Best Comic Book Press on Market 1 1

[joeypost]

44 minutes ago, Gaard said:

 

I still make it a point to watch this at least once a year.

[USCMitch]

1 hour ago, aardvark88 said:

Agreed. An acquaintance had the cajones to press 30 of his own comics (as none of his buddies would let him practice on their vintage comics) then print up color flyers, hand them out at local cons, and set up his Facebook as a 'pro' presser. He had 2 hours of clean and press 'training' from Youtube.

That is simply mind blowing to me. I can't fathom how people can so wantonly assume this degree of risk. You could argue that it's reckless. I have no intentions to ever press books for others. Honestly, would probably never press any of my own books that were:
a) of significant value 
b) needed anything other than a superficial touch up.

The only reason I'm even doing any of my own books at all is strictly due to turn around times with all professionals that I trust.
From my very, very small sample size of experience the only things that I can think of that makes individuals push the envelope in this manner:
a) the lure of perceived "easy money" in the Crack/Press/Resubmit trade
b) the "easy" things to press are relatively easy to do with minimal risk, but the hard things to press are REALLY hard to do well and without damaging the book. This creates a false sense of confidence. This is really bad as the consequences for even small mistakes can be extremely damaging and expensive when it comes to pressing other peoples books.

Again, this is from a very small set of experience dealing with a few books that only required some minor cosmetic touch-up.

Edited May 9, 2021 by USCMitch

[joeypost]

11 minutes ago, USCMitch said:

That is simply mind blowing to me. I can't fathom how people can so wantonly assume this degree of risk. You could argue that it's reckless. I have no intentions to ever press books for others. Honestly, would probably never press any of my own books that were:
a) of significant value 
b) needed anything other than a superficial touch up.

The only reason I'm even doing any of my own books at all is strictly due to turn around times with all professionals that I trust.
From my very, very small sample size of experience the only things that I can think of that makes individuals push the envelope in this manner:
a) the lure of perceived "easy money" in the Crack/Press/Resubmit trade
b) the "easy" things to press are relatively easy to do with minimal risk, but the hard things to press are REALLY hard to do well and without damaging the book. This creates a false sense of confidence. This is really bad as the consequences for even small mistakes can be extremely damaging and expensive when it comes to pressing other peoples books.  I

Again, this is from a very small set of experience dealing with a few books that only required some minor cosmetic touch-up.

A very well respected dealer once told me that there are a lot of good pressers out there pressing 9.8's into 9.8's.

[Kevin76]

1 hour ago, joeypost said:

A very well respected dealer once told me that there are a lot of good pressers out there pressing 9.8's into 9.8's.

What cracks me up if when they start stuffing all kinds of cardboard in the book....middle, last page, front page, one covering an insert, another piece of the other side of the insert, placed on top of a metal plate.  Then when they press it, they jump up and down that the insert didn't press an indent into the back cover, but what they did do was press a line along the whole length of the spine!  Then make a youtube video on how to press comics.  

[PovertyRow]

1 hour ago, Gaard said:

 

 

[SSuperman]

5 hours ago, MatterEaterLad said:

[USCMitch]

So what's the answer then to removing bad information from the pressing marketplace of ideas?
Obviously, established professional pressers are hesitant to reveal techniques and processes that took years to learn. But this in turn leaves the bad ideas free to propagate freely.
Ideally, those interested would learn from established professionals. However, geography can make that difficult. Others may simply want to be a hobbyist and not have the time to devote to it full time, so find social media groups more appealing and aligned to their level of interest.
Having said all that, is this a problem that needs fixing or is it adequately handled by natural consequences? If it is a problem, what are potential solutions? Should there be alternatives (forums or other venues) that forces bad information to be held accountable? A pressing "Master Class" business model?

Simply thinking out loud. I've tried different techniques and avoided others when I don't agree with them or fully see the logic of them, but can only learn from the sources available.
And I'm probably a terrible sample subject since I'm just a curious dabbler with neither the time nor resources to be more than that.

[Kevin76]

1 hour ago, USCMitch said:

So what's the answer then to removing bad information from the pressing marketplace of ideas?
Obviously, established professional pressers are hesitant to reveal techniques and processes that took years to learn. But this in turn leaves the bad ideas free to propagate freely.
Ideally, those interested would learn from established professionals. However, geography can make that difficult. Others may simply want to be a hobbyist and not have the time to devote to it full time, so find social media groups more appealing and aligned to their level of interest.
Having said all that, is this a problem that needs fixing or is it adequately handled by natural consequences? If it is a problem, what are potential solutions? Should there be alternatives (forums or other venues) that forces bad information to be held accountable? A pressing "Master Class" business model?

Simply thinking out loud. I've tried different techniques and avoided others when I don't agree with them or fully see the logic of them, but can only learn from the sources available.
And I'm probably a terrible sample subject since I'm just a curious dabbler with neither the time nor resources to be more than that.

There is a course that Sell My Comics.com put out that isn't too bad actually. They'll steer you in the right direction, however are you going to take their course and be able to open up shop next week?  No.

They don't show you how to use a tacking iron and they don't show you how to press moderns or how to press books with inserts in them.  All that comes with experience and trial and error.  It's still much better than 99% of anything else that's on the market.  Some things they show I don't agree with (i.e temperature they use, amount of time in the hydration chamber)  Defiantly Joey was right when he told me a few years ago "Less is more" . 

I don't think we'll be able to stop all the bad information out there, people that are doing amateur  pressing are usually on a budget and either don't have or don't want to pay for a Seal press, so a $100 t shirt press and some youtube videos is "good enough" to get by.  However anyone can put a book in a press and make it look better, but if they run into a problem, how are they gonna fix it?  I know Joey has said he's had to fix many books people screwed up on.   

[littledoom]

Just because what works for someone else doesn’t work for you does not make them a hack. 

[Kevin76]

On 5/12/2021 at 2:40 PM, littledoom said:

Just because what works for someone else doesn’t work for you does not make them a hack. 

It doesn't work at all, and yes, they are hacks