People Near Here; 106; Comic Book Heroes

Yeah yeah. With the

and with the. I hope so but your in Montreal one of the largest printing plants in Canada. It is here on these presses that virtually every DC comic book distributed worldwide is published. If you pick up a Superman Batman Wonder Woman Cat Woman Flash or Green Lantern anywhere in the

world it was printed right here. So we thought it a fitting place to begin this edition of people near here introducing you to some of the people who create publish and collect. Comic book heroes Pierre Rio called back or has been here for 40 years and he invited Paul and me to Montreal. They get this firsthand look at how a comic book is printed along with a good action story a good comic book starts with quality paper here at the beginning of the printing process. The paper is that often rolls at an incredible rate. And watch this. When one role runs out a new one is automatically spliced onto the end of the old one in a blink of an eye. Now watch carefully and you'll actually see it happen right now. These are the actual presses one for each color of ink used in the comic book. The run is just beginning. So these people are rushing to get the saturation of the colors just

right. They do this by pushing the buttons on this Wurlitzer like console adding and subtracting the density of inks until the pages are exactly as the publisher wants them. Things are really flying now at top speed the presses that code the car can turn out. Two and a half million comics a week once the ink impressions are made on the page they zip through the dryer which at 350 degrees sets the ink so quickly that it leaves a dazzling high gloss finish on the pictures here. The continuous sheet of comics some two miles long at this point are split into pages and then folded pressman constantly check for color quality and registration and if everything checks out the pages are then sent to the bindery where they are stable together along with their covers. And finally at breakneck speed each comic book is folded flat. While any excess paper is trained from the edges of the book all that's left now

is distribution and purchased by one of the millions of avid readers all over the. But long before it ends up on the presses there is a lot more that goes into the making of a comic book. For example the fella lives in this house on the shores of Lake Champlain in Essex New York just south of Plattsburgh New York is a guy that's been drawing comic books for much of his life. His name is Said Kouachi and he's the guy who drew that poor little rich boy we all felt sorry for a fella named Richie Rich. Since home he's invited us in so come on. And this is your studio that we're in this is this and this is the studio here for how many years did you drive Richie Rich. Well I was rich a little lot and altogether you know maybe 12 years or more. Now tell me the story about Richie Rich now. You drew Richie Rich.

That's right. This is these are becoming some most all the characters who arrive at an editorial conference what they would look like and their writers and publisher and then. But soon very early on in the game I started drawing the lot and all there that's a little of that. I'm sorry little. That's all the characters are anchored with some purpose. Being that she loves poker that's the house with a lot of really good eater and straw and richie rich the poor little rich boy. And you said here the world's richest for resources for and you would sit here and draw. That's right. How would you how would you get the stories to draw.

Well if somebody's got a skeleton script and visualize it from they would send me a batch in the mail. That's right. These characters it's animation in a broader sense not the technical sense in the broadest sense of the animation just to give life to these are the characters that you know fall off a 90 story building and brush themselves off and whine about their business and. I notice that you're doing this with an indelible pen. No racing here and you you know you didn't sketch him first. That's right. You know after so many years. But I assure you that in the early going. I'd use pencil now. This is just the you get familiar with the characters. And this is something that I always tell kids are interested in cartooning

and not to worry about getting into the funny business. Right at the beginning of their drawing experience to try and soak up any kind of art they can the reason being that the characters only one part of it. And Nora to make something funny. You know what you have to know what is underlying and what's real. Before you distort and exaggerate and exaggeration an animation has to do with with the expressions too here's the here's the guy that's analogous with the one standing there with with no interest he hears an expression of no interest isn't glad mad sad or anything. But the minute that the eyebrows begin to fall down through the mouth begins you get the idea that you know that too. But of course you carried

him to his room little whites of the eyes in the mountains pulled down the TV show and the perspiration of animation if you had a mad expression it would be that. Where did you learn to do all this. Well you get a certain you probably get 50 percent of what you need an art school in terms of technique and stuff. But yes just experience and I had a an editor that Harvey's that was absolutely Harvey's comics. Yeah he was he had been there was a hundred years. He was he was good you were a freelancer Lance always. You didn't work for anybody in A then employee employer term just a handshake. You were you know you did every richie rich comic book and a handshake. That's right. And on top of that when it went down the drain once in the comic. Yeah. If you will that fact why this changed hands several times but it didn't stop all of you for a while and a lot and moved

virtually over that altogether. But Richie Rich came back under new management in about 10 years ago I went to the drugstore and picked up Richie Rich and in the management cover said. All new art and stories inside and I looked and then the stuff I had done 20 years ago and a couple of had my own name had cow cheese hardware or something. In those days artists rarely got their names printed in the credits of the comic books they worked on. So Syd like to personalize his stories by including local landmarks and friends. Once he drew in his wife Ruth and himself as part of a plot for a little lot a story. No stones along the shore but here's something pumpkin this pumpkin must weigh more than a silver dollar here goes. Meanwhile across the river and this is a picture and I had hair then and Ruth had black hair that were sitting on a park bench. She says Do you really love me. I don't believe you do. May the sky fall down on my

