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DC Coming Comics Numbering


Walt Grogan

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Hi, all--

I have a pretty good collection of DC Coming Comics dating back to Oct. 1985. However, when I look at ComicBase's list, it starts in 1988 with #1, which can't be correct. From what I can tell, DC Coming Comics don't have an indicia at all due to it primarily being a retailer-oriented publication with only a cover date and year to identify it. I'd like to fill-in some of the missing issues with what I have but don't know how to proceed given the issue # problem. I would think something along the lines of 198510 or even 8510 would suffice since I believe it ended around 1995 prior to 2000. What would be the guidance in getting this problem sorted out?

Best,

Walt

Edited by Walt Grogan
Correcting dates
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1 hour ago, Mark J. Castaneda said:

Finding an accurate starting point would be key. Any idea when the 1st issue came out? A month to month release?

Since this is a magazine and not a comic *and* apparently lacks an indicia, is there any reason not to go with the suggested numbering, e.g., 198510?

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My recommendation would be to renumber all of the listed issues using your suggested method since the listed #1 is apparently not the first issue at all... and your suggested numbering suggestion would insulate the listing from problems if issues surface that pre-date your earliest issue. 

That will, of course, be Mark/Human Computing's decision.  

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Yeah, at one point DC needed to shift their cover dates to be a smidge closer to reality, so all of their publications went through a "Winter 1988" issue and then a "Holiday 1988" issue to allow the Real Life calendar catch up a little bit to the DC cover dates.  Those issues preceded the "January 1989" cover dated issues.  

My guess is that if Mark ultimately decides that HC is OK with the "198510" style of numbering, you could go with something like "198813" for the Winter 1989 issue and "198814" for the "Holiday 1989" issue; a notation regarding the listed cover date should probably go into the Notes field.   Using those numbers should get those two issues to sort in proper chronological order between the 198812 and the 198901 issues.  

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6 hours ago, Mark J. Castaneda said:

the numbering scheme sounds good but i'll need to confirm with the Editorial Team its the way to go with this title.

I've might have missed this in earlier posts; there's no mention of volume and/or issue numbers with any of these right?

That is how I interpreted Walt's OP. 

I believe that this title has no indicia and the only indication of a date is that the front page logo area includes a mention that the catalog is for "[month] cover date [year]" comics.  (This would explain how the earliest issue currently in the database got pegged with issue #1 even though it is apparently not even close to being the first issue.)  

Walt, can you confirm?

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23 minutes ago, Mark J. Castaneda said:

Unfortunately after confirming with the editorial team, we gotta use a traditional numbering scheme on this so it's important to find out when the series really began so we know where to start that first issue.

What is the rationale for that decision?  This is a magazine, so there isn't a need to adhere to the traditional issue numbering.  The practicality of Walt's suggestion of just numbering the issues based on the date insulates database users from ructions and conniptions if a previously unknown issue turns up and has to be entered into the title.  This feels like a facepalm-worthy decision.  

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51 minutes ago, Mark J. Castaneda said:

Unfortunately after confirming with the editorial team, we gotta use a traditional numbering scheme on this so it's important to find out when the series really began so we know where to start that first issue.

The downside of this decision is that I can't enter nor scan covers for prior issues that I have unless, by some miracle, a first issue is discovered for a title that doesn't have issue numbers nor indicia. The current starting item number of this title in ComicBase is 1 with a cover date of June 1988. I have seen online scans dating as far back as April 1985 (over 3 years earlier). If the current decision stands, I'm basically at a stand still entering this title and, quite frankly, it doesn't give me a lot of confidence going forward when I next hit a similar road block.

I've already run into a situation in ComicBase where I had issues of a title (without indicia) whose numbering continued from another title yet was indexed under the original title. I had to research outside of ComicBase to discover what the original title might be -- which seems crazy. It was Super Spider-Man and Captain Britain which were indexed under Spider-Man Comics Weekly because that's where the numbering originated. A note says "Title sometimes known as Super Spider-Man". I don't know how that helps.

At any rate, I'm feeling a little frustrated here.

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1 hour ago, Gregory Hecht said:

That is how I interpreted Walt's OP. 

I believe that this title has no indicia and the only indication of a date is that the front page logo area includes a mention that the catalog is for "[month] cover date [year]" comics.  (This would explain how the earliest issue currently in the database got pegged with issue #1 even though it is apparently not even close to being the first issue.)  

Walt, can you confirm?

Hi, Gregory, sorry, I missed this before posting my rant. I have about 10 years of DC Coming Comics  and, unfortunately, no, there are no issue numbers nor indicia, which is really strange, especially since the prior incarnation, DC Coming Attractions, had them.

Best,
Walt

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