Gregory Hecht

To clarify Mark's answer, in cases where a particular comic item has both a hardcover and a trade paperback version, CB's typical way of handling it is that the hardcover gets the HC designation and the tpb is treated like a regular issue. For The Strange Death of Alex Raymond, this is what should be followed. Sometimes, in the case where the collected edition does not sit in its own title (i.e., it is placed in a title that includes single periodical issues that are collected in the book), then CB will usually give the HC designation to the hardcover and the BK designation to the tpb. There are exceptions in cases where other designations are used (DLX and CS, for example), but in each of those cases there are unusual complicating factors.

I posted about this topic over a week ago, but the post got lost when these message boards got rebooted after The Great Server Crash of 2021... so I'm going to try again. The database lists an older Origin of the Hobgoblin trade paperback from 1992 as The Amazing Spider-Man Book #9. The contents of that book are as follows: Amazing Spider-Man #238-239, 244-245, and 249-251 and Spectacular Spider-Man #85. Normally CB lists tpb's and hc's as their own separate title if they collect issues from more than one title. In this case, there is only a single issue from a different title, so it ordinarily it probably wouldn't be worth it to move this particular book. There is a second edition of the Origin of the Hobgoblin tpb from 2011 that complicates things, however. The book isn't a second print, it contains additional issues that the first version did not: Amazing Spider-Man #238-239, 244-245 and 249-251 and Spectacular Spider-Man #43, 47-48 and 85 (issues not included in the first version are in bold red type). I cannot find the second edition in the database; is it in there and I am missing it? If it is not in there, how should it be entered into the database? Amazing Spider-Man Book #9 (2nd print) isn't appropriate, but listing the 2011 book under the title Origin of the Hobgoblin may lead to some confusion if the 1992 book isn't also under that title. Thoughts on how to approach this?

There is a need for some clean-up under the Jungle Fantasy: Vixens title. • #1-K and #1-N are both noted as "Kickstarter cover" but only #1-N has a cover scan. I have no idea what is supposed to make these two issues different from each other, so I am suspicious that they are duplicates. I suggest deleting #1-K since it has no scan. • #1-Q is noted as "Kickstarter Hide Nude cover" but the scan presented is the non-nude "Kickstarter Relax cover". Issue #1-S is the actual Kickstarter Hide Nude cover and the scan for #1-S is correct, so I think that it is best to change the notation for #1-Q to "Kickstarter Relax" and leave the scan for #1-Q as it is. • The scans for #1-R and #1-var. 29 are the same. #1-R is noted as "Jungle Green Leather Cover" so that means that the scan for #1-R is incorrect and needs to be deleted. • The cover scan for #2-M should be removed because the issue notes for this states "nude cover" and scan presented is a duplicate of the non-nude #2-L. • #2-K is supposed to be "exclusive Kickstarter nude cover" and #2-M is supposed to be "Kickstarter Nude Cover". There is an incorrect scan for #2-M and no scan for #2-L, so it isn't clear to me that these are actually different items. I suspect that one of the two of them should be deleted. And somebody needs to pony up a scan for the Kickstarter nude cover. I don't have any of the issues that are missing correct scans, so somebody else will need to provide them.

I don't think that CB necessarily tracks whether a comic is squarebound (sometimes referred to as "perfect binding"). That isn't to say that CB will necessarily turn away such notations, but I don't know that they will necessarily feel obligated to track that kind of data for comics. If I am wrong on that, I am sure that @Peter R. Bickford or @Mark J. Castaneda will correct me and set the record straight.

The new update added the title Weird Heroes to the Magazines category. Based on what I am seeing in the entries for the new title, this is a duplication of the already existing (and appropriately categorized) Weird Heroes title that is in the Books category. The new magazine title should be deleted.

Like I said, it is a longstanding known issue that CB doesn't handle things well when two titles differ only by punctuation. So CB's solution for it is to just avoid it. 🙂

A long-time issue with ComicBase is that it doesn't handle things like navigation very well when there are two titles that are identical except for punctuation. HC solves this by making sure that the titles in the master database avoid this problem, but it can pop up from time to time in user databases if they don't regularly run content updates and/or pay attention to their "Unrecognized" list after running a content update. The solution to your particular problem is to get your issues that are under the "rogue" title listed under the correct title as it is listed under the master database. Once there is no inventory that is "in stock" under your "rogue" titles, those titles should go away during your next content update (assuming you have the appropriate settings checked off prior to doing the update).

