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Comics Silver AgeQuestions

Silver Age Comic Questions?9501

Collector mattness private msg quote post Address this user
Hi everyone. I recently picked up some Silver age books from My Comic Shop. While looking through them I noticed that one book is a bit shorter in width then the rest. I checked ebay to see if all the same books were "smaller". To my surprise quite a few of them were.. They look trimmed to me. My Comic Shop is really good about listing if a book is trimmed and nothing was mentioned in the description. Are the older books just this way? Here is a picture of the book in question. The book behind it is another Silver Age I purchased at the same time. You can see it is wider. The book behind that is a Dell Peanuts book that is Silver age and even wider..

Questions:

1) Are Silver Age books manufactured at different Widths or are there that many trimmed Detective Comics 349?

2) I purchased some Silver Age mylars specifically for these books, however, the books arrived in standard sized poly bags. I thought that all Silver age books were larger (newbie for silver age here)

3) Am I off on the years for Silver Age? Bing states 1956-1970 is the Silver Age.

For Reference: the books in the picture from top to bottom:

Detective Comics #349 1966
Detective Comics #347 1966
Dell Peanuts #10 1961

The other books I purchased were from My Comic Shop Stock as well as My Comic Shop Consignment. The books are:

Amazing Spider-Man #75 1969
Detective Comics #332 1964
Detective Comics #347 1966
Detective Comics #349 1966
Detective Comics #354 1966
Detective Comics #357 1966
Detective Comics #358 1966
Detective Comics #361 1967
Detective Comics #377 1968

Any information is much appreciated. Thanks!


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Collector Donnied private msg quote post Address this user
I did an Google image search and neither of the Detective's appear to be trimmed. I do know that comics became thinner steadily from golden age through to today. You seem to have come upon two issues that spanned a width change.
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I live in RI and Rhode Islanders eat chili with beans. esaravo private msg quote post Address this user
@mattness - I know from bagging them that SA Dells from the early to maybe mid-1960’s are wider and might not fit in standard SA bags. I will have to take a look at my Detective Comics to see if there is a noticeable change in width at some point.
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Collector CEPubDude private msg quote post Address this user
Definitely looks trimmed to me. About 1/16 to 1/8th of an inch. Most of the copies I see have about 2 rows of checkers to the right of the comics code. If it was a shifted cover there would be some space left of the "Back Again" banner rolled toward the front with staples offset from front back split.
I've seen lots of books cut close to or on the code but usually from a shift.
Do the individual edges of the paper look different top to side. Or color difference when all pages are together?
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Collector Donnied private msg quote post Address this user
I looked at the image on coverbrowser.com and yours definitely looks trimmed. Looks like at least 1/8". There was a couple of images that came up on google images that looked the same as the OP images. Odd.
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Collector mattness private msg quote post Address this user
@CEPubDude - I don't notice any color difference between pages. The interior pages are lined up at the bottom and then start to "shorten" towards the top of the book. There is a small spine roll towards the top where the page sizes change. I tried to get pictures..

@Donnied - I also find it odd that there appears to be many Tech #349's that look like this.

I put an inquire in to MyComicShop. Hopefully they will have some input.

I want to thank everyone for all their time and help. It is really to cool to have a safe place to ask questions and learn. I greatly appreciate it!





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Collector RRO private msg quote post Address this user
Quote:
Originally Posted by Donnied
I did an Google image search and neither of the Detective's appear to be trimmed. I do know that comics became thinner steadily from golden age through to today. You seem to have come upon two issues that spanned a width change.

The only deliberate Marvel/DC size change after the 50's was around 1975, during the 25-cent cover price period. As pointed out, Dell and Gold Key sizes did not follow those of Marvel & DC. There have been many, many examples of minor miscuts and size aberrations from printing, mostly at World Color Press--although Eastern had other printing flaws--during their tenure as major printers for the bulk of the comics released then.
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Collector MR_SigS private msg quote post Address this user
It could be trimmed, but if so it was done a long time ago, and years of normal wear from normal use has occurred. I'd think a rounded corner with this many creases being trimmed would look obvious, but when I zoom in on them they look "like they should."

I agree it isn't as wide, but I have at least one Bronze Age cut comparable to a Golden Age.


Sometimes it happens.
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I live in RI and Rhode Islanders eat chili with beans. esaravo private msg quote post Address this user
@mattness - Okay, I raided some long boxes, so here's the results of my extensive Forensic Investigation regarding comic book widths.

Dell - Peanuts (Four Color #878): approx. 7 3/8 inches wide.



Detective Comics #333 and #347: each approximately 7 inches wide.





Detective Comics #349: approx. 6 7/8 inches wide.



Detective #356: approx. 6 15/16 inches wide.



And here's my recreation of Detective #349 over #347.



I am pretty sure that none of these comics have been trimmed (well read and somewhat beat-up, but not trimmed). So I conclude that comic widths vary by quite a bit, with Detective Comics #349 being on the narrow side when compared to other issues of that title.
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Collector MR_SigS private msg quote post Address this user
Quote:
Originally Posted by esaravo
I am pretty sure that none of these comics have been trimmed (well read and somewhat beat-up, but not trimmed). So I conclude that comic widths vary by quite a bit, with Detective Comics #349 being on the narrow side when compared to other issues of that title.


Bingo. There is much more to trimming detection, and a ruler isn't conclusive at all. When I suspect trimming, I lay a book flat and look at the side edge at eye level. While also not a 100% method, the edges should not line up perfectly with each other. They should fan out slightly because they're cut prior to the fold. Grab 16 sheets of thin paper and fold them in half- They won't line up.

And of course there is still much more to detection, along with a juicy history
LINK 1 LINK 2
suggesting trimming cannot always be detected.

Square bounds are cut differently, and usually do line up.
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It was a one trick pony show but always hilarious. GAC private msg quote post Address this user
LINK 1 LINK 2
suggesting trimming cannot always be detected.


What's so crazy is I don't remember reading any of this on BleedingCool!! 🤔
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Collector MR_SigS private msg quote post Address this user

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