Searching The GCD

Why don't you have this comic book series/name in the database?

There are three reasons why you may not be able to find the series, character, or creator name you are looking for:

• You may have spelled the name wrong on the search form. Hit the "back" button and check the spelling.
• The series may be indexed under a different name than the one you typed in the search form. The GCD indexes series by the name in the indicia, which may differ from the name on the cover or in promotional material. To improve your chances of finding a specific series, try doing a "keyword" search using one or more words that should appear in the official name of the series.
• The series may not be indexed yet. The GCD depends on volunteers to submit index data. If you have a copy of a comics publication that has not been indexed yet, and would like to contribute to the database, please see the How To Contribute FAQ.

I cannot find any information on series/issue/creator X in the GCD database, even if I try the tips in question 1.1 of this FAQ. Can you suggest other recommended sources of information on this subject?

The GCD-Project [formerly GCD-Main] and GCD-Chat lists contain a large number of experts on comics history, and are good places to ask for help. To subscribe to these lists, please check the Email Lists FAQ. There are also links to a number of sites on the Other Resources page.

Is there a glossary of terms used in the GCD database and documents?

A glossary of terms used in the GCD database and documents is located here.

I am finding abbreviations in the character appearances field. What do they mean?

The current Formatting Documents discourage the use of most abbreviations. However, some older indexes contain abbreviations designed to reduce the size of the character appearances field. Use of these abbreviations is no longer recommended, since the database program presently used by the GCD can tolerate longer fields. Some common abbreviations include:

• I (Introduction)
• GA (Guest Appearance)
• GS (Guest-Star)
• D (Death)
• O (Origin)
• V (Villain)
• 1st (First Appearance)
• C (Cameo)

Comments may be included in the character appearances field - e.g.: Spider-Man (origin); Uncle Ben (death) Other indexers may include similar comments in the Notes field.

Can I get a copy of the database to use offline?

Please see the Data Distribution FAQ.

I have found an error in one of the index records. How can I get this fixed?

The GCD depends on users to report errors in the database so that they can be fixed by the Error Squad. To make this as simple as possible, every series and issue record pulled up by the search engine contains a hyperlink to the Error Squad web-page: [[1]]. More information is available at the Error List FAQ.

Some of the indexes are missing data fields that are present in other indexes. Why is this happening?

The current GCD format contains data fields that were not present in earlier versions of the database. Older indexes often lack information in these data fields, or have the information in the wrong field. If you would like to contribute to the GCD by filling this information in, see the How To Contribute FAQ.