The Grand Comics Database Submission and Distribution Formats Updated January 14, 1999 The current version of this document is always available at http://www.comics.org/format/format.txt or http://www.comics.org/format/format.htm Other important GCD information is available at http://www.comics.org/ Section 1 - Introduction and General Notes ------------------------- The Grand Comics Database is a project devoted to indexing the contents of every comic book ever published. The scope of this undertaking requires a great deal of co-operative work, so the submission and distribution formats outlined in this document have been adopted. They are designed to allow for new information to be incorporated into the database with a minimum of work, while reducing repetitive typing for the indexer, and to allow the information to be easily understood once it has been added. This document is divided into the following parts: Section 1 - Introduction and General Notes Section 2 - The Submission Format Section 3 - The Distribution Format Section 4 - Other Resources Section 5 - Answers to Common Questions In order to allow data to be submitted and used by as many people as possible, the basic formats used for both submitting and distributing data are plain text (7-bit ASCII plus the Latin-1 extended character set (ISO 8859-1)) tab-delimited files. Other formats (such as spreadsheets and word processor documents) may be accepted for submissions at the discretion of the data coordinator. Please check before sending files. Note that character encodings for the Latin-1 character set are often platform dependent on many older operating systems, so please include a note indicating what platform and application were used when submitting indexes which take advantage of the extended Latin-1 characters in order to ensure proper interpretation. The best way to get familiar with the formats is to take a look at the sample files available to all members. See the Other Resources sections. It's also suggested that you try submitting a small index (under five issues) the first time, so any difficulties can be worked out. Some points to remember: - individual fields should be no more than 255 characters in length. A lot of software won't handle more, and you risk data loss if you go over that length. - multiple data in a single field should be separated by a semicolon and space ("; ") to allow for easier reading both by eye and by computer. This is important enough to be repeated an ungodly number of times in these notes. - consistency is important. The GCD already indexes more than 50,000 books and will eventually index several times that, and the only way that amount of information can be useful is if everything is in the right place in the right form. If a field exists for a certain type of information, use it. If a specific format is recommended, use it. If you come up to a situation you're not sure how to handle, ask. - accuracy is also important. Indexing should be done from actual copies of the comics and not from secondary sources, so that old mistakes aren't repeated (and copyrights aren't violated). Uncertain information should be flagged (as indicated later) so that it can be easily checked and corrected later. - abbreviations (other than those specifically suggested here) should be avoided in order to maintain readability. Even if they seem like standard abbreviations to you they may be meaningless letters to others. The GCD formats were developed by Bob Klein, Jonathan Ingersoll and Will Allred, and modified by the various members of the GCD- Tech list. This outline of the formats is currently maintained by Bob Heer (bg549@torfree.net). Section 2 - The Submission Format ------------------------- The Submission Format is the format used to add new indices to the GCD (either series which have not yet been indexed or series where you are indexing issues not yet included in the GCD). It is divided into two parts, the Series Line (information that applies to every issue) and the Issues information (specific data for each separate issue). It's much easier to understand if you get the sample files available. The Series Line ---- Each series indexed begins with a single line containing information (^T represents a tab, everything should be on a single line when submitted) with the following 14 fields: >>series<< ^T BookName ^T Publisher ^T Imprint/PubNotes ^T SeriesBegan ^T SeriesEnded ^T FirstIssue ^T LastIssue ^T Tracking ^T Format ^T CountryCode ^T LanguageCode ^T Notes ^T Indexer A typical line would read: >>series<< ^T Fakebook ^T GCD Comics ^T ^T 1994 ^T 1996 ^T 1 ^T 10 ^T ^T Color comic; 10 issue miniseries ^T us ^T en ^T Non- existant book created as an example. ^T Bob Heer (notice that Imprint/Pubnotes and Tracking are blank fields in this example, but the tabs are left for them so the other fields are in the right place) A brief explanation of each field, where (R) is for required data (if applicable) and (O) is optional. Note that while data is sometimes optional, the format for the data is not. And if a field is left blank please include the empty field (ie, have consecutive tabs) so the other fields match up (note that some software won't do this if you try to save a text file, so check carefully). 