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To Arms! By Brian Koscienski and Chris
Pisano The day of Friday, July 2nd 2004 was a surprisingly pleasant day. Warm enough to remind us that it was summer, but cool enough to make us mistake it for spring. Nary a cloud in the sky, the sun had free reign to exercise its will upon all who beheld it, especially two adventurers in south central Pennsylvania. That was the day Chris and I played hooky from our respective jobs to visit local print shops. Our original plan was to visit the area print shops on Monday the 5th, seeing how both our places of employment were closed for the Independence Day holiday. It's quite embarrassing, the amount of time that passed between formulating our original plan and realizing that if both of our employers were closed, then logic would dictate that the area print shops would be closed as well. However, we quickly recovered by coming up with a reasonably good idea. Using my vast knowledge of Excel, we created an easy to use pricing grid, so the shops could quickly drop in what they'd charge for different quantities and different page counts for both full color comics as well as black and white. Little did we know what amounts they'd be dropping into those grids! The day started with breakfast at the local diner. Chris had a coffee and a bagel. I, Sasquatch, ate two eggs, bacon, ham, hash browns, three chickens, a sheep, and a frightened villager attempting to flee. Never underestimate the importance of a good breakfast. While in the diner, we (very uncharacteristically) prepared for our day by charting out our stops and in what order to hit them. That included a printed map of Harrisburg and surrounding suburbs with annotated and footnoted visual approximations of where the various print shops were located. Our waitress took one glance at our notes and was speechless. Chris told her that I was the guy from A Beautiful Mind. We can only assume that she requested to her manager that someone else wait on our table, because that was the last we saw of her during our time there. Oh well. Onward and upward. I was excited. I felt adventurous and entrepreneurial. It may have been the sugar, but I felt like fighting crime, rescuing a damsel in distress, and saying, "I'm Batman!" Chris showed his enthusiasm a different way. After arriving at every destination he would scream, "Dude, stop standing on my car yelling like a lunatic! And take that mask off-- no one believes you're Batman!" The journey itself went smoothly. I could say that my parents were right about reaping the rewards of good organization and executing a well-thought plan, but I'll instead say it was a fluke that things went so well. The first place we visited was a smaller shop known more for business cards and wedding invitations, but they were close by and we were itching to start. They warned us that they were probably not going to be competitive, but they took one of our pricing grids and talked to us anyway. And we learned a couple things-- it takes them awhile to compile a price, so we weren't going to get any figures that day, and the printing term "bleed" means artwork that goes to and beyond the borders. As can be expected with any comparison-shopping, there were some snafus along the way, specifically the people we were dealing with. One guy actually laughed at us. Now, we're very aware that when the representatives from most places were smiling at us it was to stifle a laugh. And we're pretty sure the guy who laughed was "visiting the Astral Plane with Dr. Strange" in the back room before we came in. We also had another place tell us that their services were meant for "more business-related customers." There was also the hole-in-the-wall that was located in an all-but-abandoned lot in the seedier side of the neighborhood that we dared not enter. We simply (and probably wisely) drove on by, crossed it off our annotated and footnoted list and sought out our next target. There was one place that has dug itself into my brain like a mental tic, though. The address took us onto the typical specialty shop and café-laden market street of the typical picturesque small-town America. However, the print shop was difficult to find, for it was hidden behind the market street buildings, accessible only by alleyway and parking lot. Being curious monkeys, we ventured into the crooked building that could have served as a Prohibition distillery, despite the summer afternoon breeze carrying with it the "Dueling Banjos" tune. Holding true to the ramshackle environment, we were greeted with, "Who's there? What do you want?" by a scowling man, seemingly ready to grab his shotgun and start shooting if he suspected us to be IRS agents after his moonshine. Yet, we talked to him anyway, because we heard this shop offered some of the best prices. The conversation was uneasy and pensive, the underlying tension like walking through a field of set mousetraps. He must have spent too much time inhaling ink fumes or exotic paper particles, because he'd space out mid-thought and change the conversation more often than an obsessive-compulsive with the flu changes handkerchiefs. We were both happy to leave, neither of us having to squeal like a pig. For the most part, the people we talked to were wonderful and very helpful, quick to answer all of our questions and share any knowledge. We got an education-- and one that could have only been acquired through the experience. One particular shop excelled at that. Every person there not only treated us well, but was also excited about what we were trying to do, asking us more questions than we asked them. Except for one conspiracy diatribe about "the paper company bastards" all meeting in secret locations every year to collectively raise the price of paper, we felt very comfortable with them. They also got bonus points for every member of the staff having their own micrometer-- even the receptionist! After visiting 17 different print shops in one day, we rewarded ourselves with an all-you-can-eat stromboli and pizza buffet. As a side note-- a beer never tastes any better than at 2:00 in the afternoon when you have the day off and the rest of the world is at work! Alas, our adventure concluded with a late afternoon showing of Spider-Man 2. Yes, we also searched online for national companies who print comic books more often than the local ones we visited. We won't bore you with all the places we found and contacted. I'm sure you'd find the same places we did by simply typing in "comic book printing" in any search engine. However, we will tell you that if you're planning on doing a black and white comic, then the Small Press Co-op might be the place for you. They had the best prices for what we were looking to do and (judging from the sample they sent to us) they do quality work. All in all, if anyone reading this is thinking about self-publishing, then we suggest you do as much research as possible about printing since it is the most important part of the publishing process. Even though we're probably going to use the Small Press Co-op, the experience of taking a day off work to visit local printers was an invaluable piece in the education puzzle. Hell, even if you're not planning on self-publishing, we suggest you visit some local print shops anyway-- you might find some good moonshine…. Next Issue: "Reconnaissance"
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