Fred Slota

Voila!

Doing a Full List Rebuild and I noticed now that it is looking at Comic Book Pictures that the dialog is processing for 963,196 comics. Now, I know 10 or so of those are my own, unofficial creations, but I take it that we are at nearly 1 million issues and variants. Any estimate on when we hit that level, and any celebratory plans? Did we already pass that if we include Books and Magazines?

Forgot about list rebuildings... Thanks for the reply. Mid-process dialog tells me 4 problems were found and fixed. I'll let you know what I see when all is finished.

Do me a favor.... add a custom Variant and see what happens.... Telling me that you see no problem on your end, when you don't use the feature I'm discussing, is really frustrating. I understand they will be red-headed stepchildren, that ComicBase will assume that they have no souls and so will ignore them when updating information and pricing. I've just decided to formalize my fake listings by replacing invisible fake /A's or reprintings with obvious fake /BG's.

You have completely misunderstood my issue. I'm not reporting that I physically own the above issues and am wondering why ComicBase has never heard of them. I am reporting that ComicBase is complaining about "Unrecognized Comics" in the database that I don't physically own and for which I am unable to find the titles or issues to delete them and clear the issue.

Are you looking at a listing of only the built-in Variations of the system, or do you also have some customized Variations like I do, which is the point of my question? Do you have any custom-made variants, and if so, where do they show up? For that matter, are the built-in Variations really in order if you look closely at the end? Here is the order I see, both initially in the Variations Setup grid and in the Variation drop-down box in the settings for an individual issue. All the original built-in variations, in alphabetical order by "Item Variation" "3-D Edition" through "Westfield Comics Edition" "Variation A" through "Variation Z" My custom variations, in alphabetical order by their "Item Variation" "Bagged" "Collector's Set-Bagged" "Collector's Set-Unbagged, no Inclusions" "Signed" "Unbagged" "Unbagged, no Inclusions" "Unbagged, with Inclusions" The more recently added super-variations in alphabetical order by their "Item Variation" "V100" through "V143" "V27" through "V99" "Variation 144" through "Variation 150" BTW, changing the "Item Variation" names to "Var A" through "Var Z" and "Variation 027" through "Variation 150" would produce an alphabetic sort that would group and sort all 150 of these variations pleasantly.

I've brought this up before, but I thought I'd try again with supporting information of how badly this is currently being handled. Searching in my database... 483 unique entries with either "unbagged", "bagged" or "polybag" in the notes field (did not double-count if they used multiple). 475 of those are singleton entries for various issues, which I think are a failing for a database and a disservice for collectors (One of those is absolutely cringeworthy). 8 of these are 4 pairs of entries that struggle with the situation. And, there are many entries that make no mention of having been bagged. First, I have to mention the non-standard-ness of the nomenclature. I had to rewrite this several times, because I had to adjust my search terms several times, in an attempt to be as complete as I could. But now, let's look at the case studies. Batman (2nd Series) #50 vs. 50/A #50/A indicates it is polybagged and contains 1 of 3 covers, has a cover scan of the opaque polybag, and a price of $7.50. #50 with an unbagged cover scan, indicates it shipped with polybagged variant covers, and a price of $4.50. What are the other two random covers? The Batman Adventures #7 vs. #7/CS. #7/CS indicates it is polybagged including a trading card, has a cover scan of the opaque polybag, and a price of $5.50. #7, with an unbagged cover scan, the wonderfully clear notes of "Without trading card; Includes trading card; Trading card missing", and a price of $4.50. Presuming #7 is truly the comic only, what would a decent value for an unbagged comic with the trading card be? Superman (3rd Series) #50 vs #50/A. #50/A indicates it is an Unopened Polybag and contains 1 of 3 covers, has a cover scan of the opaque polybag, and a price of $4.75. #50 with an unbagged cover scan, indicates it shipped with polybagged variant covers, and a price of $2.00. Again, what are the other two random covers? And then there's the mess that is X-Force #1. It sold in a mostly transparent bag with two cards, one of which was 1 of 5, which apparently went through two printings in bags with the cards, then a second gold background non-bagged, a signed version, and a "True Believers" reprint. All the bagged first printings show the identical, unbagged comic cover (without the card), all the bagged second printings show the bagged copy (showing the different card for each), and the signed version does not show the distinctive sticker in its scan. Oh, and all of the entries have different prices, ranging from $3.00 to $11.50. What is the going price for an unbagged first print X-Force #1 without a trading card? This all really needs to be handled better. I mean, we're a collector's market. This is a database with separate pictures for each entry - we should have a separate entry for each item that has a different look. This is a database supporting a collector's marketplace; we're dealing with items with different production quantities, or different levels of completeness of parts, or different cover art featuring different characters and/or drawn by different artists - we should have a separate entry for each item. A clean, consistent system for dealing with this would facilitate better organization of collections, better posting of sales, a better recognition and evaluation of finds and offers, and better differentiation of pricing. My recommendation would be to create a new, separate field for dealing with this (given that various issues types (regular, Anl, etc) and printings can be bagged). I further suggest that this field have values of "Bagged", "Unbagged-Complete", "Unbagged-Incomplete-A"-"Unbagged-Incomplete-Z" and "Unbagged".

