Format

Required field

• This is a single field with five elements. The five elements are separated by a semi-colon.

• 1) Color (Color, 4 Color, Painted, 2 Color, Black and White)

• 2) Dimensions (Standard Golden Age US, Standard Silver Age US, Standard Modern US; Digest; Tabloid, A3, A4, A5, 8.5" x 11", 21cm x 28cm)

• 3) Paper Stock (Newsprint, Glossy Paper, Bond, Mando, Baxter)

• 4) Binding (Stapled, Saddle-stitched, Bound, Squarebound, Hardcover, Trade Paperback)

• 5) Publishing Format (On-Going Series, Limited Series, Miniseries, Maxiseries One-Shot, Graphic Novel)

For publishing frequency, the following was also suggested:
1) one-shot - intended as a standalone publication
2) limited series - intended as a finite series
3) ongoing series - intended as an open-ended series with no set endpoint
4) was ongoing series - a formerly ongoing series that has ceased publication

Binding terms are defined in part as:

• Stapled: stapled through the top and bottom of the book
• Saddle-stitched: stapled through the folded edge of the book
• Squarebound: pages are glued along the edge and bound together by the cover. There are two common types and the term Squarebound may be used for either, as the difference is not always clear.
  • True squarebound comics are in signatures of usually 16 pages, or 8 leaves folded in half and bundled. A group of signatures is then glued into the cover and sometimes stapled. Most trade paperbacks are in this form.
  • Perfect bound are also glued into the cover, but as individual leaves. Most mass-market paperbacks are in this form.

• Since you may not know all five elements, or they may change over the run of the series, there is some flexibility to this field.

• Page counts do not belong in this field.

• Any other special cases should be listed in the series notes field. Special cases would be things like "started as a limited series and became ongoing", "started referring to #75 as the final early on", "was supposed to be ongoing, but was canceled after one issue", etc.

• Note that at some point the format will be associated directly at the issue level and this field will be eliminated.

• Examples:

Color; Standard Modern Age US; Newsprint; Saddle-Stitched; On-Going Series 
Color; Standard Golden Age, Silver Age, and Modern Age US 
Black and White; Digest; Squarebound; Limited Series

(end of definition)

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