Black Hole printings 1 1

[Qalyar]

No, no, not the ~1980 Whitman series with the chase #4 issue, but the 1995-2004 Kitchen Sink Press/Fantagraphics series by Charles Burns. As an aside, if you're not familiar with this coming-of-age/body horror series with Burns' disturbingly beautiful black and white artwork, and think that chain of descriptors is even a little interesting, I strongly recommend picking up the easily-accessible TPB. Now, back to the printings...

So, I know this started with KSP. Issues 1-4 were printed with KSP indicia. Issues 1 and 2 sold well enough that KSP reprinted them (as 2nd printings). In 1999, KSP went bankrupt and the series was acquired by Fantagraphics, who continued publication. Issues 5-12 exist only as Fantagraphics books. Additionally, Fantagraphics re-issued (at least some) of the KSP issues: #1 (3rd printing), #2 (3rd printing), and #3 (2nd printing) are all Fantagraphics books.

Which brings me to the questions at hand:

1) Is there a Fantagraphics re-issue of #4?

2) Which issues from #5 onward received 2nd printings? Both mycomicshop and Mile High list 2nd printings for #5 an #9, but no others. Are there others?

[Brother J]

Probably stating the obvious, but have you tried to contact Fantagraphics and ask them these questions? Doing a quick search online did not turn up anything that you don't already know and I'm going to guess you probably know more about these books than anyone posting here would know.

[Brock]

Calling the publisher is a good idea, but it certainly can’t hurt to post it here too... all it takes is one copy to prove something exists, and there’s some huge collections represented on these boards.

[Qalyar]

I've reached out to Fantagraphics also, but haven't heard back yet. I don't expect a rapid reply from them -- most people probably aren't interested in printing information from 20 years ago. But I figured it wouldn't hurt to check in here; the surest way to determine that something exists is for someone to have a copy of it! And, besides, if the history of comics printings tells us nothing else, it's that sometimes more things get created than were "supposed" to exist, right?

[Qalyar]

18 hours ago, Nick Mowitall said:

Maybe the GCD can help?

https://www.comics.org/series/7797/

The GCD is, regrettably, really incomplete here. They don't make any note of the KSP 2nd printings. They do list the Fantagraphics republication of #1, but not of #2 or #3, and are silent on 2nd printings of any of the Fantagraphics original issues.

I've reached out to Fantagraphics to see if they can provide a definitive answer, but -- understandably, given current conditions combined with the 20 year history -- haven't heard back from them.

[divad]

On 3/30/2020 at 5:15 AM, Brock said:

Calling the publisher is a good idea, but it certainly can’t hurt to post it here too... all it takes is one copy to prove something exists, and there’s some huge collections represented on these boards.

Pics would also help (for us lazy ones.)

[masterlogan2000]

7 hours ago, Qalyar said:

The GCD is, regrettably, really incomplete here. They don't make any note of the KSP 2nd printings. They do list the Fantagraphics republication of #1, but not of #2 or #3, and are silent on 2nd printings of any of the Fantagraphics original issues.

You have an opportunity here to help them out (and help out the comics community) by adding this type of known/verified information to their database.