The History of Comic Book Sharing, 1977: Early experiments with jpegs

The year is 1977! And NASA launches the last of America's deep space probes the new electronic age dawns with the introduction of the first color computer, the Apple II, and the foundation of ARCnet begins the rapid development of the modern Internet! This is also the year that (between lining up for Star Wars), comic book fans begin using this startling new technology and experimenting with progressive and modern techniques to transfer and share comic books via the new medium of...computers!

Unfortunately, early experiments with the jpeg format could only produce a resolution of 4 pixels per inch, rendering comic books two-dimensional and unintelligible, as shown below—at this low image quality, even true fans can't discern the difference between Dr. Strange and Incredible Hulk comic books!:


Panel from Incredible Hulk Annual #6 (November 1977), plot by Len Wein, plot and script by David Anthony Kraft, pencils by Herb Trimpe, inks by Frank Giacoia and Mike Esposito, colors by Janice Cohen, letters by Gaspar Saladino

So once again, Scans_Daily is thwarted...and the safety of comic book copyright is preserved safely from rabid fans intent on sharing files illegally. But for how long... for...how...long?

Next time, on The History of Comic Book Sharing...Enter the Mimeograph!