My blog is powered by Altervista on the ComicPress theme. I may customize my website for I purchased the second level domain (.com). I'm trying to post bigger images by following the tutorial below->

on how using custom images in a theme

Something went wrong, since I copypasted the code and I get the following:

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '<' in /membri/thekrumbs/wp-content/themes/comicpress/functions.php on line 40

I copypste the code below, just as I edited it on the functions.php file (see the first part)->

<?php

add_action('after_setup_theme', 'comicpress_setup');

add_action( 'after_setup_theme', 'setup' );
function setup() {
    // ...

add_theme_support( 'post-thumbnails' ); // This feature enables post-thumbnail support for a theme
    // To enable only for posts:
    //add_theme_support( 'post-thumbnails', array( 'post' ) );
    // To enable only for posts and custom post types:
    //add_theme_support( 'post-thumbnails', array( 'post', 'movie' ) );
    
    // Register a new image size.
    // This means that WordPress will create a copy of the post image with the specified dimensions
    // when you upload a new image. Register as many as needed.
    // Adding custom image sizes (name, width, height, crop)
    add_image_size( 'featured-image', 620, 200, true );
    

add_image_size( 'header', 600, 200, true ); // header image
add_image_size( 'custom-size1', 400, 200 ); // 400 pixel wide and 200 p
    add_image_size( 'custom-size2', 400, 200, true ); // 400 pixel wide and 200 pixel tall, cropped

    // ...

}


add_filter( 'image_size_names_choose', 'custom_image_sizes_choose' );
function custom_image_sizes_choose( $sizes ) {
    $custom_sizes = array(
        'featured-image' => 'Featured Image'
    );
    return array_merge( $sizes, $custom_sizes );
}


<?php
if ( has_post_thumbnail()):
    the_post_thumbnail( 'featured-image', array( 'class' => 'featured-image' ) );
endif;
?>




add_action('wp_enqueue_scripts', 'comicpress_enqueue_theme_scripts');
add_action('widgets_init', 'comicpress_register_sidebars');
add_filter('excerpt_length', 'comicpress_excerpt_length');
if (comicpress_themeinfo('enable_debug_footer_code'))
    add_action('comicpress-page-foot', 'comicpress_debug_page_foot_code');
add_filter('excerpt_more', 'comicpress_auto_excerpt_more');
if (comicpress_themeinfo('force_active_connection_close')) 
    add_action('shutdown_action_hook','comicpress_close_up_shop');
if (comicpress_themeinfo('menubar_social_icons')) 
    add_action('comicpress-menubar-menunav', 'comicpress_display_social_icons');

if (!is_admin())
    add_action('init', 'comicpress_init');

if (class_exists('MultiPostThumbnails')) {
    new MultiPostThumbnails(
        array(
            'label' => 'Secondary Image',
            'id' => 'secondary-image',
            'post_type' => 'comic'
            ));
    add_image_size('secondary-image');
}

// These autoload
foreach (glob(get_template_directory() . '/functions/*.php') as $funcfile) {
    get_template_part('functions/'.basename($funcfile,'.php'));
}

// Load all the widgets.
foreach (glob(get_template_directory()  . '/widgets/*.php') as $widgefile) {
    get_template_part('widgets/'.basename($widgefile,'.php'));
}

function comicpress_setup() {
    load_theme_textdomain('comicpress', get_template_directory().'/lang');
//  add_editor_style();
    add_theme_support('automatic-feed-links');
    add_theme_support(
        'post-formats', 
        array(
//          'image',
//          'video',
//          'quote',
//          'status',
            'link',
            'aside'
            )
        );
    register_nav_menus(array(
        'Primary' => __( 'Primary', 'comicpress' ),
        'Footer' => __( 'Footer', 'comicpress' )
    ));
    add_theme_support('custom-background');
    add_theme_support('post-thumbnails');
    add_theme_support('title-tag');
    add_theme_support('woocommerce'); // PMH
}

