A note to Retailers and Charlton collectors

[Defiant1]

Collecting scans for the Charlton Checklist is a massive undertaking. Currently it involves digging on the web for high quality scans. The problem is that a lot of the sites do not post high quality scans.

You can be a contributor. In exchange, I will provide a link back to your website, ebay auctions, online store, your favorite charity, or any family friendly site which you'd like to promote.

What I need:

1) Cover images for issues that do not already have a scan linked to the issue number.
2) Images reasonably well centered with the height at least 535 pixels. Oversized images preferred so that I can crop it and straighten it if necessary.
3) Color filters & enhacements turned off when scanning. Some scanners have preset filters which make the colors look wrong or even flourescent at worst. It is too much work to try and undo the messed up colors. So turn those off please.
4) Scans need to be 300 dpi or better. This is a print quality resolution and I intend on creating a pdf checklist someday if this mission ever gets completed.
5) Uncompressed images preferred. JPEGS should be at an 80% Quality level (no more than 20% compression)..
6) I will accept image upgrades if you see a very blurry image. Most of the images at comics.org do not meet my standards and I am not including them anymore. The images were not scanned at a print quality resolution and many were overcompressed with the software.

In exchange for scan donations, I will post a text link to your web page of choice. This can be used to promote your online store or your ebay auctions. You can take pride in knowing that you helped other people match their comic books to the checklist and help them identify the comics they need to complete their collection.

If you send in 50 or more scans I'm willinng to post a moderate sized banner ad dedicated to the site of your choice.

Be a contributor! Help your fellow collectors!

Defiant1

[Defiant1]

Thanks to my online contributors. They've donated the following scans and have been added as a contributor to the checklist page...

L. Amacher

Underdog #4

disneyteddies

Flintstones #1 (not used)
Cheyenne Kid #15


Pudgy Pig #1


Malaprop

Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #17
Foreign Intrigues #14


Scotland Yard #2


My Little Margie #54 (Beatles Cover, last issue)


Defiant1

[metarog]

Feel free to take whichever scans are useful to you in the Beetle Bailey gallery I have over at STL. I uploaded them all myself but not all are great scans. Here is the link-stlcomics.com/cover_gallery/categories.php?cat_id=471

[Defiant1]

Oct 22, 2009 19:11:10 GMT -5 metarog said:

Feel free to take whichever scans are useful to you in the Beetle Bailey gallery I have over at STL. I uploaded them all myself but not all are great scans. Here is the link-stlcomics.com/cover_gallery/categories.php?cat_id=471

Great link. Out of that whole list of Charlton Comics, you made a link to the small portion that I've been collecting. I'm trying to avoid photographs, over-compressed, or low res scans for now. I have a backlog of updates I need to do but everything is on hold because my space on the free host is filled.... overfilled...

I've looked for those Beetle Baily scans and had no luck on most of them. Your link narrowed down what I need to look for.

Defiant1

[empires]

I only have a few listed but have plenty more to upload. Feel free to use them and Thanks for having this subject on a great publisher.

www.empirecomics.org
www.empirecomics.org/charltoncomics.html

[Defiant1]

Mar 27, 2010 9:22:41 GMT -5 @empires said:

I only have a few listed but have plenty more to upload. Feel free to use them and Thanks for having this subject on a great publisher.

www.empirecomics.org
www.empirecomics.org/charltoncomics.html

Thanks! Nice scans. I will add a link to your site on my page. Good quality War and Western Charlton Scans are in short supply. They made so many, that people treat them more as an afterthought.

Defiant1

[empires]

It's really refreshing to get away from the mainstream current books. This site is fun. Once I get more familiar with the items here I'll point you to more pics. PM me for our ebay links if you like. I don't want to spam this site or have it appear I am. It's just so you can grab some pics from us while you need them. Thanks again.

[Defiant1]

Mar 30, 2010 9:10:18 GMT -5 @empires said:

It's really refreshing to get away from the mainstream current books. This site is fun. Once I get more familiar with the items here I'll point you to more pics. PM me for our ebay links if you like. I don't want to spam this site or have it appear I am. It's just so you can grab some pics from us while you need them. Thanks again.

Feel free to post ebay links to your auctions in the "Buy/Sell/Trade" Category. I agree about being tired of the mainstream stuff. Even though I don't really collect Charlton (except the adult humor stuff), I am very sentimental towards the books. It was nice seeing the variety. I wish the overall quality had been better. i'd rather look through a box of Charlton Comics over a box of image comics any day of the week.

