@Chrisgrendel if HOS 92 was on my list it would cost about as much as I've spent on all the other books combined! Its of the right era (70s) and in a horror title (HOS), AND by one of the artists who does a few Gothic Horror covers (Bernie Wrightson). But I excluded this one for now because a) she's not in white b) the woman is not on the run (or at least in distress) and c) there's no architectural feature in it (usually a staircase, a mansion, a house, etc). The last two conditions are common motifs of the "Gothic horror" genre It's on the loooong term list, but for the short term I have other targets...
Here are some of the remaining ones...House of Secrets 88, 93, 94, 95, 97 and 106, Unexpected 127 & 178, Secrets of Sinister House #5, Forbidden Tales of Dark Mansion #5, Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love #4
Almost all of the titles are DC, but there's one sweet Marvel: Night Nurse #4 ...hard to find, especially in high grade. And there were only 4 issues in the title run...
I love that the Night Nurse issue is PGX graded. Are PGX even still around ?
they are (as much as they were ever around to start with) you can hear all the scuttlebut about them over on the CGC boards... lets just say one of their main graders has been seen buying high grade CGC slabbed books, that later show up on his ebay sales page with a PGX slab, and (amazingly) a higer grade! (this is a great example of why CGC graders are required to not participate in the high-grade/slabbed part of the hobby)
if HOS 92 was on my list it would cost about as much as I've spent on all the other books combined! Its of the right era (70s) and in a horror title (HOS), AND by one of the artists who does a few Gothic Horror covers (Bernie Wrightson). But I excluded this one for now because a) she's not in white b) the woman is not on the run (or at least in distress) and c) there's no architectural feature in it (usually a staircase, a mansion, a house, etc). The last two conditions are common motifs of the "Gothic horror" genre It's on the loooong term list, but for the short term I have other targets..
If you decide you have to have it after all, my FLCS has a beautiful copy on the back wall.
It always makes me happy when I see young Weezy on the cover.
I've now read all four issues of Night Nurse. Wow, what a strange book for Marvel to publish. It was part of a mini-line of books meant to attempt to bring in female readers, all of which were written by wives or girlfriends of then-current comics writers.
Night Nurse was a bag of cliches tossed into a soap opera, and while the stories weren't terrible, they weren't any good, either. For example, the one shown promises some sort of supernatural/monster story and ends up being a rather pedestrian story...and all of the issues were sold on their covers like everything else Marvel was publishing when they were just padded romance stories. I doubt we'll see a Marvel Masterworks for it.
With Marvel about to flood the market with EVERYTHING they can find with Thanos in it, I'm looking forward to the Warlock Essential. Those first issues by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane were just WEIRD as they made him into a Christ figure on Counter Earth. I honestly still don't know if I like those stories for their strangeness or if I dislike them due to their failure as a super-hero book.
The Starlin run, however, is pure genius, and made me a Starlin fan for life. I'll be happy to reread those in the black and white format just so I can sit out on the desk and not worry about damaging old, valuable comics.
Also, I was talking with @Trev and some other folks about Cap 111:
The interesting thing to me about this cover is that it was printed on light tan paper, and the white on Cap (and others) is actually printed on the paper, it's not just the color of the paper coming through. They had to use more than just the regular process colors to print this, it looks to me like there is an additional pass through the printer for the white ink.
Does anyone know if there were more covers from this era printed in this way?
I'm not here to dispute your claim, as I am not lucky enough to own said comic, but I HIGHLY doubt it was printed in that manner.
Four color presses did not in those days have the ability to "print white ink"... that is something that would have to be screen printed or specially printed via a special spot color, as in the covers of the 90's. Marvel would never have spent the astronomical amount of money it would take to add a screen print pass to the covers of a cheap, disposable comic book.
I think what you're seeing is an optical illusion, with a white cover which has yellowed over time. The star, shield and A on his costume are surrounded by darker colors, making them look whiter.
I think that's what makes it so fascinating. The cover stock on even a NM books is indeed not pure white. There was another discussion over at the CGC boards about this book too
I think that's what makes it so fascinating. The cover stock on even a NM books is indeed not pure white. There was another discussion over at the CGC boards about this book too
There seems to be some speculation that they ran a 5th color.