Second pass on reconciling Unreconciled items. I've adjusted a couple to use custom Variations, I have a couple honest-to-goodness real variants not in the database that I'll submit, but I have a couple I can't find. These are listed as Unrecognized Comics... Giant-Size X-Men Tribute 1 X-Men: Mutant Empire 1 X-Men: Mutant Empire 2 X-Men: Mutant Empire 3 My database has a title "Giant-Size X-Men: Tribute to Wein & Cockrum", and "Giant-Size X-Men" (with no Tribute #1 issue), but no "Giant-Size X-Men Tribute". My Database has a title "X-Men: Mutant Empire", but it is a "Book", not a "Comic Book", and further does not have regular issues #1, 2 or 3.

So, I've added a new variant, Bagged, Abbreviated BG. After adding, I thought it wasn't added, since I didn't see it in the top portion of the list. I closed and reopened the Item Variations Setup, and still didn't see it in the top of the list. When I clicked a header to sort the list, my added Variant shows up where I would expect. Given that the list gives the appearance that it is sorted when it isn't might I suggest that the list be initially sorted by Item Variation when the window is first opened? The same thing takes place in the Variation drop-down box when entering information for an issue. While nearly everything is coincidentally sorted nearly alphabetically, it isn't really. I suggest that this tool also be sorted alphabetically.

+1 Definitely want

Apparently, in the shift from Comic Book to Book, this received both Spiral and TPB variations. The cover scan for the TPB is a duplicate of the Spiral.

Hey, I'm out of the A's! I'm curious, how did what was (6th Series) manage to shift down to (5th)? Had this title somehow got entered twice, or did some earlier version get renamed with a subtitle, shifting later ones down?

Okay... I had 1/D-2 as Krypton Comics Hammer Variant and 1/D-4 as Midtown Comics Hammer Variant. AtomicAvenue appears to have flattened them to !/E and 1/G, at least according to the notes. However, the picture for 1/E appears to be a holdover from the old 1/E, which is now 1/N, Heroes Convention 2012 Shop Variant Cover. I have not tried to upload my corrected cover, presumably it wouldn't go as you currently have a full-size (but incorrect) cover. Also, how do I know this was the old 1/E? Because, apparently my notes field for 1/E was not updated with the rearrangements. Any idea why it didn't change? (Oh, I had a 1/E-4, now 1-Q, Midtown Comics Shop Variant, if that helps)

That's what I'm in the process of doing. As I see things while working through, Imma gonna post em. If it's going to be a CB day for me, I want to share the experience with everyone...