function comicpress_enqueue_theme_scripts() {
    global $is_IE, $wp_styles;
    if ( is_singular() && comments_open() && get_option( 'thread_comments' ) && !comicpress_themeinfo('disable_comment_javascript')) wp_enqueue_script('comment-reply');
    if (!is_admin()) {
        wp_enqueue_script('jquery');
        if (!comicpress_themeinfo('disable_jquery_menu_code')) {
            wp_enqueue_script('ddsmoothmenu_js', get_template_directory_uri().'/js/ddsmoothmenu.js');
            wp_enqueue_script('menubar_js', get_template_directory_uri().'/js/menubar.js');
        }
        if (!comicpress_themeinfo('disable_scroll_to_top')) {
            wp_enqueue_script('comicpress_scroll', get_template_directory_uri().'/js/scroll.js', null, null, true);
        }
        if (comicpress_themeinfo('enable_avatar_trick') && !$is_IE) {
            wp_enqueue_script('themetricks_historic1', get_template_directory_uri().'/js/cvi_text_lib.js', null, null, true);
            wp_enqueue_script('themetricks_historic2', get_template_directory_uri().'/js/instant.js', null, null, true);
        }
    }
}

function comicpress_init() {
    add_action('pre_get_posts', 'comicpress_pre_parser', 1, 1);
}

function comicpress_pre_parser($query) {
    if ( $query->is_home() && $query->is_main_query()) {
//      $query->set('category__in', '8');
        $query->set('posts_per_page', comicpress_themeinfo('home_post_count'));
    }
    if (($query->is_archive() || $query->is_search() || is_post_type_archive())  && !$query->is_feed() && $query->is_main_query()) {
        $archive_display_order = comicpress_themeinfo('archive_display_order');
        if (empty($archive_display_order)) $archive_display_order = 'desc';
        $query->set('order', $archive_display_order);
    }
    if ($query->is_author() && $query->is_main_query()) {
        $query->set('nopaging', true);
    }
}

if (!function_exists('comicpress_register_sidebars')) {
    function comicpress_register_sidebars() {
        $widgets_list = array(
            array('id' => 'left-sidebar', 'name' => __( 'Left Sidebar', 'comicpress' ), 'description' => __( 'The sidebar that appears to the left of the content.', 'comicpress' )),
            array('id' => 'right-sidebar', 'name' => __( 'Right Sidebar', 'comicpress' ), 'description' => __( 'The sidebar that appears to the right of the content.', 'comicpress' )),
            array('id' => 'above-header', 'name' => __( 'Above Header', 'comicpress' ), 'description' => __( 'This sidebar appears to above all of the site information.  This sidebar is not encased in CSS, you will need to create CSS for it.', 'comicpress' )),
            array('id' => 'header', 'name' => __( 'Header', 'comicpress' ), 'description' => __( 'This sidebar appears inside the #header block.', 'comicpress' )),
            array('id' => 'menubar', 'name' => __( 'Menubar', 'comicpress' ), 'description' => __( 'This sidebar is under the header and above the content-wrapper block', 'comicpress' )),
            array('id' => 'over-blog', 'name' => __( 'Over Blog', 'comicpress' ), 'description' => __( 'This sidebar appears over the blog within the #column .narrowcolumn', 'comicpress' )),
            array('id' => 'under-blog', 'name' => __( 'Under Blog', 'comicpress' ), 'description' => __( 'This sidebar appears under the blog within the #column .narrowocolumn', 'comicpress' )),
            array('id' => 'footer', 'name' => __( 'Footer', 'comicpress' ), 'description' => __( 'This sidebar is at the bottom of the page and is the center of the 3 footer sidebars.', 'comicpress' )),
            array('id' => 'footer-left', 'name' => __( 'Footer Left', 'comicpress' ), 'description' => __( 'This sidebar is at the bottom of the page, the left one.', 'comicpress' )),
            array('id' => 'footer-right', 'name' => __( 'Footer Right', 'comicpress' ), 'description' => __( 'This sidebar is at the bottom of the page, the right one.', 'comicpress' )),
        );
        if (class_exists('Jetpack') && Jetpack::init()->is_module_active('minileven')) { 
            $widgets_list[] = array('id' => '1', 'name' => __( 'Jetpack Mobile Sidebar', 'comicpress' ), 'description' => __( 'Jetpack Mobile Sidebar', 'comicpress' ));
        }
        foreach ($widgets_list as $widget_info) {
            register_sidebar(array(
                        'name'=> $widget_info['name'],
                        'id' => 'sidebar-'.sanitize_title($widget_info['id']),
                        'description' => $widget_info['description'],
                        'before_widget' => "<div id=\"".'%1$s'."\" class=\"widget ".'%2$s'."\">\r\n<div class=\"widget-content\">\r\n",
                        'after_widget'  => "</div>\r\n<div class=\"clear\"></div>\r\n</div>\r\n",
                        'before_title'  => "<h2 class=\"widget-title\">",
                        'after_title'   => "</h2>\r\n"
                        ));
        }
    }
}

