[rez]

I suppose you have already discovered the Canadian Publisher's listing at the download site.
Just thought to mention, in the event.



Upward and onward

[comicOD]

Ahh, thanks for mentioning the Canadian comics download section, Rez!  I never noticed it until today.

Journey Into Fear and Mysteries weird and strange look particularly interesting, for sure.

[Yoc]

Hey COD,
Be sure to check out
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/superheroes/
A short history of Canadian Whites of the golden age.  It's an interesting site.
There's also a Yahoo site devoted to Canadian comics here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/canadiancomics/
Run by Phil Latter, a fellow Canuck.

[comicOD]

Very interesting, YOC. When reading the list, the only comic book hero I could recall was "Captain Canuck". It's good
to see that we at least tried to come out  with some good ol' Canadian content to rival the US(not a chance) in comic book sales. LOL

"U.S. domination of the comics medium during the 1950s and 1960s meant that when Canadian superheroes did finally return during the 1969-74 period, they were initially buffoons."

Not surprising really, is it. Three hundred million people across the border, while we had likely just over 20 million back then. How could Canada rival the U.S in comic book sales?

I'm not saying we didn't have talented comic book writers and artists up here, way back when or now. Reading a couple of the Canadian born comics, I did read some good stories. I also noticed some good artistry as well. Still,
I don't think there was any company, here or anywhere else that could compete with the USA's Marvel or
DC, then or now.

Oh, and thanks for the links!

[rez]

Possible canidates...
a 1954 BlackCat Mystery Comics #51 by Home Comics, Inc./Harvey Features...Oops scratch that unless it gets ok'd by the front office as I just read the blurb in the Harvey Comics download folder. 

A 1949  Boy Illustories #46 by Lev Gleason Publications with I can't seem to locate in the folders.(Might they be under another name?) 

A 1953 PlasticMan #41 and a 1954 PlasticMan #47 QualityComics Publications. Both original paper copies from my own stash. There is no #41 that I see but there is a #47 filch copy listed in the folders and don't know if a paper scan would be wanted or not.

[Yoc]

Hi Rez,
Black Cat Mystery 051 (1954) is already on the site here:
http://goldenagecomics.co.uk/index.php?dlid=3240

Boy Illustories #46 and PlasticMan #41 and 47 though are all needed.  I'd vote for a Plastic Man to start.

If you see we have a fiche scan for a book please don't think that means a proper PAPER scan isn't needed or wanted.  Fiche scans are strictly 'place keepers' until a better scan comes along.  It's a Very Rare thing to see a fiche scans and not know it and none of them will ever replace a well done scan from a paper original.

Looking forward to the next Rez Scan!
-Yoc

[rez]

PlasticMan 41 is in the batter's box and will be at plate soon as I try to better the quality of the scans. Seems scanning is an art in itself and as long as one is scanning he should present the best one is capable of with the tools he has to work with,
at least that is my aim. Sometimes easier said than done. Especially for we  novice computer users compared to those well versed in puterhood.

I'm sure there are many readers here on site that have books they would like to see scanned and presented to goldenagecomics.uk.co. but the scanning process can seem so daunting to we uninformed of it's ways

and have a tendency to go crosseyed when a simple term used in conveying what to do causes us to have to stop and learn the meaning of the word.

So a head's up to those reading this with books they would like to scan but it all seems too complex to attempt.
Try and give it a shot regardless of the size and quality. There are those here who can help correct and recommend things to better your scans as you go along. The first one is the hardest but go for it.
One of these days I'm going to learn how to include an image in a post.

[darwination]

Rez,

I usually use tinypic.com for images on forum boards.  The trick is sizing your image to a good width, usually somewhere between 300 and 650 for a comic cover.  You just type in tinypic.com in your browser, click the upload button, browse to your sized image, then tinypic creates a code that you can embed in a post.

The other one i've heard of is imageshack.  Of course these places subject you to some advertising in this process, but what else is new.

Cheers,

D

[Aussie500]

l always use photobucket for posting pictures on forums, photobucket will allow you to upload scans up to 1mb (if you change the default settings to allow it), l usually post a thumbnail image of the full size cover, otherwise anything up to 800pixels width is fine although those on dial up will have to wait for larger images to be viewable.

[Yoc]

Well said Rez!
And I hope others will follow your advice.  There are several expert scanners on GA-UK that are a fountain of knowledge on the subject.  I'm only a novice fiche editor but I do what I can.

-Yoc

So a head's up to those reading this with books they would like to scan but it all seems too complex to attempt.
Try and give it a shot regardless of the size and quality. There are those here who can help correct and recommend things to better your scans as you go along. The first one is the hardest but go for it.
One of these days I'm going to learn how to include an image in a post.

