Fat Freddy's Cat #1 Anomoly?

[Sir Real]

This has puzzled me for some time.  I have, not one, but two copies of "The Adventures of Fat Freddy's Cat #1" that exhibit the exact same properties that don't seem to match the accepted knowledge of printing tells.

Fat  Freddy's Cat 1 (Rip Off Press 1977)
1st -   5-1/4 x 8-1/4,  .75,  --  front; halftone  art, says 'by  Gilbert Shelton',   .
                                      --  back; ©info outside  purple  circle,
2nd? - front; line art, says 'by Gilbert Shelton and Dave Sheridan'
          back; brown  circle,  no ©info  .
3rd? - front; same as  2nd  --  back; © info inside  purple  circle   (JK  2nd)
4th - pg. 4 plugs Adventures of FF's Cat book - front; same as 2nd  -  back; same  as  1st  (JK  3rd) 5th -    1.00         (JK  4th)
     printings after 1986 are standard comic size, new cover art colored by  Guy Colwell
??  -  2.00

Cover Page Tell
Back Page Tell

My two copies display like this...

75¢ cover price.
Line art cover (I'm pretty sure).
"by Gilbert Shelton and Dave Sheridan"
Page 4 shows nothing but the title and copyright towards the bottom.
Back cover shows the copyright info outside the emblem circle.

Here's the assemblage...   Fat Freddy's Cat #1 Anomoly

So, how does this info fit in?  Do I have something new, or am I missing something?

added moments later...

In fact, my copy of #2 exhibits the exact same way.

[50Cent #II (1st print)]

Well Sir Real, this sounds like you've come across a real true (previously undocumented) 2nd print to me...
.75 cent cover price shows 1-3rd known printings.
Line art (more detailed?) cover seems to have been from the 2nd print on.
"by Gilbert Shelton and Dave Sheridan" from the 2nd print on.
Page 4 info seems to relay to 1-3rd known printings.
Back cover art is NOT same as from 1st print, but similar.

Nice find, new previously unknown 2nd printing in my book...

I say put it all in the Wiki, I'll scan my 1st print for you...

[Sir Real]

I'll probably get to work on those tomorrow.  These new entries do take some focused time.

Thanks for the look-over, 50Cent #II.

[50Cent #II (1st print)]

See if these will help...


Pretty sure this is considered half-tone art/printing.





For some reason this stuff really gets me excited, that's why I say UG collectors here should just go through your collection and find these anomolies...

[50Cent #II (1st print)]

In regards to #2.  I wonder if this new true 2nd print of #1 was then printed at the same time as the 2nd printing of #2?  Unless your #2 is exhibiting different characteristics than other #2 (2nd prints)?  Does you're #2 have line art cover?  If so, then you may have a new true 2nd print of AoFFC #2 also...

Known #2.
1st print of #2 has half-tone cover art with copyright below purple back cover circle.
2nd print of #2 has line art cover art with copyright info. inside brown back cover circle.

[zonker]

I told ya my writing skills suck.

Actually both covers are half toned. Not line art.  I was struggling with how to describe the difference, with as few words as possible. The black lines
were more pronounced on one, looked a bit like line art, so...

"Line Art" refers to graphical stuff like the interior art in comix, or covers like Zap 1, or even type. Sorta binary, ink or no ink, black or white, no grays.  (It might sometimes look gray if the ink runs out. but the pressman tries to avoid that.)  If you want gray, you could use actual gray ink. like on Freak Bro 1-1st  print. But typically shades (or is it tones?) of gray are made with dot patterns (called screens) applied to the art with zip-a-tone (tm). (Think of cellophane tape with a uniform field of pinpoint sized black dots printed on it..)

"Halftones" or "Grayscale" is for stuff with varying shades like photos, or "painted covers", or FF's cat.
It's a photographic process. Using a screen in the darkroom to break the image into a dot pattern (screen). The dots will be different sizes depending on how much light they got from the original image.

Yet that still doesn't explain how to tell the covers apart.
You just gotta look at them side by side.

