Blood for the Baron!

OK, having been let down by colourists and printers alike, I've decided to produce a set of B&W collected books. I've produced them in A4 format to match the 30th anniversary special. Contents are archives nos. 001-016 / 018 - 093 / 095 and the Action Force covers from 100.

The main complaints I had about the last set were that the stories were not in read order and the double-page spreads were half the size. I've fixed both. I've also intersected the appropriate covers to the storylines.

I'm going with print-on-demand so for now I'm only offering this up to the Elite members. There are ten volumes in all, each 250 pages long. £100 for the set (plus postage). I've not yet seen a proof copy, drop me a PM if you're interested and we'll sort it out from there.

Here are the ten contents pages. I've interspersed the miscellaneous stuff like Datafiles, adverts and covers throughout the set. I managed to squeeze everything in!

My proofs are on their way. As soon as I have them in hand and have verified the page order and quality, I will be able to weigh them up and generate shipping quotes. I will post pics as soon as I have them.

My main concern is that I'll place a few orders and then the printer will pull out like the last one did. I'm not the copyright holder and no-one seems to know who is. It may never be an issue but as it happened once already this may be a limited-time offer, so really I would strike while the iron is hot if you are interested. For example I would advise against ordering a split set with the intention of completing it later.

I have them in hand. Made a balls-up on Desert Strike page-order so have fixed that, still want to triple-check them all again before releasing them for sale. Print quality is ok, paper is matt not gloss unlike the 30th magazine though. Everything looks legible and the double-page spreads have lined up well. My only criticism is the covers are far darker than expected and do not match the magazine. I have shot them an e-mail to enquire. As soon as I'm happy I'll start taking orders.

The package weighs in at 7800 grams. Shipping will be at cost which you can calculate here: http://www.royalmail.com/price-finder

Of course, I can always split the parcel into several smaller ones.

The printers have confirmed that the dark covers are their balls-up and have offered to send me replacements once I upload fixed images (they should have been saved as CMYK format instead of RGB - apparently). I've taken the opportunity to replace the cover to volume 10 with Chopper's cleaned up image

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=12802

An update - the replacement covers were hardly any different from the first.



I went through a lengthy trial and error process of trying to match up the blue of the 30th Special magazine cover background against the many shades of blue on the 10 printed coves. The closest I could find was in the blue of the Cobra Trooper's shoulder on the cover to volume 7... I submitted that shade as a trial, it still isn't perfect, but is the best one yet.



The printers' support staff have been very helpful, patient and generous, but will not give me a third replacement, so it will have to do. I have also replaced two of the cover images, I was aiming for 'montage' imagery as a theme but could only source 8 pictures from the BAF archive. Then I remembered the two toy adverts from the back covers.



My issue now is, do I release these for sale, or do I persevere with the bleaching technique recently submitted by Malcolm Orr? viewtopic.php?f=61&t=12980 Here is the greyed image as it is currently printed followed by a mock-up of the bleached version.



It'll mean a lot more work but may make a big difference. But then I've already had to remove the 30th anniversary cover logos because of the delays to the project, and it is now eating into my 10th anniversary celebration preparations. Is it worth it, do you guys think?

I think the unbleached pages look better.

meertoh wrote:I think the unbleached pages look better.

Agree with Meertoh.