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1. Checking Title Information rebuilds ComicBase s internal title and descriptions index It s useful if ComicBase isn t taking you to the title you ve selected i e you entered Abe Sapien in the Title List and ComicBase took you to 2000 A D instead Checking List of Titles in Stock will rebuild the list of titles you own This is particularly useful if you ve added titles but they re not appearing when you Click the Titles in Stock Checking Issue Information will rebuild values within ComicBase and is particularly helpful if you believe ComicBase may be totalling values incorrectly Rebuilding issue information will also check through your notes storylines writer and artist lists and will remove any duplicate or near duplicate information e g a note reading 1st appearance of Punisher 1st appearance of The Punisher In discarding duplicates in this manner the longest item will be preserved In the example above the note would be changed to 1st appearance of The Punisher This option also standardizes the spellings of thousands of known creator names Checking Find Comics Lists will rebuild the Find Comics lists which appear after you ve used the Find command to find character appearances work by a writer or other comic book related information If the lists that are appearing are inaccurate check off this box RESET COMICBASE SETTINGS If at any time you want to reset the your preferences in Co
2. Divider Divider Labels Price Labels Price List _ Missing issues of each title _ include storylines artists and writers _ List only marked issues Custom Items to Include Custom Field 1 Custom Check 1 Custom Date 1 _ Custom Field 2 Custom Check 2 _ Custom Date 2 _ Custom Field 3 _ Custom Check 3 _ Custom Field 4 PRINTING AND REPORTS 30 COMICBASE 9 USER GUIDE 2 Check off what you d like the report to include in the Report Items box If you check Issues of each title the report will list all the issues you own If you check Missing Issues for each title the report will list issues you don t own You can also include information in your custom fields by checking the field names in the Custom Fields to Include box Adding these fields will add an extra line to the report for each issue even for issues which don t have custom field information 3 To include every title in ComicBase check the All radio button To create a report that only includes a title or certain titles click the Selected Titles radio button You can also create a selection that s the result of a search by clicking Find while selecting titles See page 30 You can also narrow the list to just the titles you own by clicking Titles in Stock Hold down the Ctrl key to select more than one title Moving between parts of the list will not deselect your selections Click OK when you ve selected all the titles you wa
3. GETTING STARTED A PRIMER ON COMICBASE TERMINOLOGY Below is a list of words frequently used in this manual Title is the name of a comic book se ries Action Comics is a title Within this title there have been over 700 issues Issue is a single installment of a title usually with its own number Examples are Action Comics 23 or The Amazing Spider Man 42 Comic is a generic term for a comic book For instance if you have two copies of The Amazing Spider Man 42 and one copy of Bone 1 you have three comics Cost is the price you paid for comic Value is what our research says is the Current market value for an issue ina certain condition Price is the amount you wish an issue to sell for COMICBASE 9 USER GUIDE 2 Insert the ComicBase Program Disk The ComicBase launcher program will start automatically double click the Launcher exe file if autostart is disabled on your computer 3 The InstallShield Wizard will guide you through the installation process 4 Install QuickTime used for viewing movies Note The QuickTime installer will ask for a serial number unless you ve previously bought QuickTime Pro from Apple leave this blank 5 Install Adobe Reader used for viewing documentation 6 Launch ComicBase by double clicking its icon on your desktop or choosing it from your Start Menu r Comichase 9 The first time you run ComicBase it will ask if you re upgrading from a pre
4. CTRL SHIFT MODIFY THE CURRENT TITLE Mass CHANGE New Issue PRINT REPORTS AND LABELS QUIT COMICBASE MARK THE SELECTED ISSUES CHOOSE TITLE CTRL U UNMARK TITLES CTRL V CTRL W CTRL X CTRL Z PASTE CLOSE WINDOW CUT UNDO PREVIOUS TITLE CTRL PREVIOUS TITLE WITHOUT PICTURES NEXT TITLE CTRL NEXT TITLE WITHOUT PICTURES F12 ComicBAS STATISTICS ONE KEY ISSUE ENTRY Available from the Issues View and Modify Issues screen SETS THE QUANTITY FOR THE HIGHLIGHTED ISSUES TO THAT NUMBER GO TO THE ISSUE DETAIL FOR THE SELECTED ISSUES ADD 1 TO THE SELECTED ISSUES QUANTITY SUBTRACT 1 FROM THE SELECTED ISSUES QUANTITY Crtrt Ciick on Next Title or Previous Title buttons Go TO THE NEXT TITLE WITH NO ISSUES Att Cuick on Next Title or Previous Title buttons Go TO THE NEXT TITLE WITH NO TITLE DESCRIPTION SHiet Ciick on Next Title or Previous Title buttons Go TO THE NEXT TITLE WITH NO TITLE PICTURE CLick on the publisher name on the Pictures View GO TO THAT PUBLISHER S WEB SITE PUBLISHER NAME WILL SHOW AS COLORED TEXT IF A WEB SITE IS DEFINED FOR THAT PUBLISHER AtT Cuick on the publisher name in Pictures View
5. In the Comic Types Setup box click New Type the name of the new comic type in the Comic Type field 3 In the Abbreviation field enter a 2 or 3 letter abbreviation for the comic type This abbreviation will appear next to the issue number in the title s Issues window 4 Click Save to save the new comic type You will now be able to select it in the Comic Types dropdown menu in the Issue Detail REMOVE A COMIC TYPE 1 Go to the Setup menu and select Comic Types 2 Select the comic type you want to remove and click the Remove 3 Click Save to save the changes The comic type you removed will no longer be available in the Comic Types dropdown menu in the Issue Detail To change the name or abbreviation for a comic type select it in the list and change the name or abbreviation in the Comic Type and Abbreviation fields Click Save The new name and or abbreviation will appear in the Comic Types dropdown menu and the Issues Views but will not change the previous abbreviation used for comics already indexed in ComicBase MODIFYING PUBLISHERS The Publishers dropdown menu in the Issue Detail window lets you choose from the most common publishers If your publisher is not in the list type in the name of that publisher anyway and when you move to edit another field in the Issue Detail window a window will dropdown asking you for the publisher s information If you have a lot of comics from a publisher not in the Publishers d
6. To protect your data in case of hard drive failure we also recommend periodically transferring a copy of your database onto a CD or DVD or creating a backup copy on a remote hard drive or removable media To do so select the File menu s Save a Copy command You can save your ComicBase onto any hard drive or onto removable media The file will be called Copy of ComicBase cba If you only have a floppy disk you can back up your data only by using the File menu s Export Price List command The ComicBase database is too large to fit on a floppy disk This will export only the issue information you ve entered which will fit on a floppy disk as a text file This backup however will not include information such as covers you ve scanned in descriptions you ve modified or custom grading and other custom fields RESTORING FROM A BACKUP These instructions assume you have a full backup created by ComicBase s automatic back up or with the Save a Copy command If you saved your data as a price list onto a floppy disk follow instructions for importing data into ComicBase see Transferring Data To restore your data into ComicBase you cannot be running ComicBase Quit the program if it is running First change the name of your backup database usually named Copy of ComicBase Database cba to ComicBase Database cba Copy it into ComicBase s Program Data folder By default ComicBase is installed in C Progr
7. Click the Find Comics button again while the Found Comics list is still onscreen to use successive searches to narrow or widen previous search results This allows you to do com plex searches such as finding All the Marvel Comics published after 1953 and before 1960 To narrow searches just select the Narrow Results option To widen searches choose Append to Results in the Find dialog box Note that some searches such as searching for a Publisher will bring back a list of titles others such as searching for Quantity in Stock bring back lists of issues ComicBase will automatically do the right thing in this regard without requiring you to explicitly choose the table Occasionally however you may want to do a complex search which involves both title fields and issue fields The type of data in the list will always correspond to the last type of search chosen For instance if you want to see a list of issues from Dark Horse comics which you have more than one of copy of first search by Publisher is Dark Horse followed by a narrowing search for Quantity in Stock is greater than 1 If you wanted to see a list of titles from Dark Horse for which you have more than one copy do the Quan tity in stock search first followed by the Publisher search 13 COMICBASE 9 USER GUIDE e CONDITION finds comics by the condition they re in such as all your comics in very fine VF condition COVER
8. ComicBase fields Always use Show Preview to make sure your data will be imported into the correct field Most of the problems with importing are the result of importing data into the wrong fields 10 After importing your information into ComicBase look at the Issue View and the Issue Detail for the titles for which you ve imported information and check that your information has been imported into the right fields EXPORTING DATA You may find it useful to move information from ComicBase to another program such as a page layout program to create a private catalog or to a web authoring program for posting your list online To export information from ComicBase 1 From the File menu select the Export command Quantity in Stock Condition Cost Cover Price Price Year 1 2001 tem Separator rs a tecord Separator Roun el Style Spreadsheet Database Records v Export only issues in stock Export Titles All C Export only marked issues Selected Titles C include field titles 2 In the Export Price List dialog box move all the fields you want to export from the Available Fields list to the Export Fields list Add blank fields for special fields for which there are no ComicBase equivalents For example if you were importing your data into an Excel spreadsheet with columns for Title Issue Number Penciller and Inker you would use Comic Title TRANSFERRING DATA 35 COMICBASE 9 USER GUIDE T
9. ComicBase will add 2 as the next issue and automatically record it as published in August 2004 You can set a different issue number by typing in the Number field if you re adding a range of issues enter the first issue in the Number field and the last issue in the Through field Any information you enter such as condition cost and notes will be entered for all issues in the range REMOVING ISSUES ComicBase has information on thousands of issues but as you ll notice the quantity of each is originally set to O indicating you don t have any copies of the issues in your collection Most of the time you ll want to leave the issue information in ComicBase because it s useful for finding a special appearance artist writer s work or any other issue specifics Keep in mind that you can restrict the list to just issues you own so that you won t need to remove all issues permanently just to get a report of your collection However you can also permanently remove issue listings in ComicBase Simply select the issues you want to remove then right click and choose Delete You can also remove an issue through the Issue Detail window by clicking on the Remove button at the bottom 20 COMICBASE 9 USER GUIDE ADDING NEW TITLES Whenever you buy a newly released title or find an old title that we ve somehow overlooked you ll want to add it to your ComicBase database To add a new title go to the Title List and click on New