function comicpress_get_sidebar($location = '') {
    if (empty($location)) return;
    if (file_exists(get_template_directory().'/sidebar-'.$location.'.php') || file_exists(get_stylesheet_directory().'/sidebar-'.$location.'.php')) {
        get_sidebar($location);
    } elseif (is_active_sidebar('sidebar-'.$location)) { ?>
        <div id="sidebar-<?php echo $location; ?>" class="sidebar">
            <?php dynamic_sidebar('sidebar-'.$location); ?>
            <div class="clear"></div>
        </div>
    <?php }
}

function comicpress_is_signup() {
    global $wp_query;
    if (strpos( $_SERVER['SCRIPT_NAME'], 'wp-signup.php' ) || strpos( $_SERVER['SCRIPT_NAME'], 'wp-activate.php' )) return true;
    return false;
}

function comicpress_debug_page_foot_code() { ?>
    <p><?php echo get_num_queries() ?> queries. <?php if (function_exists('memory_get_usage')) { $unit=array('b','kb','mb','gb','tb','pb'); echo @round(memory_get_usage(true)/pow(1024,($i=floor(log(memory_get_usage(true),1024)))),2).' '.$unit[$i]; ?> Memory usage. <?php } timer_stop(1) ?> seconds.</p>
<?php }

function comicpress_excerpt_length($length) {
    return comicpress_themeinfo('excerpt_length');
}

if (!function_exists('comicpress_auto_excerpt_more')) {
    function comicpress_auto_excerpt_more( $more ) {
        return __( '[&hellip;]', 'comicpress' ) . '<a class="more-link" href="'. get_permalink() . '">' . __( '&darr; Read the rest of this entry...', 'comicpress' ) . '</a>';
    }
}

function comicpress_close_up_shop() {
    @mysql_close();
}

if (!function_exists('comicpress_is_layout')) {
    function comicpress_is_layout($choices) {
        $choices = explode(",", $choices);
        if (in_array(get_theme_mod('comicpress-customize-select-layout', '3c'), $choices)) return true;
        return false;
    }
}

function comicpress_is_bbpress() {
    if (function_exists('bbp_is_single_forum') &&
            (bbp_is_forum()
                || bbp_is_forum_archive()
                || bbp_is_topic_archive()
                || bbp_is_single_forum() 
                || bbp_is_single_topic()
                || bbp_is_topic()
                || bbp_is_topic_edit()
                || bbp_is_topic_merge()
                || bbp_is_topic_split()
                || bbp_is_single_reply()
                || bbp_is_reply_edit()
                || bbp_is_reply_edit()
                || bbp_is_single_view()
                || bbp_is_single_user_edit()
                || bbp_is_single_user()
                || bbp_is_user_home()
                || bbp_is_subscriptions()
                || bbp_is_favorites()
                || bbp_is_topics_created()))
        return true;
    return false;
}

function comicpress_sidebars_disabled() {
    global $wp_query, $post;
    if (!empty($post) && (is_single() || is_page()) && !is_404()) {
        $sidebars_disabled = get_post_meta($post->ID, 'disable-sidebars', true);
        if ($sidebars_disabled) return true;
    }
//      if (comicpress_is_bbpress()) return true;
    return false;
}

global $content_width;
if (!isset($content_width)) {
    $content_width = comicpress_themeinfo('content_width');
    if (!$content_width) $content_width = 500;
}

