Issue Title

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The title of the issue within a Series.

  • The field will be limited to series of "books" — graphic novels or albums of new material and/or full or partial reprint collections, hardcover or softcover, of any size — that carry interior or exterior numbering.
  • It will therefore be inapplicable, pending further discussion and voting action, to ongoing periodical series with perceived "issue titles" (say, those having dual indicia titles or distinct titles in the indicia and on the cover) as debated in previous discussions on the GCD Main and Policy lists.
  • An overall Series Title may incorporate a colon or other typography. This ballot's proposed usage of Issue Title should not be misconstrued to split up such a Series Title, whether or not it contains constituent volumes with their own Issue Titles, as in Example #2 in Case 3 below.
  • For our purposes, the copyright page, edition notice, colophon, or any other such presentation of publication data is to be considered "indicia".
  • As a rule of thumb: An issue title usually appears on the cover AND inside the comic or on the spine as well. If a title is only on the cover it is typically not an issue title.


  • The following Series shall be indexed using Issue Titles, by specific votes of the Policy group, as noted:
    • The "Classics Illustrated" series, its spin-off series, and translated editions of those Series shall be indexed using Issue Titles. - Policy vote of 2012-09-06 - http://www.comics.org/voting/ballot/145/ .
    • Heavy Metal Special Editions - Books that were previously indexed as separate Series are now consolidated as a single Series called "Heavy Metal Special Editions", with Issue Titles. (e.g. "Taboo Special", "Overdrive", "The Venus Interface") - Policy vote of 2013-10-21 - http://www.comics.org/voting/ballot/191/ .
    • Certain United Kingdom periodical Series that have no numbering or dates visible on the issues - Because we currently differentiate issues using one of those criteria, we need some other criteria for those Series. For such Series, we shall use Issue Titles to distinguish between issues that are clearly within one Series. Existing rules about what constitutes a Series shall be used. (Pearson "picture library" titles are one example of such a Series.) - Policy consensus of 2013-11-11.
    • Four Color (Dell, 1939 series) - Policy vote of 2016-09-20 - http://www.comics.org/voting/ballot/293/ .
    • Four Color (Dell, 1942 series) - Policy vote of 2016-09-20 - http://www.comics.org/voting/ballot/294/ .
    • DC Special Series (DC, 1977 series) - Policy vote of 2016-09-20 - http://www.comics.org/voting/ballot/295/ .
    • Dell Giant Series (Dell, 1959 series) - Policy vote of 2016-05-11 - http://www.comics.org/voting/ballot/300/ .
    • Dennis the Menace Giant (Hallden/Fawcett, 1958 series) - Policy vote of 2017-03-26 - https://www.comics.org/voting/ballot/308/ .
    • The following series from Spanish publisher El Presidente that have no issue numbers or dates on the majority of issues: Conquista del Oeste, Saloon, The Man, Trampas, Dakota, Yuma and Formula 1 Aventuras - Policy consensus of 2019-06-22




Cases:

  1. Indicia has Series Title, Issue Number, and Issue Title.
    • Example #1 —
      Indicia reads "Bone Volume Seven: Ghost Circles"
    • Result —
      Series Title: Bone
      Issue Number: 7
      Issue Title: Ghost Circles

    • Example #2 —
      Indicia reads "Justice League Adventures, Vol. 1: United They Stand"
    • Result —
      Series Title: Justice League Adventures
      Issue Number: 1
      Issue Title: United They Stand
    • Many US series of reprint collections follow this convention.

  2. Indicia is absent. Series Title, Issue Number, and Issue Title are on cover / spine (including cases where the information is geographically split, i.e., the Series and Issue Titles are on the front cover and the Issue Number is only on the spine).
    • Example —
      Cover reads "Spirou und Fantasio" and "Tiefenrausch"; spine indicates "15"
    • Result —
      Series Title: Spirou und Fantasio
      Issue Number: 15
      Issue Title: Tiefenrausch

    • Example —
      Cover reads "Les Aventures de Tintin" and "Le Temple du Soleil"; spine indicates "15"
    • Result —
      Series Title: Aventures de Tintin, Les
      Issue Number: 15
      Issue Title: Le Temple du Soleil
    • Many European series of graphic albums have no interior indicia particulars and follow this convention.

  3. Indicia has Series Title and Issue Title (often separated by a colon or other typography), but no number, with Issue Number on cover / spine only.
    • Example —
      Indicia reads "Hellboy: Seed of Destruction"; cover and spine also have "Hellboy" and "Strange Places" but only spine indicates "1"
    • Result —
      Series Title: Hellboy
      Issue Number: 1
      Issue Title: Seed of Destruction

    • Example —
      Indicia reads "Star Wars: Empire - In the Shadows of Their Fathers"; cover reads "Star Wars Empire" with "Volume Six" and "In the Shadows of Their Fathers" below.
    • Result —
      Series Title: Star Wars: Empire
      Issue Number: 6
      Issue Title: In the Shadows of Their Fathers
    • Many US series of reprint collections follow this convention, sometimes with numbers only present on the spine a few issues into the run or only present in newer editions.

Where earlier unnumbered editions with distinct ISBNs exist in addition to later numbered editions, the earlier editions are by definition still to be considered GCD Series unto themselves and not subject to the Series Title / Issue Number / Issue Title scheme. Policy discussions and voting will resume at a later date to determine ways of classifying and linking various printings and editions of related GCD Series.

Passage of this vote will mandate that subtitled or otherwise individually titled issues of a series of books be indexed as part of one GCD Series using the common series title as the Series Title. Under current practice, such volumes are broken out as separate GCD Series by full indicia title *OR* indexed as part of a single GCD Series under the overarching series title based on the preferences of the indexer who sets up the Series.

The Issue Title field will be implemented and will be made searchable according to the best efforts of the GCD Tech team.

A separate vote will be held to determine how to record Issue Titles in cases where the Issue Title is not discrete, as in the cases presented above, but rather connected to the Series Title via conjunction, preposition, verb, or possessive

(end of definition)


Policy Votes Affecting This Topic

http://www.comics.org/voting/ballot/145/ - 2012-09-06

http://www.comics.org/voting/ballot/191/ - 2013-10-21

http://www.comics.org/voting/ballot/293/ - 2016-09-20

http://www.comics.org/voting/ballot/294/ - 2016-09-20

http://www.comics.org/voting/ballot/295/ - 2016-09-20

http://www.comics.org/voting/ballot/300/ - 2016-05-11

https://www.comics.org/voting/ballot/308/ - 2017-03-26


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