valiant comics scanning project?

graybola · Post by **graybola** » Fri May 07, 2004 9:38 pm

As a side note, I have a few people that do not read comics at all using the folder share program to try out some of the titles. Hopefully we will get a few more addicts. Too bad we cant just post a few of the issues for people to read.

graybola · Post by **graybola** » Sat May 08, 2004 12:28 am

Everything that I have I just got off of other people from the board. These are actually the first comics that I have downloaded.

Hoosierdaddy · Post by **Hoosierdaddy** » Mon May 10, 2004 9:22 pm

Hey graybola...could you upload any of those that I don't have to my server?

Snakemann · Post by **Snakemann** » Tue May 11, 2004 1:49 pm

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 2243346841

This is a link to an auction for comic scans and similar to the scans talked about in this thread.

If you check his other auctions, many runs have been scanned and offered.

Anybody know if this will run into a copyright violations?
Are we as doomed as the music sharing?

Please share your thoughts with me. That could be a violation too.

myron · Post by **myron** » Tue May 11, 2004 2:03 pm

there aren't paid residuals and such with out of print comics like there are with music (I don't think at least)...I'm thinking this is way different than the music biz...but what the hell do I know

WAIT...didn't someone already make a point of this somewhere??? little help please!

greg · Post by **greg** » Tue May 11, 2004 2:07 pm

There is most definitely a copyright issue here.

If you are not the OWNER of the copyright, you can't sell (or make) copies.
It's that simple.

Law enforcement has only recently begun prosecuting the copy makers...
that is... file-sharers, etc., but they have always prosecuted sellers.

myron · Post by **myron** » Tue May 11, 2004 2:13 pm

greg wrote:There is most definitely a copyright issue here.

If you are not the OWNER of the copyright, you can't sell (or make) copies.
It's that simple.

Law enforcement has only recently begun prosecuting the copy makers...
that is... file-sharers, etc., but they have always prosecuted sellers.

I realize that, but if they aren't making any money off of the out of print stuff, its only intended for private use, and credit is given where credit is due...I don't see how this will parallel the audio/video happenings of the past year...

greg · Post by **greg** » Tue May 11, 2004 2:28 pm

Actually, my comments were mainly directed at this seller...
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 2243346841

That's not legal... it's just a question of IF and WHEN Marvel will do something about it.

myron · Post by **myron** » Tue May 11, 2004 2:46 pm

greg wrote:Actually, my comments were mainly directed at this seller...
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 2243346841

That's not legal... it's just a question of IF and WHEN Marvel will do something about it.

I'm at work...damn filter won't let me get to e-bay...I'll check it out at home...

ckb · Post by **ckb** » Tue May 11, 2004 3:42 pm

Did you guys know that the USENET newsgroups have full scans of every issue (major titles) posted that day they come out? All illegal of course.

Snakemann · Post by **Snakemann** » Tue May 11, 2004 5:01 pm

This material is being reprinted all of the time by Marvel and they are still making money from it.

Why should I buy the TPB when I can download it for free or in the Ebay case for the cost of the materials it would take.

While I do like the scanned books concept, I have a bad feeling on this one.

MAD magazine was the first one to do this for more profit and I bought into it. Like $50 for the whole run on CD. Can't beat it.
Well except for free!
Can you say Comicnabster! Yep, I need to create a site.

graybola · Post by **graybola** » Tue May 11, 2004 5:27 pm

Is USENET the pay service? I have heard of it before but know nothing about it. Is it similar to kazaa? Or are files just posted for downoload?

ckb · Post by **ckb** » Tue May 11, 2004 5:29 pm

graybola wrote:Is USENET the pay service? I have heard of it before but know nothing about it. Is it similar to kazaa? Or are files just posted for downoload?

It's free, and works like a message board. You ISP probably runs a free news server, and there are free ones on the web.

You need a news reader. I use Free Agent by Forte'.

Hoosierdaddy · Post by **Hoosierdaddy** » Wed May 12, 2004 1:13 pm

greg wrote:That's not legal... it's just a question of IF and WHEN Marvel will do something about it.

Greg is right. The ethics of scanning books and making those scans available to others (I'm referring here ONLY to out-of-print books) can and will be debated. After all, they ARE only scans and not the actual books. So their value as collectables is dubious.

But taking copyrighted material...even out-of-print material...and selling it for a profit? That is quite a different story. That is most certainly punishable by law. That guy on EBay is just begging for trouble. And yes, his greed may very well bring the wrath of law enforcement down on comics scanners in general, even those who are not trying to profit from it. Personally, I think the days are numbered for those who are scanning new and current titles anyway. I think the publishers can make a valid case that scans of currently available books undercuts sales in much the same way that mp3 downloads are hurting the recording industry.

Of course, as I have previously stated, the analogy between comics scanning and mp3 ripping is NOT a 1:1 comparison. In the comics trade, used comic sales do not profit the publishers in any way. So I do not see how scanning those titles poses any significant financial harm to the copyright holders. Especially with regard to oop runs.

