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Different shades on comic covers
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50 posts in this topic

Lately I've been looking into some big DC keys like action 252 and brave and the bold 28 for example.

 

I've noticed a some variations In the cover colors. For instance the green on green lantern is different but the colours don't actually look faded and the Reds on flash typically look consistent book to book. If they are faded it doesn't look like the greens correlate to each other much. Then again I'm no fading expert on colors.Is that to do with the scanner/lighting? Seller turning up the saturation? Or did the production ink have variations during production?

 

Curious if anyone knows. Or has thoughts and opinions.

 

For example

 

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Now this one id call faded

 

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Edited by Flashattack
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The "gray" variation of BB 28 is production related. There was a thread discussing it at length a few years ago, but I don't have a link. This issue is probably the most well known, but there are others, such as Challengers of the Unknown 1......... GOD BLESS....

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

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Is that to do with the scanner/lighting? Seller turning up the saturation? Or did the production ink have variations during production?

I'd say it's a mix of all of these.

 

There were definitely fluctuations in ink during production. A typical variation is that a deep red cover might have reduced magenta on some issues, and look more orange... Hulk #181 is a great example of this.

 

But scans and photos do indeed vary widely, both in brightness/darkness and in color saturation. When you're buying a book you do have to take that into consideration. Looking at your first example here, the image looks artificially bright... it may be happenstance, or (since I don't know the image source) conceivably it could be intentional to minimize some cover yellowing, as the book's edges look rather tanned. Notice how in this image the CGC label looks extremely bright and 'blown out' compared to the other examples... that's one thing to keep an eye out for when you're analyzing a slabbed book.

 

 

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The "gray" variation of BB 28 is production related. There was a thread discussing it at length a few years ago, but I don't have a link. This issue is probably the most well known, but there are others, such as Challengers of the Unknown 1......... GOD BLESS....

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

 

I'm assuming you mean the gray of the background. Thanks jimbo I'll do a search for it.

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The "gray" variation of BB 28 is production related. There was a thread discussing it at length a few years ago, but I don't have a link. This issue is probably the most well known, but there are others, such as Challengers of the Unknown 1......... GOD BLESS....

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

 

I'm assuming you mean the gray of the background. Thanks jimbo I'll do a search for it.

 

.....it's the one where there is gray instead of blue in the logo's lettering.....and other areas as well. It's the copy you referred to as "faded"Those copies with this variation seem more scarce and I've always thought that the Cyan plate was not prepared properly and the mistake was caught very early in the print run 2c GOD BLESS....

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

 

..... I've seen other DC's with this problem, all from the late '50's to around '60 ....

Edited by jimjum12
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There were definitely fluctuations in ink during production.

 

That is correct. Quality control during the printing process was negligible in those days. There's all kinds of colour variance evident in any issue of a Silver Age or older comic. If you stop looking at scans and just hold up two copies of the same comic, it's very obvious.

 

:preach:

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The "gray" variation of BB 28 is production related. There was a thread discussing it at length a few years ago, but I don't have a link. This issue is probably the most well known, but there are others, such as Challengers of the Unknown 1......... GOD BLESS....

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

 

I'm assuming you mean the gray of the background. Thanks jimbo I'll do a search for it.

 

.....it's the one where there is gray instead of blue in the logo's lettering.....and other areas as well. It's the copy you referred to as "faded"Those copies with this variation seem more scarce and I've always thought that the Cyan plate was not prepared properly and the mistake was caught very early in the print run 2c GOD BLESS....

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

 

..... I've seen other DC's with this problem, all from the late '50's to around '60 ....

 

Interesting, on my copy the greens are different but the blues are definitely not grey. My copy is likely not the grey variant... instead its likely some variations in the ink as previously stated. Would any certain copies fetch less in the market place?

 

20jgbb.jpg

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There were definitely fluctuations in ink during production.

 

That is correct. Quality control during the printing process was negligible in those days. There's all kinds of colour variance evident in any issue of a Silver Age or older comic. If you stop looking at scans and just hold up two copies of the same comic, it's very obvious.

 

:preach:

 

I'll see if my wife lets my grab another copy to do the comparison... I feel she won't listen haha

Edited by Flashattack
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Has anyone else seen different background colors for Adventure Comics 247?

 

I've seen copies that either have the blue or grey backgrounds.

 

... unsure about this, as to whether it's a printing variation or just fading. I've wondered about whether or not ink levels may have gotten low during the printing process for some of the more dramatic examples, as opposed to a plate issue...... this would also explain why some copies slipped through. It seems most common with the Cyan ..... but I'm sure there are other examples. I've seen it more with D.C. than with Marvel. GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

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Has anyone else seen different background colors for Adventure Comics 247?

 

I've seen copies that either have the blue or grey backgrounds.

 

... unsure about this, as to whether it's a printing variation or just fading. I've wondered about whether or not ink levels may have gotten low during the printing process for some of the more dramatic examples, as opposed to a plate issue...... this would also explain why some copies slipped through. It seems most common with the Cyan ..... but I'm sure there are other examples. I've seen it more with D.C. than with Marvel. GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

 

If you look at the copies on Heritage, there are a few that have greyish backgrounds. This could be attributed to the scans or fading?

 

 

 

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ASM 143 was the first example I thought of too. It seems the nice blue ones are harder to find in my experience. But it is realtively easy to find copies in the middle.

 

Another one that springs to mind is the BC add for ASM no# 1 which is sometimes blue and I think other-times black (don't quote me I haven't checked for a long time).

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