Do you call it a Title or a Series

I used to think that the name of a comic book was its Title… Like the Fantatic Four, that was the name and the collection of the all the issues was know as the Title.

But since I’ve started using various online comic book databases I’ve started to look at the name of a comic book a little differently. Many online databases refer to a comic book name as a Series and usually also include the year that the book started to be published. For example, the first Fantastic Four series is generally referred to as Fantastic Four (1961).

So what do you call it, a Title or a Series? Leave feed back in a comment.

Now for any given comic book name, there may be multiple series. Going back the Fantastic Four, depending on what database you use GCD or CBDB, there are up to four Series:

The CGD has

• Fantastic Four (1961) 416 issues: vol. #1 – 1 to 416
• Fantastic Four (1996) 13 issues: vol. #2 – 1 to 13
• Fantastic Four (1998) 70 issues: vol. #3 – 1 to 70
• Fantastic Four (2003) currently 76 issues: vol. #1 – 500 to current (this is the latest series in the Fantastic Four)

Now the CBDB has

• Fantastic Four (1961) currently 492 issues: vol. #1 – 1 to 416 and 500 to current (this is the latest series in the Fantastic Four)
• Fantastic Four (1996) currently 13 issues: vol. #2 – 1 to 13
• Fantastic Four (1998) currently 70 issues: vol. #3 – 1 to 70

Hmmm, see the difference? The GCD has split volume #1 up into two series and considers issues starting from 500 to be a new series from the original volume #1 series in 1961. But the CBDB has only three. It keeps all of the current issues in the original 1961 series. I personally prefer the CBDB’s methodolgoy here as it more closely matches how the publisher labels the volumes. However, it could be confusing when you see a break in numbers in the 1961 series when it goes from issue 416 to 500. But if you have continuity notes for the series, something like:

• the 1961 series – issue 416, continues with the 1996 series – issue 1
• the 1996 series – issue 13, continues with the 1998 series – issue 1
• the 1998 series – issue 70, continues with the 1961 series – issue 500

What do you think is the correct approach is, which is less confusing? In conclusion, may be, just perhaps, a Title should be considered a collection of Series… hmmm. Leave your feedback in the comments.

Now Annuals are a whole different story.