Yessir -- two schools (or more) of thought on the restoration issue, each with merit. I often deal with high-res scans from original artwork, but the greater volume lies in the mouldering newsprint, itself. My preference is to make the colors (or greyscale conversions) stand out more strikingly from the page, rather like framing a painting. When I have a full-bleed project, I'll probably go with the newsprint texture. Learned much of that approach, recapturing the look of the pulp page, from Bill Blackbeard, back when he and George Turner and I were still working with plates from the engraving plant.
When dealing with the no-bleed format, I lean toward the white margins and gutters and then reinforce the black borders with true blacks in regimented dimensions. Uniform framing is my preference, rather than the diminished borders that come as a consequence of the aging and deterioration of the newsprint. De gustibus, and all that, y'know. A full-color restoration requires several layers (notably, the separate layer for restored lettering), and a great deal of oversaturation (on one color layer, for example) to override the gamma-filtering that deepens the blacks. (Blues and red-blue dot-screen areas turn extremely muddy on those grainy newsprint pages when sufficient gamma-filtering is applied to pop the blacks.)
I ordinarily blur the dot-screens into a more painterly texture, often augmented with the standard filters (watercolor, embossing, etc.) at varying intensities according to the size of a panel. For this one set of the "Ghost Gallery" stories, I am preserving the coarse dot-screens but correcting the more remarkable color-bleeds.
Haven't really codified my proprietary process into a Restoration Manual, but probably will do so during the year ahead. It's basically a PhotoShop translation of the organic techniques I use when restoring damaged oils, acrylics, and watercolors for my gallery clients.
Just occurred to me to mention that my Foreword credits the Digital Comics Museum among our sources of encouragement and practical assistance for this "Ghost Gallery" effort. Would you like to be mentioned by your given name? Please advise.
-- MHP