• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Fiction house anyone?
26 26

Started by Apotheosis,

9,632 posts in this topic

Artboy99

Artboy99

Posted
Posted
Of these early ones, #4 is my favorite. sacentaur has a stunning copy of this issue.

 

PlanetComics485.jpg

 

my 4:

 

The red is no where near as strong as yours, but the blues and yellows are pretty strong. Is the red on mine faded?...or is this another case of the red ink plate running out and it is printed an orange. Seems strange to me for only one color to fade.

 

PlanetComics4front_zps909bc1e8.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Flex Mentallo

Flex Mentallo

Posted
Posted
Of these early ones, #4 is my favorite. sacentaur has a stunning copy of this issue.

 

PlanetComics485.jpg

 

my 4:

 

The red is no where near as strong as yours, but the blues and yellows are pretty strong. Is the red on mine faded?...or is this another case of the red ink plate running out and it is printed an orange. Seems strange to me for only one color to fade.

 

PlanetComics4front_zps909bc1e8.jpg

 

Oft debated, never resolved.

 

Steve's copy has far deeper reds than mine. I've heard one theory that it is the plate running out of color. I'm hardly an expert, and I don't know how often they re-inked them but if that is the phenomenon we observe, it could mean that adjacent copies successively 'oranged-out' until the plate was reinked. Then a deep red one would pop up again and the sequence repeated. That makes a kind of sense.

 

There are FH books where the red isnt uniform, which tends to back this up I think.

 

But it sure begs a question about quality control.

 

So I also think it is possible that the colors are in layers - that to achieve depth, they overlayed red onto orange. Maybe they only did this for part of the run as it would have added to the costs.

 

Or maybe the overlayed colors arent color fast like the base colors.

 

Neither seems quite satisfactory - but with respect to the reds, violets and carmines, I dont think it is fading. That's a more random factor.

 

As for blues, I'm not sure whether or not they sometimes fade to a steely grey. But they also seem to take on a greenish hue when the reds are strong. I think this is just because adjacent colors affect how we see them.

 

Add to this the way different scanners read colors, and it becomes difficult to read the signs.

 

So now I just say, 'red good' and leave it at that.

 

Unless there is a surviving FH printer out there, we may never know.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
adamstrange

adamstrange

Posted
Posted

It's not fading. The publisher's bound file copies have the same variation despite not being exposed to sunlight.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Zolnerowich

Zolnerowich

Posted
Posted
Of these early ones, #4 is my favorite. sacentaur has a stunning copy of this issue.

 

PlanetComics485.jpg

 

my 4:

 

The red is no where near as strong as yours, but the blues and yellows are pretty strong. Is the red on mine faded?...or is this another case of the red ink plate running out and it is printed an orange. Seems strange to me for only one color to fade.

 

PlanetComics4front_zps909bc1e8.jpg

 

Oft debated, never resolved.

 

Steve's copy has far deeper reds than mine. I've heard one theory that it is the plate running out of color. I'm hardly an expert, and I don't know how often they re-inked them but if that is the phenomenon we observe, it could mean that adjacent copies successively 'oranged-out' until the plate was reinked. Then a deep red one would pop up again and the sequence repeated. That makes a kind of sense.

 

There are FH books where the red isnt uniform, which tends to back this up I think.

 

But it sure begs a question about quality control.

 

So I also think it is possible that the colors are in layers - that to achieve depth, they overlayed red onto orange. Maybe they only did this for part of the run as it would have added to the costs.

 

Or maybe the overlayed colors arent color fast like the base colors.

 

Neither seems quite satisfactory - but with respect to the reds, violets and carmines, I dont think it is fading. That's a more random factor.

 

As for blues, I'm not sure whether or not they sometimes fade to a steely grey. But they also seem to take on a greenish hue when the reds are strong. I think this is just because adjacent colors affect how we see them.

 

Add to this the way different scanners read colors, and it becomes difficult to read the signs.

 

So now I just say, 'red good' and leave it at that.

 

Unless there is a surviving FH printer out there, we may never know.

 

Those are great looking # 4's. Here is my copy. It's a beat bit up, but still highly cherished. My version looks like it might have some general fading, though the orange color of the spacecraft seems to be in between the Flex and Artboy99 versions, and the pink edging looks similar to Flex's copy.

 

Planet4_ht7_300dpi_8q_zps1snamzhm.jpg

 

The wide variations in color are absolutely fascinating. As Flex discussed, those theories about the printing plates running low on certain primary ink colors, or the secondary color overlays being more susceptible to fading, both make good sense.

 

What is needed here is some real data. In the absence of a surviving FH printer, or a time machine, I was thinking we actually do have some reference material available, which could inform this question to a certain extent ----> In many issues of Planet Comics, the inside back cover often featured a glossy house ad with all of the FH titles of the month. Therefore, we could test some interesting hypotheses:

 

(A) If the variations in cover color were due to inks running low on the printing press, then the colors on the inside back cover should look very similar to those on the front cover. That is, the low inks would have affected both the inside back cover and the front cover the same way.

 

Or,

 

(B) If the variations in cover color were due to fading over these 76 years, then the colors on the inside back cover (being protected from the elements) should be much brighter than those on the front cover.

 

This would also help control for the thorny problem of different scanner, camera, and monitor settings.

 

A controlled experiment in the making? Or a case of my flawed logic?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
adamstrange

adamstrange

Posted
Posted

The variation in inks of the front cover in publisher's bound volumes is similar to the variation seen in the loose comics. The variation in color in the Church and other pedigree collection is similar to the variation seen in non-ped comics. The variation in the inside cover inks is similar to the variation seen in the front cover of comics.

 

It's not fading but low quality printing that is the source of the problem.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
MrBedrock

MrBedrock

Posted
Posted

The only reason I have continually passed on the Central Valley #4 is its lack of red.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
sacentaur

sacentaur

Posted
Posted
The only reason I have continually passed on the Central Valley #4 is its lack of red.

 

Just for reference (not my book).

 

CVPlanet4.jpg

 

Central Valleys are some of the most newsstand fresh GA books that have every surfaced. I think it's therefore reasonable to conclude that the color discrepancy is due to an issue at the time of printing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
26 26
Go to topic listing