1. >>series<< (R) - Processing flag. Copy this exactly 2. BookName (R) - The title as it appears in the indicia 3. Publisher (R) - The primary name for the publisher 4. Imprint/PubNotes (R) - Any sub-imprint or other publisher details 5. SeriesBegan (R) - The 4 digit Year of the first issue of the series 6. SeriesEnded (R) - The 4 digit Year of the last issue of the series 7. FirstIssue (R) - The issue number of the first issue of the series 8. LastIssue (R) - The issue number of the last issue of the series 9. Tracking (O) - Title and publisher changes, numbering explanations 10. Format (R) - Physical format (size, color or B&W, etc. See list below) 11. CountryCode (O) - The 2 letter ISO code for the Publisher's country 12. LanguageCode (O) - The 2 letter ISO code for the language 13. Notes (O) - Anything that doesn't fit elsewhere but applies to the entire series and is worth indexing 14. Indexer (R) - Your name A longer explanation of each field, with examples: 1. >>series<< Required Field This is not a data field, it is a processing flag for the data coordinator. Copy this literally, including the braces, into the first field of the first line for each series to indicate that a new series is being indexed. 2. BookName Required Field The title as it appears in the indicia or title page. Leading articles ("A", "An" and "The") are placed at the end of the title, separated by a comma-space. Examples: Superman Action Comics Adventures of Superman, The Patty Cake Christmas, A 3. Publisher Required Field The common house name of the publisher, such as DC, Marvel or Archie. Note that specific corporate names, such as you'll find in the indicia, may change over time and are tracked as Publisher Notes in the next field (see 4. Imprint/PubNotes). Co-published books should list both publishers separated by a semi-colon Examples: DC Marvel Archie Marvel; Archie 4. Imprint/PubNotes Required Field Any sub-imprint, specific corporate name or other publisher details. Give issue numbers if the details only apply to some issues of the series. Examples: Epic Vertigo Vertigo (47-75) Helix (1-12); Vertigo (13 on) Timely (1-24); Atlas (25-40) Marvel Comics Group; Marvel Entertainment Group Jolaine Publications (1-23); National Comics Publications (24-38) National Comics Publications; National Periodical Publications 5. - 8. Start and End info Note that the next four fields refer to the start and end dates of the series, not just of the issues you are indexing. If EXAMPLE COMICS was published from #1 (1940) to #58 (1955) and you are only indexing #20 (1942) to #30 (1948) you would enter 1940 ^T 1955 ^T 1 ^T 58 for these four fields. These fields also refer to the first and last issues chronologically. If a series had a #0 published between #74 and #75 that would not be used as the first issue here. If you aren't sure about the Start or End dates or issues of a series fill in those fields with either "9999" or your best guess and a question mark ("1910?" and "17?") and include what details you know in the Notes field ("Published circa 1910", "Possible that issues past 17 exist but unverified"). 5. SeriesBegan Required Field The 4 digit Year of the first issue. The only times this is anything other than a 4 digit number are if the publication date is uncertain or two or more books with identical titles started from the same publisher in the same year. In that case, if the year is 1945, the first series is indexed as "1945A", the second as "1945B", the next as "1945C" (note upper case letters). This is fairly rare. Examples: 1945 1945A 1945? 9999 6. SeriesEnded Required Field The 4 digit Year of the last issue. It should only be blank if the series is currently on-going. If there was only one issue, use the year of that issue (the same as SeriesBegan). If you're certain the series is no longer published but don't know the date of the final issue fill in your best guess ("1945?") or "9999" along with details in the Notes field. Examples: 1945 1945? 9999 7. FirstIssue Required Field The issue number of the first issue, exactly as you'd index it (see notes on indexing issues for details). "1" in most cases, but not always. Do not include a "#" sign in most cases. Examples: 1 301 nn nn [1] v1#1 15? 