There should be a link "View unrecognized items" above the "Collection Value Graph" button.

The unmatched items won't show up in your log, but there *is* a list of unmatched items and titles that is generated every time you run a content update on your database. Look for a link to that list in the pop-up window you get at the very end of your content update (the window that lists out current collection value, etc).

Does that work for title corrections? I thought that sending new or corrected data from a database only sent info on specific issues rather than the overall title data.

Last week was Hell Week for the message board servers and a few other things, so there was no livestream while those things received maintenance. I haven’t heard anything about this week’s livestream, but I *assume* that it isn’t happening since no link has posted yet only 12 minutes before the usual showtime.

Some clean-up is needed for the Essential Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (OHOTMU). Two series, Essential OHTMU and Essential OHOTMU - Deluxe Edition have been conflated into a single series. The existing title, Essential OHOTMU, only had one issue. The existing info for that issue in the database appears to be correct. A second title, Essential Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe - Deluxe Edition, should be added to the database. That series had three issues. Issues #2 & #3 of what is currently Essential OHOTMU should be moved to the new title. I have the first issue as well, and I will add it when I get a chance (alternatively, you can add it and I will fill in the missing info & scan when I get a chance).

I get that b/c all of the artwork reproductions of are comic book covers. But having said that, it makes more sense to me to have all of the Artist's/Artisan editions in either the book category or the comic category.

The recent Batman in the Fifties trade paperback is currently listed in the database as Batman in the Fifties #1 (4th printing). However, the recent tpb should be considered to be a new edition rather than a straight-up reprint of the older book because the recent tpb includes additional reprinted stories that were not included in the original version of the book. So my suggestion is that the new tpb be listed under a new title, something along the lines of Batman in the Fifties (2nd series) (which is how a similar situation was handled for the most recent release of Superman in the Fifties... see here and here). (Note that the indicia for the most recent tpb states "First Printing" rather than "Fourth Printing", so the proposed change should also reduce confusion among database users and AA sellers).

The recently published E.C. Covers: Artist's Edition is currently listed in the database as a Book. This should be changed to Comic as per the discussion above. (The cover price also needs to be changed to $150; that change I submitted a couple of days ago from my database.)

If you're still using a dusty old ComicBase 2017 (or earlier) version of ComicBase, you'll need to upgrade soon in order to retain remote backup and mobile support. Human Computing will be retiring some of the antiquated interfaces used by those old versions of ComicBase at the end of the month, as part their server modernization and security update. After October 30th, those old versions of ComicBase will no longer be able to access our cloud services, including posting items for sale to Atomic Avenue, saving to the cloud, and creating mobile reports. If you're still using a full version of ComicBase 2017 or earlier, check your Registrations page for renewals and upgrades to the current version of ComicBase; ComicBase FREE users can simply download the latest version of that program directly.

If the variants have different paper, usually that also resulted in a different cover price and that would automatically qualify those variants as trackable in CB as separate items. Personally, even if the cover price was the same, I would recommend that the variants be tracked separately if the paper stock is different. Maybe it is worth bringing this up at this week's Livestream?

Also, I think that some of the functionalities in ComicBase Free cease if you have entered in a certain number of comics (50? 500? I confess that I don't remember the number that triggers that). So if you have entered in a whole bunch of comics into ComicBase Free, that could be triggering your issue.

Is the incorrect lettering on the cover, on the interior pages, or both?

Was this a case where all copies of those issues were polybagged? Or only some of them? If only some of them, is there a way to distinguish the "never bagged" issues from the ones that were originally sold in the polybag?

Thanks, I've made the correction in the OP. (I missed the time listed on the homepage and the YouTube page was a little confusing.)

Hey folks! The link to this week's Livestream has gone up on the CB home page, and the start time will be 12:00pm Central Time. (That may cut into our drinking for those of us who indulge during the Livestream... but then again, it's always 5:00 somewhere, so..... 🤪 )

The scan for Thor Epic Collection #1 is incorrect (it is actually the cover for #16). I don't have a copy of this one, so somebody else will need to get the correct scan to the folks at HC.

Marvel Masterworks: Marvel Two-in-One #6 and #6A are forthcoming and are already listed in the database. However, the Notes field for both contain the contents information for Marvel Masterworks: Marvel Team-Up #6 & #6A.

Have you done a search on your entire hard drive for your additional scans? (see my post above)