1986 DC Printing/Coloring

[MichaelMogg]

I've been meaning to ask about this for a while. What's with the different printing styles of DC's 1986 titles? For example, Ambush Bug and The Red Tornado minis are both printed in very bright and beautiful colours, whereas the other 1986 titles, like Flash and Superman, seem standard and washed out in comparison.

[Captain Jim]

If you're talking about the same type product as the original Crisis on Infinite Earths (and I think you are), I'm surprised you like it, as most people hated it at the time, thinking the bright colors were really garish. In any case, it was the result of a new press that they were using (I think it was called flexographic). It didn't last long.

[Paul Newell]

If you're talking about the same type product as the original Crisis on Infinite Earths (and I think you are), I'm surprised you like it, as most people hated it at the time, thinking the bright colors were really garish. In any case, it was the result of a new press that they were using (I think it was called flexographic). It didn't last long.
Heh. I remember there was a huge backlash against it. I think the first couple of Who's Who were printed using that same process. Apparently it's the process used to print up milk cartons.

[dancj]

IIRC Booster Gold used it too.

I think there were a couple of problems with it.

1 - The colourists didn't tone down their colouring to suit the new process.
2 - It looked like the ink leaked or something. Where the colour was dots (whever they call that effect) you'd get bits where the dots ran together making it look uneven.

[MichaelMogg]

If you're talking about the same type product as the original Crisis on Infinite Earths (and I think you are), I'm surprised you like it, as most people hated it at the time, thinking the bright colors were really garish. In any case, it was the result of a new press that they were using (I think it was called flexographic). It didn't last long.

Really? Wow, I'm surprised they didn't work with it better. After reading through Ambush Bug, it was hard to then start reading Flash from the same time.

Perhaps it wasn't so much as bad or garish as 'different'. You know how much comics fans seem to resent change. ;)

[Sean Dulaney]

Another problem I recall was blotches of white where either the plastic plates didn't print properly or the new grade of paper they were using didn't absorb the ink. This wasn't just a color issue, but would also affect the lettering in word balloons. (I want to say I read an explination that it was due to the new plates wearing faster than the old metal plates and the blotch effect was usually confined to copies printed later in that plate's particular run.)

[Superheroic]

I think it just wasn't different printing techniques either. There was different paper stock involved too. The Baxter Books the titles at the time were called. Teen Titans was one.

[Captain Jim]

The baxter paper books weren't printed on the flexographic press. I believe they were printed by Ronalds in Canada. I think it was the mando paper books that were printed on the flexographic press.

[Matchstick]

Oh flexographic! The promise you held was sadly not to be. I think the main innovation was that flexographic printing used flexible plate material in the presses. I remember DC being excited about their new printing method, claiming it would deliver more vibrant colors, and it did. But the colors were now often garish and the ink spread was awful on the pulpy mando paper. So flexographic was quietly shunted aside before the year was out.

But... it was part of a serious multi-pronged attempt to improve the physical quality of comics. Remember, 1986 is also the year Dark Knight Returns cmae out, the first book released in "Prestige" format, (then called Dark Knight format for a couple of years.) And DC had been doing the direct-sale baxter books for a year or so. It was the beginning of brighter, clearer, much more expensive comics.

[MichaelMogg]

Sorry to bump this thread again, but I really have to say how great The Outsiders is. I'm talking more about presentation than writing/art.

The quality is on par with some early '90s titles -- despite the fact that it's a 1985 title -- such as the first Lobo minis. The colour has absolutely no problems and the paper is really nice. The book itself is longer and has no ads. For example, I just finished #5 and it had a 20 page story and another 8 page story. The first issue had an impressive gatefold in its first pages, one side showing a 3 page splash page, and the other side a two-pager of the team. :cool:

Recently I got a big batch of '80s comic in the mail, and of the ones I've been reading, this is by far the best as far as giving the customer quality for the money spent. Nowadays, you can pick up back issues for its cover price or less. Double :cool: Personally I prefer this Baxter paper to the new glossy paper. :o