9999 8. LastIssue Required Field The issue number of the last issue, exactly as you'd index it. Blank only if the series is on-going, the same as FirstIssue if there was only one issue. Do not include a "#" sign in most cases. Examples: 1 422 nn nn [2] v7#12 18? 9999 9. Tracking Optional Field Title and publisher changes, numbering explanations. When a series changes its title or publisher while continuing the numbering, the series needs two records in the GCD. The tracking field connects these records. In these cases the tracking field should read: numbering continued from [original series name] or numbering continues in [second series name] Also note other numbering anomalies here. Examples: (for All Star Comics) numbering continues in All Star Western with #58, resumed publication also with #58 in 1976. (for All American Western Comics) numbering continued from All Star Comics. numbering continues in All American Men of War with #127 (for All American Men of War) numbering continued from All American Western #127-128 (for Captain Marvel Jr.) single issue for #34 and #35. Comic says #34 in indicia and #35 on cover. (for Mutt and Jeff from Dell) numbering continues from DC series with #104. numbering continues as Harvey series with #117 (for Starman) first issue was numbered #0, followed by #1. (for Zero Hour) comics were published in reverse order #4, #3, #2, #1, #0. 10. Format Required Field Physical format of each issue. Should apply to every issue or be noted if it does not. Do not include page counts here, as that is indexed on an issue-by-issue basis. Specific aspects which are generally noted here are: Color (Color, 4 Color, Painted, 2 Color, B&W) Dimensions (Standard Golden Age US, Standard Silver Age US, Standard Modern US; Digest; Tabloid, A3, A4, A5, 8.5" x 11", 21cm x 28cm) Paper Stock (Newsprint, Mando, Baxter) Binding (Stapled, Saddle-stitched, Bound, Squarebound, Hardcover, Tradepaperback) Publishing Format (On-going Series, Limited Series, Miniseries, Maxiseries One-Shot, Graphic Novel) Examples: Color; Digest; 4-issue Miniseries B&W; Standard Modern US; one shot 2-color; 20cm x 25cm; Hardcover Format varies, see Notes for individual issues 11. CountryCode Optional Field The 2 letter ISO code for the country of publication. A complete list should be available under Other Resources. Definitely fill this out if you think the country will be unclear. Examples: US CA UK FR SE DE 12. LanguageCode Optional Field The 2 letter ISO code for the language of publication. A complete list should be available under Other Resources. Definitely fill this out if you think the language will be unclear. Examples: EN FR SV DE 13. Notes Optional Field Anything you think might be interesting that doesn't fit elsewhere and applies to the series rather than individual issues. Examples: ISSN 1234-5678 Spin-off from Legion of Super-Heroes Based on the Get Smart TV series Series next published by Mirage Series previously published by Fantagraphics 14. Indexer Required Field Your name, exactly as you'd like it to appear on the index Indexer is the last field in the Series Line. It should be followed by a blank line and then the information for each issue being indexed. If you are indexing additional issues of a book which has already been partially indexed in the GCD (if Superman #1-#100 are already indexed and you're indexing #101-#125, for example) you should include at least the BookName, Publisher, PubNotes/Imprint and SeriesBegan fields exactly as they appear in the existing index (if you think any of them are wrong in the existing index and are correcting them please flag this information clearly in a note so your index isn't treated as an entirely new series) and include your name as Indexer. The other fields may be included as well, and if they disagree with the existing entries in those fields the new information will be added. The Issues Information ---- After the Series line, there should be a single blank line followed by the heart of the index, the detailed breakdown of the contents of each issue of the series. This data should be formatted in 18 fields per line as follows (again, ^T represents a tab): Issue ^T PubDate ^T Type ^T Genre ^T Feature ^T Title ^T Pencils ^T Inks ^T Script ^T Colors ^T Letters ^T Editing ^T PageCount ^T Price ^T Characters ^T Notes ^T Synopsis ^T Reprints Since some information is common to the entire book (Issue, Pubdate, Price), those only have to be listed once for each issue, in the first line for that issue. That line is also used to index the cover, and is handled