Multiversity's history column returns a hodgepodge of comic history projects related to December. Please consider the gifts I gave you, these dead men, terrible credits, printing developments and a review of the last shipment of books.

On December 4, 1925, in the single gag cartoon "Out Our Way", an unknown and inevitable topic first appeared when depicting a corpse.​​ Considering how long newspaper comics have been around, you have to wonder why it took so long. Is it the discretion of the creator? Syndicate review? Afraid of rebounding? Does it taste good? No matter what it is, it is unfounded, because as far as I know, no one complains about the illustrated body. Of course there is no difference.

"The Chamber of Secrets" is an anthology. At the beginning and end of each story, a host similar to the Crypt Guardian appears. In the 83rd issue, editor Gerry Conway asked the host to introduce a "Wandering Werewolf Tells [...]" story. This caught the attention of its CCA commentators, because the mere mention of werewolves violated the comic book code, even if the story has nothing to do with werewolves. At that time, if the deadline for sending the book to the printer has not passed, it will be approaching, so DC has solved the problem in the fastest way.

You see, Conway didn't think of that line out of thin air. He was inspired by the author's name-Marv Wolfman. Therefore, the easiest way to get past the examiner is to praise the author for his credit, which makes the pun obvious to everyone. It worked—the book bears the CCA seal—but everyone at DC knows it. Within two months, every story in the anthology was attributed to the writer and pencil maker. The popularization of product separation is one step closer.

Offset printing is more expensive at the beginning, and production in Canada will increase other costs. However, it is undeniable that its quality is also higher. Not only can it reliably reproduce thinner lines, but it can also extend the artwork to the edge of the page ("full bleed"). This freed the artists from the limitation of leaving a gutter between the two panels, thus opening up a more interesting layout for the page. The problem is that the potential quality of offset printing exceeds the limits of traditional newsprint for printing comics. This means that better paper inventory is needed, which means that another cost is added.

In order to compensate for the additional expenses, Marvel and DC had to charge more for each period. In order to limit the impact and give themselves more time to experiment with the best production mix, both companies restrict offset printing to special projects. Marvel's first attempt was "Marvel Fanfare" published in Glossy Magazine in March 1982. DC released the "Camelot 3000" in December 1982 and tried out Baxter paper stocks.

"Camelot 3000" is the first in many ways. This is the first "big series", when the "mini series" feels too small, a term created for the 12-issue story. This is the first book DC designed for mature readers, paving the way for "The Dark Knight Returns" and "Watchmen". This is not the first book to use Baxter paper (defeated by "Star*Reach" in 1979 and "Star Wars" in 1980), but it is the first book to combine heavy paper with offset printing. The result is great.

DC was so satisfied with the results that in 1984, they began to provide deluxe versions of "Superhero Legion", "New Teen Titans" and "Outsiders" in this format. The deluxe version is exclusively for the direct sales market, and the newsstand will receive the traditional layout one year later. Higher costs and limited distribution allow creators to take on an older audience and work accordingly (but still comply with CCA guidelines).

Regional distributor Pacific Comics marked these products as "Baxter Books" in their catalog so that retailers know what they got. No one else named them, so "Baxter Books" got stuck. In the next few years, DC will use paper inventory as a selling point in its promotional materials to emphasize the quality of the title.

DC's first flexo book is "Spanner's Galaxy" #1, and the cover date is December 1984. The quality was significantly lower than that of letterpress printing, and Marvel postponed the conversion until the end of 1985, when their other option was to shut down. The flexographic printing method produces fancy colors and low-density blacks, and it took the two companies a year and a half to find the best combination of paper and color saturation. They bounce back and forth between newsprint and Mando paper, because both have weaknesses, and the one they don’t use seems to always work better.

As offset printing became cheaper, more books turned to offset printing. Flexo printing was eliminated around 1992.

Portacio has become the object of many jokes, and "WetWorks" is just a simple joke. When readers learned that Potacio was not lazy or irresponsible, and his sister was dying, those people did. Not only that, she also helped to run his studio, making him distraught at work.

In addition, the true influence of "WetWorks" is not Portacio's fault, nor is it limited to him. The overall image is notorious for being late. The biggest problem is that the direct market is based on advance payments. All copies of "WetWorks" that the retailer does not sell? They still have to pay for them. When the bestseller arrives a month late, the manageable inconvenience becomes a major financial problem, because the bestseller never arrives. With no easy way to recover the investment, the retailer found that he lacked cash to order replacement inventory for next month.

Image's problems affected the industry and weakened its foundations before the 1993 Great Depression. Some amendments were made relatively quickly, for example, the capital imposed fines on overdue account books in 1994. It was not until February 2003 that Diamond finally reported the number of books ordered and the number of books shipped. This change means that late books will never appear on the sales list unless they are actually sold.

And "WetWorks?" The first issue was finally released in June 1994.

Drew Bradley is a long-time comic reader. His past contributions to Multiversity include Minding MIND MGMT, Small Press Spotlight and Tradewaiter columns, as well as Lettering Week and Variant Coverage. He currently writes articles based on history. Feel free to email him about these things, or any other comic-related topics.

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