Let's figure out this Freak Brothers #1 print run...

[50Cent #II (1st print)]

Yeah, sorry about that.  I posted an image after that message.

[Comix Junky]

It appears to me, from studying scans, that gray was printed as a 5th color.
And soon dropped as unnecesary.

To me, this is the only explaination for the fadeing fire-escape.
The fire-escape being on the Black plate. The gray background on another.
If you're not feeding enough ink to the press, the ink fades.
On the scans with disappearing fire-escapes, All the blacks look faded.
It looks to me like the  fire-escapes have just faded into the solid Gray background.
If the background and fire-escape were on the same plate, they would both fade to the same degree, you would still see the  fire-escape.

I am still not clear if there was one or two "Black Tire" printings.
(note the tire is not actually black, just dark gray)
But on the next "White tire" printing, the wall, road, fence, and yellow building with fire-escape, - all get much lighter.
I take this as evidence that Gray was on a sepreate plate.

[50Cent #II (1st print)]

I'm not very familiar with printing techniques but I suspected (probably wrongly) that one printing had a gray color print along with a black ink print and one had a black only print (if that's possible).  And that the one with the black only print just used a less dots per inch to make up for the grays and perhaps that's why one had the fire escape that's clear with the black and one with the the fire escape blended in (perhaps because the black layer ink was not black enough?).

[50Cent #II (1st print)]

From J. David Moriaty on 05 June 2008 in the Big Ass #2 thread:
"I have an uncut cover sheet of Freak Bros #1 here before me, run 1-up on the Davidson because we had not yet gotten the Ebco to feed properly. The tire and the ground are gray from a second screen burn on the black plate (ziptone was not often used on originals, because, due to the short depth of field of a process camera, it would look like bubbly mud). The frame next to Gilbert's signature is out of register. On the uncut sheet there is a small yellow square on the bottom of the back cover next to the fold that would likely be lost in the trim.

The second printing was done on the Ebco with either a second printing of Subvert,   
the first printing of Armadillo, and two Freak Bros #1 at the bottom of the plate, both missing the
overburned screen, or, more likely, one copy of Freak 1 without the screen with first printing of Rowlf, Mother's Oats #2 and reprint of Mother's Oats #1.

Because of our experience with the unexpectly slow sales of Hydrogen Bomb, we were overcautious with Freak Bros. Almost every plate after this contains two FB covers until we got the 24-inch two color Solna, when printing reverted to two-up.

The screen reappears with a reprint of Up From the Deep, Last Gasp's Slow Death 1, and 2-up Freak Bros.  After that Gilbert colored in the tire by hand to make it a white wall, and the troublesome second burn was dispensed with."



Now that we have this new info., I'll share something I've noticed and others can see if it corresponds with their copies of FB #1 (gray tire printing).  The lower staple seems to be in either of 2 spots.  The ones with the orange square (I've labeled "B") has them all in one place on all the copies and scans I've seen.  The copies that don't have the orange square have the lower staple in either of 2 locations as far as I've seen.  For some the location is the same as the orange square (I've labeled "A").  I suspect these are the 2nd print from the Ebco.  The others have them lower.

Notice the staples are slightly further apart on these books, with the lower staple with about 1/3 above the lower chair foot and 2/3 below it.
The lower staple placement of on printing I suspect was done on the Davidson (therefore the 1st) seem to be here:

[50Cent #II (1st print)]

Notice the staples are closer together with the lower staple is placed right in between the feet of the front and rear legs of the chair laying on it's back against the fence.
2nd print "A"? (without the orange square)

[50Cent #II (1st print)]

Notice the staples are closer together with the lower staple is placed right in between the feet of the front and rear legs of the chair laying on it's back against the fence.
2nd? print "B" (with orange square)

[human]

I should have said the frame next to Gilbert's signature on the BACK cover

The position of the staples would depend on whether we bound them in house with the ancient saddle stitcher or sent them to the modern bindery in South San Francisco.  When we had back orders and needed copies quick, we did them by hand.

There is a black ink speck in the orange border near the ear on the lower back cover of the first edition which may be a fault in the black plate, which is not repeated in any printings of the double-burn screen. (Now you've got me obsessing).

Are you talking about the chair back? What orange square?

jdave

[50Cent #II (1st print)]

Glad to see you back and it's very kind of you to help clear things up after all these years of it being unknown to the public.

The orange square (more like a rectangle of missing black/gray) I talk about is what Kennedy originally indicated was a 1st print.  It's next to the price on the front cover seen here, just before the A in AMERICA.

[50Cent #II (1st print)]

Is this the black spot you're talking about near the ear (below it) in the orange frame?

[50Cent #II (1st print)]

Here's a pic. of the Gilbert Shelton signature, but still not sure what you mean by "yellow frame out of register"?  (Do you mean the yellow sliver in front of the "G"?)

[human]

No, the orange box is a reprint error on the top FB that was reprinted with Up from the Deep when the double burn was restored. The FB on the bottom of the plate on that run has no such error.

Did I say yellow? I meant black. Altzheimer's again.

No, the mark you show is an artifact from a splash of fountain solution.

How do I attach a jpeg? I'll send you a scan of the original and pix of the big press sheets.

[Sir Real]

[50Cent #II (1st print)]

You can e-mail it to me and I'll post it.  [email protected]
Or you can just attach the image at the bottom of the screen when you reply to a post.  If the size is less than 300KB.  If not, e-mail it to me and I'll shrink it and post it.

I don't think you mentioned a color, I just assumed yellow because you state yellow box in the next sentence.  My fault there.  So you are just saying the black frame around the 3 FB characters is off register and not correctly around the box?

[50Cent #II (1st print)]

So we've had a very interesting and enlightening week here on the forums to say the least...

J. David Moriaty via e-mail on 06 June 2008.
> On the original FB run, the black plate was toning, and we had to 
> fight it all through the run. What no one noticed, where the oxidized 
> plate picked up the ink, a splash was printing like someone had 
> dribbled water on the plate that dissolved the gum arabic 
> preservative and caused that image to print. By the time Gilbert 
> showed up the run was over. He just shrugged and said, "well, maybe 
> we'll get it right next time".  The run was only 5000, out of the 
> millions printed, so it must be rare.
>
> The flaw is right in the middle of the street, and runs from Fat 
> Freddy's head to  the bannisters on the fire escape-

[Brother J]

So what are we saying here? To be an actual first print, the black speck on the back cover near the "Freakfans" ear has to be present?