differently in some other ways as well. The following example is for a single issue of a book with two interior stories. The "[first line]" etc. tags are for illustrative purposes, and don't appear in the actual submission. [first line]1 ^T March 1994 ^T Cover ^T Superhero ^T Fakeman ^T ^T Jack Kirby ^T Joe Sinnott ^T ^T ? ^T ? ^T Julius Schwartz; E. Nelson Bridwell (assistant) ^T 36 ^T 2.95 ^T ^T ^T ^T ^T [second line] ^T ^T Story ^T Superhero ^T Fakeman ^T ^T Curt Swan ^T Murhpy Anderson ^T Cary Bates ^T Anthony Tollin ^T Todd Klein ^T ^T 24 ^T ^T Fakeman (origin); Dr. Badguy (villain, introduction) ^T ^T An attack on Supercity by Dr. Badguy brings Fakeman out of retirement. ^T [third line] ^T ^T Story ^T War ^T Sgt. Phoney ^T ^T Joe Kubert ^T Joe Kubert ^T Robert Kanigher ? ^T Anthony Tollin ^T ? ^T ^T 4 ^T ^T Sgt . Phoney; New Recruit (dies) ^T ^T ^T from ? [probably Spurious Adventures circa 1955] (Note first two fields blank for all but the first line of each issue) This would be followed by the information for the next issue indexed (no blank line between issues). Please note that any fields left blank still have the tabs in place so that subsequent fields are in the right place. Notice also that the first two fields are blank for everything but the line for the cover. The following table shows the function of the 18 fields for both cover and feature records, and which information is required if applicable (R) and Optional (O). R/O Cover Feature (R) 1. Issue Number 1. [Blank: issue number for cover] (R) 2. Publication Date 2. [Blank: publication date for cover] (O) 3. Type [always "Cover"] 3. Type (O) 4. Genre 4. Genre (R) 5. [Cover] Feature 5. Feature (R) 6. Title [Usually blank for cover] 6. Story Title (R) 7. [Cover] Pencils 7. Pencils (R) 8. [Cover] Inks 8. Inks (R) 9. [Usually blank, see notes for exceptions: script field for stories] 9. Script (R) 10. [Cover] Colorist 10. Colorist (R) 11. [Cover] Letterer 11. Letterer (R) 12. Editor 12. [Usually blank: editor field for cover] (R) 13. Total Comic Page Count 13. Page Count for feature (R) 14. Cover Price 14. [Blank: price field for cover] (O) 15. Character Appearances 15. Character Appearances (O) 16. Notes/Comments [cover and whole book] 16. Notes/Comments for feature (O) 17. [Usually blank: synopsis field for stories] 17. Short Synopsis of Story (O) 18. Reprint info 18. Reprint Info More detailed notes and examples for each of the fields: 1. Issue Required Field The issue number of the book in question as it appears on the book. If there is no issue number use "nn" (no number). Please do not use the ISBN as an issue number. For series which restart the numbering periodically and change the volume number (many Golden Age US books, for example) use the format "v1#1" (no spaces, not "vol" or "volume"). If you feel a made-up number which does not actually appear on the book would be useful it can be included in square brackets. If you are indexing the first or last (or only) issue of a series the entries for those issues should be exactly the same as you entered in FirstIssue and LastIssue in the Series line above. This field is blank for anything other than the cover (first) line of each issue. Examples: 1 nn nn [1] nn [2] v5#6 v5#6 [30] 2. PubDate Required Field The date that appears on the book, generally in the indicia. Spell out months or seasons in full, and use the full 4 digit year. Use the copyright date if no other date appears. Note the handling of dates which cross years below. This field is blank for anything other than the cover (first) line of each issue. If no date appears on the book but you can guess the date accurately from other sources (ads in other books) you should include that date as "[January 1945]" and document your source in the Notes field. Note that for some books "Winter 1945" is the first issue of the year while for others it's the last issue (so it could be followed by either "Spring 1945" or "Spring 1946") so it should be indexed with both years to avoid ambiguity. Check carefully to determine whether "Winter 1945-1946" or "Winter 1944-1945" is appropriate. The same applies to books dated as "Holiday 1945". Examples: 1945 January 1945 January 7 1945 7 January 1945 Late January 1945 January-February 1945 December 1945 - January 1946 Spring 1945 Winter 1945-1946 Holiday 1945-1946 [January 1945] [1945] [January] 1945 [circa 1910] 3. Type Optional Field This field is optional but strongly encouraged. If it is filled in, try to use most applicable one from the following list. Cover The front cover, always the first feature indexed. If a comic comes in multiple versions with different covers they should be indexed as a single comic with