10. For instance you can use it to set the price of every issue in ComicBase to the previous year s values or check the Marked box for every issue of several titles at once To use the Mass Change command select it from the Comics menu In the dialog box that appears select the field you want to change in the Change dropdown menu This will offer you a choice of the value and date fields The Mass Change command can apply to all the titles in ComicBase or only to selected titles To apply changes to a select list of titles click the Selected Titles radio button and in the window that appears select the titles to which you want to apply changes ADVANCED COMICBASE A NOTE FOR USING FIND amp REPLACE If you change the contents of the notes storylines artist or writer fields you may cause the lists of artists writers etc that ComicBase displays as choices when you do a Find Comics to become outdated It s a good idea to periodically have ComicBase rebuild these lists if you do replacements in these fields To do this choose the File menu s File Tools option select Rebuild List of Titles then check the Find Comics Lists when asked which items to rebuild This process will likely take several minutes to complete which is why it s not done for you automatically whenever you Find and Replace COMICBASE 9 USER GUIDE ADVANCED COMICBASE Click the Field radio button to replace the values in one field with the
11. NAMING TITLES Be aware that the proper title is not always the same as the name on the cover in fact it can be fiendishly difficult to determine the proper name for a title See The Black Art of Title Naming sidebar Check the Indicia for Title Name Check the Indicia for Title Name Publisher Choose or Add a Publisher m Copyright and Copyright Holder Years Published Year or Years Published Mature readers only me Genres C Action Adventure _ Fantasy L C Western C Adut C Horror C_ Romance L Custom Genre 1 C Anthology C Licensed L Science Fiction L Custom Genre 2 C Anthropomorphics _ Manga Anime L Sports L Custom Genre 3 Comedy Mystery Super Heroes C Custom Genre 4 Crime Non Fiction C_ Underground C Custom Genre 5 L Drama Pin Ups Art War L Custom Genre 6 Marked Title Check 1 Title Check 2 Title Check 3 C Create picture folder If a title begins with The or A or An put any one of that word at the end of the title separated by a comma For instance if you were adding The Vigilante you would enter it as Vigilante The in the Name field This way ComicBase will list the title in alphabetical order under V Vigilante rather than T The If the title contains both an article and a colon such as The Trouble With Girls The Night of the Lizard then move the article right before the colon and
12. USER GUIDE ORIGIN finds stories which tell how super heroes or villains came by their powers or found their calling Origin stories are often repeated for popular characters and sometimes revised for long running characters DEATH finds stories in which a character dies Whether he she it remained dead is another matter STORYLINE CROSSOVER finds stories It s particularly useful for finding crossover stories that run through several issues and sometimes through several titles ARTIST finds the issues which were drawn by a particular artist or penciller WRITER finds issues which were written by a certain writer NOTES searches the notes field for anything else that might be special about an issue such as a costume change a wedding or information you ve added such as place where you bought it When entering what you re looking for be as general as possible For instance if you re looking for the issue in which Spider Man donned a new costume type in costume or new costume The next set of searches finds titles rather than issues DESCRIPTION DATE MODIFIED finds titles by the date you changed or created the titles descriptions in ComicBase GENRE finds titles by which genre have been checked in the Title Detail window If you check more than one genre checkbox this search will only find titles that also have all those checkboxes checked You can also search on custom genres you ve creat
13. can also create a selection that s the result of a search by clicking the Find button while selecting titles PRINTING AND REPORTS 31 PRINTING AND REPORTS COMICBASE 9 USER GUIDE Narrow the list to just the titles you own by clicking Titles in Stock Hold down the Ctrl key to select more than one title Moving between parts of the list will not deselect your selections Click OK when you ve selected all the titles you want to include Divider Blurbs Divider Labels Price Labels Price List Titles to Print OAI Selected Titles Report Items lssues of each title _ Missing issues of each title _ Group issue numbers together _ List only marked issues Custom Items to Include Title Check 1 Title Check 2 Title 3 Export Preview Cancel 4 Title reports by default will list each issue individually so you can mark them off If you prefer a shorter report you can list a contiguous range of issues as a group e g Action Comics 488 490 493 497 501 by checking the Group Issue Numbers Together box 5 Click the Print button to print your Title report PRINTING DIVIDER LABELS If you have an extensive collection you may be using dividers to separate your titles These dividers are available from most comic book dealers With ComicBase you can print labels for the tabs on your dividers To print divider labels 1 Choose Divider Labels from the Report menu or go to
14. custom fields will appear in the Find menu with the names you ve given them You can use them to search for information in the custom fields just as with similar fields HYPERTEXT LINKS Move between related titles and learn more about the world of comic books with ComicBase s hypertext links If you click on any highlighted word in a ComicBase description the program will take you to the related title For example in the description for Wolverine the words Uncanny X Men are highlighted in blue When you click on the highlighted text ComicBase will algorithmically find the matching title INTERNET LINKS Various features in ComicBase also connect you to comic information on the web To make use of these features you have to be properly configured for internet access See the instructions that came with your computer for help in doing this If a publisher has a web site then the name of the publisher will be underlined in the Title Description Click on the name to link to the publisher s web page If there is no link for a publisher but you know COMICBASE BASICS OTHER USES FOR FIND You can Mark Unmark and Quick Change the issues you ve found Simply highlight the issues in the Found Comics list that you want to work with and choose the appropriate commands from the Edit menu This lets you do unique operations such as finding all Sabretooth appearances and marking them as Wanted See the Managing Your Coll
15. image If a larger picture is available pausing longer will zoom it to full size Mark Issue Column You can use this column to note comics that are special to you in some way e g they have sentimental value or you want to remind yourself to purchase them S iy COMICBASE BASICS Helpful Shortcuts Ctri T gt lt Ctrl F Title List Next Title Previous Title Find 10 COMICBASE 9 USER GUIDE 14 Issue Number 15 The number of this issue Issue Condition amp Other Fields The fields to the right of the picture icons contain information on writers artists storylines pricing and various other information about an issue There are also custom fields available for you to enter your own categories See Managing Your Collection for more information on how to do this Pricing changes for an issue of a comic are denoted in the Issue Fields with prices in red indicating an increase in value and prices in blue indicating a decrese in an issue s worth You can edit any of the fields by double clicking on the specific cell you want to change Right clicking on any field in will also bring up a list of options for managing your individual comic issues such adding a new issue deleting an issue you don t want or using the internet to search for that issue to buy These options are also available through the Comics file menu You can change or resize by dragging the column headers You can
16. series the volume numbers were inappro priate or there were multiple publishers at least one of which ran multiple series by the same name COMICBASE 9 USER GUIDE YEARS PUBLISHED The following line asks for the years a title was published in the Years Published field This information will appear in the title s description window When adding years separate year ranges with commas or hyphens to differentiate between different publishing years and consecutive publication years E g 1979 1985 or 1983 1988 1999 Present TITLE URL AND COMMENTS ComicBase also provides spaces for adding title URL title comments and checkboxes for genre identifiers which you can customize to add your own If you enter a title URL here the user can go directly to that title s web page by clicking on the title name in the description window You can enter title comments in the Title Comments field ComicBase occasionally uses this field to note a publisher name change during a series run but you can use it to keep any notes you wish GENRE Below the Title Comments field is a number of checkboxes to denote the genres this title belongs to For instance if you were adding a title about some zany astronaut rabbits you might check Anthropomorphic Comedy and Science Fiction See the sidebar for genre definitions Icons for the checked genres will appear in the Title Description window You can also go to
17. the File menu and choose Print Click the Divider Labels icon to select it If the All radio button is filled ComicBase will print divider labels for all the titles in ComicBase To print divider labels for only certain titles click the Selected Titles radio button A list of all the titles in ComicBase will appear 32 COMICBASE 9 USER GUIDE You can also create a selection that s the result of a search by clicking the Find button while selecting titles You can also narrow the list to just the titles you own by clicking Titles in Stock Hold down the Ctrl key while clicking to select more than one title Moving between parts of the list will not deselect your selections Click OK when you ve selected all the titles you want to include Use the Label Type dropdown menu to select the label size on which you ll be printing your labels ComicBase will also automatically size the text to fit your label Click the Print Labels for Both Sides box if you want to print two labels for each title one label for each side of the divider Click on the position of the first available label on the first label sheet and click the Print button to start printing PRINTING DESCRIPTIONS You can print the descriptions for each title onto labels that you can affix to your title dividers This is very helpful for prospective buyers who want to learn more about the titles in your collection before a purchase To pri
18. the Preview button or print the statistics by directly by clicking Print PRINTING PRICE LABELS You can use ComicBase to create price labels for each of your comics or just for comics you own from specific titles Each price label will show the comic s title and issue number condition price and notes The labels will also show writer and artist credits unless you uncheck those listings in the Issue Listings box in Preferences found under the Setup menu Label Type Avery 5160 5260 p _ include bar codes C Onty print if new or price changed V include storylines artists and writers The labels also include a code such as the 5X317 shown on this label that tells you when the label was printed The first number in the code indicates the month the issue was entered into inventory i e 5 for May followed by an X the day of the month the label was printed i e 31 for the 31st day and the last digit of the year the label was printed i e 7 for 1997 To print price labels for your comics follow these steps 1 Go to the File menu and select the Print command In the dialog box that appears choose the Price Labels icon from the top bar PRINTING AND REPORTS 27 COMICBASE 9 USER GUIDE PRINTING AND REPORTS 2 Select the type of price label you are going to use from the Label dropdown menu ComicBase will automatically resize the price label text to fit the label size you select 3 Select the
19. the Setup menu and use the Custom Fields command to add your own genres You can also search for titles by their genres including custom genres MATURE TITLES The Mature Readers Only box is for titles which deal with themes you believe are not appropriate for younger readers Any title with this box checked will be removed if you go into the File menu s File Tools and choose Remove Mature Readers Titles MARKING TITLES The Comic Title dialog also lets you mark a title so that you can find it easily by your own criteria There s a Marked checkbox and three custom title checkboxes that you can use for your own special purposes e g Black and White Hot Title Sell it etc using the Setup menu s Custom Fields menu item MODIFYING TITLES To modify titles in ComicBase open the Title List highlight the title you wish to change and click the Modify button at the bottom of the title list to modify that entry This will bring up the Title Detail box MANAGING YOUR COLLECTION GENRE DEFINITIONS Action Adventure Any title with action oriented stories usually in contemporary settings Ex Young Indiana Jones Punisher Adult Titles with content explicit sex drug use or extreme violence that would earn it an NC 17 rating Ex Carnal Comics ANTHOLOGY A title with several un connected stories by various artists and writers in each issue Ex 2000 A ANTHROPOMORPHIC Titles whose characters ar
