everything was done by hand. Mix the ink up by hand, jog the books up by hand as they came off the press (try doing that for 12 hours a day) Think your job is tough? Web breaks and it's your fault, get yelled at and called a POS! Pressman can send you home! not the supervisor.

 

Need more red or blue in a certain spot, ok walk down the press with safety guards off the press, get a screwdriver, turn the key by hand, walk back up to the front of the press see how it looks, doesn't look right, walk back do it again and again,all night long for each color.

 

It's not a picnic even though they printed comics.

 

And the press guys would work an 8, 10, 12, or 16 hour shift without a lunch break. The only break they would get is if they could get a supervisor to fill in for them for a few minutes so they could run to the bathroom and back.

 

Sometimes the new guy would work a few hours and get someone to let him run to the bathroom and they'd never see the guy again. That happened a LOT.

 

 

Seen that a few times...hungry? Eat your lunch on the press! How about the guys that go to the bathroom and don't tell you they left? He could be rolling around underneth the press for all anyone knows... How about the press guys running for at least 45 mins and not picking up a book only to find they ran 75,000 copies with no blue ink inside. "Oh right "printing error, must be worth more"

 

Indeed, Alot but not all of the stuff I recovered does have some nit picking on it..To me it looks fine and I'd sure as hell buy it from a store but they find errors wrong with it you and I don't see so some of it's marked to be destroyed in a big furnace,shredded,or touched up.

[Naruto Uzumaki]

Update: Well folks..Sorry this is taking so long but before I can scan all the comics,books, and signatures I have to sort them out..I HATE the way these was stored: They'd take a signature (sometimes a seperate cover but some was self covering,meaning that they didn't have a seperate cover and it formed it's own cover after the fold and cut was done.) and (if they had one finished) a comic or book and all the data telling what was done and how many made and just staple these all together and put them into a big box..Worse is the staples they used was THICK unlike standard ones because of the size of the pile they was stapling together so I in turn must get these out and seperate the data from the signatures and books or covers so I can sort through it and then place them into sheet protectors then into 3 ring binders..I'll scan this all soon but as of now I'm still busy sifting through it all.

[Clockman-migration]

I was just telling my kids yesterday about the comic books my dad would bring home when he worked at the printing plant. My parents and moms family lived in Sparta, and myself until I was 2 or 3 years old. I was so pleased to see you had salvaged a picture of my dad in your thread. He is the young man in the back, on the right in the second group photo. He is passed now and is there with my mom at the Sparta cemetery. Let me know if you happen to see him in other photos please. Thanks for putting in the effort to clean up the pictures. What a pleasant surprise it was to see my dad in your post. I really enjoyed it. Wlf

[BlowUpTheMoon]

Thought this thread deserved a

[Dr. Balls]

Good bump, blowie.

[Steve49-migration]

Naruto Uzumaki.........

 

Thank you for the kewl photos of Spartan Printing......Brings back memories...

 

I worked There from 65 to 77 and then transferred to Salem Gravure and then to Vernwood Press.....26 years total.....What a shame to see it all close down...

 

Thanks again.....Steve49

[Get Marwood & I]

Naruto Uzumaki.........

 

Thank you for the kewl photos of Spartan Printing......Brings back memories...

 

I worked There from 65 to 77 and then transferred to Salem Gravure and then to Vernwood Press.....26 years total.....What a shame to see it all close down...

 

Thanks again.....Steve49

 

Hi Steve, if you get a chance, could you take a look at this thread and see what you think?

 

Early Marvel Price Font Variants

 

I'm hoping there maybe someone in this thread who could help inform mine

 

Cheers, Steve

[BlowUpTheMoon]

Nice bump. This thread is a great read.

[Kevin76]

I work at the old Eastern Color plant which became Pro Line, then RR Donnelley and now it's LSC Communications as a recent spin off company of RRD.

 

Few of the old timers remember when they printed comics there, they didn't print the covers, only the insides. They didn't trim anything, they'd run 10 page or 12 page book, small single web. Now, everything is sheet fed through that is trimmed and stitched all on one press with no additional equipment needed.

[porcupine48]

[John P. Kohlberg]

Thank you for sharing these.

John P. Kohlberg