Action comics 1 color guide

[*paull*]

Jack Adler Interview

 

Prof: It was obvious to me when I learned how early you graduated high school that you had a lot of brainpower. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, didn't you have some involvement in the first issue of Action Comics?

 

JA: Correct. I was working at the engraver doing color separation.

 

Prof: Wow. That's quite a milestone to be there right at the beginning like that.

 

JA: I have a sad story to tell you about that. I worked on that first issue and I took three copies and put them away. Some years later I began to have a health problem and the doctor said to me, "Do you have any old paper in the house?" I said, "Yes," and he said, "Get rid of it, because you're allergic to the fibers and that's causing your problem." So, I threw them out.

 

Prof: Oh, no!

 

JA: Do you know what the last copy of that sold for?

 

Prof: Not off the bat, but I know it's a tremendously expensive thing to have.

 

JA: $185,000.00 was what the last one sold for and I had three of them!

 

 

Allergic to paper fibers??? Stupid quack!

[Bat-Man]

Jack Adler Interview

 

Prof: It was obvious to me when I learned how early you graduated high school that you had a lot of brainpower. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, didn't you have some involvement in the first issue of Action Comics?

 

JA: Correct. I was working at the engraver doing color separation.

 

Prof: Wow. That's quite a milestone to be there right at the beginning like that.

 

JA: I have a sad story to tell you about that. I worked on that first issue and I took three copies and put them away. Some years later I began to have a health problem and the doctor said to me, "Do you have any old paper in the house?" I said, "Yes," and he said, "Get rid of it, because you're allergic to the fibers and that's causing your problem." So, I threw them out.

 

Prof: Oh, no!

 

JA: Do you know what the last copy of that sold for?

 

Prof: Not off the bat, but I know it's a tremendously expensive thing to have.

 

JA: $185,000.00 was what the last one sold for and I had three of them!

 

 

Allergic to paper fibers??? Stupid quack!

 

[bluechip]

Jack Adler Interview

 

Prof: It was obvious to me when I learned how early you graduated high school that you had a lot of brainpower. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, didn't you have some involvement in the first issue of Action Comics?

 

JA: Correct. I was working at the engraver doing color separation.

 

Prof: Wow. That's quite a milestone to be there right at the beginning like that.

 

JA: I have a sad story to tell you about that. I worked on that first issue and I took three copies and put them away. Some years later I began to have a health problem and the doctor said to me, "Do you have any old paper in the house?" I said, "Yes," and he said, "Get rid of it, because you're allergic to the fibers and that's causing your problem." So, I threw them out.

 

Prof: Oh, no!

 

JA: Do you know what the last copy of that sold for?

 

Prof: Not off the bat, but I know it's a tremendously expensive thing to have.

 

JA: $185,000.00 was what the last one sold for and I had three of them!

 

 

I hear that doctor retired after selling three copies of Action 1

 

(slight coffee stains but otherwise VF)

 

 

[bronzilla]

[Ravencomics]

any luck locating old catologue with scan of color guide

 

any idea who bought it when and how much

[sfcityduck]

The "color guide"* is lot no. 297 in the June 16 and 17, 1995 Sotheby's sale (no. 6727). It is described as an "original hand-colored silver print proof of the cover to Action Comics No. 1" and was accompanied by "two printers proofs of the covers to Actions Comics 7 and 9."

 

It came from the collection of Ed Eisenberg, who, back in 1937, was hired on at Strauss Engraving Company as a color separator and Ben-Day man. He colored the silver print as part of his duties preparing the color separations. He joined DC in 1945, after serving in the military, as Assistant Production Manager working with production managers Ray Perry and Sol Harrison. Eventually he took over Ray Perry's position.