20. write the rest as it appears Thus the correct naming is Trouble With Girls The The Night of the Lizard PUBLISHER Next select the title s publisher from the Publisher menu If the publisher s name doesn t appear on the list type in the name of the publisher and hit Enter A dropdown window will appear that will allow you to enter in the publisher s information If you have a lot of titles from a particular publisher not in the Publisher menu you may wish to add the publisher to your list of publishers so that it appears the next time you add a title Otherwise uncheck the Add to List of Publishers box at the bottom of the dropdown COPYRIGHT You can type in the copyright information in the Copyright field Usually you ll find this information in the indicia of a title see sidebar MANAGING YOUR COLLECTION THE BLACK ART OF TITLE NAMING Any title you add must have a unique name but finding the right name can be surprisingly difficult what with misleading cover titles erroneous and missing volume numbers and multiple titles with the same name THE INDICIA To deal with all this it s helpful to follow certain naming conventions so that your name for a new title will match the name we use when releasing price upgrades In adding titles to ComicBase we generally give titles the same name as is listed in the comic s indicia The indicia is usually a tiny paragraph of fine print at the bottom of the
21. you want the report to include information on the issues storylines check off the box marked Include Storylines If you want your reports to show your cost as well as the issues values check the box marked Include Cost 3 You can also include information from any of your custom fields Just check the fields you want included in the Custom Fields to Include box Note this will add another line for the information for each issue effectively doubling the length of your report 4 If you want a price list for all the comics in ComicBase make sure the All radio button is filled in Check the List only issues in stock checkbox to limit the list to comics you own Otherwise you will end up with a report that runs for thousands of pages 5 If you want a price list for only one title or only for selected titles click the radio button next to Selected Titles A list of all the titles in ComicBase will appear You can narrow the list to just the titles you own by clicking Titles in Stock Select the titles you want included in the report Use the arrows at the lower left hand corner to view the first second and third part of this list Hold down the Ctrl key to select more than one title Moving between parts of the list will not deselect your selections Click OK when you ve selected all the titles you want to include 29 COMICBASE 9 USER GUIDE You can also create a selection that s the result of a search by clicking the F
22. 5869 or e mail support human computing com Include your name and if you haven t registered your serial number what kind of problem you re having with ComicBase a phone number where we can reach you and the best time to reach you in any messages GENERAL TROUBLESHOOTING INFORMATION ONLINE Minor updates and bug fixes to the current version of Com icBase are free online at http www comicbase com Support Updaters ComicBase_ Updates asp A complete list of all the titles in the current version of ComicBase re ports of incompatibilities and other troubleshooting tips are available at http www comicbase com Support Technotes technotes asp News and information on ComicBase can be found at http www comicbase com 48 COMICBASE 9 USER GUIDE FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS This list covers our most frequently asked support and technical questions You can find more frequently asked questions online at http www comicbase com Support FAQ asp Q A gt 0 gt 0 gt Q Why don t you have my favorite title in ComicBase Hey We re trying But seriously there are a few major reasons why a particular title may not be covered 1 the title came out too recently to make it into the latest edition 2 the title is old and or rare and therefore difficult for us to obtain for coverage or 3 the title is still in the process of being reviewed indexed historically priced and scanned or 4 the title m
23. ATION 1 Under the Setup menu select Issue Variations ACE Edition American Entertainment Ashcan Edition Autographed Blue Variation Bronze Collectors Set Collectors Set Green 2 In the Issue Variations Setup box click New 3 Type the name of the new issue variation into the Issue Variation field 4 Move to the Abbreviation field and type in an abbreviation up to four characters long for the issue variation This will appear next to the issue number in the Issues window 5 Click Save to save the new issue variation It will be available in the Variation dropdown menu in the Issue Detail window To change the name or abbreviation for an issue variation select it in the list and change the name or abbreviation in the Issue Variation and Abbreviation text boxes Click Save The new name and or abbreviation will appear in the Variations dropdown menu but will not change the previous abbreviation used for comics already indexed in ComicBase ADVANCED COMICBASE 40 COMICBASE 9 USER GUIDE ADVANCED COMICBASE MODIFYING COMIC TYPES The Comic Types dropdown menu lets you specify if you have a special comic such as a 3 D special annual ashcan preview or yearbook You can add remove or change these comic types ADD A NEW COMIC TYPE 1 Go to the Setup menu and select Comic Types Comic Type AlM Toothpaste Giveaway Christmas Special Collectors Preview Collectors Set Deluxe Set _ 2
24. C Optima Proof pages were printed on a HP2100N Laserjet Formatted in Adobe InDesign CONTENTS WELCOME TO COMICBASE WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW BEFORE USING THIS GUIDE 6 LAUNCHING COMICBASE 7 REGISTERING 7 TECHNICAL SUPPORT 7 COMICBASE BASICS v TITLES 11 FINDING COMICS 12 Using Find to Search 12 Search Categories 12 HYPERTEXT LINKS 14 INTERNET LINKS 14 MANAGING YOUR COLLECTION ie Entering Data Directly Into the Issues list 16 Quick Change 16 MODIFYING AN ISSUE S DETAIL 17 Comic Type 18 Issue Number 18 Issue Variations 18 Printings 18 Grading Condition 18 Quantity 18 Cost 18 Notes 19 Storylines 19 Writer and Artist 19 Marking Issues 19 Custom Fields 19 DUPLICATING AN ISSUE 20 ADDING NEW ISSUES 20 REMOVING ISSUES 20 ADDING NEW TITLES 21 Naming Titles 21 Publisher 21 Copyright 21 Years Published 22 Title URL and Comments 22 COMICBASE 9 USER GUIDE Genre 22 Mature Titles 22 MODIFYING TITLES 22 EDITING TITLE DESCRIPTIONS 23 REMOVING TITLES 23 MANAGING MORE THAN ONE COLLECTION 24 BACKING UP YOUR COPY OF COMICBASE 24 RESTORING FROM A BACKUP 24 CHECKING FOR PROGRAM UPDATES 25 PRINTING AND REPORTS 26 COMICBASE STATISTICS 26 PRINTING PRICE LABELS 27 PRINTING PRICE LISTS 29 PRINTING ISSUE CHECKLISTS 30 PRINTING TITLE REPORTS 31 PRINTING DIVIDER LABELS 32 PRINTING DESCRIPTIONS 33 TRANSFERRING DATA 34 IMPORTING INFORMATION FROM OTHER PROGRAMS 34 EXPORTING DATA 35 EXP
25. For instance if you have fields for title issue number condition cost and value in your database or spreadsheet you would move the fields Comic Title Issue Number Condition Cost and Selling Price 5 Use the dropdown menus to select how items and records are separated by tab return or space in the exported file 6 The order of fields in the Import Fields dialog box should match the order of fields in your database or spreadsheet 7 Radio buttons at the bottom of the Import Price List dialog box let you choose how you want your information to integrate with the information already in ComicBase 34 COMICBASE 9 USER GUIDE Replace All Issues of Imported Titles is faster but it will overwrite all issue information in ComicBase Only use this option if you want to replace all the information in ComicBase The more common option Replace Only Matching or New Issues is slower but it will only overwrite the issues being imported 4 8 Some spreadsheet or database programs create an initial mail merge header that lists the names of the fields This can be useful if you want to match up ComicBase fields with the fields you re using but if you try to import the header you will get an error message in ComicBase telling you something like there is no title named Comic Title You can skip past the header by typing in how many Lines to Skip at Beginning 9 Click Show Preview to see how your fields will match up with
26. K CHANGE Use the Edit menu s Quick Change command to quickly modify a single field for many selected issues for instance if you d like to quickly change the selling price of Spawn issues 1 50 to 3 00 Just select the issues you want and choose the Edit menu s Quick Change command You can select a discontiguous range of issues by pressing the Ctrl key while selecting MANAGING YOUR COLLECTION LS Tk AMAZE YOUR FRIENDS ENTER YOUR ISSUES WITH A SINGLE KEYSTROKE The quickest way to enter any thing in ComicBase is to select the issue and hit a number between 1 9 to indicate the quantity that you own ComicBase will add that value to the Quantity field for all issues selected For instance if you had a copy of Amazing Spider Man 129 you could simply select that issue then change its quantity from zero to one to indicate that you own it 16 COMICBASE 9 USER GUIDE MANAGING YOUR COLLECTION You can also use Quick Change to modify comics you ve found using the Find Comics command This is particularly useful if for instance you want to search the entire database for comics by Neal Adams then mark them as wanted After doing a Find Comics just select the issues you want to change from the Found Comics list then choose Quick Change from the Edit menu The Quick Change dialog will appear ay i E Du Bi Tiai EE For the selected issue change which field rots ounsa E Save Cancel Ch
27. N oF for origin stories Example Origin Spider Man DEATH or DEATH orf for death stories Example Death of Superman 1ST APPEARANCE Or 1ST APPEARANCE OF Example 1st appearance Dazzler 2ND APPEARANCE Or 2ND APPEARANCE OF Example 2nd appearance Cable APPEARANCE for special appearances Example Lobo appearance 19 COMICBASE 9 USER GUIDE MANAGING YOUR COLLECTION be automatically searched with the Find Comics command and printed on reports To name a custom field checkbox or date field use the Setup menu s Custom Fields command DUPLICATING AN ISSUE If you d like to add a new issue which is a duplicate of an existing one e g a second copy of a comic in a different condition select that issue and choose the Edit menu s Duplicate command Or simply right click on the selection and choose Duplicate from the option list The Issue Detail for the duplicated issue will appear You can change the issue number condition and any other field just as if you were modifying the original issue ADDING NEW ISSUES As new comics are released you ll want to add them to your copy of ComicBase To do this go to the comic title in question and choose the Comic menu s New Issue comics command Ctrl N By default the issue number shown when adding new issues will be the next regular issue in the sequence for the selected title Thus if you choose to add a new issue after Excalibur 2nd Series 1 published in July 2004
28. ORTING LISTS TO HANDHELD COMPUTERS 37 IMAGES AND MOVIES 3 ADDING NEW ARTWORK 38 ADDING NEW MOVIES 39 ADVANCED COMICBASE 40 MODIFYING ISSUE VARIATIONS 40 Adding an issue variation 40 MODIFYING COMIC TYPES 41 Add a New Comic Type 41 Remove a Comic Type 41 MODIFYING PUBLISHERS 41 COMICBASE 9 USER GUIDE MODIFYING PRICING YEARS 42 USING FIND AND REPLACE 43 MASS CHANGE 43 FILE TOOLS 44 Compact and Verify ComicBase 44 Rebuild Lists 44 Reset ComicBase Settings 45 Remove Extraneous NM Issues 45 Currency Conversion 46 Remove Mature Reader Titles 46 BUYING amp RESEARCHING YOUR COMICS ONLINE 47 TROUBLESHOOTING 4s PROBLEM SOLVING TIPS 48 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS 49 Keyboard Shortcuts 50 One Key Issue Entry 350 COMICBASE 9 USER GUIDE WELCOME TO COMICBASE Thank you for purchasing ComicBase the world s 1 software for managing comic collections ComicBase is both a professional tool for organizing and managing your collection as well as a comprehensive comic book reference It includes a comic book price guide of comic values over the past four years comics reviews an encyclopedia of comic books with detailed notes on over 225 000 issues and thousands of full color illustrations of cover art ComicBase will give you information on what each title is about tell you how it relates to other titles and help you find special issues by first appearances origin stories writer or artist It will
