My Two Cents

I have been reading a number of reviews of “The Simon and Kirby Superheroes”. One recent and rather nice one is from Ain’t It Cool News. There are other reviews that are complimentary but a surprising number of them comment on the cost of the book ($49.95 list, but of course much cheaper at online book distributors like Amazon). I can understand, especially in these economically trying times, that the price of a book is an important issue. What surprises me is that in all the reviews of DC Archives or Marvel Masterworks I have read not one commented on the price those volumes. Yet they list at about the same as “The Simon and Kirby Superheroes” (the Boy Commandos archive is $49.99 and the Daring Mystery Marvel Masterworks is $59.99).

I would have bought a copy DC’s Boy Commandoes archive had I not been given a copy. However I still regret deviating from my policy of avoiding Marvel Masterworks to buy Daring Mystery volume 2. Price is not the issue, or at least not the most important issue. When I buy a reprint I want to read and see the work of the original artists. Reprints based on scans provide that. Now some restorations of scans are better than others and I admit that I prefer my own. But even poorly restored scans are better than recreated art. People keep commenting to me that many of the recent reprints based on scans are disrespectful to the original artists. I find it hard to understand what could be more disrespectful than recreating the work by those artists.

One thought on “My Two Cents

  1. Allen Smith

    I agree with you, Harry. Using scans is more faithful than having someone redraw something and then passing it off as the original.

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