Comic Vine News

236 Comments

Comic Vine Redesign Coming Soon

We're working on the next version of Comic Vine. Here's what you need to know.

A peak at the new Comic Vine. Don't worry, we'll still support RPG colors. I'm working on that now!
A peak at the new Comic Vine. Don't worry, we'll still support RPG colors. I'm working on that now!

Hey all. Since the acquisition of the site by CBS nearly a year ago the engineering team here has been working on a redesign and rebuild of Comic Vine. Most of the changes we're making are cosmetic and this is definitely more of a refresh than a rethink of what makes Comic Vine great. If you've been following my updates over on our sister-site Giant Bomb you may have a good idea of what's coming. If not, feel free to jump over to the beta web site, which logged in users (assuming they'd signed up before Thanksgiving) should be able to access. That site will launch fully next week and assuming all goes well, Comic Vine will get its relaunch sometime in the next month.

Here is a brief list of some of the features coming with the redesign.

  • A new, responsive design where every page looks great on mobile or tablet devices.
  • The ability to filter comics by who was in them, who created them and when they were made. (example: Give me all issues with Hulk, The Avengers and Spider-Man made in the 1970s).
  • Full wiki histories and rollback.
  • Better search (no more hunting through pagination for a specific issue number).
  • Better moderation tools.
  • Better API filtering and sorts.
  • Better forum tracking with the ability for watched topics.
  • Redesigned profiles with better activity streams.
  • A completely redesigned way to handle image gallery management.
  • Better wiki tools that allow you to create new pages as you edit existing ones.

Although I know sometimes change is hard, the feedback we've gotten on the designs from the Giant Bomb community has been extremely positive, and although I know each site has different needs, I'm hopeful the community here will have fun with it once we start showing it off. Expect a dedicated Comic Vine beta very soon.

To make the relaunch as smooth as possible we will however have to turn off some features on the live version of Comic Vine (the one you're reading this on!) during the next month so that we can keep the two sister sites, and their linked subscription services active and in-step. On Sunday February 10th the following changes will temporarily be made to Comic Vine till the new site launches. Expect this period to last no longer than a couple weeks.

  1. New signups will not be allowed.
  2. New premium memberships will not be sold.
  3. You will not be able to change or reset your password.

If you wish to do any of the following (I'm talking to you RPGers) in the next month before the new site launches you'll need to do so in the next couple days. Existing premium memberships will continue to run as normal, with no feature loss during this period. I know some of this seems a little drastic, but it's a necessary step to get Comic Vine on its new platform and have the redesign go well. Essentially, we're trying to make sure you'll still be able to log into the new site without issue once we relaunch.

Comic Vine is in a great place and we recently became the largest Comic Book site in the world. We take our job of collecting and organizing the data around Comic Books very seriously. This will continue with the new design as we fix a lot of the problems we just couldn't wrap our heads around when Ethan, Tony and I launched the in 2006. We'll have more to show off soon. Thank you for your patience as we transition over.

236 Comments

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knightofthechronicle

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The new sight looks awesome and the features look great. And thank you for making it better for tablet, it looked goofy whenever I got on the sight with my Kindle.

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reignmaker

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Edited By reignmaker

Sounds cool. Keep up the good work!

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ReVamp

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Edited By ReVamp
  • Better forum tracking with the ability for watched topics.

This now has the ReVamp Seal of Approval.

xP

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kennybaese

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Edited By kennybaese

I've been futzing around with the Giant Bomb beta since it launched and it's pretty gosh darn rad. I'm really excited for both new sites to launch.

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_jackbauer

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Edited By _jackbauer

You're alienating longtime fans of the current Comic Vine layout by introducing a new one.

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Mucklefluga

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Edited By Mucklefluga

Arrgghh cannot wait for the fresh, new site. It's gonna be great! From the sneak peak it looks fantastic! Great job by the looks of things guys!

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EdwardWindsor

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Edited By EdwardWindsor

cool look forward to it,

PS more quests! lol

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Duo_forbidden

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Edited By Duo_forbidden

Sweet. Looking forward to the new changes.

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The Mast

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Edited By The Mast

So, will my previous posts still have happened or will they just be alluded to as off-site events?

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slade_wilson

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Edited By slade_wilson

Very exciting!

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nickxh

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Edited By nickxh

Looks great. I will keep an eye out for it.

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entee

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Edited By entee

Excited for the new look! Change is never really that bad; it'll hopefully make the site more sleek!

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Fattony12000

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Edited By Fattony12000

Go go power engineers and designers!

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inferiorego

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Edited By inferiorego  Staff

oh man... I've been waiting for this for a year!

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Icon

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Edited By Icon

Looking forward to it.

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Jonny_Anonymous

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Edited By Jonny_Anonymous

Dave Sniders username is Captain Cascader? lol I didn't know that.

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sithfrog

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Edited By sithfrog

@EdwardWindsor said:

PS more quests! lol

I would second this.

Thanks for all of the hard work CV team!

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Raw_Material

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Edited By Raw_Material

Sounds good to me. Changes are always beneficial! Hoping to see Comic Vine and the community expand throughout the years. And now that site has been running for over 5-6 years, it's a great step into improving and expanding on the site even more. Jus one thing; will we be able to change our usernames after the new version is launched? lol.

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Mandrewgora

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Edited By Mandrewgora

Its going to look so cool.

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SavageDragon

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Edited By SavageDragon

Will be looking forward to this.