 

Ed didn't always have possession of the separation. The catalogue states: "One of things Ed noticed after going to work for D.C. was that the owner of the company, Harry Donenfeld had framed and hung on his office wall the original hand-colored silver-print to the cover of Action Comics No. 1 which Ed had colored back in 1938 while working at Strauss Engraving. ... During the mid 1960s, Donenfeld suffered a stroke and retired from the company. Shortly after that, Ed saw that Donenfeld's secretary, a man by the name of Herbie Segal, was cleaning out Donenfeld's office and had taken the colored silver print of Action Comics No. 1 off the wall and thrown it in a trash can. Out of sentiment, Ed asked if he could have it, and Herbie said yes. ... Ed worked at DC until 1967."

 

As for the item itself: "There are some differences easily noted between this surviving silver print and the printed cover of Action Comics No. 1, the most obvious difference being the color of the car changing from red to green. Ed Eisenberg remembers someone determining at the last minute the car's red color would interfere too much with Superman's red cape. Last minute changes were made...." Estimated at $5,000 to $10,000.

 

Don't know what it sold for. Someone else will have to scan the picture.

 

My wild guess is that the Dentist bought it, hence the reason no one has heard of it over the last 15 years.

 

* I say "color guide" because there are enough differences between the hand-colored silver print and the cover to make me believe that Jack Adler or someone else rejected this concept out of hand and started over. It's probably better described as a "failed attempt at a color guide."

[markseifert]

Great info, thanks for posting.

 

Anecdotal tidbit, for what little it's worth: Shortly after this surfaced, an acquaintance of mine who attended Chicago Comicon mentioned he'd seen the "action 1 cover original art" on display there at the DC booth. I always presumed he was talking about this color guide -- perhaps DC bought it?

 

 

[adamstrange]

The "color guide"* is lot no. 297 in the June 16 and 17, 1995 Sotheby's sale (no. 6727). It is described as an "original hand-colored silver print proof of the cover to Action Comics No. 1" and was accompanied by "two printers proofs of the covers to Actions Comics 7 and 9."

 

It came from the collection of Ed Eisenberg, who, back in 1937, was hired on at Strauss Engraving Company as a color separator and Ben-Day man. He colored the silver print as part of his duties preparing the color separations. He joined DC in 1945, after serving in the military, as Assistant Production Manager working with production managers Ray Perry and Sol Harrison. Eventually he took over Ray Perry's position.

 

Ed didn't always have possession of the separation. The catalogue states: "One of things Ed noticed after going to work for D.C. was that the owner of the company, Harry Donenfeld had framed and hung on his office wall the original hand-colored silver-print to the cover of Action Comics No. 1 which Ed had colored back in 1938 while working at Strauss Engraving. ... During the mid 1960s, Donenfeld suffered a stroke and retired from the company. Shortly after that, Ed saw that Donenfeld's secretary, a man by the name of Herbie Segal, was cleaning out Donenfeld's office and had taken the colored silver print of Action Comics No. 1 off the wall and thrown it in a trash can. Out of sentiment, Ed asked if he could have it, and Herbie said yes. ... Ed worked at DC until 1967."

 

As for the item itself: "There are some differences easily noted between this surviving silver print and the printed cover of Action Comics No. 1, the most obvious difference being the color of the car changing from red to green. Ed Eisenberg remembers someone determining at the last minute the car's red color would interfere too much with Superman's red cape. Last minute changes were made...." Estimated at $5,000 to $10,000.

 

Don't know what it sold for. Someone else will have to scan the picture.

 

My wild guess is that the Dentist bought it, hence the reason no one has heard of it over the last 15 years.

 

* I say "color guide" because there are enough differences between the hand-colored silver print and the cover to make me believe that Jack Adler or someone else rejected this concept out of hand and started over. It's probably better described as a "failed attempt at a color guide."

Since you did the hard work (thumbs u the hammer price was $10,350

 

[sfcityduck]

And with Adamstrange's contribution of the scans and final price ... the mission is accomplished.

 

 

[Rip]

[Ravencomics]

What's a silver printers proof!

The action 7&9 appear to be slick and glossy while the action 1

appears to be printed on newsprint or something!

