Finding comics for DCM on the internet

[plasticman6]

Hello. I've noticed that sometimes the source of the comic is listed as "found on the internet" or "found on DC++" For those of us who have no (more) original comics to scan, what tips can you experienced internet searchers offer to help others look for comics scans that are out there somewhere?

[Yoc]

Hi Plas,
DC++ is a peer-to-peer file sharing service much like Napster used to be.  There are some private comics hubs out there that can be joined.
To learn more about DC++ and one hub run by a DCM member go to this link:
http://digitalcomicmuseum.com/forum/index.php/topic,3815.msg38986.html#msg38986
You have to search for a book you know you want or download someone's Share File and sift though it to see if something is there missing on DCM.  It's a tough job but DarkMark is very good at it.  The most annoying thing about DC++ is finding files that have the wrong number and you think you are downloading one book you want when it's really a different issue.  The same errors will crop up over and over.  Eventually you learn to spot the most common ones but it's hard not to to get frustrated if a download took hours only to find it wasn't what it said it was. It doesn't happen ALL the time but enough to annoy me.

A good source lately but usually only for individual stories are COMICS BLOGS.  There are several Very Good Blogs out there like our own Tilliban's empire of horror blogs, DCM supporter Ken Quattro's insightful Comics Detective blog, one of the best horror blogs The Horrors Of It All,  DCM member Paul Tumey's excellent Cole's Comics,  Mr.DoorTree's Golden Age Stores, Pappy's Golden Age Comics, Thom Buchanan's amazing Walt Kelly blog - Whirled of Kelly, and many many more.  Check the links section for some others.  

As an aside two other blogs that I truly love but not really focused on comics are 'Letters of Note' and the endlessly fascinating to waste hours and hours on 'if charlie parker was a gunslinger, there'd be a whole lot of dead copycats' blog.  Well worth a look but not always safe for work.

Another less popular source is USENET.  But unless you are willing to pay for usenet access this isn't going to work for you.  I'm paying $15 a month for access.  The learning curve can be steep and you would have to install a newsreader app like NewsbinPro to effectively use it.  If you want to continue down this road here is an old but still informative tutorial on how Usenet works -
http://www.slyck.com/ng.php?page=1

Finally there is a smattering of scans that can come from old Yahoo groups and I would imagine a whole subculture that inhabits Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook but I don't know anything about those social networks.  We do have a DCM Facebook page that Rangerhouse gracefully handles on top of all the other amazing work he's doing for DCM and the hobby.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Digital-Comic-Museum/106808696057089?v=wall

I hope that helps,
-Yoc

[narfstar]

And there is always ebay and milehigh and lonestar if you have a few bucks. Believe it or not you can get 60 year old comics for less than the price of a new comic book. The other thing is the cheapest ones are often the ones still needed because they are not highly collected. I raid milehigh when they have 50% off and rarely pay more than $5 usually much less. The other day I went on ebay and did some searching so I have some bids in. I have not raided Lonestar recently.

[Yoc]

Thanks Narf, how could I forget that option?
If one is willing to buy and scan there is Movielover's essential list of COMICS STILL NEEDED FOR SCANNING here http://digitalcomicmuseum.com/forum/index.php/topic,4081.0.html
As I always say it's the scanners out there that supply the life blood of the site.  Those and the cash donors who help cover our monthly server bill.  A HUGE thank-you to both vital groups!

-Yoc

[plasticman6]

Thanks for all the info. I may give DC++ a try... I did a quick search on ebay for Giggle Comics and found some comics that aren't on DCM. The prices were low--around 6 to 10 dollars, but shipping is another $19 which I can't afford (plus I live in Europe so it will be more!)

[narfstar]

You could try just looking at ebay Europe but the selection will be much less. Another option would be to partner with a U.S. scanner, possibly Movielover, and buy the books and have them shipped to him to scan. He could turn around and put the books on ebay to buy more.

[Yoc]

I know of some other European buyers that get American scanners to help.

[movielover]

I wouldn't mind, but the problem is I no longer have anything to do with ebay. Never sold anything, and quit buying when they disallowed money orders.

rangerhouse might be a better one, as he was doing this with krankyboy earlier.

[narfstar]

Something else you can do to help even without getting books to scan is to edit. At times when I fire up my document feeder and my low grade books I can put out a lot that need editing. There are still several recent books marked as RAW that could use help.

[plasticman6]

I can edit, I think. I'm familiar with photoshop if that helps.

[narfstar]

I replied to the PM first. If you know photoshop you are way ahead of me. All that is really needed is straighten the pages and crop them. If you want to adjust the picture a little to overcome some of the age some do some don't.

[Yoc]

And remember Plastic.  Best to number the files, always have the cover as the first jpg and a final file size should not be more than 100mb.  If it is, break it up into two equal parts.

Good luck with the edits!

[plasticman6]

OK, glad to help out. I pm'ed narfstar about getting the files.