if (!function_exists('comicpress_display_social_icons')) {
    function comicpress_display_social_icons() {
        $twitter = comicpress_themeinfo('menubar_social_twitter');
        $facebook = comicpress_themeinfo('menubar_social_facebook');
        $googleplus = comicpress_themeinfo('menubar_social_googleplus');
        $linkedin = comicpress_themeinfo('menubar_social_linkedin');
        $pinterest = comicpress_themeinfo('menubar_social_pinterest');
        $youtube = comicpress_themeinfo('menubar_social_youtube');
        $flickr = comicpress_themeinfo('menubar_social_flickr');
        $tumblr = comicpress_themeinfo('menubar_social_tumblr');
        $deviantart = comicpress_themeinfo('menubar_social_deviantart');
        $myspace = comicpress_themeinfo('menubar_social_myspace');
        $email = comicpress_themeinfo('menubar_social_email');
        $output = '<div class="menunav-social-wrapper">';
        if (!empty($deviantart)) $output .= '<a href="'.$deviantart.'" target="_blank" title="'.__( 'my DeviantART', 'comicpress' ).'" class="menunav-social menunav-deviantart">'.__( 'DeviantART', 'comicpress' ).'</a>'."\r\n";
        if (!empty($tumblr)) $output .= '<a href="'.$tumblr.'" target="_blank" title="'.__( 'Examine my Tumblr', 'comicpress' ).'" class="menunav-social menunav-tumblr">'.__( 'Tumblr', 'comicpress' ).'</a>'."\r\n";
        if (!empty($facebook)) $output .= '<a href="'.$facebook.'" target="_blank" title="'.__( 'Friend on Facebook', 'comicpress' ).'" class="menunav-social menunav-facebook">'.__( 'Facebook', 'comicpress' ).'</a>'."\r\n";
        if (!empty($myspace)) $output .= '<a href="'.$myspace.'" target="_blank" title="'.__( 'Make use of MySpace', 'comicpress' ).'" class="menunav-social menunav-myspace">'.__( 'MySpace', 'comicpress' ).'</a>'."\r\n";
        if (!empty($linkedin)) $output .= '<a href="'.$linkedin.'" target="_blank" title="'.__( 'Look at my LinkedIn', 'comicpress' ).'" class="menunav-social menunav-linkedin">'.__( 'LinkedIn', 'comicpress' ).'</a>'."\r\n";
        if (!empty($twitter)) $output .= '<a href="'.$twitter.'" target="_blank" title="'.__( 'Follow me on Twitter', 'comicpress' ).'" class="menunav-social menunav-twitter">'.__( 'Twitter', 'comicpress' ).'</a>'."\r\n";
        if (!empty($flickr)) $output .= '<a href="'.$flickr.'" target="_blank" title="'.__( 'Gaze at my Flickr', 'comicpress' ).'" class="menunav-social menunav-flickr">'.__( 'Flickr', 'comicpress' ).'</a>'."\r\n";      
        if (!empty($email)) $output .= '<a href="'.$email.'" target="_blank" title="'.__( 'Email me', 'comicpress' ).'" class="menunav-social menunav-email">'.__( 'Email', 'comicpress' ).'</a>'."\r\n";
        if (!empty($googleplus)) $output .= '<a href="'.$googleplus.'" target="_blank" title="'.__( 'Circle me on Google+', 'comicpress' ).'" class="menunav-social menunav-googleplus">'.__( 'Google+', 'comicpress' ).'</a>'."\r\n";
        if (!empty($pinterest)) $output .= '<a href="'.$pinterest.'" target="_blank" title="'.__( 'Peruse my Pinterests', 'comicpress' ).'" class="menunav-social menunav-pinterest">'.__( 'pinterest', 'comicpress' ).'</a>'."\r\n";
        if (!empty($youtube)) $output .= '<a href="'.$youtube.'" target="_blank" title="'.__( 'My Channel on YouTube', 'comicpress' ).'" class="menunav-social menunav-youtube">'.__( 'YouTube', 'comicpress' ).'</a>'."\r\n";
        if (comicpress_themeinfo('enable_rss_in_menubar')) $output .= '<a href="'.get_bloginfo('rss2_url').'" target="_blank" title="'.__( 'RSS Feed', 'comicpress' ).'" class="menunav-social menunav-rss2">'.__( 'RSS', 'comicpress' ).'</a>'."\r\n";
        $output .= '<div class="clear"></div>';
        $output .= '</div>'."\r\n";
        echo $output;
    }
}

/**
 * This is function ceo_clean_filename
 *
 * @param string $filename the BASE filename
 * @return string returns the rawurlencoded filename with the %2F put back to /
 */
function comicpress_clean_filename($filename) {
    return str_replace("%2F", "/", rawurlencode($filename));
}

function comicpress_infinite_scroll_loop() {
    while (have_posts()) : the_post();
        comicpress_display_post();
    endwhile;
}