Yeah... there is definitely some "speculation". I seriously, seriously, doubt they incurred any extra expenses printing anything in those days. I also doubt they would do anything special because Steranko did the cover... That's just not how things worked back in 1968. They were printed on the cheapest, self-destructing paper possible. with little care for accurate registration, even. I am pretty sure the paper was indeed white when it was printed, but is now brown due to the acids in the paper. These things were cheap, disposable, biodegradable crap for kids, in the eyes of the publishers. No more sophisticated or revered than coloring books, printed on worse stock than the daily newspaper.
I think that's what makes it so fascinating. The cover stock on even a NM books is indeed not pure white. There was another discussion over at the CGC boards about this book too
There seems to be some speculation that they ran a 5th color.
Yeah... there is definitely some "speculation". I seriously, seriously, doubt they incurred any extra expenses printing anything in those days. I also doubt they would do anything special because Steranko did the cover... That's just not how things worked back in 1968. They were printed on the cheapest, self-destructing paper possible. with little care for accurate registration, even. I am pretty sure the paper was indeed white when it was printed, but is now brown due to the acids in the paper. These things were cheap, disposable, biodegradable crap for kids, in the eyes of the publishers. No more sophisticated or revered than coloring books, printed on worse stock than the daily newspaper.
You might be right. My dad worked in the printing industry as a typesetter (old school with leading made of lead!) during this period.
I put out an email to him to see what he thought. fwiw, like @BadDeacon, I have *never* seen this issue with a pure white cover stock so I don't buy the cover discoloration argument. Though with Steranko and the period there may be some validity to the 'optical' illusion theory. I'll post a scan of mine.
I think that's what makes it so fascinating. The cover stock on even a NM books is indeed not pure white. There was another discussion over at the CGC boards about this book too
There seems to be some speculation that they ran a 5th color.
Yeah... there is definitely some "speculation". I seriously, seriously, doubt they incurred any extra expenses printing anything in those days. I also doubt they would do anything special because Steranko did the cover... That's just not how things worked back in 1968. They were printed on the cheapest, self-destructing paper possible. with little care for accurate registration, even. I am pretty sure the paper was indeed white when it was printed, but is now brown due to the acids in the paper. These things were cheap, disposable, biodegradable crap for kids, in the eyes of the publishers. No more sophisticated or revered than coloring books, printed on worse stock than the daily newspaper.
Well, I thought I could solve it with a scan of my cover, but at this point there are not even 2 pixels near each other that I can get the same RGB color reading out of using Photoshop.
Capt #111 was a white cover. Having owned this comic several times over the years. White covers are hard to find in their original tone for a lot of reasons. Dirt. Sun fading. acidity in the paper. They seem to want to brown at the edges.
I should add that white covers were rarely pure white. Just like the bond paper you buy for your printer.... there are varying shades of white.
I'm almost certain that there is a run of white ink on that Cap 111 cover. I'll double check again tonight, but last time I looked closely, I was sure.
I finished the first volume of Essential Marvel Two-In-One and really had a blast reading that. Not every story was great, but that's how I like to see the Thing portrayed - a fun-loving guy who gets dragged into these bizarre situations despite his best intentions to stay out of them, and whose personable nature ends up making him friends with just about everyone he has an adventure with. It's a hell of a contrast with the John Byrne-written solo Thing book from the 80s which I've also been re-visiting lately, which is just about the mopiest comic book I've ever read. Every issue is a rumination on what it means to be a monster, and Ben is forever lamenting his fate. I greatly prefer the fun, dealing-with-it Benjy.
One of the biggest comic-related disappointments over the years for me has been the Thing's fall from A-list character with his own series to just being in the FF. He was everywhere when I was a kid in the '80s, right up there with Spider-Man, Hulk, etc, but now he can't even sustain a solo title for a year. I loved Marvel Two-in-One, looked forward to it every month.
I used to think I loved the Byrne solo series, but having read the trade that came out a year or two ago, realized it must have been coasting on my love of the character and my enjoyment of Byrne's work on FF. I think about half the issues in that trade ended with him depressed and angry, destroying public property. I spent more time wondering why he wasn't being arrested for his behavior than enjoying the stories.
If you look closely at the 9.6 you can clearly see that the star is the same color as the white background. Marvel should have records of printing this. Why not have CGC investigate that? The weird white smudge shows what white would look like on this cover.