Was the action 1 colored with water color paint ,pencil crayon any

idea

very cool

so I guess the above 3 are all blank on back of print.

 

Thanks

raven

[sfcityduck]

What's a silver printers proof! Sotheby states: "Although the name suggests something expensive, a silver print was nothing more than a cheap and quick method that the engraver used in making a 'positive' copy of an image that was going to be printed."

The action 7&9 appear to be slick and glossy while the action 1

appears to be printed on newsprint or something! "silver print paper had a porous/flat surface ... "

Was the action 1 colored with water color paint ,pencil crayon any

idea "... which allowed the colorist to easily apply inks or watercolors...."

very cool yep

so I guess the above 3 are all blank on back of print. yep

 

Thanks

raven

[adamstrange]

What's a silver printers proof!

The action 7&9 appear to be slick and glossy while the action 1

appears to be printed on newsprint or something!

Was the action 1 colored with water color paint ,pencil crayon any

idea

very cool

so I guess the above 3 are all blank on back of print.

 

Thanks

raven

a silver gelatin print is a fancy name for a standard black and white print, as opposed to a color print, or ink jet print. It is kind of a marketing thing actually. The image on a standard black and white print is made by the oxidation of silver grains suspended in a gelatin mix that makes up the paper emulsion. Hence the name Silver Gelatin print. Chromogenic prints use dyes to make the colors.

[adamstrange]

Someone requested a larger scan, so here's about as good as you can do given that the original printed image is 2" x 2.7".

 

[sfcityduck]

The actual cover is a better coloring job. But, it is clear that the actual cover was colored by someone who was loosely following this failed guide as evidenced by the light reflection pattern on the front and back fenders of the car. That's clearly not coincidence. But, the actual cover not only flips many of the reds and greens (car goes from red to green, kneeling guy's pants turn green, running guy's suit turns red) to make Superman pop a bit more, it also cleans up the failure to "stay between the lines" in the coloring of the front of the car.

 

At the risk of asking too much, any way we can get a side by side?

 

 

[adamstrange]

The actual cover is a better coloring job. But, it is clear that the actual cover was colored by someone who was loosely following this failed guide as evidenced by the light reflection pattern on the front and back fenders of the car. That's clearly not coincidence. But, the actual cover not only flips many of the reds and greens (car goes from red to green, kneeling guy's pants turn green, running guy's suit turns red) to make Superman pop a bit more, it also cleans up the failure to "stay between the lines" in the coloring of the front of the car.

 

At the risk of asking too much, any way we can get a side by side?

 

Sure. If I could only find a scan of an Action 1.

[adamstrange]

[sfcityduck]

 

What's interesting is how much of the original image gets trimmed on the top, bottom and right in the production.

[bluechip]

Interesting. I don't think I ever actually saw it before. I heard about it and in my mind I pictured a glossy print with a bright red car, and when I asked some BSDs about it they did all they could to steer me away from it. Had I seen it this way I might have been more convinced it was genuine and bought it (or at least caused the price to go higher). But then, that could be why they wanted to steer me away from it.

 

I can't understand why people are so down on production art. Yes, I understand it's not nearly as valuable as the original art. And not as valuable as the comic itself in high grade. But to compare them, as some do, to being glorified prints, doesn't make sense. Unless, of course they're trying to steer you away from buying that and toward buying something else. But, presuming a lack of that sort of agenda, how does an original piece created in-house at the time of the original book -- nay, BEFORE the publication of the original book -- how does that compare in any way to a print created after the fact, let alone years or even decades after the fact? There simply is no comparison.

 

 

[sfcityduck]

I agree. For example, that cover proof of Action 7, which is snow white and sharp, is an extraordinary piece. I'd love to frame that and have it on the wall. It's the best image you could possibly have of Superman's second cover appearance. And you could hang it on the wall in an attractive presentation without any risk of damaging the piece, unlike with a comic.

 

What do you think the failed color guide would go for on today's market?