Comments on: Titan Announces Expanded Simon and Kirby Library

By: Dave Newton

Dave Newton — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:52:17 +0000

I bought this book this weekend…HOLEY MOLEY, what a fantastic treasure to behold! I’m ecstatic that more Simon & Kirby books in this format are forthcoming…a dream come true for this fan.

By: Ger Apeldoorn

Ger Apeldoorn — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 21:09:15 +0000

Good luck Harry. I hope they use you for the factual side of it as well as the illustrations.

By: Stan Taylor

Stan Taylor — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 01:14:24 +0000

Hi Harry,

Just got my computer back after 3 days going cold turkey. This is great news and something to really look forward to. I may be wrong, but I credit you with a lot of this, I think your help and drive re-energised Joe and gave him something to keep him young. You’re my hero!!!

Stan

By: Patrick Ford

Patrick Ford — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 00:41:25 +0000

Thanks for the information Harry. The whole notion of using the ancient Jack Adler colour removal technique, or it’s progeny(photographed with filters, bleached, or digital) with or without subsequent reinking should be moot at this point. As you say it’s now less expensive to print in colour from scans than to use an antiquated method intended to allow letter-press reproduction where original B&W printing sources no longer exist. It boggles my mind that the majors continue to pay more for a result which is not just inferior but near criminal, when the reinking is bungled. Pat Ford

By: Daniel

Daniel — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 00:34:22 +0000

Harry – if you need scans from any of the Aussie reprints I have here then let me know. This looks like an excellent project indeed. Good luck!

By: Harry

Harry — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 00:08:37 +0000

Patrick,

I really do not want to get into details about these books, at least not until they actually are released. But I will say that so far no bleached comic pages were used in the restorations. Too be honest this is more of an economic decision then anything else; in these days bleaching comics is just too expensive. But in my view it is not the bleaching technique that Marvel uses (I am not very familiar with DC reprints other then The Spirit which are fantastic) that makes for such poor final results, it is what they do afterwards. I have posted before about how I am not interested in buying reprints based on recreated art but prefer scans instead.

By: Patrick Ford

Patrick Ford — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 20:28:17 +0000

Harry, Just to follow up it’s my hope that when DC and Marvel see the kind of quality job I’m sure you will put together on the restorations, compared to the horrible looking eyesores they’ve been publishing, it may cause them to rethink their current unfortunate approach. Pat Ford

By: Patrick Ford

Patrick Ford — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 20:21:03 +0000

Harry, I assume this as a given, but will you just confirm that in instances where no original art or proofs exist scans will be used rather than bleached and retouched pages. Pat Ford

By: BobH

BobH — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 18:28:10 +0000

Excellent news all around. I was leafing through Gibbons’ WATCHING THE WATCHMEN the other day, and the production on that is excellent, so I’m sure they’ll hold up their end, and with Simon’s archives and the care you’ve shown with restoration for the stuff on this site I’m confident there. DC and Marvel letting their characters appear is a nice bonus, and should help with the marketing side.