Sunday 3 December 2006

Two hats

I won't show the panels to which this anecdote refers. I'll let you take your copy of the book off the shelf and pretend that you've just discovered the mistake for yourself.
Today I got an email from Serge Ewenczyk of Ca et la, He tells me they've noticed a mistake in book 2 page 42 panel 2 of Alec: The King Canute Crowd. Danny Grey gives his hat to Louise, who puts it on in the next panel, except in the next panel they're both wearing it.
two hats.
It was published like this in 1985, 1990, 1997 and 2000. and Serge is the first person to mention it. These guys have been paying a lot of attention to the details, which is a good sign. but then so have I. A font has been specially made from samples I hand lettered. I have scanned all of the pages from the original art and I had to consult more than one expert before I worked out a dependable system. The big serious problem with it is how to get all those zip-tones to reproduce via the digital process without introducing moire patterns in the greys (look at the awful repro in my two pages in the recent Smithsonian book of comics for a bad example). I mean, over and above the ones that were intentional, put there for deliberate pattern effects in clothing materials for instance. I recently heard that Serge and his team went to some trouble to try to fix those too but gave it up as hopeless.
LOL, as you young 'uns would type.

* * *
oh bloody hell, this post was up and now it's down again. there's a voice mail from my pal, mr j: "It's there, and then its gone again...of course, in the meantime i've gone and checked the page in question in my copy of the king canute crowd... think the page numbers were different in the old books ( which were closer to hand, so i couldn't find it... )... in fact, i have now...and in alec... love and beer glasses, danny grey isn't wearing the hat in the 2nd panel... is this some sort of a conspiracy...

and another voicemail, again from mr j: "ok... alec-love and beer glasses pg 28 ( this is the escape edition we're talking about )... no hat...so at what point exactly was it drawn back in??? and by whom??? is this like a comic book x-file??

what's this? another message from my pal mr j: "seriously, do i get a no-prize for this?"

Damn. if i had anotther post for tonight i'd scrap the whole thing, but we just had drinks with my pal Huge Andrew. Okay, consider the no prize yours, mr j.

and thanks for roning.

another call from mr j.... "you've spelt another with two t's."

ladies and gentlemen, this is live blogging.

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12 Comments:

Blogger Manic The Doodler said...

Hey I'll take this picture, if of course it's up for grabs...

3 December 2006 at 07:02:00 GMT-5  
Blogger Eddie Campbell said...

quick off the mark, sir, but that's a panel from The KIng Canute crowd which I've played with a little in photoshop in the hope of persuading the French publisher to use it as a cover. I seem to be making a muddle of things tonight.
anyway, thanks fpor liking it.
I'm off to bed.

3 December 2006 at 07:27:00 GMT-5  
Blogger Eddie Campbell said...

p.s. note to self. go into settings tomorrow and fix the clock so it's not showing New York time. I had a reason for putting that way but for the life of me I can't remember....

3 December 2006 at 07:29:00 GMT-5  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

you have quite a few good pictures here ...im glad to have stumbled across this blog

3 December 2006 at 11:25:00 GMT-5  
Blogger mrjslack said...

I get the impression that this particular post could make me appear obsessive compulsive... which is just not the case.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go vacuum my curtains.

3 December 2006 at 15:34:00 GMT-5  
Blogger Milo George said...

hi eddie,

Yay, you finally have a blog of your own!

Do you have the film from any of the previous editions of KCC? Sometimes it's far easier to use that for problematic pages than scanning originals larger and larger and larger and/or wrestling with Photoshop. Talking to the printer about moire issues and demanding first-run proofs of the whole book probably go without saying ... like I just did.

best,
-- milo

3 December 2006 at 15:39:00 GMT-5  
Blogger Eddie Campbell said...

That's mr j you can hear vacuuming his curtains.

And Milo
great to hear from you.
film, AKA 'the negatives'.
All lost under the burned bridges of history i'm afraid. The 1990 negatives were lost when Eclipse went out of business and the 19897/2000 when preney went down (see earlier post re. from hell), in the same way that all the Kitchen negs of From Hell went south when they tried to 'sell' them to me after KSP went bust (owing us 15,000 bucks to boot!)

many years from now I may be the last man standing.

3 December 2006 at 17:21:00 GMT-5  
Blogger Eddie Campbell said...

thanks, jeffyspot too

3 December 2006 at 17:25:00 GMT-5  
Blogger Andrew Hawthorn said...

One set of panels I would love you to post?

I read somewhere once that there was a page in the script of From Hell which had Gull and Netley driving over London Bridge, which hadn't been built at the time, so you sketched the page anyway essentially with Gull stopping mid-sentence to scream as his carriage hurtled into the Thames.

I think I read that somewhere. Does that exist?

3 December 2006 at 19:48:00 GMT-5  
Blogger Milo George said...

Good grief, ALL the negs are gone? How do you get any new work done while dealing with one repro headache after another from all the foreign editions and reprints? I would be cursing the ghost of Archibald K. Zipatone and his damn film within a month.

qzshby

4 December 2006 at 00:19:00 GMT-5  
Blogger Eddie Campbell said...

Milo


Ah, who cares about work now that I'm a full time blogger!!

4 December 2006 at 01:01:00 GMT-5  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Jason's obsessive compulsiveness has nothing on mine. One strip I've been waiting for years to see? The final 'Ace Rock & Roll Club' which was apparently done in watercolours. I keep hoping for a Campbell color special which might squeeze that in.

5 December 2006 at 15:45:00 GMT-5  

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