29. PRICE finds comics by their original cover price For instance you can use it to find all the comics you own which had a 75 cover price Note that ComicBase does not include cover price for every issue you may need to add this information yourself COVER DATE finds comics by their cover date Since some titles like 2000 A D are published weekly we use a month day year format For instance you can use it to create a list of issues published in March 1999 by entering 3 1 1999 Note that not every issue in ComicBase has cover date filled you may need to add this information yourself e PRICE finds comics in your collection by your selling price such as all comics priced more than 50 each e COST finds comics in your collection by your cost such as all comics you bought for less than 1 each e CURRENT VALUE finds comics in your collection by their current value for instance all comics worth more than 100 each e YEAR VALUE finds comics in your collection by their value in a particular year For instance you can find all the comics that were worth 2 95 in 1996 DATE MODIFIED lets you search for comics by the date they were modified in your ComicBase For instance you could use this to find a list of all the comics you logged into your collection yesterday e MARKED lets you find any issues with the Marked checkbox checked ComicBase also includes several custom fields that you can use for anything you wish The
30. RANSFERRING DATA Issue Number and Artist from the Available Fields list and click Add Blank to have information flow in correctly 3 ComicBase can export text using a variety of item and record separators Use the Item Separator and Record Separator dropdown fields to select the correct format The most common format is tab delimited text for which you can select Tab for the item separator and Return for the record separator 4 Use the Style dropdown menu to select how you want the information exported If you ll be importing the exported data into a spreadsheet or database select Spreadsheet Database records Spreadsheet Database export lists the title name on each line like this 2000 A D 129 1 NM 3 75 Judge Dredd 2000 A D 133 1 NM 3 75 Judge Dredd 2000 A D 134 1 NM 3 75 Judge Dredd If you ll be exporting the data and opening it with your word processor say for a custom report select Formatted Report Report Format It shows the title name once per title 2000 A D 129 1 NM 3 75 Judge Dredd 133 1 NM 3 75 Judge Dredd 134 1 NM 3 75 Judge Dredd 5 If you want the report to include only issues in your collection check the Export Only Issues in Stock Box 6 If you want the exported information to include all the titles in ComicBase click the All radio button If you want the exported information to only include specific titles click the Selected Titles radio button Click Titles in Stock to see
31. RANSFERRING DATA TRANSFERRING DATA ComicBase includes a variety of functions for importing and exporting data to help you organize and manage your collections The import and export functions lets you exchange data with most major spreadsheets and databases such as FileMaker or Microsoft Excel Likewise you can export information from ComicBase for use in Excel and Filemaker etc to graph the value of your collection or place your data into a page layout program ComicBase also allows you to transfer your collection data into your Palm or Pocket PC computer so that you can reference your collection status quickly when away from home such as when browsing at conventions IMPORTING INFORMATION FROM OTHER PROGRAMS You can use the File menu s Import Price List command to import information from another program such as a database or spreadsheet 1 Export your information from the database or spreadsheet to a tab delimited text file If you re not sure how to export information from the database or spreadsheet review your documentation for that program You will need to export information for at least four fields title issue number condition and quantity 2 From the File menu selevt Import In the dialog box that appears locate the exported file on your hard disk 3 When you click Open the Import Price List dialog box will appear 4 Move fields that match your exported files to the Import Fields box using Move
32. Series 2 will have the same default cover price writer and artist as 1 GRADING CONDITION Select the comic s condition from the Condition dropdown menu Most undamaged new comics are in what is known as near mint NM condition If you re unsure of the comic s grade you can use ComicBase s Grading Wizard to help you evaluate the comic Simply click the question mark icon to the right of the Condition dropdown and the Grading Wizard will appear Select the appropriate choices which describe your comic s appearance and the Wizard will give you an estimated grade for the comic according to accepted industry standards When the condition is changed ComicBase will automatically update the selling price field to match the guide value for this issue QUANTITY The Quantity field lists the number of issues you have of this comic COST Type the amount you paid for each comic in the Cost field MANAGING YOUR COLLECTION 18 COMICBASE 9 USER GUIDE ComicBase will automatically calculate the value for a single copy based on its condition in the Selling Price field If you would like to sell your copies for a higher or lower price you can override the value and type in the price you think is appropriate in the Selling Price field This is the price that will appear on price labels and price lists NOTES Enter any special information not handled by the other fields into the Notes field This may include a special charact
33. Small print run titles with a decidedly non mainstream feel often dealing with topics such as sex and drugs Ex Hup Anomaly War Titles about war and com bat Ex Battlefield Action Frontline Combat WesterN Titles set in the late 19th century western United States Usu ally involves cowboys and Indians Ex Tomahawk The Rawhide Kid COMICBASE 9 USER GUIDE MANAGING MORE THAN ONE COLLECTION You and your son friend roommate boyfriend girlfriend can now keep your collections separate in ComicBase To do this choose the File menu s New Database command and create a new file You can then switch between the different databases by using the File menu s Open Database command It s also a good idea to choose different colored backgrounds to keep track of your separate collections You can change the color of a databases main window by using the File menu s Window Color command BACKING UP YOUR COPY OF COMICBASE Since your ComicBase contains important information about your collection we recommend keeping at least one backup copy of your data This will preserve the work you ve done should anything such as a crash while writing to disk corrupt your active copy of ComicBase By default ComicBase will keep your backup copy of ComicBase in your ComicBase folder on your hard drive If you want to keep your backup in another location click Change Location and specify where you want your back up copy stored
34. THE WORLD S 1 SOFTWARE FOR MANAGING COMIC COLLECTIONS COMICBASE 9 0 USER GUIDE 1993 2004 HUMAN COMPUTING COMICBASE AND THE COMICBASE LOGO ARE TRADEMARKS OF HUMAN COMPUTING Written by Peter Bickford Carolyn Bickford and Shiaw Ling Lai Cover by Glen Orbik No part of the program or user guide may be reproduced or distributed without the permission of Human Computing Comic information and pricing data also 1993 2004 to Human Computing and their use is limited to the fair use by the program s purchaser General electronic distribution is expressly forbidden QuickTime and the QuickTime Logo are trademark of Apple Computer Inc used under license Windows 95 Windows 98 Windows ME Windows NT Windows 2000 and Windows XP are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation Microsoft Excel is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation Photoshop is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems Inc Retrospect is a trademark of Dantz Corporation Comic Collector is a trademark of Microleague Multimedia Inc Unless noted otherwise all logos and artwork included in ComicBase and the distinctive likeness of the characters shown is and of the publisher listed Artwork and movies may not be distributed without the express permission of the copyright holder ComicBase 9 User s Manual Revision A This manual was created on Intel Pentium based computers Headline fonts are ITC Stone Sans Body text is set in IT
35. a list of the titles for which you own comics You can also click the Find button to find titles you want to export say all titles which are marked Select the titles for which you want information exported Hold down the Ctrl key while clicking to select more than one title Moving between parts of the list will not deselect your selections Click OK when you ve selected all the titles you want to export 7 If you want the exported information to include field titles i e Comic Title Issue Number check the Include Field Titles box Having field titles included in your report is handy if the spreadsheet or database you re exporting the information to has a preview feature or if you re creating a custom report 8 Click OK to create a ComicBase export file Give the export file a name and specify where you want it saved Be sure to remember the name you ve given the file and the location you saved it so you ll be able to find it when you re ready to import or open the exported information 36 COMICBASE 9 USER GUIDE TRANSFERRING DATA EXPORTING LISTS TO HANDHELD COMPUTERS Price lists issue checklists and title reports can be exported as text or HTML files by clicking Export in the Print dialog You can also transfer exported reports to your Palm or Pocket PC computer allowing you to check your collection status easily especially if you are adding to your collection while on the road or shopping at a convention Althoug
36. am Files Human Computing ComicBase 9 If asked whether you d like to replace the existing ComicBase Database cha file click Yes Then go to the Start menu and select ComicBase from your Programs menu to launch ComicBase MANAGING YOUR COLLECTION 24 COMICBASE 9 USER GUIDE MANAGING YOUR COLLECTION ComicBase should run as normal from whatever information was saved in the backup copy It is recommended that you create another backup copy as soon as possible CHECKING FOR PROGRAM UPDATES ComicBase can check the Human Computing site regularly for any program updates which include bug fixes You can check for updates yourself at any time by using the Internet menu s Check for Program Updates command You can also set the program to check for updates every time the program launches once a day once a week once a month or never Go under the Setup menu and select Preferences then identify the frequency you d like the program to check for updates If you don t have internet access or prefer to check for updates manually select Never 25 COMICBASE 9 USER GUIDE PRINTING AND REPORTS ComicBase can generate a variety of reports and labels including price lists price labels and inventory reports for managing your collection This chapter describes the various statistics and labels you will be able to print You can see a preview of any report before you print it by clicking the Preview button in ComicBase s Print windo
37. atures For a full list of genres and their descriptions see page 22 Movie Button Plays an interview clip or movie trailer if one is associated with this title See the entry Hellblazer for an example Find Comics Button ys Allows you to search for comics by various criteria Move To Previous Next Title Buttons gt To view the next title in alphabetical order click the right arrow To view the previous title click the left arrow Right click on either to bring up a list of more options Choose Title Button Opens the Title List which allows you to go quickly to any title in the database Title Description A brief write up telling you what this title is about Issue Selection Column Click in this column to select issues Information on the first issue selected will be brought up and displayed Select discontiguous issues by holding down the Ctrl key while clicking on all the issues you wish to select You can also hold down Shift while clicking to highlight all comics within a range A value graph will appear on the right and issue notes will replace the review and publisher information The graph shows the issue s value for the past four years Cover Picture Icon Tal Shows whether or not a cover picture is available for this issue Small image icons are red and blue while high definition large image icons have a green plus sign over the icon Pausing over a picture icon will automatically display the
