Comic Book Numbering

Introduction

Introduction to "Comic Book Numbering"

Comic book numbering used to be a very simple issue - each issue was incremented one number from the preceding issue in a simple natural number sequence starting at issue #1 until infinity.

Occasionally there would be some complications when a series was re-named (often when a key character in an ongoing anthology becomes popular enough for their own title), such as "The Incredible Hulk (1968)" taking over the numbering from "Tales to Astonish (1959)" or "Captain America (1968)" taking over the numbering of "Tales of Suspense (1959)".

However, DC Comics started an inadvertent trend when John Byrne re-structured the Man of Steel in the mid-1980's. All Superman comics (Action Comics and Superman) were taken offline for a few months, and a re-launch re-started Superman (1987) with a new #1, and continued the pre-existing Superman (1939) numbering with "Adventures of Superman (1987)". Superman (2006) re-merged Superman (1987) and Adventures of Superman (1987) to a single title.

Both DC and Marvel comics insisted on the occassional oddly numbered comic (0, -1 for Marvel, 1,000,000 for DC) which made continuity of numbering strange.

Marvel had a mathematical psychotic break and sold off key characters (e.g. Hulk, Avengers, Iron Man, Captain America and the Fantastic Four) to a group of artist/writers in the ill-fated "Heroes Reborn" period of about a year in the mid-1990's, each series being re-started as a new #1. This experiment lasted about a year from 1996 to 1997, where the characters were re-introduced into the "real" (616) universe of Marvel in "Heroes Return".

Marvel's marketing department, realizing that "#1" issues had extra purchase value, began randomly re-starting series to generate new #1's. Later, someone woke up and realized that they were missing the chance to capitalize on significant milestone issues (500, 600 etc.) and began to re-number the ongoing series, with mixed success. Some re-numbering was simply the inclusion of series X and series Y of the same character, with the new numbering being the sum. However, with other series, the effect was somewhat confusing (see Hulk).

This site is an attempt to make sense of the numbering issues.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Superman Daily Comics

I don't remember the Superman daily comics (probably because they stopped publishing before I was born). I do remember reading Stan Lee's Spiderman strip, and knew that the Superman strip was actually the dream of Siegel and Shuster before the comic book took flight.

I found this webpage, which reprints many of the daily strips, organized by storyline: Brooklyn Eagles Comics

Update on Series and Cancellations for DC's "New 52"

I've been reading the odd "New 52" series from DC, and have been generally liking them. I ran across an article on Comic Vine (Comic Vine Link) which outlined the launches and cancellations, which I though was great.

I pulled the info into a table, posted here:

Title	Launched	Cancelled
Action Comics	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)
All-Star Western	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)
Animal Man	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)
Aquaman	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)
Batgirl	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)
Batman	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)
Batman and Robin	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)
Batman: The Dark Knight	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)
Batwoman	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)
Batwing	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)
Birds of Prey	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)
Blackhawks	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)	Cancelled (2nd Wave)
Blue Beetle	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)	Cancelled (4th Wave)
Captain Atom	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)	Cancelled (3rd Wave)
Catwoman	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)
DC Universe Presents	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)	Cancelled (5th Wave)
Deathstroke	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)	Cancelled (5th Wave)
Demon Knights	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)
Detective Comics	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)
The Flash	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)
Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E.	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)	Cancelled (4th Wave)
The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)	Cancelled (5th Wave)
Green Arrow	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)
Green Lantern	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)
Green Lantern Corps	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)
Green Lantern: New Guardians	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)
Grifter	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)	Cancelled (4th Wave)
Hawk and Dove	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)	Cancelled (2nd Wave)
I, Vampire	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)	Cancelled (5th Wave)
Justice League	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)
Justice League Dark	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)
Justice League International	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)	Cancelled (3rd Wave)
Legion Lost	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)	Cancelled (4th Wave)
Legion of Super-Heroes	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)
Men of War	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)	Cancelled (2nd Wave)
Mister Terrific	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)	Cancelled (2nd Wave)
Nightwing	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)
O.M.A.C.	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)	Cancelled (2nd Wave)
Red Hood and the Outlaws	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)
Red Lanterns	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)
Resurrection Man	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)	Cancelled (3rd Wave)
The Savage Hawkman	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)	Cancelled (5th Wave)
Static Shock	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)	Cancelled (2nd Wave)
Stormwatch	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)
Suicide Squad	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)
Superboy	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)
Supergirl	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)
Superman	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)
Swamp Thing	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)
Teen Titans	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)
Voodoo	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)	Cancelled (3rd Wave)
Wonder Woman	Launched (1st Wave - Aug 2010)
Batman Incorporated	Launched (2nd Wave - Jan 2012)
Dial H	Launched (2nd Wave - Jan 2012)
Earth 2	Launched (2nd Wave - Jan 2012)
G.I. Combat	Launched (2nd Wave - Jan 2012)	Cancelled (4th Wave)
The Ravagers	Launched (2nd Wave - Jan 2012)	Cancelled (5th Wave)
World's Finest	Launched (2nd Wave - Jan 2012)
The Phantom Stranger	Launched (3rd Wave - Aug 2012)
Sword and Sorcery	Launched (3rd Wave - Aug 2012)	Cancelled (5th Wave)
Talon	Launched (3rd Wave - Aug 2012)
Team 7	Launched (3rd Wave - Aug 2012)	Cancelled (5th Wave)
Justice League of America	Launched (4th Wave - Feb 2013)
Threshold	Launched (4th Wave - Feb 2013)
Justice League of America's Vibe	Launched (4th Wave - Feb 2013)
Katana	Launched (4th Wave - Feb 2013)
Young Romance: A New 52 Valentine's Day Special	Launched (4th Wave - Feb 2013)
Constantine	Launched (4th Wave - Feb 2013)
The Movement	Launched (5th Wave - April 2013)
The Green Team	Launched (5th Wave - April 2013)
Batman/Superman	Launched (5th Wave - April 2013)
Larfleeze	Launched (5th Wave - April 2013)
Superman Unchained	Launched (5th Wave - April 2013)
Trinity of Sin	Launched (5th Wave - April 2013)

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Miscounted "Amazing Spider-Man" Annuals?

I was sorting and storing my Amazing Spider-Man files, as the series supposedly ended with issue #700.

When sorting the annuals, I found more than Marvel indicates they have:

Annuals #1 to #34:
#1(1964) to #8 (1971) consecutive years
#9(1973)
#10 (1976) to #34(2000)
#35(2001) - seems to be missed in Marvel's count - issue is cover labelled "ASM 2001 Annual"
#35(2008) - cover numbered as #1 and #35 - "Jackpot revealed" - Brand New Day annual
#36(2009) to #39 (2012) are numbered sequentially

OK - I realize my mistake - in 1995, there was no annual - I had put the oversized Spider-Man Super-Special in as the annual for that year, thus perverting the count. Sorry Marvel, this one's on me.