Friday 17 June 2011

Johnny Hazard 1944-46

Just saw this on Amazon

280 pages, hardcover and covering 1944-46. 
The info text on Amazon says: "Reproduced entirely from original King Features press proofs." Well, after seeing the Rip Kirby books we all know that having access to proofs from KFS says nothing about the quality. Let's just hope they are better than the Rip Kirby proofs ...
Anyone involved in the project with access to the strips who can confirm the quality? Cut or uncut versions etc.

And while I'm at it: If the proofs are good it would be a shame to release them in a book with a cover design like this. If anyone at Hermes Press reads this, please check out other well designed books for some inspiration. The image above looks more like a "fan publication" than a book collecting a classic comic strip. (I'm not writing this to be mean, but I think a more classy design will help sales.)

3 comments:

Andreas said...

Hermes' first two volumes of The Phantom got some criticism for not having great reproduction, but for the first years there are no press proofs available (it could still have been done better, but I think it was definetely OK). From the end of Vol 2 they used KFS press proofs and it looked really good. My main gripes are that the strips could have been bigger (there's plenty of whitespace on the pages), and yes, the cover design. But Hermes has used the same cover style for Buck Rogers, The Phantom, and now Johnny Hazard, so I guess it's their "thing" and something they will continue with.

Karl-Erik said...

I think I'll wait and pick up if and when they reach the end of the strips covered by the Ken Pierce books (mid September 1953).

Karl-Erik said...

The press release state the original material used as "reproduced in its entirety from the King Features printing proofs" whatever that means. It also says that further inquires can be answered by one Chris Irving (chris(at)hermespress.com). You should probably mail him and ask him whatever you want to know.