38. ave an issue ComicBase offers a variety of ways to modify issues depending on your particular needs e The Fastest Way to Enter an Issue To mark that you have one or more issues in stock just highlight them in the Issues List and press the 1 key on your keyboard to indicate that you have one copy in stock pressing 2 indicates that you have two copies in stock etc Entering Data Directly Into the Issues List This is useful for mak ing quick edits to any field such as to change a cost or price for an Issue Using Quick Change to set the value of a given field for one or more issues such as to indicate that you paid 1 for issues 312 338 of Captain America Double Clicking on an Issue to Edit Its Detail This lets you change all the information on an issue on a single screen ENTERING DATA DIRECTLY INTO THE ISSUES LIST Most information about an issue can be changed just by double clicking on its field in the Issues List and typing the new information There are a few tricks however to make this even easier You can resize the field widths by clicking and dragging their boundary line to the desired width If you don t want to see a given field you can even drag its width up to nothing hiding it Right clicking in the column in the Issue List header will display these fields again You can change the order in which the Issues List fields are displayed by clicking on a field and dragging to the left or right QUIC
39. ay be indexed under another name such as Four Color Comics If you find ComicBase doesn t have a title you collect use the New Title command to add titles from your collection into ComicBase If the title appears in the next ComicBase update you can easily integrate any information you ve added into the update process Where are the rest of the X Men or Justice Leagues or Marvel s X Men are listed as X Men 1st series until issue 142 after which they went through a little noticed name change to become officially The Uncanny X Men where subsequent issues are listed Justice League America International Europe went through numerous such mid title name changes and issues are listed under the appropriate titles although the shifts still make us dizzy We generally try to smooth such transitions by noting where series are continued in the notes of the last issue of the original run as well as where they are continued from in the first issue of the renamed series ComicBase s pictures aren t showing and or the movies won t play Make sure you installed QuickTime from the ComicBase disk to make sure you have the most compatible version Also if you re storing pictures on your hard disk make sure the pictures are in the correct place see page 38 Lastly if you re having trouble reading pictures or movies off the disk check your CD DVD ROM drive Unlike most CD DVD ROM programs ComicBase takes up all the spac
40. be solved by the latest update or you have suggestions for improvements or changes you d like to see in ComicBase you can reach us during our regular business hours M F from 10a m to 5p m PST at 408 266 6883 You can also contact us at any time via e mail to support human computing com or fax us at 408 266 5869 When calling for technical support please have your registration number handy for the quickest assistance COMICBASE 9 USER GUIDE COMICBASE BASICS COMICBASE BASICS The following few pages will cover everything you need to know to get started with ComicBase including how to move between titles look up prices and issue details find special comics and more In the next section we ll get into detail about how to track your own collection in ComicBase But for now let s take a moment and get familiar with the main ComicBase window 0O WO 1 Cover Thumbnail Shows a thumbnail preview of the selected comic s cover If no image is available then a publisher or default logo will be displayed instead COMICBASE 9 USER GUIDE 10 11 12 13 Current Title Displays full name of the series you are viewing Title Abbreviation Abbreviated title name assigned by ComicBase Publisher Name amp Years Published Name of the publisher as well as the years during which this title was published Title Genres ie Icons designating the genres e g Horror Comedy that this title fe
41. ches that let you locate a character s first appearance death origin stories and more To find issues click the Find Comics icon in your ComicBase main window You can restrict any search to just the titles you own by checking the List Only Issues in Stock checkbox at the bottom USING FIND TO SEARCH Begin by selecting the type of thing you re looking for from the Find dropdown list at the top Many searches show an indexed list which you can move through by quickly typing the first few letters of your search For instance if you re looking for the first appearance of Psylocke you only have to type psyl in the 1st Appearance find box Find 1st Appearance New Search Narrow Results App C List only issues in stock When ComicBase finds the items that match what you re looking for it will bring up a list of those items The list will remain onscreen until you close it so you Can view other issues or titles that matched your search criteria SEARCH CATEGORIES To find issues or titles click the Find button and select what you want to search for The list is of things you can find broken up into three parts The first set of searches looks for information from the Notes Storyline Artist and Writer fields FIRST APPEARANCE finds the first time a character appeared in any title SECOND APPEARANCE finds the second time a character appeared in any title COMICBASE BASICS 12 COMICBASE 9
42. ction service click on the issue in the Issues view to highlight it Select the Internet menu s Buy command and ComicBase will show you all auctions on your preferred auction service that may have the issue you re looking for You can also check for all issues of a given title by choosing the Buy command without highlighting a specific issue If you hold down the shift key on your keyboard when choosing the Buy command ComicBase will search through your auction site s historical pricing archive to find what recent copies of the selected issue have sold for This is a quick way to do your own pricing research and is particularly useful for comics which change in value very rapidly INTERNET OPTIONS 47 COMICBASE 9 USER GUIDE TROUBLESHOOTING Although we hope your experience with ComicBase is blemish free we have added this section to answer frequently asked questions let you know how to resolve problems yourself and give you tips on getting the best technical support from us PROBLEM SOLVING TIPS A few simple steps can clear up many common problems If you re experiencing trouble with ComicBase 1 ComicBase is so much fun you probably installed it and got going right away But if you are having trouble figuring out how to use a certain feature or how to use it more efficiently browse through the user s guide 2 Read the Read Me file on the ComicBase disk This details known incompatibilities and other kn
43. e animals acting like humans Ex Albedo Porky Pig Comepy Titles with lightweight stories humorous characters and happy endings Ex The Simpsons Crime Titles that feature gang sters gunplay and commissions of crimes Emphasis is on plot ting commission and aftermath of crimes Ex Police Action Crime Detective Comics Drama A focus on emotion and interpersonal conflict Ex Slacker Comics Fantasy Titles with stories in imag ined settings and with mythical or folkloric heroes Ex E fquest Conan the Barbarian Horror Titles featuring frightening characters such as monsters and vampires Ex Buffy the Vampire Slayer Tomb of Dracula LicENsEeD Comics with characters or stories originally released in another medium such as book or movie Ex Terminator Pok mon Manca Anime Titles with stories and art in the style of Japanese com ics or animated films Ex Bubblegum Crisis Ninja High School COMICBASE 9 USER GUIDE EDITING TITLE DESCRIPTIONS The space below the picture box will generally contain a review for the series you are viewing We ve worked hard with the guys over at Comic Buyers Guide to bring you the most comprehensive encyclopedia of comics reviews available to date But if you find any entry with no review or you wish to add to the review you can easily change the text by going to the Comics menu and choosing Edit Title Description When a Done Editing button appears above th
44. e on the disk and sometimes a failing drive may have trouble reading all the way out to the edges of the CD DVD Windows keeps telling me there isn t enough space to install ComicBase Windows requires two to three times the amount of your RAM as swap space on your hard drive generally the C drive Also the C drive is used to decompress files Even if you re installing onto a drive other than the C drive your C drive will need about 200MB of free disk space You cannot install ComicBase to your A or B drives can t save a backup copy of ComicBase You need to make sure you have enough space for a backup You can specify where you want ComicBase to save its backup by clicking the Change Location button in the Preferences dialog box GENERAL TROUBLESHOOTING 49 KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS CTRL A CTRL B Crrt Shift CHECK HISTORICAL AUCTION PRICES IF NO COMICS ARE SELECTED THESE COMMANDS LOOK FOR ANY AUCTIONS FOR THE TITLE IF COMICS ARE SELECTED ONLY AUCTIONS FOR THAT ISSUE ARE SHOWN SELECT ALL Buy Comics CTRL C CTRL D CTRL E Copy DUPLICATE THE SELECTED ISSUE Epit TITLE DESCRIPTION CTRL F CTRL G CrrRL H HYPERTEXT USED WHEN EDITING DESCRIPTIONS FIND COMICS QUICK CHANGE THE SELECTED ISSUES CTRL MODIFY ISSUES CTRL SHIFT I MODIFY ISSUES FOR THE CURRENT TITLE CTRL J FIND amp REPLACE CTRL L New TITLE CTRL M CTRL N CTRL P CTRL Q CTRL R CTRL T
45. e text field in the description window you can begin editing the description or add in a new one If your description is too large for the description box ComicBase will automatically add a scroll bar that lets you scroll through the description Click Done Editing to close the editing window BOLD ITALICS AND UNDERLINING The Style and Font menus on the main menu bar are only activated when you use the Edit Title Descriptions command You can make words in your title description appear bold italicized underlined or as hypertext by making use of the Style commands from the main menu bar Simply highlight the text you wish changed and select the command you want from the menu You can also change the font size of the description by using the Style menu bar You can alter the type of font displayed by going to the Font menu and selecting the font you want to use CREATING HYPERTEXT LINKS ComicBase lets you link words in your description to other titles through a Hypertext command To do so highlight the name of the other title in your description and choose Hypertext from the Style menu The selected text will be changed to blue Now whenever you click the highlighted words ComicBase will jump to the next sequential title beginning with those words REMOVING TITLES Removing a title from ComicBase removes all of its information If you want to retrieve the information say because you started collecting issues of a title that y
46. ection chapter for more information on using the Mark Unmark and Quick Change commands 14 COMICBASE 9 USER GUIDE the publisher s URL you can create an internet link for it using the Setup menu s Publishers command The Internet menu also has links to the ComicBase home page the online registration form and the ComicBase updates page Remember you must register your copy in order to receive technical support advanced notice of upgrades and special prices on upgrades You can also use commands in the Internet menu to shop for comics on online auction sites or to research a comic s recent selling prices JUMP TO ISSUE To jump to an issue directly from a long list of issues choose the Edit Menu s Jump to Issue command or press the Ctrl key and hit J This will bring up a small dialog where you can type in the issue number you want to see This is especially useful for finding issues under long running titles such as Action Comics or 2000 A D COMICBASE BASICS 15 COMICBASE 9 USER GUIDE MANAGING YOUR COLLECTION Because ComicBase comes built in with information on over 225 000 issues it makes tracking your own collection very simple and efficient instead of having to fill in all the details of an issue yourself most of what you ll be doing is just changing one or two fields in the data that is already there For instance changing the quantity in stock from zero to one to indicate that you h