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bob808

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Edited By bob808

cool

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Captain Cascader

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Edited By Captain Cascader

@_jackbauer said:

You're alienating longtime fans of the current Comic Vine layout by introducing a new one.

Long time fans of Comic Vine know I've redesigned the entire site five times since its launch (that's almost once a year). This isn't anything new for them. Websites that don't redesign and adapt to new technology and techniques usually die off. The Internet is a graveyard of past-great websites that didn't modernize themselves every once in awhile.

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MadeinBangladesh

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Edited By MadeinBangladesh

Damn it I hate Changes! but I would like the Blackish Background. I hate White Backgrounds..

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Captain Cascader

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Edited By Captain Cascader

@MadeinBangladesh said:

Damn it I hate Changes! but I would like the Blackish Background. I hate White Backgrounds..

As you wish!

No Caption Provided
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batkevin74

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Edited By batkevin74

So when is the best time to sign up for a paid account? Now or when the new improved CV arrives in a few weeks?

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Billy Batson

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Edited By Billy Batson

He's alive :o
BB

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LordRequiem

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Edited By LordRequiem

This can only be good news. Although I would like to mention that considering how many comic fans there are on here for those of us that live in the UK and don't pick up every title I would like to see more updates of stories so I can see what's going on with characters. Lots of the time wikipedia is more reliable for very recent events, which is quite annoying.

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Strider1992

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Edited By Strider1992

Looks nice.

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Captain Cascader

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Edited By Captain Cascader

@batkevin74 said:

So when is the best time to sign up for a paid account? Now or when the new improved CV arrives in a few weeks?

It won't matter.

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Outside_85

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Edited By Outside_85

Sounds good, hope we can avoid breaking video's.

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dondave

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Edited By dondave

Looks good

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evilvegeta74

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Edited By evilvegeta74

Nice

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batkevin74

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Edited By batkevin74

@Captain Cascader said:

@batkevin74 said:

So when is the best time to sign up for a paid account? Now or when the new improved CV arrives in a few weeks?

It won't matter.

Another question about signing up: I only use CV. It's great you've got the other stuff but I don't really want to pay for stuff I don't use. Is there just a CV membership fee or is it one size fits all?

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deactivated-5d921c81bd12c

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Sounds good :)

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Decept-O

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Edited By Decept-O

This is great news. Comic Vine continues to improve in many ways, esp the design and function aspects. Certainly, a few things may be slightly annoying to a small degree but overall, damn good site. I look forward to see what is in store yet again for the site! Keep up the good work.

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YourNeighborhoodComicGeek

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Looks really epic, sleek, new, and a lot better.

However, are they going to make the entire website black like Anime Vice? Because I like the white, organic feel of Comic Vine more (although all other redesigns are good).

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SevanGrim

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Edited By SevanGrim

Thats crazy. Ive been here since CV was just a bunch of weirdos yelling at each other about feats and continuity... cool beans!

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Fantasgasmic

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Edited By Fantasgasmic

Congrats on the site growth! I am really looking forward to some of those new features. I await the inevitable backlash! I just finally got used to the current layout.

@Captain Cascader said:

@MadeinBangladesh said:

Damn it I hate Changes! but I would like the Blackish Background. I hate White Backgrounds..

As you wish!

No Caption Provided

I prefer a white background. Dark ones make my eyes strain if I'm looking at a page too long. Just goes to show that you can't please everyone... unless you allow the choice, like Giant Bomb used to.

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Decoy Elite

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Edited By Decoy Elite

Nice all I ask is that we get to keep the ability to keep the white background, the other one is too dark and hurts my eyes for some reason.

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Captain Cascader

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Edited By Captain Cascader

@Decoy Elite said:

Nice all I ask is that we get to keep the ability to keep the white background, the other one is too dark and hurts my eyes for some reason.

Don't worry. White will continue to be the default.

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StMichalofWilson

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Edited By StMichalofWilson

Alright then

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ragdollpurps

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Edited By ragdollpurps

@Captain Cascader said:

@Decoy Elite said:

Nice all I ask is that we get to keep the ability to keep the white background, the other one is too dark and hurts my eyes for some reason.

Don't worry. White will continue to be the default.

Will the dark bg still work? I have the same problem as him, but opposite.

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deactivated-5c901e667a76c

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Edited By deactivated-5c901e667a76c  Moderator

Will we be getting a mobile version anytime soon?

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Decoy Elite

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Edited By Decoy Elite

@Captain Cascader said:

@Decoy Elite said:

Nice all I ask is that we get to keep the ability to keep the white background, the other one is too dark and hurts my eyes for some reason.

Don't worry. White will continue to be the default.

Good to hear, I'm looking forward to this!

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pikahyper

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Edited By pikahyper  Moderator

@Captain Cascader: my offer still stands from before Dave, if you want a dedicated tester I'm ready and able, if there is any bugs I'll find 'em :D

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haydenclaireheroes

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It seems like you guys are working really hard, and congrats on being the biggest comic site in the world!

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Stoneybe

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Edited By Stoneybe

Looks like a load of hard work went into the new look. Thank you

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lifeboy

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Edited By lifeboy

You need to do is filter out people who cuss and use tge Lords name in vain

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LordAndrew

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Edited By LordAndrew

@sithfrog said:

@EdwardWindsor said:

PS more quests! lol

I would second this.

Thanks for all of the hard work CV team!

Quests are dead.