Archie’s Pals’n’Gals #160 1982 Comic Book Printing Plate

Presented here is a super RARE Archie’s Pals n Gals  issue #160 1982 Original Cover Art Comic Book Printing Plate along with the comic book .  i was given this plate back in 1991 by the family. here is the story below:

These are the original Marvel and DC comic book cover art printing plates that were used in Sparta, Illinois by World Color Press to make the actual Superman, Spiderman, Batman, Star Wars, Iron Man, Daredevil, Fantastic Four, Ghost Rider, Teen Titans, Hulk, GI Joe, Captain America, Thor, Conan, Richie Rich, Walt Disney and many other comic book covers. World Color Press printed all the Marvel and DC comic books in Sparta from the 1950’s into the early 1990’s when they closed the Sparta plant. These cover plates were kept in their own special room at the plant. The reason you never see a Marvel or DC cover printing plate is because my family purchased all the Marvel and DC cover plates (among others) for almost 50 years and destroyed them. My grandfather started purchasing the plates followed by my father and then my uncle bought them, until the plant closed. The plates were placed in the scrapyard and melted at the refinery for their metal. It is sad to think about all the comic history my family personally destroyed. The type of common printing plates you see offered are the interior page plates that were not protected like the cover plates. There are many more interior page plates than cover plates. Interior page plates do not display nearly as nice as the cover plates because the artwork on the interior page plates is so tiny you can’t appreciate it. The other printing plates you see often are from newspapers that printed comic sections. There were thousands of newspapers that printed with plates and those plates are vey common. When I was a teenager, I would go to my family’s scrapyard from time to time. I saw the plates in piles around the yard and I pulled a few random plates out to take home. I randomly did this for almost a decade. I have had these plates for almost 40 years. You may see original art out there, but you never see cover plates. Many original art collectors and comic book collectors have been buying these plates to add to their collection.  The cover plates look great how they are and when framed with the cover it printed, I think they look even better. There are only a few plates of any title available because when I pulled them I had no reason other than they were neat, so I saved just a random selection of plates. The printing process has changed since the 1980’s when I saved these plates. Printing plates like these will never be used again.