I have a few quick questions about comic books. What ype of paper and printer ink is used for them? Can I get the paper and printer ink somewhere?
Also what is that program call, from the makers of photoshop, where you scan black and white pictures and you can add comic book type coloring to them and other comic book like effects??

Yes, I could do some research to find out, but I also want to discuss some other things once I get the answers.

I found this link about publishing that has lots of info. http://members.shaw.ca/creatingcomics/publishing.html
I work at a newspaper, but am unsure what kind of ink is used for printing, though it should be similar to comics or at least a similar process. We have several semi-glossy publications that we produce that are similar in feel to most comics nowadays. I will try to find out the specifics as far as paper types go.
I could be mistaken, but I think most comic coloring is done in Photoshop. I have a program called Manga Studio that does everything you asked about (word baloons, etc.) but I don't think it is from Adobe, or even if you can use it to color. It has grey tones and comic effects to produce a full Manga from start to finish, but to be honest I tend to use photoshop more than anything. Adobe also has Illustrator but that is another beast entirely to learn. Programs like Quark and Coreldraw are pretty easy to learn and could be used to edit type and balloons unless you wanted an all inclusive program to do it all.

Any info you can find will be helpful. I don't wish to have a comic go through the normal printing process (through a printing company) because I only want to make 5-10 copies of it at most. Thats why I'm hopeing I can find the paper and ink and print it myself.
I'm pretty sure that program was from Adobe. My friends brother in law has it, I'll have to try to contact him and get the name and maybe a copy of it. With the program, after you scan a pencil drawing, one of the effects is to turn the lines black and different thickness' to look like comic book lines and then added color (like I said earlier). It was a very cool and very helpful feature.

According to the Paper Publisher in town here the specific type of paper that Comics are made with are almost completley bought by the existing Comic Publishers... and printed in Quebec of all places.


I was also looking to print a comic a while ago, and to keep it cheap if you use a publisher you'll need to make 100s of copies rather than limited runs.