Defiant1

[gowaltrip]

Defiant1 said:

i'd rather look through a box of Charlton Comics over a box of image comics any day of the week.

If they are in nice shape (fine or better) I'll look all day!

[drew]

I'm new to this site and would like to contribute some cover scans for the charlton checklist.
To whom/where should I send my scans?
Any help would be appreceated.
Thanks,
Drew

[Defiant1]

Jul 11, 2010 9:27:23 GMT -5 @drew said:

I'm new to this site and would like to contribute some cover scans for the charlton checklist.
To whom/where should I send my scans?
Any help would be appreceated.
Thanks,
Drew

Do you have a large number? If not, you can post a link on the board.You can upload them to photobucket or equivalent. How many are we talking?

All donations are appreciated.

Defiant1

[drew]

I have a a couple hundred charlton books....but I have only started scanning them.
I have a lexmark 2300 scanner and have been doing them w/ that. Some of the comics are not in the best shape,but looking at your touch ups I think they should work.
Putting them all up at photo bucket is going to be quite a chore...I was thinking more of attaching the files to a email.?
let me see how many I can get scanned this morning and we'll take it from there. I'm not all that good w/ computers so I hope sizing is good.

[drew]

like this?

[Defiant1]

Exactly! Saved!

Defiant1

[drew]

some of these I saved with out numbering however it was just the first few..this thread is going to grow...feel free to delete after you save em.







[/img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v507/AndrewkWright/charlton9.jpg

[superggraphics]

Here is some scanning advice that might help:

Use your scanners color documents color mode setting at 150 dpi/ppi resolution. Set image settings to descreen only and don't use any other filter settings. Once you have the book scanned, rotate and crop the image in whatever photo editing software you use (I use Photoshop), apply the Unsharp Mask filter (I set mine at 50%), and save in jpeg file format at maximum file size... Do not use auto levels and remember to save in RGB color mode... If you want to go back at any time to make any adjustments save the scanned image first as a TIFF file format version with LZW compression checked...

[drew]

#44


#46


#47


#13


#19

[drew]

#28


#29


#31


#34


#9

[drew]

#13


#23


#36


giant size


#80

[drew]

#89


#94


#96


#124


#23

[drew]

#?


#13


#22


#47


#51

[drew]

#4



#24


#26


#28


#32

[drew]

#36



#5


#11


#12


#13


#16

[drew]

#19


#21


#22



#24


#31

[drew]

#27


#57


#62


#3


#9

[drew]

#10


#19


#25


well thats it until I can get some more scanned.
seeing these posted ...I'm learning a little about how the scanner works. I'll try to tighten up the next batch.
Thanks for letting me bomb your board. I sure would love to see the checklist page all filled in and will do what I can to help.
Drew

[Defiant1]

Superggraphics tips have been sound, but I (a novice) usually work with 300dpi images. The main thing for me is that if the images have too much compression it really messes up the colors. I don't mind cropping the images down to remove the borders, but it helps if they are already straight and cropped. In most cases, I save but don't end up using scans that have a glare from a bag. I'm also not posting images with chunks missing, but it's okay to keep sending them because I can sometimes work miracles and make them usable. Not always, but sometimes. My goal is to eventually make pdf checklists that collectors can use to take to conventions. I need as nice an image quality as possible to reach that goal.

All that being said, I would love to populate all the missing war covers because I believe those will be the toughest for me to get. The first one you sent is already the nicest scan I've seen online.

Thanks.

Defiant1

[drew]

#88



#122


#129


#91


#76


these any better or am I spinning my wheels?

[Defiant1]

They seem to be just a little better, but not a lot. When you save as a jpg, it's being compressed which is adding what they call "artifacts". It's a ghost haze around any black lines. It's more noticeable on the reds, but it's a problem for me to clean up the scans.

Defiant1

[drew]

as I mentioned I'm not real good w/ computers... save as?
On my screen these are bigger than life. I put in a bunch of ghost stuff most of which are pretty clean ones. (later 50 and 60 cent covers) so skip any w/ piece missing from cover?

I can send you the scans direct via email they seem much larger...saves me from photobucket nightmare.

o.k. my scanner offers 300 or 600 (600 takes a long time)

this one was/is pretty clean (piece missing crner) is this more like it