The real lesson is about white covers. They are extremely hard to find in higher grades. They are easily damaged by dirt, acidity and fading. I don't think I had a white cover that didn't have some issue. Browning on the edges seemed to be the most common.
But I will say this...... the three Capt America covers by Steranko are by far some of the best covers ever produced and clearly stand the test of time. I think the Hulk one might be my favorite of the three.
I read Superman Family, The Brave & The Bold (vol. 1) & DC Comics Presents (the classic stuff not the DCU Presents) of late 70s & early 80s comics just for something I early enjoyed growing up. Sometimes you just want variety in your comics & you DON'Twant to read them in black & white.
I'm almost certain that there is a run of white ink on that Cap 111 cover. I'll double check again tonight, but last time I looked closely, I was sure.
Here's the reply I got from my father. As I mentioned, he has more than 30 years experience in the typesetting and printing industry, and was working during this era.
I agree for the most part. While I think most of the comics were printed on a web press if this is a special issue they may have sprung for a 5th color (white). I don't think inks of the 60's would have used a titanium base. The other thing is, most offset inks are transparent and not opaque so this would require at the least 2 hits of white, requiring a 6-color press which is still in the realm of possiblity. If this was indeed printed web then the whole thing is moot since this appears to be cover stock and that would lend itself to sheetfed printing with binding done off press. Comics are usually run in large quantities so this would probably rule out cover and body running separately. I guess the only way to be sure is to look for a dot pattern in the entire cover this would be the best way to check for inks used.
here's a 9.6 . this should be how it looked on the stands
I'm sorry, but it's an optical illusion. Some of the white in the star, stripes and sleeves is darker than the white around cap. Sorry, but it's true. No 5th color.
I can't get the stinkin image to appear, but here's a link to the same image above, with the bits copied out to the white area around him.
Comments
It always makes me happy when I see young Weezy on the cover.
Night Nurse was a bag of cliches tossed into a soap opera, and while the stories weren't terrible, they weren't any good, either. For example, the one shown promises some sort of supernatural/monster story and ends up being a rather pedestrian story...and all of the issues were sold on their covers like everything else Marvel was publishing when they were just padded romance stories. I doubt we'll see a Marvel Masterworks for it.
The Starlin run, however, is pure genius, and made me a Starlin fan for life. I'll be happy to reread those in the black and white format just so I can sit out on the desk and not worry about damaging old, valuable comics.
Four color presses did not in those days have the ability to "print white ink"... that is something that would have to be screen printed or specially printed via a special spot color, as in the covers of the 90's. Marvel would never have spent the astronomical amount of money it would take to add a screen print pass to the covers of a cheap, disposable comic book.
I think what you're seeing is an optical illusion, with a white cover which has yellowed over time. The star, shield and A on his costume are surrounded by darker colors, making them look whiter.
http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=253083&Number=5555092#Post5555092
There seems to be some speculation that they ran a 5th color.
I put out an email to him to see what he thought. fwiw, like @BadDeacon, I have *never* seen this issue with a pure white cover stock so I don't buy the cover discoloration argument. Though with Steranko and the period there may be some validity to the 'optical' illusion theory. I'll post a scan of mine.
fwiw, here's a scan of mine:
I should add that white covers were rarely pure white. Just like the bond paper you buy for your printer.... there are varying shades of white.
I used to think I loved the Byrne solo series, but having read the trade that came out a year or two ago, realized it must have been coasting on my love of the character and my enjoyment of Byrne's work on FF. I think about half the issues in that trade ended with him depressed and angry, destroying public property. I spent more time wondering why he wasn't being arrested for his behavior than enjoying the stories.
I still going with two shades of white. :D
Marvel should have records of printing this. Why not have CGC investigate that?
The weird white smudge shows what white would look like on this cover.
But I will say this...... the three Capt America covers by Steranko are by far some of the best covers ever produced and clearly stand the test of time. I think the Hulk one might be my favorite of the three.
Matthew
I can't get the stinkin image to appear, but here's a link to the same image above, with the bits copied out to the white area around him.
postimage.org/image/tuk2j54mf/
http://www.comicbookdb.com/issue.php?ID=43056
I don't suppose you count this featuring Adrienne's Barbeaus (sic)
http://www.comicbookdb.com/issue.php?ID=144383
and #112
http://www.comicbookdb.com/issue.php?ID=145155