two or more cover records (lines) Story a standard comic strip feature Cover Reprint an interior reprint of the cover to another book, such as in a cover gallery or chapter breaks in a reprint edition. Photo Story a story in which photos replace most/all artwork (also known as fumetti throughout the world) Text Story a prose story, which may or may not have illustrations Text Article some kind of written factual article, which may Or may not have illustrations Bio a special type of text article biography, either of the creators of the comic or someone else Recap a feature such as a "The story so far..." page designed to summarize previous stories while being obviously distinct from the current story Profile a feature describing the background or characters (such as in DC's WHO'S WHO or Marvel's OFFICIAL HANDBOOK) Pinup (note: no hyphen) a page of art, where text is minimal, but not part of a story (a story splash page, for instance, does not count as a pinup). Backcovers (if not part of wraparound covers) should also be indexed as pinups. Filler A comic strip, but NOT a regular feature of the periodical. PSA Public Service Announcement (a widely used abbreviation for use in this field only) Ad Advertisement Promo Any house ad, subscription offer, or other material designed to boost interest in other magazines or books by the publisher. This could be used to designate a preview, introductory teaser strip, hero resume, editor's soapbox, etc. 'Promo' covers all of these. Relegate details to the NOTE field. Activity any rebus, crossword, cryptogram, game, plans for building models, collecting, etc. that urge reader activity or interaction. Letters Letters of Comment (or letter column) Insert a non-comic item inserted in, attached to or packaged with a book, such as 3-D glasses, poster, trading cards, buttons. Note not all of these types of items need be indexed. In particular ads, promos and letter pages normally need not be included. These are usually included only if something noteworthy appears (for example, the Captain Tootsie ads by C. C. Beck). 4. Genre Optional Field This is the broad category that a story may be placed in. A feature can belong to multiple genres, which should be separated by a semi-colon. A longer list of common genres is available. Examples: Superhero War Funny Animal Superhero; Funny Animal; War 5. Feature Required Field This is the name of any on-going series that the item being indexed is part of. Usually this will appear on the first page, and is often (but not always) the main recurring character. Note that not all entries will have features (for example, most EC stories don't). Multiple features (for crossovers) should be listed. Examples: Superman Justice League of America Asterix Haunted Tank Superman and Asterix 6. Title Required Field The name of the story, usually from the first page. Untitled stories can be handled in different ways depending on the situation. They can be listed as "[untitled]", a title can be made up by the indexer ("[Made Up Title]") or the first line of script can be quoted (also in square brackets but with quotation marks inside). If the story is part of a longer story then that information is included after the chapter title. Note that some Types (such as covers and pinups) normally don't have titles and this field can be left blank for those. Examples: Clash of the Titans [untitled] [When Titans Clash] ["It was a dark and stormy night..."] Clash of the Titans; (When Titans Clash part 47) When Titans Doth Clash (part 4) 7. - 12. Creator Fields Required Fields The next six fields are all used primarily to index the names of creators, so have most things in common. Keep in mind the following: - Index full names ("Joe Kubert", not "J. Kubert" or "Kubert") unless that's how the creator is most commonly known ("E. Nelson Bridwell"). - Separate multiple creators in the same field with a semi-colon and space ("Joe Kubert; Russ Heath") even if they have common names ("Roy Thomas; Dann Thomas" not "Roy and Dann Thomas"). - Note pen-names with square brackets after the full name ("Mike Esposito [as Micky Demeo]"). - Note group pen-names with square brackets after the names ("Frank Giacoia; Mike Esposito; Alan Weiss [all as Diverse Hands]"). - Note uncertain credits with a question mark after the name ("Jack Kirby ?"). Completely uncertain credits are indexed with just a question mark ("?"). - If the credit needs elaboration beyond the name of the field include it after the creator name in round brackets ("Jack Kirby (layouts); Don Heck (finished pencils)"). See examples for other common types of elaboration. - Notes which refer to the role of all creators in a field are in