Would you prefer that DC Comics printed on cheaper newsprint paper stock?

[Jim Kelly]

One of the factors that the production department would take into account when they were choosing the colours for the inside pages was the fact that the paper would yellow. So they would often leave out a yellow plate of colour, because they knew it wasn't needed to get the same effect. I imagine that's part of the reasoning why they only used blue and magenta for the grey in Batman's suit, for many years, as to make grey you would rightly use a yellow plate as well, but they left that out perhaps trusting that the yellowing would make it turn greyer.

[The Darknight Detective]

If the comics were priced no more than $1.25, then yes to newsprint. If not, then forget about it. Besides, it's never going to happen anyway.

[BohemiaDrinker]

People are paying a lot of money for PAPER, not for comics. Only the printer benefits from that.

How much? I mean, for the sake of the argument, let's pretend that DC can simply make a switch to newsprint without any adjustment to their proccess: how much is paper, how much is printing, how much is distribution, how much is the creative team's rates and how much is marketing? I really can't see a drop of more than 20 cents per issue.

[Cat]

I'd drop every book I'm buying if it went to newsprint, no matter how much I enjoy the book/s. There's a reason we've moved past it. It's like asking if I want VHS instead of 4K definition: why? And there's no evidence that it would save money for the company or consumer. If anything, it'd slightly increase production costs, if they had to colour everything twice, and reteach people how to do old-style colouring. And for what? An objectively worse product? No.

[JasonTodd428]

No, I would not prefer newsprint over the paper they currently use. I'm severely allergic to newsprint these days so if there was a chance in heck that DC would shift to that format I'd probably stop going to the LCS altogether. I still go to one of our local ones for trades even though I read all my comics digitally these days but if that tiny store were suddenly flooded with books that use newsprint it would become impossible for me to even set foot in the building anymore.

[JBatmanFan05]

If the comics were priced no more than $1.25, then yes to newsprint. If not, then forget about it. Besides, it's never going to happen anyway.

Yes, this. Never gonna happen. Not clear it would reduce costs. And it'd have to drastically reduce costs to approach anything close to majority fan endorsement of the switch back.

[Jim Kelly]

If anything, it'd slightly increase production costs, if they had to colour everything twice, and reteach people how to do old-style colouring. And for what? An objectively worse product? No.

Colourists know how to do flat colouring. The reason flat colouring was used for a lot of comics, back in the day, was simply because it was quicker and they had tight deadlines. You could do the kind of colouring we see in today's comics back in those days. You just didn't see it that much because it required a lot more time. Now, with computers, you can do that kind of thing more easily.

The really big difference wasn't the paper stock, it was the manner of printing. Old comics used letter press printing, where today's comics use offset printing. Both types of printing already existed back in the day, but letter press used to be cheaper and more common. Nowadays letter press is more expensive. I once went to a seminar by a guy who ran a letter press company and you had to special order his books which sold for huge sums of money, because the quality of printing was so superior. Back in the day, the old presses for comics used substandard plates and didn't take as much care.

If done properly, printing on paper should use a different CMYK file than a page for computer screens--so I believe the digital copy of a comic book is translated into a different file for the printer. This is why sometimes comics don't come out looking right when printed on paper, even though on a computer screen they might have seemed okay, because someone didn't do the proper conversion. So in effect they already do colour everything twice--but the colourists know how to do that.

PRINCE VALIANT pages by Hal Foster published in the 1930s and 1940s on newsprint, for newspaper, had beautiful colouring.



Stories from the 1950s by Bob Powell in BLACK CAT MYSTERY were noted for great uses of colour, such as in "Colorama" for issue 45 and "Pushin' Up Daisies" for issue 57.



And Comely Comix in the early 1980s did some great colour work, such as George Freeman's art in CAPTAIN CANUCK No. 14.



I could give lots of other examples, but there's a limit of three images per post.

[millernumber1]

I'd drop every book I'm buying if it went to newsprint, no matter how much I enjoy the book/s. There's a reason we've moved past it. It's like asking if I want VHS instead of 4K definition: why? And there's no evidence that it would save money for the company or consumer. If anything, it'd slightly increase production costs, if they had to colour everything twice, and reteach people how to do old-style colouring. And for what? An objectively worse product? No.

Pretty much what you said. I have newsprint comics in my collection that I love, but they are seriously faded. I honestly wish digital were a better deal right now - currently the $4 for digital plus floppy are the best deal going, and it's still kinda pricey. But keeping the digital at cover price indefinitely is dumb as heck. Especially with trade sales and digital sales undercutting it. They should really just drop everything to a dollar after a year and be done with it. I think that would really increase the number of comics bought and larger quantities, which I think would probably result in more income, even if it's not as much per transaction.

Or DC needs to get an Unlimited program going.

[The Darknight Detective]

Pretty much what you said. I have newsprint comics in my collection that I love, but they are seriously faded. I honestly wish digital were a better deal right now - currently the $4 for digital plus floppy are the best deal going, and it's still kinda pricey. But keeping the digital at cover price indefinitely is dumb as heck. Especially with trade sales and digital sales undercutting it. They should really just drop everything to a dollar after a year and be done with it. I think that would really increase the number of comics bought and larger quantities, which I think would probably result in more income, even if it's not as much per transaction.

Or DC needs to get an Unlimited program going.

Yeah, when it comes to digital comics, if the title is not significantly cheaper than the floppy, then what's the point? Same goes for digital books, too

[Jim Kelly]

All hard copies should come with a digital code so you can download the digital for free.

But will digital copies last forever?

Nothing gold can stay.

[BohemiaDrinker]

Yeah, when it comes to digital comics, if the title is not significantly cheaper than the floppy, then what's the point? Same goes for digital books, too

It's the only legal alternative to read comics day one if you're in a non English speaking country. Here in Brazil, print comics are one year behind and not everyrthing is published. (And it used to be much, much worse)

[The Darknight Detective]

It's the only legal alternative to read comics day one if you're in a non English speaking country. Here in Brazil, print comics are one year behind and not everyrthing is published. (And it used to be much, much worse)

Very good point, BD, and one that I that I don't have to deal with here in the US.

[Jim Kelly]

It's the only legal alternative to read comics day one if you're in a non English speaking country. Here in Brazil, print comics are one year behind and not everyrthing is published. (And it used to be much, much worse)

Yeah, but the beauty of Brazil is you don't have to pay for the book, you can just read it in the store. When I was in Brazil a year ago, I read THE THIN MAN, THE MALTESE FALCON and the first volume of THE WALKING DEAD--in the store. I also tried out various books of poetry, language books and guide books. I soon caught on that this is what everyone does--people are literally sitting on the floor reading books in some stores. I never could find a library, so that's where I did all my reading. I was impressed that so many people still read books.

Of course, I bought several books anyway--because I'm Canadian and we feel guilty about these kinds of things. It's the price of living in a cold climate.

[Carabas]

If the comics were priced no more than $1.25, then yes to newsprint. If not, then forget about it. Besides, it's never going to happen anyway.

If the comics were priced no more than $1.25 most comic book shops would go out of business.

[JBatmanFan05]

If the comics were priced no more than $1.25 most comic book shops would go out of business.

Probably, but technically we wouldn't know if the lowered price would trigger a sufficiently offsetting increase in readership.