Facsimiles - Where are they?

[the COMET]

For the past couple years or so DC was releasing facsimile editions of their most classic issues from the past, but i've noticed there haven't been a release in months now.

I imagine the cause must be the pandemic and the fact that the books are tied to the release of movies and tv (although i think they don't need to be). Anyway, this is just my way of showing that there is public for them and i'm tired of waiting.

So, if anyone at DC is seeing this, here's a list of facsimiles i want (you all could includes the ones you want if you enjoy collecting them as well).

-Omega men #3 so i can complete my Omega Men collection



Now what i like to call the Kirby Kombo:



The colors in this digital Mister Miracle #1 are ok, but i'm very preocupied with the others.
The digital release of New Gods #1 have complete different colors for Orion and his little portrait next to the title. Yes those are the right colors for the character but it's not like Kirby made a mistake, the original cover is a work of art, infinite times better than the digital retouched version, the fans want the original weird colored Orion. So it would be great if they could adjust the colors to look like the original for the facsimile release.

[the COMET]

The background look too pale as well



The original one


The same has happened to the Demon #1 cover. You can see that the digital version have a boring dark blue sky as in the original the sky is much darker like a dark purple. And all the characters have a darker tone since it's a night scene. The original is superb while the digital version is only meh.. I'm saying all this because apart from the 1st appearance of Poison Ivy, all other facsimiles seem to have these digital versions as source.

[the COMET]

It's not so bad as the new gods one but it shows believe me.



That's it for now. I would like to know the opinion of other people on collecting facsimiles and reprints in general and the ones you want released.

[Lee Stone]

That’s modern day coloring for you.

I remember first noticing that comics were being recolored for collections with one of Marvel’s Tomb of Dracula collections.
There were different colors used on backgrounds and less gradients (because digital gradients almost always look bad in comics, compared to the old color plates gradients).
The difference in color gave the stories a less moody feel, in my opinion. They lose a lot of their ‘warmth’ and substance.

[Digifiend]

It's not so bad as the new gods one but it shows believe me.



That's it for now. I would like to know the opinion of other people on collecting facsimiles and reprints in general and the ones you want released.

That banner at the top looks weird with the Now Only 20c circle removed. I'd have just updated it to the present day price (99c, right?)

[MRP]

I love the facsimile editions, but I thought I read somewhere that they (and the dollar reprints) were both casualties of the cutbacks to the print line and there wouldn't be anymore. I hope I am wrong, but that stuck with me when I was reading through all the news of the ramifications of the contraction of the line.

If you want a facsimile of New Gods #1, there is the Millennium Edition they did 20 or so years ago now that can often be found pretty cheap in back issue bins.

-M

[the COMET]

That banner at the top looks weird with the Now Only 20c circle removed. I'd have just updated it to the present day price (99c, right?)

Absolutely. The text "all new stories- best in comics" are badly placed as well. Little changes like that can remove the iconic look of a classic cover.

I love the facsimile editions, but I thought I read somewhere that they (and the dollar reprints) were both casualties of the cutbacks to the print line and there wouldn't be anymore. I hope I am wrong, but that stuck with me when I was reading through all the news of the ramifications of the contraction of the line.

If you want a facsimile of New Gods #1, there is the Millennium Edition they did 20 or so years ago now that can often be found pretty cheap in back issue bins.

-M

Wow that would be terrible, i hope it's just a temporary thing.
Yes, there's the New Gods Millenium Edition reprint from 2000, i already own it but thanks for mentioning. It's not as good as a facsimile tho, since there's that weird green frame around the cover and that distracting golden logo, i really want a facsimile.

Another thing i noticed just now is the white text on the top of the page saying "kirby is here". One would think it's just informative text and can be placed anywhere, like in the digital version where it was placed on the top left to go along the word "When" below it and the N from New Gods. You can't say that the change is "incorrect" or don't make sense. But actually it's a terrible mistake that ruin the entire composition of the cover.



It's actually there for a reason. When your eye detect that white text even if you don't read it, it serves as a guide for your eyes. It's a composition trick to make you look to the center of the page.

The phrase, placed above the word "Old" from bellow (showed in green), is pretty much in perspective with the title (showed in purple), making it's placement very pleasing to the eye and subconciously forcing you to look to the center of the page where the word Gods is (specially the letter 'O'). It's a confortable place to rest your eyes on since you can easly take a pick at every corner of the page and come back to the center, making you feel that the cover is a rich image with a lot of information to be seen. That's why it works.
In the digital version the person working on the restoration thought it was ok to move the phrase's placement, ended up ruining the composition, now forcing you to fix your eyes on the botton left corner of the page where the character is. Now you're not only looking down which it's an unconfortable position for the eye but you're locked in that left corner, looking to the right to read the text or even up to the portrait or title is not as natural. Making it a poor, lazy cover.

I know at first may sound like an exaggeration. But if you really pay attention, that's what happens. We have to give credit to the professionals of the past who might have a lifetime of classical study on composition and stuff, and changing things from place with photoshop, even when it appears to make sense, it's a disrespect to the original artist and a mistake that can remove the appealing of a classic iconic cover.

[SJNeal]

I love the facsimile editions, but I thought I read somewhere that they (and the dollar reprints) were both casualties of the cutbacks to the print line and there wouldn't be anymore. I hope I am wrong, but that stuck with me when I was reading through all the news of the ramifications of the contraction of the line.
-M

I remember reading the same thing. I guess that means Wonder Woman (1987) #1 was the last facsimile we'll be getting...?

While I bought almost all of the facsimiles DC has released, I gotta say I was never pleased with the fact that they used such crappy paper; Marvel's editions at least upgraded it a lower end matte paper. Oh yeah, and they should've included letter columns!

[the COMET]

Seems like the facsimiles and dollar comics gave their place to the Batman Adventures reprints...

[SJNeal]

Seems like the facsimiles and dollar comics gave their place to the Batman Adventures reprints...

Those have ended too, though. I want to say #8 or 9 maybe was the last one...?

[Brad]

As someone who loved getting ALL the recent Facsimile and Dollar Edition reprints, I can confirm that Wonder Woman #1 (1987) was the last Facsimile. There were 15 of those.

There were 40 Dollar Editions, with the last one being Sandman #23. And if you really want to get technical, there were 41 different ones because Batman #497 had both an error edition and a corrected edition.

When DC's schedule got shuffled last year, it took some work to keep track of which ones were cancelled, delayed, etc.

[Brad]

Guess there's not much interest in this thread.

Anyone have suggestions for possible future reprint material? I'm a sucker for Bronze Age stuff. It seems silly when fairly recent issues are reprinted, say from the last ten years.

[SJNeal]

Guess there's not much interest in this thread.

Anyone have suggestions for possible future reprint material? I'm a sucker for Bronze Age stuff. It seems silly when fairly recent issues are reprinted, say from the last ten years.

I don't think anything should get a $3.99+ facsimile edition when you can get the original in most $1 bins (looks at X-Factor #87)...

[MRP]

I don't think anything should get a $3.99+ facsimile edition when you can get the original in most $1 bins (looks at X-Factor #87)...

The publisher makes no money on back issue sales, so if they can sell a facsimile and get the money for it, why not?

-M

[SJNeal]

The publisher makes no money on back issue sales, so if they can sell a facsimile and get the money for it, why not?

-M

Good point.

Maybe I should rephrase that as "I don't think we as customers should buy a $3.99 facsimile when we can get the original in most $1 bins".