Fiction house anyone? 26 26

[Point Five]

On 6/30/2023 at 8:50 AM, StingerMcK said:

One thing I am curious about, I have seen a lot of FH books with faded reds.  Is that a common defect?  Did they use cheaper ink/paper?

Great pickups! You're right, that is a known 'thing' with Fiction House. We've debated many times on here what the cause might have been. There are well-preserved copies where the reds are weak orange, and beat-up worn copies with surprisingly strong reds... and vice versa, obviously. I'm not sure if we ever landed on one convincing explanation.

 

[Robot Man]

On 6/30/2023 at 5:50 AM, StingerMcK said:

One thing I am curious about, I have seen a lot of FH books with faded reds.  Is that a common defect?  Did they use cheaper ink/paper?

Congrats. Welcome to the club! I highly recommend Fight Comics. Along with Planet, my favorite title. If you are not a condition freak, you can find a whole lot of them at real decent prices.

The reason for most of the “faded colors” is the printing process. They let their ink fountains run low on ink. Sometimes putting in solvent to “stretch” the color. They were cheap comics not ment to be kept. The brightest ones were printed in the earliest part of the print run. 

[Point Five]

On 6/30/2023 at 12:00 PM, Robot Man said:

Congrats. Welcome to the club! I highly recommend Fight Comics. Along with Planet, my favorite title. If you are not a condition freak, you can find a whole lot of them at real decent prices.

The reason for most of the “faded colors” is the printing process. They let their ink fountains run low on ink. Sometimes putting in solvent to “stretch” the color. They were cheap comics not ment to be kept. The brightest ones were printed in the earliest part of the print run. 

Devil's advocate. If running low on ink were the issue, why wouldn't we see Fiction House covers with low cyan, black and yellow inks? Seems like it was always the magenta ink affected... why would that be? And why was it specific to Fiction House, and not other fly-by-night publishers?

Whatever the problem was, it hit the 1940s titles across the board, but somewhere along the way (early 1950s?) it seems like it got fixed.

 

[adamstrange]

On 6/30/2023 at 4:12 PM, Point Five said:

And why was it specific to Fiction House, and not other fly-by-night publishers?

FH ink issues occurred in only part of their history; early books and 50s books were printed with reasonable quality inks. 

There were a number of printers handling comics so each publisher could choose who they wanted and what options were to apply to their mags.  Some, like post WWII Fox and Charlton, are also poorly printed but with different characteristics than FH.

Magenta is nearly always a problem on the FH books but not the only one.  During the troubled middle period, FH comics have an overall washed out look as if inks were diluted.

Edited June 30, 2023 by adamstrange

[comicnoir]

On 6/30/2023 at 4:39 PM, adamstrange said:

FH ink issues were occurred in only part of their history; early books and 50s books were printed with reasonable quality inks. 

There were a number of printers handling comics so each publisher could choose who they wanted and what options were to apply to their mags.  Some, like post WWII Fox and Charlton, are also poorly printed but with different characteristics than FH.

Magenta is nearly always a problem on the FH books but not the only one.  During the troubled middle period, FH comics have an overall washed out look as if inks were diluted.

That's why FH books with strong colours are cherished.

[Spyder!]

On 6/30/2023 at 2:02 PM, comicnoir said:

That's why FH books with strong colours are cherished.

 

[L'Angelo Misterioso]

New to FH books. I'm disappointed by how many Planet covers just suck, despite them being highly coveted, but #71 is amazing. Will be getting a copy when I can. #57 is also cool!

[adamstrange]

On 7/1/2023 at 7:29 PM, L'Angelo Misterioso said:

I'm disappointed by how many Planet covers just suck

I think you may be in the wrong thread...

https://boards.cgccomics.com/topic/397260-unpopular-golden-age-opinions-thread/#comments

[L'Angelo Misterioso]

On 7/1/2023 at 7:33 PM, adamstrange said:

I think you may be in the wrong thread...

https://boards.cgccomics.com/topic/397260-unpopular-golden-age-opinions-thread/#comments

Lol a lot of them straight up aren't very good but ik golden age collectors love em

[Spyder!]

On 7/1/2023 at 4:29 PM, L'Angelo Misterioso said:

New to FH books. I'm disappointed by how many Planet covers just suck, despite them being highly coveted, but #71 is amazing. Will be getting a copy when I can. #57 is also cool!

Care to elaborate? The vast majority of the Planet covers are pretty highly regarded. 

[Spyder!]

[Funnybooks]

On 7/1/2023 at 9:01 PM, Spyder! said:

Care to elaborate? The vast majority of the Planet covers are pretty highly regarded. 

[skypinkblu]

I think perhaps we have a modern collector who got a little lost.  I get that, I'm not a fan of most modern covers...but I don't think I'd advise people who collect those, that they "Suck" because they have different tastes.

[L'Angelo Misterioso]

On 7/1/2023 at 9:33 PM, skypinkblu said:

I think perhaps we have a modern collector who got a little lost.  I get that, I'm not a fan of most modern covers...but I don't think I'd advise people who collect those, that they "Suck" because they have different tastes.

I don't own a single modern hahahah

[skypinkblu]

On 7/1/2023 at 9:40 PM, L'Angelo Misterioso said:

I don't own a single modern hahahah

Well, that's interesting...what exactly do you object to in the Planet series? Is there a specific artist you don't like? Not a fan of science fiction? Just curious why you made such a general statement?

[Spyder!]

If it’s just #46 you mean, then I agree! Otherwise I think you’ll have a hard time arguing your point here.  It’s been a beloved series for decades and highly regarded because of its great covers. 

[jimbo_7071]

On 7/1/2023 at 8:33 PM, L'Angelo Misterioso said:

Lol a lot of them straight up aren't very good but ik golden age collectors love em

I like over half of them, and there aren't many titles I can say that about. I probably like the Joe Doolin covers the least, but even he had some good ones.

I'm especially partial to the Lily Renee covers in part because I dig the idea of a female artist drawing covers in the boys club that was GA comic publishing.

 

[jimbo_7071]

On 7/1/2023 at 9:48 PM, Spyder! said:

If it’s just #46 you mean, then I agree! Otherwise I think you’ll have a hard time arguing your point here.  It’s been a beloved series for decades and highly regarded because of its great covers. 

Even though I don't have the numbers memorized, I immediately knew which one you meant! I just checked to confirm. 

[WolverineX]

On 9/5/2022 at 2:43 PM, Robot Man said:

Love the later part of this run. Especially the GGA issues. Here is a group shot. I've added a few since I shot this and think I need 2 more to complete the ones I want. Fun series!

Great Run.  Do you have a closeup of the 89?   I always buy that cover when I can find it.  T

 

Edited July 5, 2023 by WolverineX

[crassus]

On 6/30/2023 at 8:50 AM, StingerMcK said:

Couple of weeks ago I was at Heroes and jumped in the Fiction House pool!  I have always liked Sheena, the 80s movie and the recent Dynamite books.  Always looked at the FH books from afar, but finally picked some up. 

 

Welcome to FH and Congrats especially on the Sheena 2, and you'll never regret loving Sheena, she is a goddess, many great covers and artists and the Jumbos have lots of fun series inside...she was my gateway to GA generally.