Randall J. Paske

Respectfully, what I will outline below is how I think the Somna book versions should be listed in ComicBase. None of them have been there for long yet, so I hope they can be changed to keep the listing sensible. Bk 1/HC — This should NOT be the $75 Direct Market Exclusive version of the book currently shown. This should instead be the book @Scott J. Promish has, the regular Mass Market version of the book, with the Becky Cloonan cover and a retail price of $30. This is the most basic and widely available version of the book. Diamond has this version of the book here: https://previewsworld.com/Catalog/APR241460 . Dstlry has it here: https://dstlry.co/products/somna-hc . Bk 1/HC-A — This SHOULD be the $75 Direct Market Exclusive version of the book presently shown as Bk 1/HC, with the Tula Lotay cover. It has more pages and some bonus material. Diamond has this version of the book here: https://previewsworld.com/Catalog/APR241461 . Dstlry depicts it here: https://dstlry.co/products/somna-direct-market-exclusive-hc . Bk 1/HC-B — This should be the $200 Deluxe version, not currently in ComicBase at all. It has a cover by Julian Totino Tedesco. It's limited to 400 copies and has a signed tip-in plate, but the Dstlry website shows it has the same page count as the Direct Market Exclusive. Diamond doesn't seem to have it; it may be a Dstlry website exclusive, although they don't explicitly say that. They show it here: https://dstlry.co/products/somna-deluxe-hardcover. Bk 1/HC-C — This should be the $40 Oversized Hardcover Reserve Edition that comes out in September. It uses the same Becky Cloonan cover artwork (recolored) as the Mass Market edition, but it sounds like it will be larger and perhaps have some more bonus material. This is the one currently in ComicBase as Bk 1/A, a potentially problematic designation if softcover versions are forthcoming. And it should come after what I've called Bk 1/HC-A and Bk 1/HC-B, since it is being published later than those (which are already available). Diamond's listing for it is here: https://previewsworld.com/Catalog/JUL241588. Dstlry does not seem to have info on their website about this version yet.

On the Dstlry website, there are three versions of the Somna book. The regular hardcover comes in two covers. The MASS MARKET cover is the one @Scott J. Promish posted above, with a cover price of $30. The other cover, currently depicted in the database, is a DIRECT MARKET EXCLUSIVE with a cover price of $75. They say it has more interior pages and stuff than the mass market version, and it will be (or has been) printed to order. The DELUXE hardcover is VERY expensive at $200 (not the $40 shown in ComicBase) and has yet another different cover. It is limited to 400 copies. See https://dstlry.co/products/somna-hc for the full details as provided by Dstlry.

If Walmart has been selling DC books with UPCs like that, my guess is that the one Alan found in an Ollie's multipack is a wayward Walmart variant. Those packs at Ollie's sometimes contain store variants (from other stores), incentive covers, and other stuff you wouldn't expect.

While I agree with your point about characters with diacritics being more searchable, the problem is ameliorated somewhat by auto-correction. That is, if you type "Jose Gonzalez" without using the alt-code character é, or even if you type "jose gonzalez" without capitals, when you leave the field, ComicBase automatically changes it to "José Gonzalez." I don't know if this particular auto-correction is new since the time of your post, and there may be examples of names for which this does not work, but it probably applies to a lot of the names that might be troublesome. But I also found two related issues while looking at this: ComicBase has credits for "José Gonzales" (note the final character) in addition to "José Gonzalez." Checking all the items with "José Gonzales" in the Artist field, they all appear to be misspellings of "José Gonzalez." I don't know if there is actually a José Gonzales in comics that has credits other than artwork, but it's likely that the "s" spelling should auto-correct to the "z" spelling of the name. Several credible online sources also put an accent over the "a" in "Gonzales," so the name should really be "José González." @Mark J. Castaneda -- can you get those issues in the queue, or should I send a message to Support?

I think DC may be starting to do that as a matter of course. I've seen it with other titles. But I haven't seen any official word.

OK. I only had the cover to go by. Isn't it fun when the cover and indicia don't match?

Sure thing. The search function can be rather unforgiving compared to something like Google.

Another new addition is Complete Hate, which should technically be Complete Hate, The. From Gum Wrappers to Richie Rich should be categorized under Books, not Comic Books. Land Left Behind should most likely be Land Left Behind, The. The word "of" should not be capitalized in the title Legion Of Oakley. Following ComicBase convention, Stan Mack's Real Life Funnies should be Real Life Funnies (Stan Mack's...).

It might be because the title is actually Comics Buyer's Guide (note the "s" in "Comics"), so if you search for Comic Buyer's Guide (without an "s"), you'll come up empty.

This happens to me sometimes, too. Usually when its dimensions are larger, my new image stays put, but sometimes it gets replaced by the download. I'm curious about why.

This week's update also adds the title Star Wars by Gillen Pak Omnibus, which is missing an ampersand. It should be Star Wars by Gillen & Pak Omnibus.

I sent that in as a correction once. I don't know if it was ignored or reinstated.

The title I Can't Say No to Lonely Girl is missing a word. It should be I Can't Say No to the Lonely Girl. In the title Small Change, A: Finding The Joy in Everyday Things, the word the should not be capitalized.

Gandhi is also misspelled in this title entry.

Palestine (Fantagraphics) is still a separate listing after the 1/10/2024 update. Again, this forthcoming book is a collection of the series Palestine, from the same publisher, already listed in ComicBase. Previous collections are listed under that title; this one belongs there as well.