I have rescanned my copies of FF'sC 1, 2, 3.
http://www.ugcomix.info/stash/fat-freddys-cat-scans.html
If ya want em, get em before Feb. 1.

[50Cent #II (1st print)]

Looks like the Fat Freddy's Cat #2 that I won recently on eBay that I thought was a 1st print is actually one of Sir Real's newly discovered True 2nd prints.  I'm happy that I can compare my 1st print #1 side by side with it and see the difference to note here.
If you look closer to the back, the circle on the true 2nd print is a more reddish brown color of purple and there are no small spots around that.  It's also a little smaller on the 2nd print and the letters underneath are about 1/2 the size as on the 1st print.

#2 True 2nd print


#2 True 2nd print (back)


#1 1st print (back)

[50Cent #II (1st print)]

Also, I think the easiest front cover tell to differentiate the 1st and true 2nd print is to look at where the lower record is on the cover, as you can see the 1st print has the record closer to the bottom of the page and shows less of the yarn, the true 2nd print has the yarn down to one strand and the record is much higher (the picture is zoomed out).  Just count the number or wood planks under the cats nose, 2 on the 1st print, 4 on the second.

It looks like the old 2nd&3rd / new 3rd&4th print has even more planks at 4 1/2 to 5+ showing.

[50Cent #II (1st print)]

I suspect this is a 3rd/4th print with 4.5+ planks showing.

[50Cent #II (1st print)]

Here's another suspected 3rd/4th print with over 5 planks showing.

[50Cent #II (1st print)]

An another new unidentified printing of #1 (with $1.25 cover price)?  I suspect there might have been an entire run of $1.25 cover price of #1-5, since I came across a #5 also with a $1.25 cover price.
(edit:  Looks like this is already noted in the FUG)




So it might go something like this.

#1 (1st print) .75 with 2 planks showing (small format)
#1 (2nd print) .75 with 4 planks showing (small format)
#1 (3rd print)&(4th print) .75 with 4.5 to 5+ planks showing (small format)
#1 1.25 (small format)
#1 2.00 (larger format)
#1 $2.95 (larger format)

[50Cent #II (1st print)]

Some update info.  This new true 2nd print was printed before the 1st print of #3 came out.  The back cover of #3 (1st print) matches #2 & 3 back cover for their 4th print with the watercolor purple around circle and the copyright inside the circle (please post if your #3 is different on the back cover).  1st prints of #1 and #2 came out Feb. 1977 and #3 came out Sept. 1977, so #1 and #2 had their first 3 printings printed between Feb.-Sept. 1977 with the 4th print Sept. 1977.

Here, I've condensed this info.

1st print of #1 & #2 came out Feb. 1977 with 2 planks under cat's nose on front cover.  75c
2nd print of #1 & #2 came out between Feb.-Sept. 1977 with watercolor purple paint around circle on back cover and copyright info. Below circle.  75c and 4 planks under cat's nose. (new info. might actually make this the 4th print)
3rd print of #1 & #2 also came out between Feb.-Sept. 1977 with watercolor purple paint around circle on back cover and no copyright info.  75c and 4.5+? planks under cat's nose.
4th print of #1 & #2 came out Sept. 1977 with watercolor purple paint around circle on back cover and copyright info. Inside circle.  75c and 4.5+? planks under cat's nose.

[Sir Real]

I do believe you are correct, sir.  My #3-1st matches as described.

[50Cent #II (1st print)]

I'm confused now.  The FFC #2 with $1.25 cover and #3 with $1.00 cover arrived today and both have the same back as this new one Sir Real has found (new True 2nd print?).  Leading to the possibility that this new one might be the last (4th print) of the .75 cover price of #1 & 2.  Especially if the #3 (1st print) has the same back as the #1 and 2 UGComix.info 3rd print (this could be more confusing if there was actually 2 .75 printings (1st & 2nd) of #3, not 2 1.00 printings), and they both had different back covers, but might explain the printings.

[50Cent #II (1st print)]

A back cover scan of #4 (1st print / .75) and #5 (1st print / 1.00) might explain more if someone wants to post scans of them?