47. ed MATURE READERS ONLY finds any titles that have the Mature Readers Only checkbox checked TITLE DATE CREATED finds titles by the date they were added to your ComicBase This search is particularly useful if you re adding titles and want a list of the titles you ve recently added TITLE DATE MODIFIED finds titles by the date they were modified In ComicBase TITLE NAME lets you search for a title by any word within its name PUBLISHER helps you find all the titles from a certain publisher TITLE DESCRIPTION finds a title by words in its ComicBase description such as vampire or spoof TITLE COMMENTS let you find a title by comments in the title comments window TITLE MARKED finds titles which have the Marked checkbox checked The next group of searches find items based on issue information e QUANTITY IN STOCK finds issues in your collection by how many copies you have For instance if you want to find all the issues for which you own more than 2 copies so you can sell off your overstock you can use this search COMICBASE BASICS USING MULTIPLE SEARCHES Looking for something very specific Whether you re looking to widen the range of comics fitting your search criteria or hunt down a particular issue from a certain time period and publisher if you re looking for a comic title or issue that falls under more than one search category you may need to do multiple searches to find what you want
48. er appearance or reasons for the issue s grade This information can appear on the issue s price label and in some reports Use semicolons to separate multiple annotations for the same issue or put each on a separate line in the Notes field For example if you were adding Asterix Bk 1 and wanted to note that it included the first appearances of Asterix and Obelix and gives an explanation of Obelix s strength you would write 1st appearance Asterix 1st appearance Obelix Origin Obelix STORYLINES The Storylines field lists the names of the stories that ran in this issue This is particularly helpful for letting you locate reprinted stories or for finding the different issues that comprise a multipart storyline such as Knightfall If an issue has multiple storylines put each story on a separate line WRITER AND ARTIST Use the Writer and Artist fields to enter in the writer and penciller for a particular issue ComicBase does not track inkers or colorists but you can add them to the Artist field or create your own field to track them The information here will appear on price labels in price lists and in writer and artist searches If you want to list more than one writer or artist for a given issue separate each person s name with a comma e g Neil Gaiman Alan Moore MARKING ISSUES Sometimes it s useful to designate issues that are important to you in some way for instance comics you have up for auct
49. even shrink a column up to nothing to hide it Right click and choose Show Hidden Columns to unhide TITLES Titles in ComicBase are listed by alphabetical order and can be accessed by using the navigation buttons in the main window or much more quickly through the Title List The fastest way to find titles in the Title List is to type in the first few letters of the name of the title you wish to see Show AllTitles Titles in Stock Title Amazing Spi an Fireside Book Amazing Spider Man The Lancer Amazing Spider Man The Pocket Books Amazing Spider Man The Public Service Series Amazing Spider Man The Vol 2 Amazing Spider Man 30th Anniversary Poster Magazine Amazing Spider Man 500 Covers a Amazing Spider Man Giveaways Marvel 1963 1993 2003 Present Moving from One Title to the Next COMICBASE BASICS 11 COMICBASE 9 USER GUIDE If you are having trouble finding a series you want try typing in just the name Titles that start with An or The are indexed with the article at the end Thus The Amazing Spider Man is actually listed as Amazing Spider Man The If that doesn t work try a title search using the Find command FINDING COMICS The Find command can be used to search for titles or issues of comics matching various criteria This can range from all the titles with spider in the name or issues in your collection worth more than 50 It also has several special sear
50. first page or last page of the comic It con tains the title of the comic copyright and various publication information The real problem comes when multiple titles have the same name listed in their indicia In that case we add on one of the following comments to the title name in descending order of preference e Limited Series Mini Series Cloak amp Dag ger Ltd Series and Nightwing Mini Se ries Marvel titles of limited duration are generally known as limited series Other companies tend to call theirs mini series We use the appropriate abbreviation when ever we can to differentiate a regular title from a short run title from the same pub lisher by the same name e Volume NumBer Strange Tales Vol 1 and Strange Tales Vol 2 This is used when the same publisher has published the title at different times with different volume numbers It s the way the whole naming convention should work but it falls apart when either the publisher changes the volume number multiple times during the same run or they refer to several different runs as Vol 1 in the indicia In those cases we try e PusLisHeR Name Tarzan Marvel and Tar zan DC This is used when more than one company published a single series with the same name e Series NumBer Aquaman Ist Series through Aquaman 6th Series This is used in desperation when nothing else works usually because there were multiple mini
51. from the Comic Types dropdown menu ComicBase lists numerous special types of comics from trade paperbacks to special editions to 3 D and ashcan releases and even swimsuit issues and giant size specials Moreover you can add your own comic types to the dropdown menu through the Setup menu under Comic Types ISSUE NUMBER This is the issue s number which generally appears on the cover or in the tiny fine print on the inside first page the comic s indicia ISSUE VARIATIONS It has become an especially popular trend amongst publishers to print many variant covers for comics in particular first issues check out the 14 variant covers of Gen 13 1 If such a case arises you will want to identify the specific variant that you own ComicBase lists most types of issue variations including variant covers gold platinum and silver editions autographed copies and more You can add a variation to the variations dropdown menu by going to the Setup menu and choosing Issue Variations PRINTINGS Some popular comics are re released in a second printing or third fourth etc These later printings are usually worth less than the first printing If you have a comic that was part of a later printing the Printing dropdown menu on the far right lets you select which printing it was COVER PRICE AND VALUES ComicBase will also fill in the values and cover price based on the previous issue so using the same example above Excalibur 2nd
52. h you can automatically HotSync this file to Choose your user name then click Done 6 Click Convert All to create your book If you ve chosen a HotSync destination in step 5 your book will be automatically loaded onto your Palm Pocket PC when you do your next HotSync Otherwise load it onto your handheld computer using your handheld s file transfer tools 7 You can view the book from your handheld using the iSilo reader application which you should install on your handheld A freeware version is available for the Palm and a more powerful and quite cheap shareware version exists for both Palm and Pocket PC computers 37 COMICBASE 9 USER GUIDE IMAGES AND MOVIES ADDING NEW ARTWORK ComicBase 9 now allows you to scan in comics at whatever size you like and the program will automatically size pictures to fit your available screen space To add an image file to ComicBase it has to be saved and named by its issue number in the proper location on your hard drive Save the image as a JPEG file and be sure to save your image to the correct image folder For instance if you were saving a cover scan of CrossGen s Ruse 1 you would save it to the following folder Your ComicBase Pictures amp Movies Folder See Manage Pictures and Movies 3 Pictures c wT CrossGen I Ruse You would name the image 1 because it is issue 1 When you go to that title in ComicBase an image icon will appear in the picture
53. h you can certainly use your Palm Pocket PC synchronization tools to load in the raw exported text it s far more legible and compact if you first convert the file into book form There are many converters readers available but we are particularly fond of the ones made by iSilo http www isilo com and have bundled the shareware versions of their converters with ComicBase To convert a file to book form using iSilo do the following 1 Export the desired report by clicking the Print dialog s Export button Exporting it to your Desktop makes it easy to find later Note The Title Report with grouped issues is generally the most useful of all the reports due to its compact format and diminutive size It lets you quickly see what issues you have and which are missing for a given title usually the most important information Issue Checklists and Price lists can also be useful but you should be careful to not overwhelm the generally tiny processor of your handheld with too much data 2 Launch iSiloX for your preferred platform Palm or Pocket PC 3 From the Document menu choose Add You ll be prompted for a name for the book e g Title Report Roger Durham 4 Choose Add URL File to add the file you ve just exported to the list of files to be converted into book form Select the exported report file you created in step 1 5 On Palm computers you will also have the option of choosing the user name whic
54. icon box next to the issue number Due to the huge number of comics they ve published you need to add another level to this folder hierarchy when saving scans of titles published by Marvel DC Dark Horse and Image Specifically an extra folder with the first letter of the title should be inserted after the publisher name Cover art for an issue of DC s Four Star Spectacular for instance is saved in Your ComicBase Pictures amp Movies Folder See Manage Pictures and Movies Pictures D F oc F Four Star Spectacular IMAGES AND MOVIES 38 COMICBASE 9 USER GUIDE IMAGES AND MOVIES Finally be sure to not use any special characters which are prohibited by your file system Characters you will need to replace include 2 and If any of these characters appear in the title name use a character instead For instance if the title is Whodunnit you name its folder Whodunnit Better yet let ComicBase make the folder for you When adding or modifying a title in ComicBase just check Create Picture Folder before you save the title ComicBase will automatically determine the proper folder hierarchy for pictures of this title and create it if it didn t previously exist ADDING NEW MOVIES If you have enough hard drive space you can also add QuickTime format movie clips to ComicBase To add your clips to ComicBase 1 If there isn t a Movies folder in the ComicBase fo
55. ind button Choose between Basic Summary or Detailed radio boxes in the Report Type box Basic price list shows you the number of copies you own of an issue and each comic s condition value and or cost This list totals the value of your collection by title Summary price list shows the value and number of copies of each title in your collection and if you re including it cost DETAILED price list shows the number of copies you own of an issue and each comic s condition and value and if you re including it cost It also shows the value of each comic over the previous three years This report is generally printed in landscape wide orientation 7 Click the Print button to print your price list PRINTING ISSUE CHECKLISTS ComicBase lets you print issue checklists that show you the issues you own and or the issues you want and their near mint value and notes about them For issues you own it will also tell you how many copies you have what condition the copies are in their value and how much you paid for each copy These reports are particularly useful for taking to a convention or store to effectively build the collection you want To create an issue checklist 1 From the File menu select the Print command and click the Issue Checklists icon or go to the Report menu and choose Issue Checklists Titles to Print OAI Selected Titles Report Items Issues of each title Print u ETENE H a
56. ion or comics which should be stored separately due to their high value Whatever the need you can quickly flag such comics using the Mark and Unmark commands Marked comics appear with a check mark next to them in the Issues View and you can also use the Find Comics command to quickly get a list of any marked comics To mark one or more issues select the issues you d like to modify from the Issues View Modify Issues or Found Comics list You can select a discontiguous range of issues by pressing the Ctrl key while selecting issues Then choose the Edit menu s Mark command to mark the issues To unmark issues follow the same procedure to select the issues then use the Edit menu s Unmark command CUSTOM FIELDS ComicBase s Custom fields can be used for any special purposes you may have Some ComicBase users have been known to have a field to keep track of a comic s location e g Box 11 Others like having a field to indicate where or from whose collection a comic was purchased Still others want to have separate checkboxes to mark issues they want to buy as well as comics they want to sell Data entered in these custom fields can MANAGING YOUR COLLECTION KEY WORDS FOR USE IN THE NOTES FIELD ComicBase looks for certain key words when it searches for special is sues When you add notes with these phrases the entries are automatically added to the appropriate list in the Find Comics window ORIGIN or ORIGI
