Printing new (silver age) comics for show

[Thomas]

My other thread here http://outside-affiliatelinksnotallowed.com/bmgbz got me around to thinking of other alternatives to actually framing the original comic out in the open for show. I'm wondering why someone hasn't (or maybe they have) printed off silver age comics at a printer/print shop for show like I want. Is this harder to accomplish than I'm giving it credit?

 

Thanks.

[Red Hook]

[Red Hook]

[Ringfinger]

Nice.

[Aman619]

all you need is access to a hi-scan and a few photoshop skills, and you can plaster your walls with comic cover recreation/printouts!!

[markseifert]

Great job. I've thought about doing the same thing myself.

[Davenport]

I recently did one without putting much thought into it. Tweaked a large 300dpi scan in Photoshop, uploaded it to the Walmart.com photolab, and ordered an 18X24 print. Tubed print came in the mail and I used a very cheap poster frame to hang it.

 

With some thought toward image quality and high end framing you could create your own 'gallery' level pieces.

 

[Thomas]

Now you guys have me thinking I might be able to do this myself instead of buying one of those cover sleeves on ebay.

 

I'm going to give this some more thought and maybe attempt this.

 

Would anyone happen to have a nice hi-res image of AF15 that might make it easier for me to try this?

 

Thanks for the great replies so far.

[themegoguy]

I recently did one without putting much thought into it. Tweaked a large 300dpi scan in Photoshop, uploaded it to the Walmart.com photolab, and ordered an 18X24 print. Tubed print came in the mail and I used a very cheap poster frame to hang it.

 

With some thought toward image quality and high end framing you could create your own 'gallery' level pieces.

 

 

That is freakin' sweet!

[Davenport]

Here's a great scan-source book for doing golden age covers. Mainly because it has large color images on thick stock, without any text on the back side (no bleed through). You can probably pick one up cheap on Ebay. "The Golden Age of Comic Books" by Richard O'Brien (1977) ISBN # 0345255356695

 

[CaptainBackfire]

That's really cool.... so is 300 dpi about what the large Heritage scans are scanned at?

[comicwiz]

That's really cool.... so is 300 dpi about what the large Heritage scans are scanned at?

 

For print, a 300 dpi minimum is required. 600 dpi is preferred for pre-press printing, but for running off a print job on high-quality laser printer or bubble-jet, 300 does the job nicely.

 

As far as web scans are concerned, 72 dpi is usually the standard. You can go as high as 150 dpi for larger/detailed scans, but you run the risk of higher file sizes. If optimized correctly, 72 dpi can do the trick for 90% of online cover previewing.

[Davenport]

That's really cool.... so is 300 dpi about what the large Heritage scans are scanned at?

The Heritage scans are 72 dpi, but they're gigantic. You could probably just change them to 300dpi (bicubic resample) and reduce the overall size (either pixels or inches) to something reasonable. But keep in mind Heritage scans are often yellowed high contrast too bright messes.

[the blob]

just don't get it in your head to start selling these on ebay. time warner lawyers will be all over you!

[CaptainBackfire]

The big Heritage scans are approximately 2600 x 4100 pixels. If scanned at 300 dpi that'd be about 8.7" x 13.7", that sounds pretty close to the size of a slab to me.

 

Also, opening one in Photoshop reveals a resoultion of 300 ppi.

 

[Davenport]

 

Would anyone happen to have a nice hi-res image of AF15 that might make it easier for me to try this?

 

Thanks for the great replies so far.

Check around to see if you can just buy an AF15 poster. Heven't they done some through the years in different sizes?

 

Here's a current one (too small, too expensive imho):

http://www.allposters.com/-sp/_i1334388_c12700_.htm

[Thomas]

How do you tell what the dpi of an image is? I found a nice image of the cover but can't tell if it's good enough for me to use or not.

 

Thanks.

[Smokinghawk]

How do you tell what the dpi of an image is? I found a nice image of the cover but can't tell if it's good enough for me to use or not.

 

Thanks.

 

If you "found it", i.e. online, it's not nearly enough--it'll be about 72. Use the "tools" in whatever pgoram opens your images to check image information, which'll give you the DPI, or scan it yourself at 300.

 

 

BTW, how much did Wal-Mart charge for the extra-large photo print?

 

Kinko's took 300 DPI images from a CD-R and printed on 80-lb cover stock 11 x 17 for $2.99 each, full color glossy.

[Thomas]

My brother sent it to me from one of those CD/DVDs that have complete runs of comics on them. I found out where it shows the dpi and it is 300dpi so I'm going to attempt making one of these myself.

 

I'll let you guys know how it turns out.

 

Thanks for all the help.

[sckao]

 

I'm surprised Kinko's would take the cover blowup job since they tend not to duplicate copyrighted material like that as a company policy.

 

Most home owners can print up to 13x19 on glossy photo paper (and matte photo paper) if they have the oversize Canon or Epson printers. I've got one in the office and it's been great.