Hoosierdaddy · Post by **Hoosierdaddy** » Wed May 12, 2004 1:25 pm

Snakemann wrote:While I do like the scanned books concept, I have a bad feeling on this one. MAD magazine was the first one to do this for more profit and I bought into it. Like $50 for the whole run on CD. Can't beat it. Well except for free! Can you say Comicnabster! Yep, I need to create a site.

And the very DAY that Valiant is reborn and the oop back issues are offically made available for sale on CD-ROM is the day I will stand in line to purchase one. Especially since their scans would probably be of enhanced quality anyway.

But, until that time, I will download the scans. Just so I can read the books whenever I want conveniently. It makes no difference to the copyright holders bottom line, as the books are oop anyway. And it does nothing to devalue the collectable value of the real books. Hell, I have almost all the scans, and I still want a full run...with variants.

Snakemann · Post by **Snakemann** » Wed May 12, 2004 1:53 pm

I do agree with you on the Valiants. I think if Marvel and DC were on top of there game right now that they would be the ones offering the CD and DVD for sale. Instead of someone on Ebay. They could still profit from everything that has been produced in the past. Downloading scans will become more and more frequent. Stopping it will become expensive. Why not promote the books and market the chance to read the full runs and get more monthly readers. They are certainly losing ground in this area. I do not buy any new books anymore. I wait and buy runs from Ebay at a later date. I just got in Mystique #1-12 at less than cover price and that is including shipping. I am a big Linsner fan and had to hold myself back from buying in the past. This doesn't work for everything I know. If I spend $300 next week on books. I could get 100 new books or some decent runs off Ebay. I am just not buying new books off the shelf.
Now I realize that the opportunity exists through Ebay to buy some of the major runs at $27 each and download others I need. My collecting is on hold because I am downloading and reading. After I get everything I can in readable form I will go back to collecting.

Hoosierdaddy · Post by **Hoosierdaddy** » Wed May 12, 2004 4:05 pm

Ok. Here's where we are with scans at this time.

I'm going to focus this stage of the project on putting together full runs of the pre-Acclaim titles. Once we have finished with those, then we can turn our attention to the Acclaim runs.

The titles we really need help with are...

Geomancer

Timewalker

Destroyer

We are also missing scattered issues from the other titles, but only just one or two here and there. The above three titles are where the big gaps are.

We only have a handful of issues from these runs. If anyone could provide fills for these titles it would be greatly appreciated. If you don't know how to make cbr/cbz files, that's cool...as long as you can upload scanned pages, I will gladly build the cbr file myself. Of course, if you already have cbr/cbz versions, that would be even better.

Please help with this if you can. It really is in everyone's best interests to assist with this project if at all possible. Once we have a full pre-Acclaim run assembled, I will happily offer the entire collection of scans to any board member on DVD-R for the cost of media/shipping. And yes, it will have to be a DVD-R as the total filesizes are so large that burning the collection to CD-Rs would be cost prohibitive and too time consuming. So bite that bullet and buy yourself a DVD-ROM drive for your PC. They're down to less than thirty bucks now at Best Buy or CompUSA. So get up off some jack and get into the DVD era peeps!

Again, I am not out to make any money on this. And burning to DVD-R seems like a reasonable option for those of our members who may not have broadband internet access. I'm delighted to be able to offer this to our members. All we need now is to complete the run. Any help which anyone can offer in that regard would be great.

So c'mon everyone. No need to stop now when we're this close! Just three more runs and a few issues here and there and all the pre-Acclaim titles will be available in a nice, convenient, easy to manage format. Just click on a file and read your favorite issues anytime. And still leave your collectables safely in their mylar sleeves. You could even carry some around on your Palm Pilot! Nice.

P.S. I will put together a complete list of the missing issues this week and I will update this post with it when I'm done. That way we have a goal to shoot for.

Hoosierdaddy · Post by **Hoosierdaddy** » Thu May 20, 2004 1:52 pm

Is anyone at all interested in helping us complete the scan collection by providing fills for any of the missing issues? If not, then I am going assume there is no further interest and let this thread die after this post.

Those of you who asked for FTP access, I have done my best to reply via PM or e-mail to each request. If I have overloooked you, please feel free to let me know via PM. Thanks to all who participated. I truly hope that at some future time we will be able to get all of the issues scanned, if nothing else other than for archival purposes.

dino · Post by **dino** » Thu May 20, 2004 3:44 pm

Im still scanning those missing pages for you. and will upload as soon as i can dude

Hoosierdaddy · Post by **Hoosierdaddy** » Fri May 21, 2004 9:51 am

dino wrote:Im still scanning those missing pages for you. and will upload as soon as i can dude

That's cool man. All I need are the scanned pages. I can repair the archives myself as long as I have the pages. Just makes sure you scan at the same resolution that the original scan is at, otherwise there may be compatibility issues. Also, be sure to up them to the 'Uploads' directory.

And thanks in advance for any and all help.