XOW Logo

Data Structure for Series

A Series is a grouping of individual comic books Issues that share a commmon title, Indicia Publisher and Publisher. Changes in any of these three items defines a different Series of comic books.

Screenshot For most practicaly purposes, this cumbersome definition of a Series is transparent to the vast majority of comic book enthusiasts. But, it does provide for a greater degree of detail to denote significant changes in a title, significant changes in the Indicia Publisher, or changes in the actual Publisher of a comic book by creating a new Series. Such changes almost always entail substantial changes in the actual comic book, thereby justifying denoting the difference by actually changing the Series.

Often, if there is a significant lapse of time, on the order of years, between the publishing of Issues in a Series, then a new Series will be created. As above, when such a long time span exists between Issues, it often denotes significant changes in the comic book itself. Often such changes indicate a Series that was stopped intentionally and then started again at a later date.

Whenever such changes in a Series occur, the Note for the Series will usual indicate the details so continuity from a "conceptual" viewpoint can be maintained.

A Series must be associated with one and only one Publisher in the XOWComics.com site. Though there are a couple of examples of Series that cross different Publishers thru the years, these Series are considered different Series and are listed as such. This restriction maintains consistency and integrity within the data in the XOWComics.com site.

A Series has a number of attributes that the XOWComics.com site tracks. These individual attributes are as follows:

Name
Years in Print (Year Began and Year Ended are separate)
Language
Country
Series Continued From
Series Continued In
Tracking Note
Note
Publication Type
Color
Dimensions
Paper Stock
Binding
Publishing Format
Format Note

Note: for Years in Print, individual values will be displayed in italics if the values are not certain to be correct.

A Series can contain details relevant to other data within the site. The following is a listing of these items:

Publisher
Issues Count
Printings Count

Publication Types: a Series also has a designation of what type of publication or produced work it is. Examples of different Publication Types include "comic book", "fanzine", and "comic strip" (others will be made available). These Publication Types are clear and obvious classifications that a physical collectible may be organized by or termed. With such Publication Types, the XOWComics.com site supports and contains many more collectibles than just comic books, though comic books is clearly the primary focus of the site.

All browse and search functions in the XOWComics.com site allow you to narrow displayed results to individual Publication Types, as desired. And, on all appropriate areas where Series and Issues are displayed in the XOWComics.com site, the Publication Type is also displayed.

Series Continued ... : the Series Continued From and Series Continued In attributes track previous and succeeding Series, respectively, for the currently viewed Series. These are Series which would, for a variety of reasons, be considered for proper continuation of the stories, characters, production, numbering, etc., of a Series though the Issues from the other Series have qualified for listing as separate Series within the site. The most common reasons for such a break in a "series" of Issues would be a publishing hiatus or change of title, though these are definitely not the sole criteria. The continuation Series are always given with the Publisher Name and are presented as links in the site for your convenience.

A special thanks to the editors "TR", "RathBrand", "Harold McCormick", et al, must be given for convincing the staff of XOWComics.com that Publication Types would be of value to collectors. These early editors within the XOWComics.com site expanded significantly the capabilities and potential of the tools and resources offered by XOWComics.com.


Site designed and hosted by XOWTech, Inc..
Any questions or problems with this site should be directed to REMOVE-webmaestro-THESE@xowcomics.com.

XOW, XOWComics.com, XOWTech and XOWTech.com are registered trademarks of XOWTech, Inc.
© XOWTech, Inc., 2010 - 2024. All rights reserved.