[rez]

HEY! I DID IT!!! (pat pat)
Did a search for the TinyPic.com and followed the directions and it worked.

Even a blind squirrel picks up an acorn now and then



Got to work on the pic quality tho'.

[narfstar]

I have just too many projects of various kinds to spend so much time on each book.  I love to contribute to preserving GA treasures just wish I had time to make everything perfect.  I would love to post Cool Cat v9#2 it is from Prize so should be pd but it is 1962.  Another eclectic gem that I would like to share.  When I get it scanned I will put it in my ftp and admin can decide to put it on the site or leave it in ftp for vip download.

[rez]

I'm planning on trying to learn a photo technique for my better grade books so I'll be pestering you sometime in the future for data

[rez]

A question on opinion: 
should a scan be the whole page including borders or just outside of the panels without the margin space?


   

[Yoc]

Hi Rez,
I've seen both used.  Personally I try to include the whole page including boarder.  It gives the illusion of reading the real thing when reading it on the notebook.  Bottom line though is it's the scanners choice.

The cover looks great, looking forward to new Plas!
-Yoc

[rez]

YOC and all--
I uploaded a zip of the cover into FTP to run it by you all. Can't get the size down anymore than the 1.63MB when the same dimensions of the KO KOMICS cover come in at 481KB.
Is the 1.63MB ok?

[Aussie500]

No 1.63MB is way to big, it does not go on size but width, you should resize your scan to a uniform width such as 1024 pixels or bigger if your screen resolution is wider. The idea of using jpgs is that they are compressed and yet still give good quality pics, what program are you using rez, it does not seem to be compressing the jpg. l can see by the T-Rex that you have resized the page to a smaller size, using something like an edge preserving smooth tool, or blurring the page slightly before resizing can prevent the dots on the original scan turning into a pattern that was not there originally. Some scanners come with the capability to blur the page, or unsharpen.

[Yoc]

Hi Rez,
Yes, Aussie is correct.  Most scanners have a setting to 'descreen' a printed page to avoid dot patterns.  Looking at your scans I don't see any problem with that though.

I use a free windows application called 'Irfanview' to batch resize an entire book down to a uniform height of 1500 after finishing a complete book.  You can also set the final file size save as a percentage.  By experimenting on a single page you can find a number that would reduce your 1.63mb page to something more in the 800kb area.
I've downloaded your PM41 cover and used Irfan to crop the bottom off (highlight image area with a left mouse click and hold drawing a box over the area to be kept.  Let go of the button and a box will be showing.  Finally type ctrl-Y to finish the crop.  You can fine tune the box by left clicking-hold-and move your mouse to adjust on any edge) then sharpened it once with 'shift-s' then finally saved it at 90% which results in an 880kb file size.  I've uploaded the 'fixed' page to your FTP folder if you'd like to see the result.

Here's a link to the free Irfanview app:  http://www.click-to-download.com/irfanview/
Scroll to the bottom of the page.

I hope that helps,
-Yoc

[rez]

Hi all,
The loss of the t-rex dots came from altering the size controls in Irfanview which is what I use exclusively for pics and have never used blur techniques and the like but sounds like something one day I'll be investigating as time presents.

I'd posted that cover without squaring up as just wanting to present a size demo so wasn't being that attentive to it.

I'm trying some different things now. Thanks for hanging thru with the newby scanner

[rez]

man, sometimes the learning curve on scanning can seem insurmountable.
It's like a maze of trial and error.
Following procedures that don't present what is expected of them.

But one day, one day I say, I shall succeed.

[rez]

Now appearing in the FTP theatre near you is a scanned from original paper zipped copy of Quality Pub's 1953 Plastic Man No. 41 located in the rez folder..

Pages up to #25 were scanned by Irfanview without using the sharpening step.
Page #26 and the backcover have two scans each, one scan without using the sharpening step and one with.

I did this for the purpose of comparison as it is requested that readers will post their opinion as to which scan they deem better in use, the scan with the sharpening or the one without.

The sharpened step is the second scan of the two and listed with an s after the 41in the individual page titles.

The pages 27 thru 32 all used the sharpening step.
It is interesting to note that sharpening increases the size of the file by almost a quarter.

Thanks for imputing your input.

[Yoc]

Thanks Rez.  The book is now on the site.
I like the sharpened images more and the file size is fine.

Nice work!

[darkmark]

Seconded.  We're down now to only 12 unscanned Plastic Men.

[rez]

well, I have one other PlasticMan, a number 47 which is already listed as a  fisch copy.
Would a paper scan be of greater value to the site than something else that is not listed in any fashion?

[Geo (R.I.P.)]

Yes, please do.