Production Flaw, or...,??? 0

[lizards2]

I purchased this Tales of Asgard.  It was advertised as having a production flaw in that the reds were mottled yellow - as if one of the ink colors had run out in production.

The purchase is not the question, as I knew the book was odd when I bought it.  However, I can find no books that appear like this on eBay - looked at all of them.

The cover has a striations of very shiny gloss, and they seem to correspond to these patches of yellow that should be red, but they are elsewhere in the blacks and stuff.  But wherever the yellows appear in the red, that's where the shiny glossy striations are.

However, I'm not convinced the effects are production related.  The book is very clean, as are the inside covers and pages are white.

Could this be a reglossing compound that only affected the reds?  I know nothing about reglossing or how it is done.  Any other guesses?  Bad release paper?

[The Lions Den]

The books I've seen that were re-glossed had gloss over the entire cover, not just certain areas. I would think that anyone who had the intention of re-glossing the book to make it  "look better" would use the same approach. I notice that this seems to have affected all the red areas...even the smaller areas seem to have this variation. My initial feeling is that this is a printing error which happened simply because the red ink had started to run out at the print factory. It's very possible to have hundreds of copies made like this before anyone at the factory realizes it. I actually think this is a pretty cool book... 

[faster friends]

3 hours ago, The Lions Den said:

The books I've seen that were re-glossed had gloss over the entire cover, not just certain areas. I would think that anyone who had the intention of re-glossing the book to make it  "look better" would use the same approach. I notice that this seems to have affected all the red areas...even the smaller areas seem to have this variation. My initial feeling is that this is a printing error which happened simply because the red ink had started to run out at the print factory. It's very possible to have hundreds of copies made like this before anyone at the factory realizes it. I actually think this is a pretty cool book... 

+1

[comicquant]

It almost looks as if someone tried to clean the cover and the yellow started to spread.  

[James J Johnson]

Two things could have caused it. 1) Production. All of the red areas, front and back, are moderately affected. 2) Pressing. Too much heat, too much moisture, or either one of the two, for too long = this. Transference of the most easily affected areas (reds) onto whatever buffer was used between the covers and the heating surface.

It's hard to tell for sure from a scan, but it looks as though other colors are also affected (but to a less noticeable and drastic degree), leading me to believe that a too aggressive pressing might be the culprit here, without having the surface in hand to examine and feel.

Now, one can argue that if a pressing caused that to occur to whichever side was first presented to the heat, the presser would stop, not repeating their error on both sides. So because of that type of logic it's a toss up in my mind as to production or pressing, 50/50, I'm on the fence.

What should be noted is that although a very nice book, that anomaly is going to affect desirability, thus resale value, even if the CGC does not detract points for it if and when submitted, IMO.

Edited May 19, 2018 by James J Johnson

[joeypost]

Certain inks tend to transfer easier than others. In this case the texture of the color loss lends me to believe this is/was a storage issue where the actual bag affected the ink. I have come across this many times on books stored in humid conditions in a bag with no backing board. 

[James J Johnson]

16 minutes ago, joeypost said:

Certain inks tend to transfer easier than others. In this case the texture of the color loss lends me to believe this is/was a storage issue where the actual bag affected the ink. I have come across this many times on books stored in humid conditions in a bag with no backing board. 

And thus seen the imprint, almost as though the cover was acting like a stamp, on the board, and/or bag. I've also seen someone press a book at a 220 degree setting for too long n exposure and had that exact same thing occur, the cover art of the most susceptible colors, transferring to the release sheet like a rubber stamp in an ink pad!

[The Lions Den]

23 hours ago, joeypost said:

Certain inks tend to transfer easier than others. In this case the texture of the color loss lends me to believe this is/was a storage issue where the actual bag affected the ink. I have come across this many times on books stored in humid conditions in a bag with no backing board. 

Good information! It seems more likely in this case that improper storage would be the culprit, given the age and desirability of this book, although someone did recently pay over 1 K for a Signature Series copy signed by Stan Lee. I certainly appreciate the information and will keep this particular flaw filed away in my memory should I ever see it again...  

[James J Johnson]

2 hours ago, The Lions Den said:

although someone did recently pay over 1 K for a Signature Series copy signed by Stan Lee.

Signature series prices can have little difference from their same graded universal blue labeled counterparts, or be drastically more expensive. Using other blue universal label examples as indicators of value is a better practice, ergo a GP Analysis for comics subscription is imperative if you're going to have the most reliable, state of the art (current) information on hand.

[lizards2]

On ‎5‎/‎19‎/‎2018 at 12:44 PM, joeypost said:

Certain inks tend to transfer easier than others. In this case the texture of the color loss lends me to believe this is/was a storage issue where the actual bag affected the ink. I have come across this many times on books stored in humid conditions in a bag with no backing board. 

That kind of makes me go, "Aha!"  Thinking how polypropylene bags crinkle up over time.

However, the covers and pages are white.  And the glossy striations are where the color loss has occurred - it would seem to me if something sucked out the color, it would also take out the gloss, but maybe it is a chemical reaction residue from the color suck??

 

[James J Johnson]

On ‎5‎/‎21‎/‎2018 at 6:18 AM, lizards2 said:

color suck

A new comic defect term! I like it and will liberally apply in bold font and all caps when appropriate.