To say this book has been a labor of love would be something of an understatement, but when Book Palace Books received a gi-normous box of the printer's proofs to this volume the excitement was palpable. The book is costly but the results I think will justify the price, which even for the signed and lettered ultra-deluxe edition is still less expensive than buying a piece of Wulf artwork (if you can find one) or attempting to buy the complete run of Express Weeklys showcasing Ron Embleton's amazing artistry on this strip.
The quality of scanning has been painstaking to the 'nth degree. The problems that normally bedevil projects like this have been addressed and overcome. Light blues which are always an early casualty in this process have been retained and all the subtleties evident in the original printing have been retained. The delicate brushwork which underlies much of Embleton's modeling, particularly with flesh tones has been preserved. All the black line work is as it should be. The final prints on archival matte paper are so close to the original comics that the experience of looking through these pages is a real joy. Particularly as printing artifacts have been removed and ghosting from the reverse side of the original comics pages has been removed without losing the subtleties of Embleton's palette and incredibly - in the few bad cases of off registration - the pages have been re-registered!At some point in the future I might devote one blog posting to how the scanning and restoration on this book was achieved but in the meantime here are a few photos, plus a short video of the book, plus initial printer's proofs and a couple of low register versions of some of the restored scans, which if you compare them to the earlier versions that appeared on the blog all those months ago will give you an inkling at the careful restoration that has been applied to these pages.
More information can be gathered here at the Book Palace Books website.
This looks absolutely amazing, Peter. I am beaming as I think of that special mixture of elation, exhaustion and pride that you must be feeling as, with the painstaking hard work now done, you get to finally hold one of these beautiful volumes.
ReplyDeleteMind you, much as I'd like to, I daren't buy the leatherbound edition. Roz would change the locks! *sigh*
(Btw - I couldn't get the teaser to play.)
Many thanks for your kind words Dave and I know what you mean about Roz sussing out the attrition factor that the leather bound Wulf implies as far as your poor old credit card is concerned - Gina has just the same nose for rampant expenditure.
ReplyDeleteI'm pleased to say that from the feedback I've had from the good people at Book Palace Books the pre publication sales on these books are looking good with orders coming in from literally all around the globe on a daily basis.
Fingers crossed that this book does work out to be as successful as early indications intimate as there are several other tasty projects waiting in the wings on the back of this behemoth.
P.S. I think I've liberated the YouTube video. The color is completely and the resolution is dire but it does give a feel of what this book is like.
ReplyDeleteI'm really looking forward to this! I live in Dallas-Fort Worth so I suppose I'm part of the global contingent you're talking about. Thanks for all your hard work! Nice to see someone who loves and respects the material!
ReplyDeleteIt's really gratifying to learn of readers in the U.S. prepared to take a punt on projects like this. Ron Embleton was a big fan of U.S. artists such as Will Eisner, in fact you can see the Eisner'esque influence on his brush work in Wulf. It's great to think of the comic strip which above all others was such a personal statement by Ron finding an audience across the pond.
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