Glenn Fleishman Interrogates the Past

Bonus: How Comic Books Were Made

During a conversation recently with former DC Comics president Paul Levitz, he mentioned something I’d never heard of: the World Color Press Day comic book from 1977, published by World Color Press, the biggest comic-book printing firm in the country. The company got permission from the major publishers to include versions of Superman, Archie, Spider-Man, and many others—unheard of!

After finding a low-res incomplete scan online, I purchased an affordable copy off eBay, which I scanned and turned into a PDF you can download here.

The comic shows many aspects of comic-book printing, most of which are identical to comic strips, but with certain optimizations or standards used for the “floppy” comic-book format. As the booklet was distributed to the public in 1977 without the copyright notice required at the time, it is in the public domain.

Teaching

Workshop on Laser Cutting and Letterpress

Under the auspices of the newborn organization Partners in Print (PiP), the letterpress spinoff of sorts from the School of Visual Concepts, I’ll be teaching a two-hour distance-learning workshop on integrating 2D laser cutting with letterpress printing. I’ve taught two versions of this before, one in person and one online, and both have gone smashingly, with a lot of bidirectional learning and excitement.

The course will be offered June 21 at 10 am PDT. (The time was picked so we could sweep in North America, Europe, and Australia.) I’ll lecture and demonstrate principles of design, production, and assembly, and answer questions along the way as stay late to answer questions at the end. The cost is $75; there’s a scholarship price of $50. PiP puts its scholarship price this way: “PiP is committed to limiting financial barriers when possible. We leave it to you to decide

Laser cutting and letterpress workshop

This Saturday, June 13, I’m teaching a virtual workshop about pairing laser cutting with letterpress printing. It's intended for people interested in either, but more for those with letterpress affinities wanting to figure out how to work laser-cut elements into their work. You don’t need to own a laser cutter or a press to attend.

The two-hour course is part of a set of virtual workshop offered by the School of Visual Concepts. I taught a one-day, in-person workshop a couple of years ago on the same topic, and I’ll be presenting results of that workshop and what I’ve learned since, along with examples of other people’s work and a lot of practical advice!