Exciting All EPSON Blog Post!

I continue to obsessively play experiment with the new Epson ET-2985 printer/scanner. Thanks to the low cost of ink tanks vs. ink cartridges, I’m not afraid to do some printing for fun.

This is a high-resolution image that I thought would be good for a printer test. (Enlarge everything here, of course.)

Painting by Norman Saunders based on a drawing by Bob Powell

The top print was made on regular copier paper. The bottom is on matte photo paper/card stock. You can see the better quality paper is a superior white.

Photo taken with Google Pixel 8a

This test was very interesting. When I went downstairs to check on the printout that specified matte photo paper, it hadn’t yet printed. The tiny display screen was asking for confirmation that the special paper was installed. Very impressive. After confirming, it started printing.

The most obvious difference between the two prints is the color shift in Robin’s cape and, especially, his vest. The regular paper on the left is a better match for the original image, but I prefer the way it looks on the thicker paper.

Now I will turn my attention to the Epson EF12 mini-cube projector I bought a few years ago for $700. That’s the cost of two replacement lamps for the vastly superior JVC projector I bought in 2013. (It was delivered on “Shelter in Place Friday,” after the Marathon Monday bombings!)

The JVC lamps last up to 2000 hours, while the Epson has a laser that lasts up to 20000 hours. Considering the JVC has 6000 total hours of use on it after thirteen years, I’ll undoubtedly be dead before the Epson’s laser wears out. Technology marches on.

I finally have a copy of the complete 1966 Marvel Super Heroes cartoons that’s worth keeping. I’ve been playing them on the EF12 from a USB stick.

Given the superior quality compared to previous bootleg collections taken from VHS copies, the cartoons must have been ripped from a UK DVD set, which is the only official DVD release the series has ever had.

Animation cel adapted from a drawing by Jack Kirby and Chic Stone

Not every cartoon looks that good, but even the lesser quality prints are good enough for me to no longer wish for an official release from Disney. The cartoons have excellent voice work and music, and I enjoy the very limited animation that’s based on stats from the comic books.

There are, however, some embarrassingly bad scenes with original animation, not taken from the comics. I must agree with Denro, who said, “You may have identified why the series hasn’t been released in hi-definition in the US.”

Drawing by … Roy Lichtenstein? 😉

Gwen Stacy’s “Killer”

Very few comic book Silver Age professionals survive, and even the ranks of the Bronze Age creators are thinning. One of them was Gerry Conway, a writer whose work, frankly, didn’t do much for me.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/01/arts/design/gerry-conway-dead.html?unlocked_article_code=1.fVA.Z4-d.TW7D-FJKKqQ5&smid=url-share

Conway wrote the Spider-Man story where he killed off Gwen Stacy. The earlier death of Gwen’s father, Captain Stacy, worked well, as scripted by Stan.

But for me, writing Gwen out of the series made as much sense as Betty disappearing from Archie comics. The move came across like a gratuitous fanboy idea, intended for shock value. There were other, better, ways the love triangle with Mary Jane could have been resolved.

But I was cool to Conway’s writing pretty much from the outset, before that one notorious Spidey story. I wasn’t big on Len Wein or Marv Wolfman either. For me, their comics were a step down from those written by Stan, Roy, Steranko, Gary Friedrich, Archie Goodwin, and Denny O’Neil, among others. Perhaps it was because I was older and better able to consider things more critically.

Soon after Gwen was killed off Gerry introduced the Punisher, a truly sadistic character. It took a long time for me to appreciate the character, and that was only on TV, not in the comics.

Nothing Up My Sleeve

For my final trick this week, I’ll give network printing a try. I’m on the porch, and I want a direct network connection from my Snapdragon/Windows 11 laptop to the Epson ET-2985 downstairs in the office. Without it being a shared device within the Windows laptop that has a USB connection to the printer.

That seemed to work. Is the printer available within the free imaging software I like to use?

Yes it is! Now I’ll scurry down to the office and see if the picture printed.

It did. Success!

Drawing by Reed Crandall

Shared with you by a Times subscriber

Over at News From Mark Evanier, he’s been talking about the soon to end Late Show With Stephen Colbert.

The New York Times — for those of you who can pass beyond its paywall — has an interview with David Letterman about the end of The Late Show and this essay by critic Jason Zinoman about what it all means to us.

https://www.newsfromme.com/2026/05/06/late-night-blues/

A NYTimes subscription comes with ten paywall-free links to share within each $30 4-week billing cycle.

Here’s the Letterman interview:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/05/arts/television/david-letterman-stephen-colbert-the-late-show-cbs.html?unlocked_article_code=1.g1A.9HWa.Q4Wa9-umbW4Q&smid=url-share

The Zinoman essay:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/05/arts/television/stephen-colbert-the-late-show-carson-letterman-leno.html?unlocked_article_code=1.g1A.SPFI.jUV67jIQBu1P&smid=url-share