head if I don't move. Robert G. But apparently Yeah. Isn't that about that time. This if I may. Here's here's my sweetheart. This is your wife here she starts she's off working today right. Yes right. And this is just to prove that she had cold air and exactly as you do. And that's where she is who she is in the comic. Right. Yeah. And here she is in real life. Sid is retired from drawing Richie Rich but he has not retired from drawing altogether. Today he enjoys pursuing even more fanciful themes which he creates for the pure pleasure of doing so. Sid and Ruth's home is filled with the fruits of his vivid imagination. But Syd's no stay at home. He and Ruth like to travel to comic book conventions where he and his work are still very much in demand along the way.

Sid is managed to collect quite an impressive collection of the works of other famous cartoonist from both the Old and the new schools. But if he had his way Sid would keep today's comics simple and clean with stories everyone could enjoy. Just like the old days I do too Richard a lot of that for a long time they're all cute claim good and fun and and I've been talking with cartoons and lately and I think they're on their way out. Not just Richie Rich and they and that type but the whole genre of the cartoons and the whimsical and so forth that's just a no timer talking. So anyway I got out of my system with this painting. Yeah. This

is the interest sanctum of Ray McCarthy's house he was just outside Plattsburg New York. He is an anchor for DC Comics which is an anchor do let's ask re Iraq. Thanks for having us over you. You're working on a deadline. Oh yeah what are you working on. This is actually a shot of the back for DC Comics for a now you're saying like half of pencils and half an inking stage right here. So somebody else draws the E's and then these are sent to you how do you get them to actually get in by FedEx with the pensar draws them. They go out to the letter the letter the letter being they might put some balloons down also fills in the scripts and then it comes to me and my job is pretty much the clarifying that I put in the blacks make sure that the print. Black and white. Yeah that's basically it. And then it goes out to the colorist. Right now they're in the process of computerizing the industry so whereas it used to be done on 8 1/2 by

11 piece of paper nowadays it's done a computer and then they send like the hard disk off to the printer. Can we watch you do what you do there. Oh you must have a have a real steady hand at this. Yeah no coffee in the morning for Raymond. Actually a lot of coffee really because deadlines can get pretty bad sometimes and you need that little pick me up in the morning. Definitely. How many hours a day do you do this. It depends like when you were first beginning a book. You can actually do it like a 9:00 to 5:00 job. Now as it gets further into the deadline you're called on to do more and more work sometimes sometimes in a crunch and ill in a point like a 16 hour day. You think an entire year. Comic book by yourself. Yes Stephanie I I actually have my girlfriend help me thought blacks which is pretty easy. He's big. Yeah exactly like I can show you a little some pages you know. Yeah this is a stage right here where the blacks are just been filled in. I basically have her go and she fills in the heavy duty black areas mostly in

geometric shapes and I try to have her stay away from the detail stuff and then like I go through my next step is actually brush which handles the bigger stuff like what I'm doing now. Your handle is more bold outlines. You're going in you're trying to hit as much as you can with the brush because it's faster. You know then you leave the small details to the pen and then use it takes a little bit time like this is mostly pen work right here where you see all these small details and everything in the church. Yeah I think I'm going to do it it will be beautiful when it's done. Do you say whoops. So what do you make. Riley Yeah yeah what do you do. That's what this baby's is for all of this is white out. That's basically a tool for you. You know I have my own way that precious rare in this go through you make mistake. Hit it with white out and you know that's premature. They just gotta be careful when you are race because you know a lot of times like sometimes pencils will smudge especially on this kind of paper.

Now you do the bullying or you get someone else to help you. Yeah and then you come in with impaired into the finer stuff and then you race the pencil. Yes that's correct. So I can hear it all the pencil once the ink dries and you can go over this with is this what you use Yeah it looks like something really it's actually almost Yeah this is what's called a magic rubber racer and it's to me it's a little better than some of the races you want to get on the market just because a tensile like I live down a bit more picks up just the grass so that you don't work the penciler did the fellow who drew this the man or woman who drew this originally actually vanishes. That's yeah that's a you know that's why it has sneaker you sort of have to stay true to the pouncer because in the end in the long run they're still seeing the pouncer there. And you're as an inker you're just there to enhance clarify and make it fit to print. This is an example of

like I mean this is radical. Normally an inker would have to do this but I was told by the editor to go through as you can see this grill and it's like coming in from Tino who actually is a really good pouncer he's from the old style in the sinkers must be like a superintelligent type of a thinker or the editor told me to go through make him look more like a gorilla you make him look a little bit more meaner and also why did was I went through and I clarified all technology. And this is the end product. Look if you go back in let me see. That's before yeah. This is when you did I was out there I mean and normally that's I mean you don't really go through and do stuff like that. That's just a sample you put in all I mean you meet I'm a gorilla and then you know all the buttons I mean everything. Yeah. You know you're beautiful. You really need to know how to draw. That's pretty neat. Well

I know you have a rule against a really big deadline and I really question when it's over. Thank you very much. Yeah it's all nice. We're leaving sad and Ray behind in New York State crossing Lake Champlain now heading for Burlington Vermont. There we're going to catch up with Christina Farrow. Christine has one of the largest comic book collections of anybody in these parts.