/**
 * function load default settings
 */
function comicpress_load_options() {

    $comicpress_options = get_option('cp-options');
    if (empty($comicpress_options)) {
        
        foreach (array(
                // General
                'home_post_count' => '5',
                'disable_blog_on_homepage' => false,
                'add_pw_async_code_to_head' => false,
                'over-blog-sidebar-all-posts' => false,
                // WordPress Content Width that sets video and image size within posts
                'content_width' => 500,
                'content_width_disabled_sidebars' => 700,
                // Pages
                'disable_page_titles' => false,
                // Posts
                'disable_post_titles' => false,
                'enable_post_calendar' => false,
                'enable_post_author_gravatar' => false,
                'enable_avatar_trick' => true,
                'disable_tags_in_posts' => false,
                'disable_categories_in_posts' => false,
                'disable_author_info_in_posts' => false,
                'disable_date_info_in_posts' => false,
                'disable_posted_at_time_in_posts' => false,
                'enable_last_modified_in_posts' => false,
                'moods_directory' => 'none',
                // Comments
                'disable_comment_note' => true,
                'disable_comment_javascript' => false,
                'enable_comments_on_homepage' => false,
                'avatar_directory' => 'none',
                // Pagination
                'enable_numbered_pagination' => true,
                // Footer
                'disable_footer_text' => false,
                'disable_scroll_to_top' => false,
                'copyright_name' => '',
                'copyright_url' => '',
                // RSS
                'enable_post_thumbnail_rss' => true,
                // Archive & Search
                'display_archive_as_links' => false,
                'excerpt_or_content_in_archive' => 'excerpt',
                'archive_display_order' => 'DESC',
                // Menubar
                'disable_default_menubar' => false,
                'enable_search_in_menubar' => false,
                'enable_rss_in_menubar' => true,
                'disable_jquery_menu_code' => false,
                'enable_breadcrumbs' => false,
                // Menubar - Social Icons
                'menubar_social_icons' => false,
                'menubar_social_twitter' => '',
                'menubar_social_facebook' => '',
                'menubar_social_googleplus' => '',
                'menubar_social_linkedin' => '',
                'menubar_social_pinterest' => '',
                'menubar_social_youtube' => '',
                'menubar_social_flickr' => '',
                'menubar_social_tumblr' => '',
                'menubar_social_deviantart' => '',
                'menubar_social_myspace' => '',
                'menubar_social_email' => '',
                // Debug
                'enable_debug_footer_code' => false,
                'force_active_connection_close' => false,
                // Jetpack
                'enable_jetpack_infinite_scrolling' => false
        ) as $field => $value) {
            $comicpress_options[$field] = $value;
        }
//      update_option('cp-options', $comicpress_options);
//      Cannot save to the database unless you click the save button in options
    }
    return $comicpress_options;
}

function comicpress_themeinfo($whichinfo = null) {
    global $comicpress_themeinfo;
    if (empty($comicpress_themeinfo) || $whichinfo == 'reset') {
        $comicpress_themeinfo = array();
        $comicpress_options = comicpress_load_options();
        $comicpress_addinfo = array(
            'version' => '4.3',
            'excerpt_length' => '40'
        );
        $comicpress_themeinfo = array_merge($comicpress_themeinfo, $comicpress_addinfo);
        $comicpress_themeinfo = array_merge($comicpress_themeinfo, $comicpress_options);
    }
    if ($whichinfo && $whichinfo !== 'reset')
        if (isset($comicpress_themeinfo[$whichinfo])) 
            return $comicpress_themeinfo[$whichinfo];
        else
            return false;
    return $comicpress_themeinfo;
}

// Dashboard Menu Options - Only run in the wp-admin area
if (is_admin()) {
    @require_once(get_template_directory().'/options.php');
    /* translators: theme discription for wp-admin */
    $bogus_translation = __( 'Publish a WebComic with the ComicPress theme and the Comic Easel plugin.', 'comicpress' );
}

Now I edited the file as it come originally and I may access my site again, but I wonder why I got such error, because of some issues in the syntax or because I'm on a pre-configured theme, so I would ask:

May I customize someone else's theme completely and modify files for using custom images?