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"Enhancing" comic scans--yes or no?

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Yoc:
Thanks Jon, I've been trying to list when your scans have pages added (now c2c) and which pages were missing for those that only want them.

builderboy:
I've missed this conversation by some days, but feel that I should add my voice.  I am not in agreement with many of you, I will warn you up front.

My feeling is that the comics we hold in our hands came from artists, but passed through the hands of somebody in the production process who may or may not have had much care about the quality of end product as much as they should, the printer.  Depending on the publisher, the issue, or even the copy of the book, there might be mis-registrations, poor attention to ink levels or pressure on the plates (resulting in smears, blobs, or worse), crap on the plates preventing defects in color fields, paper trims out of square or askew, etc.  Many of these defects obscure the art, particularly the mis-registration of the plates in detailed areas of the drawings.

Say what you like about the pure art of preservation of cultural artifacts.  I understand those arguments.  If a sloppy printer screwed up a nice page of comic art, and I can do something about it, I chose to do it.  My releases are, after all, just scans...not originals.  They aren't precious. That differentiation took place the second the book hit the scanner, however much or little 'editing' I do.  All scans are copies, differing in exposure and color balance from the source.

In my way of thinking, I am trying to make the page look as much as it can as if the book were well printed and well preserved. Some of you will shudder to read this.  I felt that this is worth stating, however, so that you didn't mistake my silence for agreement on this issue.

Yoc:
Thanks for sharing BB.
What you didn't mention is many of your scans are 'raw' on release and might or might not be edited down the road.
Did you want to say if you were willing to let others edit your raw versions?

builderboy:
Thanks, Yoc...good point, and better, a reminder to an important point I missed.  What I should have mentioned was that JVJ taught me the good sense to make all of my edits in adjustment layers, leaving the raw scan untouched.  I have all of these files, and I have always thought that the raw scans are something that we, as a community, should be archiving someplace.

And, no, I have no problem with anyone doing whatever they please with my work, with the caveat that they credit the source of their stuff appropriately, source of the book, source of the scan.

For instance, I will shortly make available Jungle Comics 138 fully edited. I understand that, for some of you, this is end product will be less than what you truely desire.  I don't have a problem with that.  What I would love to do is make my Photoshop files available to the community so that anyone could do with them what they wanted.  In a similar vein, I would love access to others' raw scans to do with them what is pleasing to my eyes.  I don't know that we have the resources available, but I have a hard drive full of stuff that I think folks would like to get their hands on.

Yoc:
Hi BB,
That's a great offer!
I believe OtherEric has offered his PS files and perhaps another scanner as well.  The ol' memory ain't the best at time.  *sigh*

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