What's A COVER PROOF ??

These are the very first printed covers that roll off the presses at the printing plant. The print run is stopped, and the cover proofs are rushed back to the comic book company (in my case DC Comics) so the editor can approve them and make sure there are no boo-boos.

These Cover Proofs have untrimmed edges (they are printed in one long continuous strip, edge to edge). The back cover is usually left on too but after the editor gets it he may trim it off to save file space. 

Then the editor okays the cover and the book is printed. The cover proofs are saved as reference (editors usually don't like to repeat the same cover colors two months in a row!).

Editors usually changed the title & background colors every month to avoid confusion at the newsstand (the dummy principle--if it looks too much like last month's issue, the newsdealer-in haste-may think they are extra issues from last month and not put it on the shelf!)

So that's what a COVER PROOF is. Proofs have lots of other applications too--such as the original first copies of a run of prints done by a print artist (like a woodblock or a lithograph). Even in the book publishing field, the first runs of a printed book were sent back to the editor to check for last-minute typos.

Come back here again as I revise this Guide and add some additional pictures.

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Adrienne Roy I was a color artist at DC Comics from 1977 to 1995.

click here for Comic Book Color Proofs at Dragon Ladys Den and at auction!