round brackets after all the names ("Len Wein; Marv Wolfman; Steve Gerber (all contributing writers)") - If you disagree with a printed credit index what you think is correct along with "(see notes)" and include the wrong credit and your justification for ignoring it in the Notes field for that line (see examples under the Notes field). - Field which are not applicable to the story in question (colorist for b&w stories, writer or letterer for pinups) should be filled in as "none". Examples: Joe Kubert Joe Kubert ? Gene Colan [as Adam Austin] ? [as A. Nony Mouse] Vince Colletta; Murphy Anderson (Superman heads) Jack Kirby (1-5 20-22); Alex Toth (6-19) Julius Schwartz; E. Nelson Bridwell (assistant) Stan Lee (co-plot); Roy Thomas Stan Lee (plot); Dennis O'Neil [as Sergius O'Shaugnessy] (script) Freddy Milton; Dwight Decker (translation) William Shakespeare (original story); Fred Hembeck (adaptation) Frank Giacoia (see notes) There are special instructions for separate creator fields. 7. Pencils The primary artist on the feature. This generally includes layouts and full pencils, and should be noted if it doesn't. Painted artwork is generally noted in the Pencils, Inks and Colorist fields as "Artist (painting)" in each field. 8. Inks This field can also be used for assistants and other secondary artists. 9. Script This field includes writer, plotter, scripter, adapter, translator and any similar function. If included without notes it assumes plot and script contribution. This field is generally not filled in for the cover, so that field can be used for credits which apply to the entire book (for books which only have contributing writers or translators listed for the entire book, not for each individual story). 10. Colorist In addition to standard coloring, this field can also be used, with appropriate notes, to indicate artists who add 3-D effects or graytones to the artwork. Examples: Tatjana Wood George Freeman; Digital Chameleon (seperations) Ray Zone (3-D effects) Ray Fehrenbach (tones) 11. Letterer The standard phrase used for any machine lettering is "typeset", unless credited differently (Charlton's "A. Machine"). Lettering studios may also be noted. 12. Editor In most cases where an editor is listed the credit applies to the entire book, so this field only needs to be filled in the cover line and left blank otherwise. In some anthology comics there are separate editors listed for each story, and in those cases the field may be filled out in each applicable line. 13. PageCount Required Field For the cover line only, this is the total number of pages for the entire book, including covers. Current standard American comics are therefore 36 pages, most Golden Age books are 68 pages, 80-Page Giants are 84 pages and 100-Page Super Spectaculars are 100 pages. If the cover art would be more than one page (wraparound or gatefold covers) include details about this in the Notes field. For all other lines, this is the page count of the feature being indexed. Partial page counts are allowed, and should be expressed as decimals. 14. Price Required Field This is only filled out for the cover line and should be left blank for all other lines. This is the price printed, in the currency of the country of publication. Common currency symbols and abbreviations may be optionally used. For American books the price is usually given in dollars, not cents ("0.10" or "$0.10" or "USD 0.10", not "10 cents" or "10›"). 15. Characters Optional Field This field records the appearance of any characters in the story who you think are worth indexing, along with notes about them. Square brackets should be used for notes which clarify which character if it's ambiguous ("Flash [Barry Allen]" and "Flash [Jay Garrick]"). Round brackets should be used for notes about the character's role in the story ("Superman (origin)"). Common notes about character roles are origin, introduction, death, cameo, guest-star and villain. Examples: Jimmy Olsen Jimmy Olsen (origin, death) Red Tornado [Ma Hunkel] (cameo) Green Lantern [Hal Jordan]; Green Lantern [Alan Scott] (cameo) 16. Notes Optional Field This is a catch-all field for anything that doesn't fit anywhere else but you think it worth noting. Direct comments about other fields to here with a "(see notes)" comment. Use this field in the cover line for notes applying to either the cover or to the whole issue, and use it in other individual lines for notes that only apply to that feature. Examples (cover line): Wraparound cover Gatefold cover Die-cut cover ISBN 1-234-5678 Reported circulation: 150,245 (average), 125,243 (nearest issue) 30th Anniversary issue; Embossed cover Published with 4 variant covers Examples (other lines): Pages 17 and 18 reversed Edited reprint (pages 17 and 18 removed) Story continues in Avengers #56 Miscredited to Joe Sinnott. Obvious by style Miscredited to Edmund Hamilton. Appears in Otto Binder's files Miscredited to Robert Kanigher. Corrected in later letter column 17. Synopsis Optional Field If you want, a short summary of the major points of each story can be included here. 18. Reprint Optional Field This field serves to record both the original source for reprinted stories and known reprints for original stories. To easily distinguish between the two, the first word in this field should be either "from" or "in". Then include the title and issue of the source/reprint you're referring to and then the date of the book. If you know a story is a reprint but don't know the exact source you can index it as "from ?" and then include whatever partial information you know. Any other details about the reprint (such as editing) belong in the Notes field. If the source/reprint story is already indexed in the GCD please try to use the exact same book title already in the database to aid in cross-referencing. Examples: in Superman Annual #1 (1961) from Superman #252 (May 1959) from ? From ? [Atlas horror circa 1958] from ? [probably Captain Major Comics around #123] Section 3 - The Distribution Format ------------------------- After the submission is sent in, it is processed into a Distribution Format, and several additional fields are added. As with the submission format, all this is a lot easier to understand if you look at the sample files. The information for a single series is sent out in two parts. First there is the series information, which corresponds to the Series Line in the submission format. A single file contains the series information for every title indexed in the GCD in this format ("^T" being tabs again). Serieskey ^T BookName ^T Publisher ^T Imprint/PubNotes ^T SeriesBegan ^T SeriesEnded ^T FirstIssue ^T LastIssue ^T Tracking ^T Format ^T CountryCode ^T LanguageCode ^T Notes ^T Indexer ^T IndexStatus ^T Included ^T File ^T LastChanged These are mostly as indexed above. The fields added are SeriesKey - A unique character code to the series IndexStatus - A tracking field for the status of the index and the series. Included - A list of all issues already indexed for the GCD File - The name of the file in which the Issues information is distributed. LastChanged - The date the information for this series was updated This file is sorted by Publisher, then BookName, then SeriesBegan. The remaining information is distributed in separate files, split by publisher and title and listed in the "File" field above. Each line indexed is presented in 25 fields as follows: BookName ^T Publisher ^T SeriesBegan ^T Keydate ^T Issue ^T PubDate ^T Sequence ^T Type ^T Genre ^T Feature ^T Title ^T Pencils ^T Inks ^T Script ^T Colors ^T Letters ^T Editing ^T PageCount ^T Price ^T Characters ^T Notes ^T Synopsis ^T Reprints ^T SeriesKey ^T LastChanged Most again are exactly as submitted. BookName, Publisher, SeriesBegan and SeriesKey are identical to the same fields in the Series file. Other new fields are: Keydate - A 10 digit code in the form ####.##.##, unique to every distinct issue in a series. The first four digits represent the year the issue was published. The next two represent the month (with "13" or "00" being used for books with no month, depending on the circumstances). The last two are usually "10", unless two issues already have the same year and month, in which case they're adjusted to make sure the earlier issue has the lower Keydate. Therefore for a book from July 1972 this will normally be "1972.07.10". This field is required for easy chronological sorting of issues. Sequence - An integer, unique to every line for each issue of each series. The cover line is assigned a Sequence of "0" and each subsequent line is assigned the next number up in the order they were submitted. LastChanged - The date the information for this issue was updated. These files are sorted by Publisher, then BookName, then SeriesBegan, then Keydate, then Sequence. Section 4 - Other Resources -------------------- The current version of this document is available in text and html versions at http://www.comics.org/format/format.txt http://www.comics.org/format/format.htm A small sample file of the GCD submission format is available at http://www.comics.org/format/sample.txt The ISO codes for Countries are available at http://www.comics.org/format/country.txt This ISO codes for Languages are available at http://www.comics.org/format/language.txt Section 5 - Answers To Common Questions ---------------------- This section still to come