Grid marks on cover: Are these artifacts of pressing, a bad image scan, or something else? 3 3

[travizb]

I see these type so "grid marks" on all sorts of comic book pictures posted on ebay.  Can you tell me if this is a scanning issue, a pressing issue, or some other problem.  Thanks for your insight. 

 

[Lightning55]

I think we need a closeup. Photo looks kind of normal to me.

[grendelbo]

Bad press.  Or flawed one at least. 

Edited June 7, 2023 by grendelbo

[theCapraAegagrus]

Could be canvassing, possibly via pressing.

[Dick Pontoon]

Looks like a moire pattern to me. The resolution with which a comic is scanned can affect how visible it is. I'm too lazy to put into my own words, so here's Wikipedia:

Printing full-color images

In graphic arts and prepress, the usual technology for printing full-color images involves the superimposition of halftone screens. These are regular rectangular dot patterns—often four of them, printed in cyan, yellow, magenta, and black. Some kind of moiré pattern is inevitable, but in favorable circumstances the pattern is "tight"; that is, the spatial frequency of the moiré is so high that it is not noticeable. In the graphic arts, the term moiré means an excessively visible moiré pattern. Part of the prepress art consists of selecting screen angles and halftone frequencies which minimize moiré. The visibility of moiré is not entirely predictable. The same set of screens may produce good results with some images, but visible moiré with others.

Edited June 7, 2023 by Dick Pontoon

[travizb]

Thanks all for the feedback. I may ask the seller to send a different view or close up of the canvasing-looking areas.  

[kimik]

To see grid/waffle/checkerboard marks on a book from pressing you will need to hold it to an angle from the light so you can see the impressions. Those are due to the person_who_is_obnoxiously_self-impressed presser not using the proper release paper. It is more prevalent than it should be.