Now when I was a kid the only place to buy comics was at the local drugstore or NEWSSTAND. But today like at Earth Prime comics in Burlington there are entire stores dedicated to selling nothing but comics. And according to owner Christine Farrell business is good. But as impressive as this election is it's what's behind locked doors that makes Christine Fair all the envy of any comic book officiant. Oh my gosh. This is my childhood or at least a significant portion of it. I think it's everybody's childhood. Oh my gosh look what's in here. This looks like a religion or Christian. Yeah it is. Well the color one is not it's a reproduction by the original artist. But this is right off the cover of the Superman original Superman. There's the look at there. I was there earlier so I come out on the water boy.

Show some of your comic books we can look at this here. Can I pick these up. Yeah sure. Classic illustrated with a few book reports out of those a lot of people do. But show me you me and give us the tour here. Oh yes. While he looks rather ancient parts of the car here are Chanderpaul. While this isn't a pre-buy detective Batman started in number 27. So this comic was before Batman. Yeah. A hold is this only 30 1939 before. Look at this and this is number one on it. Yeah although they found out they didn't like the title for some reason and they changed it for the second show just to confuse collectors I think. I've never

seen All-Star comics is this old yeah 1939 1940 summer of 1940 was that forgotten so that's wonderful. So in the summer of 1940 for 10 cents when I got some of the other round I got into collecting miscellaneous. So I'm doing a little bit of everything the more comics the humors Star Wars Star romantic news stories for you. Are these hard to find. Would something like this. The love stories are the stories ratably hard to find their way requires a lot of patience and willingness to take any condition if you want to have that and then just turn to the other end of the spectrum for the full hour. This is the completist in me that branched out from the superhero as it was getting hard to find the superheroes that I still needed sour. How do you even know there was a comic book called flippity and flop.

Have somebody actually doing it. Yeah this was a little before my time and I decided I wanted to have a complete set of everything. And on the back this is the things I love to stare at as a kid the Daisy air rifle ads I want to move. But when you get a whole box of like 500 little soldiers around back 90 Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah I'm going to marry him in the garden yeah. Harvey and looming happens to harm this is just a real obscure never heard of humor stuff. Yeah neither had I but the point is the collect these things not for what they're worth but for what they're worth here right. Yeah but I want to read them out on my reading is about 10 years behind. I want to so I could look at them hopefully read them reference work but not for resale. Not at all. I do not intend to sell the collection.

That's not what I meant for I notice over here boxes and boxes and boxes that really look like short books. Yeah they are. Can you show us what's in a couple of these. But if this isn't a wonder woman there used to be more and Wonder Woman issue from 121 to 145. Amazing and in order. Yeah and this one I paid a whopping 12 cents for. It was 1963 at the time. I vaguely remember that my mother would insisted my name be on the books if I was going to lend them to friends they had to have my name on them. So she wrote my name on the front cover outside which is interesting because that will that says a lot about your mom. But if you've been clicking since you were a youngster you know why I saved them. I didn't come with my homework.

People started calling it a collection when I turned 18 or 19 and decided I was too old to admit that I read them for myself. My favorites tended to be the females. My favorite books at the time were Lois Lane and the Supergirl strip in action. Within a year or two I was buying all the superhero almost all the superhero stuff they put out. You spend a lot of things and that would mean I did spend my money my parents never refused to buy me comics. I think it was wildly she's writing. What are you going to do when you've collected every comic book that you want to collect. Well then what do you do. Oh I find something different to collect I'm a pack rat. I didn't know it till I turned into a teenager. But pack rats are born not made and apparently I was born a pack rat. How many comic books you think you have. I don't know anymore. I lost count somewhere around 12000. How

long ago was that. Many years and you collect in ernest all the time. Yeah yeah I'm still at it. You can give em some addiction. Boy if I could go back in time and do just one thing I think it would be to keep every single comic book I ever collected. Well that's all the time we have for this edition of people near here on behalf of videographer Paul Frederick. I'm Derek neared saying Thanks for tuning in and we hope that you'll join us again next time when we'll introduce you to some more people near here. Now if you'll excuse me I've got a little research to do. I wonder where Paul got off to Superman. Scuse me. Can you do that again my battery just died. Yeah yeah battery. That's what it was. Yeah

yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah. Some of the world's favorite comic book characters and the people who create the web. Next up on people near you.