I wonder if my having both the old-style 666/B-7 and new style 666/V101 has anything to do with it, which is why I included it in my description of what I was seeing?

Ah... I had been using the Title search on the right, not considering the existence and implication of Magazines vs. Comic Books. At first, I was going to suggest rearranging the UI to make the link between the category selection tool currently on the left and the navigation tools currently on the right, but I think I have a different suggestion, based on the presentation of the "New" button. How about incorporating the Book/Comic/Magazine iconography into the navigation buttons? If it is part of at least the Title button between the navigation buttons, I think that would reinforce the idea that these tools on the far right of the window are influenced by that setting on the far left of the window. Also, I think it would be a good idea that the Title search dialog window has an indication on as to which category it is searching. The more reminders to a forgetful oblivious user like me that things other than comic books exist, the hopefully fewer questions you'll have to field.

Yes, and I'm working on that. I would be more understanding if the skipping behavior were consistent; it's the fact that the two buttons behave differently that had me bringing this up.

Amazing Spider-Man #666 For me, I have 666 666-2 666/A 666/B 666/B-7 (my newly unknown issue I corrected but haven't yet deleted) 666/C through 666/U 666/V 666/W through 666/Z 666/V100 through 666/V143 666/V27 through 666/V99

Ahhhhh, hadn't thought of that yet. The addition of different categories within ComicBase can effectively hide an existing title from view. There they are. Knowing now what happened, I notice that AtomicAvenue is nearly silent about the fact that this title is a magazine, not a comic book. Having pulled up the page for "Amazing Heroes Swimsuit Special", there is nothing on the page identifying that this is a magazine, not a comic. I did notice that when searching for the title, supplying "Amazing Heroes" brings up an autocomplete list of five items, where four of them indicate the publisher is "Fantagraphics [Magazine]" while the fifth is "Fantagraphics [Comic Book]", but once you select one, that distinction does not appear to be on the page. Is it possible to provide a mode where ComicBase operates in a consolidated form, searching through all three categories at once?

So, while I'm working through "unknown" title and issue, um, issues, I noticed this... I thought I had seen this earlier, but didn't think enough of it to investigate or report. Pressing the "Next Title" button moves me through titles one at a time, regardless of if they are "official" titles or "unknown" titles. However, pressing the "Previous Title" button appears to go backwards only for "official" titles; it skips over "unknown" titles. I happen to have an entry for "Annihilation: Scourge Alpha", a rogue entry with a semicolon where all the other books in this mini use a dash. The title shows when I "Next Title" through titles, but is skipped when I "Previous Title" through titles. I currently have "Show All Items" selected, and because I haven't reconciled this unknown issue yet, I have an owned copy of the unknown issue in this unknown title.

Psst.... V100 should come after V99... Just sayin'...

First of probably several questions while reconciling "unknown" issues... I have Amazing Heroes Swimsuit Special #4, which is on the list of both unknown titles and unknown issues. My database has a single entry in that title, the #4 that I have 1 of. I check on AtomicAvenue, and not only does it have the Title, not only does it have issue #4 in question, it has an additional 5 issues in the title that I don't have in my database.

Ran a manual update this morning. Got the link. Got a few to look into.

Extreme Carnage, Endless Winter, I'm sure there have been and will continue to be, others... Rather than make a miniseries with issues running from 1-8, or 1-5, let's still release issues once a week/month, but give them each their own title and standalone #1 issue. Wouldn't it be nice to have all the related issues pulled together into one place and in the proper order? Add three new fields, T.[IsSuperTitle], I.[SuperTitle] and I.[SuperTitlePart] Create a new title, say "Endless Winter", complete with description, publisher and publication date information and set the T.[IsSuperTitle]. Then go to each issue that is part of the SuperTitle and fill in the I.[SuperTitle] field and supply the proper item order with the I.[SuperTitlePart] field

Well, I don't know what to tell you. Ain't not'in' there.