57. keep track of which comics you have chart your collection s value over time and print a wide variety of reports that let you manage your collection like a pro Use ComicBase to create price labels detailed price lists collection statistics and checklists or to research and buy comics online We ve combined our research with that of Comics Buyer s Guide to cover more titles both mainstream and independent than any other guide We ve also expanded our pricing research to include sales at retail stores conventions and online auction sites The result is the most realistic hard hitting price guide available ComicBase is available in two versions a CD Standard Edition and the amazing Archive Edition on two DVD ROMs containing expanded database content over 20 000 full sized high definition cover images as well as over 70 000 comic covers and dozens of additional interviews and movie previews WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW BEFORE USING THIS GUIDE This user s guide assumes you know the basics of using your computer For example you should know how to e Use the mouse and keyboard e Know how to click and drag with your mouse e Choose from a menu e Copy files and disks If you are unsure how to perform these tasks consult the User s Guide which came with your computer INSTALLING COMICBASE 1 Exit any Windows programs you are running This is important running programs can prevent ComicBase from installing properly
58. lder on your hard drive create one 2 Give the movie a name that exactly matches the name of the title as it appears in ComicBase and append the file extension mov to the name Replace any colons or commas with dashes If you re using Windows also replace any periods or slashes in the name with dashes For instance if you create a movie for Bubblegum Crisis Grand Mal name the image Bubblegum Crisis Grand Mal mov 3 Save the movie into the Movies folder in the ComicBase folder on your hard drive The corresponding title should have a movie icon in its Picture view which lets you play the movie vou ComicBase Pictures amp Movies Folder See Manage Pictures and Movies wi Movies Hone Oh My Goddess mov Check to make sure that you have Qucktime installed on your computer before attempting to play your movie files A free version of the program is available for download at http www apple com quicktime products qt 39 COMICBASE 9 USER GUIDE ADVANCED COMICBASE MODIFYING ISSUE VARIATIONS The Variations dropdown menu in the Issue Detail is set up for most types of issue variations including gold platinum and silver editions special covers special sets and editions such as a collector s set or a deluxe edition You can also use it to specify an issue you ve had autographed The following will show you how to add change or remove items from the list of issue variations ADDING AN ISSUE VARI
59. lisher command In the dropdown menu select the publisher you want to remove Click Remove The publisher you removed will no longer be available from Publisher dropdown menus in ComicBase Note removing a publisher from the Publishers dropdown menu will not remove that publisher s titles from ComicBase It will only remove the publisher name from the Publisher dropdown menus MODIFYING PRICING YEARS ComicBase keeps track of four periods years of pricing information for each issue This lets you get a historical perspective on each issue s value history When you install a ComicBase pricing update the program will automatically modify the pricing years for you You can change the periods used to keep track of your comics value yourself This is useful if you want to track pricing data say quarterly or by decades and you have pricing information you can import or add for those periods Note any periods you choose will apply to all the issues in ComicBase 42 COMICBASE 9 USER GUIDE Setup Pricing Years O EJ To modify the periods go to the Setup menu and select Pricing Years Choose one of the years and type in the name of the new period up to 4 characters in length For instance if you want to keep track of prices on a quarterly basis you might replace 2004 with Q1 When you close the window ComicBase will replace the year with the new pricing period in the Issue Detail value history graphs a
60. micBase simply go to File Tools and hit the Reset ComicBase Preferences This command is useful for returning ComicBase to its factory settings If you ve added grades publishers issue variations or made other special modifications to ComicBase it will remove them and replace them with the original settings However it will not remove any collection data such as issues owned from your copy of ComicBase REMOVE EXTRANEOUS NM ISSUES When you enter an issue that s not in Near Mint condition ComicBase creates a listing for it and leaves a listing for the same issue in NM condition If you d like to remove these extraneous issues click the Remove Extraneous NM Issues button When you do so ComicBase removes any 45 COMICBASE 9 USER GUIDE issues in NM condition for which there is a quantity of O and for which there are issues listed in a non NM condition CURRENCY CONVERSION The Convert Currencies button converts the values in ComicBase which are in U S dollars to your local currency values You ll need to know the current exchange rate from U S dollars to your local currency When you click the button a window like the following appears This will convert all price and cast amounts in Comich ase to your local currency Cancel How much it US 1 00 worth in your local currency Type in how much 1 U S dollar would be worth in your currency i e 1 5 Canadian dollars 68 UK pounds and click OK to c
61. nd reports Until you replace ComicBase s pricing information with your own the information for each period will be the same as for the last four years ComicBase only supports four time periods at once If you want to add a new time period you must first close out another time period To close out a period such as the oldest year choose the period on the list and click the Close Year Before ComicBase closes out a period it gives you the option of saving a copy of ComicBase with the closed out year s prices in it If you don t save a copy you will lose all the pricing information in the closed year or time period To add a period click New Year and name the new period USING FIND AND REPLACE ComicBase includes the ability to Find and Replace text information across the entire database This works like the Find and Replace function in a word processor and is particularly useful when you want to standardize the spelling of artist names change the names of publishers or even change the spelling of condition names e g changing NrMt to NM To find an replace text go to the Edit menu and choose Find and Replace Enter the text you d like to search for and choose which field to look in Keep in mind that since Find and Replace works only on text information it cannot search date or check box fields MASS CHANGE Although it s used only rarely the Mass Change command is useful for making changes throughout ComicBase
62. nt divider blurbs 1 Go to the File menu and select Print or choose Divider Blurbs from the Report menu Click the Divider Blurbs icon to select it You may need to use the scroll bar to scroll down to the second row of icons If the All radio button is filled ComicBase will print divider blurbs for all the titles in ComicBase To print divider blurbs for only titles you own or only for certain titles click the Selected Titles radio button A list of all the titles you own in ComicBase will appear You can also create a selection that s the result of a search by clicking the Find button while selecting titles See page 30 You can also narrow the list to just the titles you own by clicking the Titles in Stock button Hold down the Ctrl key while clicking to select more than one title Moving between parts of the list will not deselect your selections Click OK when you ve selected all the titles you want to include Use the Label dropdown menu to select the label size on which you ll be printing your labels ComicBase will shrink the font size down to fit the description on any size label Check the Print Labels for Both Sides box if you want to print two blurbs for each title one description for each side of the divider Click on the position of the first available label on the first label sheet and click the Print button to start printing PRINTING AND REPORTS 33 COMICBASE 9 USER GUIDE T
63. nt to include 4 Check Include Storylines to include storylines along with the report information 5 Click the Print button to print your Issue Checklists report PRINTING TITLE REPORTS You can use ComicBase s title reports to create a hard copy record of the comics you own and their totaled worth Title reports are particularly useful for insurance or for auctioning off large blocks of your collection or evaluating a lot of comics up for sale A title report may include which issues you own and or which issues you don t own of all titles or of selected titles To print title reports 1 Go to the File menu to select the Print command and click the Title Report icon in the dialog box to select it or choose Title Report from the Report menu 2 Check off what you d like the report to include in the Report Items box If you check Issues of each title the report will list all the issues of all the titles you re including If you check Missing Issues the report will list issues you don t own You can also include information in your custom fields by checking the field names in the Custom Fields to include box Adding these fields will add an extra line to the report for each issue even for issues which don t have custom field information 3 To include every title in ComicBase check the All radio button To create a report that only includes a title or certain titles click the Selected Titles radio button You
64. onvert the values REMOVE MATURE READER TITLES ComicBase covers the entire world of comics including a number of titles designated for mature readers only These may have been classified as such due to sexual content graphic violence and or depictions of drug use If you don t want to view such titles or don t want the person who will be using ComicBase to view such titles you can remove them from ComicBase To do this select the File menu and go to File Tools In the box that appears click Remove Mature Titles Once removed a title can only be restored by reinstalling ComicBase or by manually adding the title back into the database ADVANCED COMICBASE AG COMICBASE 9 USER GUIDE BUYING amp RESEARCHING YOUR COMICS ONLINE ComicBase connects you directly to online auction services with the Buy command under the Internet menu You can use the Internet menu s Buy command to automatically look for an issue online or research past pricing on a given issue The Setup menu s Buying command lets you set up ComicBase to connect to the online auction service of your choice The Preferred Buying Service menu lets you select the auction service you want to use for buying comics This is the service to which ComicBase will connect to locate an issue you want to buy You can use the Buy command to help locate those hard to find issues on the major internet online auction sites To search for an issue on an online au
65. oose the field you d like to modify enter a value then click Save to change that value for all the issues you ve selected Note that if you use Quick Change to add information in the Notes field for a range of issues ComicBase will append your notes to any information that may be in the Notes field already You can add a new issue with all the information of the existing issues too This is most useful when you have two copies of the same issue in different conditions or when you re adding an issue that has mostly or exactly the same information as a previous issue MODIFYING AN ISSUE S DETAIL If you d like to see all the information about an issue at once or perhaps want to change several pieces of information about an issue such as its grade price notes etc you can simply double click on the issue and you will be presented with the comic s Issue Detail screen Through Variation Printing Condition Quantity Value History Near Mint Cover Price Cost Seling Price Cover Date 9 1 1996 2003 2 00 2004 2 00 Circutaton __ Topcrade Graded 2 m Writer Mark Waid Arist Custom Fields esoe OOOO costumes Cewomcet usome 17 COMICBASE 9 USER GUIDE COMIC TYPE In addition to the regular monthly issues of a comic title publishers sometimes release special comics such as annuals or holiday specials ComicBase lets you enter these by choosing the appropriate comic type
