An unusual Batman #4: any explanation? 1 1

[Pantodude]

Hi.  I found this pic (2nd pic below) of a Bat4 with an unusual price circle. Not only is it a blue "10" in the price circle (instead of black), but the circle itself is missing the black outline, and the cents symbol looks like it was stamped on after the fact (as it is black and not blue like the "10").  Any thoughts if this is a manufacturing error (it came out of the printer like this); a different kind of manufacturing error (blank price circle corrected after-the-fact by adding the 10 and cents symbol); a variant that was a subset of the original print run (like the Marvel SA and BA price variants); or something else? 

 Usual Bat4 

Unusual Bat4:

Edited September 23, 2022 by Pantodude

[buttock]

The black in Batman's cape is also pretty spotty, so it could be a printing error.  But it's strange that it's so focal, and that the black adjacent to it in the logo is intact.  

[zzutak]

The color black is created by mixing blue, red, and yellow.  The printing on this copy is slightly out of register (which is why you see a red edge on Batman's cape and a yellow outline at the top of the buildings).  Out-of-register printing was not uncommon in 1940-41.  Definitely not worthy of "variant" status.  But you do have a keen eye.  

 

[Pantodude]

On 9/23/2022 at 4:13 PM, zzutak said:

The color black is created by mixing blue, red, and yellow.  The printing on this copy is slightly out of register (which is why you see a red edge on Batman's cape and a yellow outline at the top of the buildings).  Out-of-register printing was not uncommon in 1940-41.  Definitely not worthy of "variant" status.  But you do have a keen eye.  

 

Ah, cool. But the registration does not explain why the cents symbol hangs so low.  Perhaps that  was stamped on immediately after printing, once they noticed that the cents symbol failed to print (due to registration problem)?

Edited September 23, 2022 by Pantodude

[zzutak]

It's certainly possible.   

[Robot Man]

On 9/23/2022 at 1:13 PM, zzutak said:

The color black is created by mixing blue, red, and yellow.  The printing on this copy is slightly out of register (which is why you see a red edge on Batman's cape and a yellow outline at the top of the buildings).  Out-of-register printing was not uncommon in 1940-41.  Definitely not worthy of "variant" status.  But you do have a keen eye.  

 

Thanks for that explanation Jay. Having worked in graphic design and printing, that was my first thought as well.

Another possibility is it could be a second printing which was common with DC in the early 1940’s. 

[rjpb]

On 9/23/2022 at 1:13 PM, zzutak said:

The color black is created by mixing blue, red, and yellow.  The printing on this copy is slightly out of register (which is why you see a red edge on Batman's cape and a yellow outline at the top of the buildings).  Out-of-register printing was not uncommon in 1940-41.  Definitely not worthy of "variant" status.  But you do have a keen eye.  

 

Didn't offset printing use standard black (black ink) and rich black (which includes CYM inks for a deeper looking black). I've noticed some off register printing reveals where other inks (especially cyan) were added on top of the black in selected areas to increase the darkness of the black.  

[KCOComics]

On 9/23/2022 at 4:13 PM, zzutak said:

The color black is created by mixing blue, red, and yellow.  The printing on this copy is slightly out of register (which is why you see a red edge on Batman's cape and a yellow outline at the top of the buildings).  Out-of-register printing was not uncommon in 1940-41.  Definitely not worthy of "variant" status.  But you do have a keen eye.  

 

Thank you for the explanation. I often see that outline on GA comics. I knew it occurred during manufacturing, but never knew how. 

 

[Cat-Man_America]

The more I look at this the more it appears to be more than just a color registration issue.  The original B&W art was apparently misprinted in places on the right side of BM's cowl, not only in respect to blotchiness but in the form of a second edge that's filled in in red. Otherwise, the colors don't appear that far off.  The lack of a price circle border, the blue price and black cent sign lower in the circle are just bizarre (or borrowing from Superman, Bizarro).  I don't know if I'd call this a variant, but it's definitely more like a Ripley's Believe It or Not misprint than out of register.  ...Maybe a bat fell into the ink presses!  

[Tri-Color Brian]

This is obviously a Tri-Color screw up... (But I had nothing to do with it...) 

[BB-Gun]

Trimmed at the top and color touched?

 

[stock_rotation]

On 9/23/2022 at 4:13 PM, zzutak said:

The color black is created by mixing blue, red, and yellow. 

This is not correct. Standard printing uses 4 inks: CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and blacK). There's a reason the Dell title is Four Color Comics.

The Batman cover in question has two major color overlays: Magenta and Yellow to produce the background red, blacK and Cyan to produce a richer black in the Batman logo and buildings. Mis-registration of the colors on the "variant" is why you can see the Cyan from the Bat logo that overlaps the while price circle, and the cyan intruding on the white knocked-out text in the buildings. It's also why you see a Yellow line between the red background and the buildings.

If you look at the good copy's price circle, you can see the '10' is a darker black than the cents signs. It looks to my eye like the 10 is black with a cyan overlay, and the cents sign is black only. My guess on the variant is the printer stoned the 10 off the black plate, and the cents sign is so misaligned because the registration of the black and cyan was so far off.

 

[Get Marwood & I]

I thought this seemed familiar...

 

@Pantodude

 

[Pantodude]

@Get Marwood & ILooks like the same book, too!  Some things are worth repeating. It's pretty cool. 

Edited September 28, 2022 by Pantodude

[Get Marwood & I]

On 9/28/2022 at 9:00 PM, Pantodude said:

@Get Marwood & ILooks like the same book, too!  Some things are worth repeating. It's pretty cool. 

Two please