Main Page

Welcome to the Grand Comic-Book Database Wiki Main Page

The purpose of this Wiki is twofold.

1. A resource for information about the GCD and how to contribute.

2. A repository of information that doesn't fit easily into the GCD database.

If you're looking for the actual database it's at http://www.comics.org.

Information about the GCD

The Grand Comic-Book Database (GCD) is an ongoing project to build a detailed comic-book database that is international, accurate and complete from the beginning of the art form to the present. We are always looking for new volunteers.

The best way to learn about the GCD is to join our email lists, especially gcd-main which is where the day-to-day business of our project is discussed. We welcome new people! These links will provide some additional information:

• The GCD Charter
  • Who's Who (Roles and Responsibilities)
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Email Lists (join: gcd-main, gcd-tech, gcd-chat)
• Searching the GCD
• Glossary
• A list of some publications that don't qualify for the GCD

Any questions you have that aren't covered here can be directed to the GCD Contact email list.

How to Contribute to the GCD

The GCD encourages contributions from everyone who is interested. The easiest way to contribute is to report errors through our Error Tracker or to upload cover scans. The primary way for folks to contribute is to become an Indexer and add data for comics we don't yet have. Indexers may eventually become Editors, who review the work of Indexers and the incoming error reports and make corrections to existing data.

Email gcd-contact to get started.

• How To Contribute FAQ
• Indexing
  • Formatting Documentation
    • Senior Editor Votes
  • Reservations
  • Useful Resources and Links
• Adding or Improving Covers
• Reporting Errors with the Error Tracker
  • How to report a Missing Series
• Donations and Advertising
• Editor Documentation

Documentation contributors in roughly chronological order include: Bob Klein, Jonathan Ingersoll, Will Allred, Bob Heer, Jon Løvstad, Rob Sharp, Peter Croome, Tim Stroup, Henry Andrews and assorted GCD-Tech list folks.

Additional Comic Book Information

This is some of the wealth of information on comic book history that contributors to the GCD have accumulated over the decades and wish to share with everyone. It includes summary information about publishers, distributors, titles, creators, characters and especially discussions on the GCD email lists. And much, much more. You can search by name in the usual wiki way or browse by the following topics:

• Publisher Names - an alphabetical listing of comic book publishers, with links to their own page. Includes imprints and related companies.
• Distributors - an alphabetical listing of comic book distributors, with links to their own page.
• GCD Discussions - chronological by subject.
• People - creators and business.
• Characters
• Significant Appearances
• Other Subjects
• Links
  • Examples of GA artists' work
  • Jerry Bails' Who's Who (No longer updated, but invaluable- see above pages for recent corrections)
• Publishers, Imprints and Related Companies - general discussion on various publisher relationships.

If you have more information on any of the above, we would love to have it. Please follow the general format already used for various topics, or join the gcd-main group.

Technical Details

We are currently heavily involved in improving our new web-site for the GCD. The links in this section outline some of the changes going on. If you would like to help, please contact the gcd-tech group and see what you can do to help.

• Web Site Project Page (Out of date. Presumed a slow march to 1.0 with no preceding releases. Made obsolete by the need to abruptly replace the site in fall of 2009 leading to the 0.1 and 0.2 releases)
  • Code Reviews
  • Bugzilla for Technical Issues
  • New Site Testbed (not always running!)
• Current Schema (Up to date as of Dec. 21, 2009, release 0.2 "vieux bois")
  • Data dumps: http://dev.comics.org/data/
  • Data Distribution FAQ
• New Fun Schema (Warning: Work in Progress) For the eventual 1.0 release code named "New Fun", timeline currently up in the air. Needs to be re-evaluated in the wake of the 0.1 and 0.2 releases.

Contact the gcd-tech group for more information about any of the above.