66. ou ve removed you will have to reinstall ComicBase Of course you can always enter in the information yourself If you only want to restrict a list to the issues or titles you own it s safer just to click the Titles in Stock button in the Titles list To remove titles permanently from your collection first open the Title List and in the dialog box that appears select the title you want to remove Then click Remove MANAGING YOUR COLLECTION CONTINUED Mystery Titles in which the char acters solve a mystery or work out an enigma Ex Sherlock Holmes Scooby Doo Non Fiction Titles dealing with events or occurrences that are al legedly true Ex Who Really Killed JFK Real Life Comics Pin Ups Art Book Books consisting primarily of comic art alone not a story Ex Fathom Swimsuit Special Hot Shots X Men Retigious Titles involving religious characters or themes Ex Life of Pope John Paul Il The Brick Testament Romance Titles with stories focus ing on love or emotional attraction Ex Young Romance Our Love Science FicttoN Speculative fic tion with a scientific factor such as aliens time travel or robots Ex Sigil Timecop Sports Titles about sports athlet ics or sports characters Ex NASCAR Adventures Champion Sports Surer Heroes Titles featuring char acters with extraordinary powers and abilities often wearing cos tumes Ex Superman Spider Man UNpDERGROUND
67. own problems which may have come to our attention after this manual was written 3 If you have access to the internet select the Internet menu s Check for Program Updates command or go to our website http www comicbase com for more recent updates or incompatibilities If necessary download the latest update 4 Use File Tools to compact ComicBase rebuild the title list or reset program settings Information on these features is covered in the Advanced ComicBase section 5 Try to recreate the problem This way when you call you can tell technical support exactly how the problem occurred Write down any error messages that appear Before you call technical support make sure you have the following information ready e Which version of ComicBase you have i e version 9 0 1 e The operating system you re running i e Windows 95 Windows 98 Windows NT Windows ME or Windows XP and how much memory RAM your computer has If you don t know right click on My Computer and choose Properties to find out e When you call we will look for you in our registered users database If you haven t registered your copy of ComicBase have your serial number handy You can find your serial number on the inside front cover of this user guide on the case or sleeve the ComicBase disk was in and if you haven t sent it in on your registration card You can reach technical support by telephone 408 266 6883 fax 408 266
68. ppears to the number of price labels you would like ComicBase to print then click OK 4 You can check the Only Print If New or Price Changed box print labels only for comics that have been added recently or have had their price change recently This feature is especially useful if you regularly print price labels for your comics 5 If you d like the labels to include storylines check the Include Storylines checkbox 6 In the Print dialog box select the first available label on your first sheet of labels 7 Click the Print button to start printing labels 28 COMICBASE 9 USER GUIDE PRINTING AND REPORTS PRINTING PRICE LISTS ComicBase can print price lists showing the issues in your collection These reports are particularly useful for creating a list of comics for sale To create a price list 1 Go to the File menu and select the Print command Choose the Price List icon or select Price List from the Report menu Title Report Titles to Print al O Selected Titles Report Style C Include storylines artists and writers _ List only marked issues V List only issues instock _ Include cost Custom Items to Include V Custom Field 1 _ Custom Check 1 C Custom Date 1 C Custom Field 2 V Custom Check 2 V Custom Date 2 C Custom Field 3 C Custom Check 3 C Custom Field 4 2 If you want the report to include only comics you own check off the box marked List Only Issues in Stock If
69. ropdown list you may wish to add that publisher to the Publisher dropdown menu Just check the Add to List of Publishers box at the bottom of the window 41 COMICBASE 9 USER GUIDE ADVANCED COMICBASE Another way to add a publisher is to select the Setup menu s Publishers command Publisher Namme m Usual Copyright Notice and amp Dark Horse Comics Inc Type the name of the publisher into the Publisher Name box ComicBase automatically enters the publisher s name into the Copyright field If a person or company other than the title s publisher typically owns the copyright to the title you re adding type in the name of the proper copyright holder This is the information that will appear in the copyright title whenever you add a title from this publisher If you know it enter the publisher s web site address URL into the Publisher s Home Page box You must write the address in full i e http www darkhorse com Click Save to add the publisher to ComicBase and exit the window The publisher you ve added will now appear in all Publisher dropdown menus in ComicBase To change a publisher s information select the Setup menu s Publishers command and select the publisher whose information you want to change You can overwrite or add information such as web site address to the publisher s fields Click Save to save your changes To remove a publisher select the Setup menu s Pub
70. titles and issues you want to print labels for a To print price labels for all the comics in your collection click the All radio button b To print price labels for all the comics you own but only for certain titles click the Selected Titles radio button A dialog box will appear which lists the titles in ComicBase Select the titles for which you want price labels printed Hold down Ctrl to select more than one title Moving between parts of the list will not deselect your selections c To print price labels for specific issues click the Selected Issues radio button The Issue Selection dialog box will appear Click Add to select a title then select issues from that title for which you want labels printed If you want to add issues from another title to the list click Add in the Issue Selection dialog box Continue adding issues title by title until you have a complete list of the specific issues for which you want price labels If you accidentally select an issue or issues for which you don t want labels select the issues and choose Remove By default ComicBase will assume you want to print a price label for each comic of an issue you own For instance if you own two copies of Soawn 11 ComicBase will print a label for each copy If you want to change the number of labels per issue that ComicBase prints select the issue or issues in the Issue Selection dialog box and click Copies Change the number in the box that a
71. values of another field For instance you can change the selling price of all issues to be the same as the cover price or some mathematical variation thereof You might also for example want to offer certain titles at half price To do this choose to Mass Change the Price to the Year 4 2002 Value 0 5 i e 50 of the current guide value If you choose you can also round any mathematical values automatically so that for instance you don t wind up selling a 1 75 book for 87 5 cents at your 1 2 off sale Click the Value radio button to set the chosen field to a special value For instance you might select titles you want to sell quickly and change the selling price for all the issues of those titles to 0 25 When you ve entered the values or dates you want changed click the Make Changes button FILE TOOLS Under the File menu is a command for the File Tools window which gives you access to a variety of tools for streamlining ComicBase making it run faster converting ComicBase s values to your local currency and fixing minor program problems COMPACT AND VERIFY COMICBASE Compacting ComicBase will prompt the program to verify the integrity of the database and free up any unused space You can set the conditions for how frequently ComicBase will compact its information by selecting the option you want in Preferences To start this operation yourself go to the File menu and under File Tools choose Compact and Verif
72. vious version If you are click Yes then follow the instructions onscreen to transfer your collection data from your old version of ComicBase 7 If you ve got sufficient free hard disk space 400 MB or more use the File Menu s Manage Pictures command to install pictures and movies from the ComicBase Program Disk and any bonus disks to your hard drive Otherwise you ll need to have the ComicBase disk in your drive when you want to see pictures and movies LAUNCHING COMICBASE The first time you launch ComicBase you will be asked to enter your name your company s name if applicable and the unique serial number for your copy of ComicBase You will find your serial number inside the ComicBase case and on your registration card REGISTERING You must register your copy of ComicBase in order to receive e Technical support e Advance notification of upgrades e Special prices on upgrades Register by sending in the registration card which came with ComicBase or using the Internet menu s Register ComicBase Online command TECHNICAL SUPPORT Many questions about how to use ComicBase are covered in this manual Additional program updates and bug fixes are available for free online You can download these automatically by using the Internet menu s Check for Program Updates command GETTING STARTED COMICBASE 9 USER GUIDE GETTING STARTED If you have questions that are not answered in this manual or a problem that cannot
73. w COMICBASE STATISTICS You can ask ComicBase to report different kinds of information about your collection such as e The cost and value of your collection e The number of titles and comics you own e Your potential profit mark up if you were to sell your collection at its current value To view statistics about your collection go to the File menu select ComicBase Statistics and click the Calculate button In the window that appears you can check off which statistics you want Include breakdowns by publishe _ Titles with missing descriptions C Titles with missing pictures slow Calculate Cancel Checking the Collection value statistics will simply calculate the value asking price cost and mark up maximum profit value of your collection If you check Include breakdown by publisher the report will list how many titles and comics you own by publisher and present the cost value and asking price of your collection subtotaled by publisher Checking Titles With Missing Descriptions or Titles With Missing Pictures will let you know if and how many titles you have missing descriptions and pictures respectively These checks considerably lengthen the time for the Statistics Report to process as they require the program to check every title in ComicBase PRINTING AND REPORTS 26 COMICBASE 9 USER GUIDE Once the statistics have been calculated you can preview the printout by hitting
74. y ComicBase REBUILD LISTS Like most databases ComicBase does not physically reconstruct itself each time a record is changed Instead it marks the old information as unused This unused space can build up over time and take up unnecessary space on your hard disk Compacting ComicBase frees unused space in ComicBase and verifies the integrity of your data When you click the Compact amp Verify ComicBase button you will get a dialog box that tells you how much space you ll save if you compact ComicBase Click the OK button to start compacting The process may take several minutes The Rebuild Lists button rebuilds lists and indices in ComicBase ComicBase checks to make sure its list of titles is correctly matched with the pictures and data from each If you find that ComicBase is not matching pictures or data correctly to titles this command will rebuild the list of 44 COMICBASE 9 USER GUIDE ADVANCED COMICBASE titles in stock the Find comics lists issue information and title names and descriptions When you click the Rebuild Lists button the following dialog will appear Title information Checks the title sort order and verifies all title information List of titles in stock Issue information Verifies sue fields recalculates issue total and removes any duplicate information from the notes storyline artist and writer fields Find Comics lists Rebuilds the 1st appearance artist writer and other lists that

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