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.

This week's content update adds the following titles that refer to the same publication: Bristlemouth Cove Horror Bristlemouth: A Cove Horror Based on the cover image, the latter appears correct. This looks like another double addition: Hunters, The Hunters, The (Paper Films) And the following title was added: Palestine (Fantagraphics) This should not be a new title, as Palestine already exists in the database, published by Fantagraphics. The upcoming 2024 collected-edition reprint should go under that title as well.

Oh, @Gregory Hecht--you're opening a real can of worms. The mess of unrelated titles under Angel has been a sore point with me for a long time.

It's not a big deal for me, but I have wondered if certain functions could default to the Variation A entry when a plain, non-variant entry does not exist.

Similarly, these new titles contain incorrectly capitalized words: Earthworm Jim 2: Fight The Fish! Life Of Pope John Paul II In Comics, The Little Trees That Went To School, The

The newly-added title Jam, The: Urban Adventure is a duplicate of the existing Jam, The Urban Adventure: Beginnings. I'm guessing the new entry was triggered by the recent solicitation of the book through Diamond, but the book has been available on demand for over a year. I see that the new entry has a different UPC number than the existing entry, and it has a Diamond order code and stock number. Maybe this means it should be Bk 1-2? I don't know for sure how it should be handled in the database, but the publisher indicates that the contents will be exactly the same.

Isn't the first book just titled Reckless? With the latest update, that's an unrecognized title in my database. I moved my quantities of the second and third books to the new titles, but I think the first book should stay put. And the title should not have been deleted from the master database. Or have I missed something?

This week's update also adds Unofficial Guide to the World of Studio Ghibli, The in the Comic Books category when it should be in Books. Also, I am unsure about these two titles actually contain comics (I have my suspicions; maybe someone can verify one way or the other): Faro’s Lounge Ashoka In Action Cosplay Indiana Jane Cosplay Danejo Artbook Whether it's a comic or not, the first of those two titles contains an error, transposing the second and third letters of the character name Ahsoka.

The annuals are listed with the main title, in the Magazines category. From the descriptions in the database, it doesn't look like all four annuals were 100% comics. (I only have #3, and it's a mix of comics and articles.) If any of them were 100% comics, it probably still makes sense to keep them with the rest of the series under magazines rather than make a separate listing under comics. It could be considered an "all-comics issue" of a series that presents magazine content for all (or nearly all) the rest of its issues.

FWIW, I think Marvel Age One-Shot would be confusing in the future, because One-Shot is nowhere in the title on the cover or indicia. And it may not always be a one-shot if they decide to do more in the future. My "vote" would be for what @Gregory Hecht suggested: Marvel Age (2nd Series).

On a separate note, I noticed this in your Unrecognized Comics list: Strangers, The (Oni) 1 This title was corrected to Mysterious Strangers, The, so you can just add your quantity of #1 to that title and remove it from Strangers, The (Oni). Then it will stop showing up in your Unrecognized Comics list.