Comic Book Titles on ComicVine

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asxz

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#1  Edited By asxz

I just wanted to get some consensus on how you know the correct title and the correct punctuation of the title of any given comic book.

There are two competing suggestions. The first is that the title should be what it says on the cover of the book and the punctuation is arbitrary.

The second suggestion is that the title should be according the masthead inside the book and the punctuation should follow this strictly.

The title in dispute is the John Constantine book, Hellblazer. Despite Constantine's name appearing on the cover since the very beginning until today:

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The text in the masthead contains the single word, "Hellblazer":

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I, therefore, maintain that the title of this book is "Hellblazer", while another member thinks the book should be called "John Constantine - Hellblazer" or "John Constantine: Hellblazer".

Please let me know what you think.

Cheers.
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Sparda

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#2  Edited By Sparda

I sort of think that the title should be what's on the cover, but the text in the interior would seem to be the definitive source on what the comic is called. So, I think that the issue should just be called "Hellblazer".

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deactivated-5f10a0c8ad118

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I say John Constantine : Hellblazer

because it appears on the cover and it's easier for newer members. Plus you can't just go changing titles all willy-nilly, it messes up the links.

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#4  Edited By The_Martian

I would say its Hellblazer

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asxz

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#5  Edited By asxz
TheDrifter said:
"I say John Constantine : Hellblazer

because it appears on the cover and it's easier for newer members. Plus you can't just go changing titles all willy-nilly, it messes up the links. "
But why have you added a colon that doesn't exist anywhere in the book and why have you added a space before the colon which doesn't exist anywhere in the English language?
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deactivated-5f10a0c8ad118

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Touche. I don't remember changing it though.

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Sparda

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#8  Edited By Sparda
aztek the lost said:
"do you mean issue or volume? I don't see why the issue would be called Hellblazer"
I meant comic/volume, my bad.
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#9  Edited By Slinger
aztek the lost said:
"anyways, my question is...why is it that only this series drops the "John Constantine" in its database description, what do you do with the annual and other specials? other sites all seem to differ on the John Constantine part or not...but in my opinion by keeping it there it makes it more sensible when a user searches John Constantine because all those volumes will pop up as well

as for the "-" or ":", that's just a user's way of pointing out a title, and a subtitle, and in some cases, a sub-subtitle, I don't think its extremely important which one you use"
It's an encyclopedia, it shouldn't be about what makes things easier to find as much as it should be about accuracy of information. I would be inclined to use what's printed in the masthead, as sometimes on covers the lettering can make things a little ambiguous. Anyone who searches John Constantine should easily enough be able to navigate to the Hellblazer page by looking at his appearances, and anyone looking at the Hellblazer page should easily enough be able to find John Constantine by looking at who appears in that.
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gmanfromheck

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#11  Edited By gmanfromheck
Sparda said:
"I sort of think that the title should be what's on the cover, but the text in the interior would seem to be the definitive source on what the comic is called. So, I think that the issue should just be called "Hellblazer"."
I'll say the Official stance should be what is in the interior.  The only problem with this, is sometimes they change it.  Not often though.  Whenever I add a new title, I find that print and enter the title as is.

The recent example comes to mind is the "X-Men and Spider-Man" mini.  I entered it as it was seen in the tiny print: "X-Men/Spider-Man."  I'm not happy that they do this but it should be entered as the tiny print lists it. 

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Maaaaybe we'd want to add aliases to volumes.  I don't know if that'd just cause more confusion.
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asxz

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#12  Edited By asxz
aztek the lost said:
  ...but the point is, its quite clear on the covers that in this case its John Constantine - Hellblazer, after 253 issues you think they'd get rid of it if it wasn't supposed to be there, don't you?"
No, the point is that it's entirely unclear on the covers.

Another point here is that too many people are adding information to the ComicVine database without ever actually opening a comic book. It's very easy to rip data from other sites, but it's far more useful to actually look inside the book to see what's going on.

If you look at the listings in the pre-order catalogs and DC's own site, you'll find the title listed as "Hellblazer". Let's not try to reinvent the wheel and be smarter than the guys who actually publish the title, right?
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#13  Edited By inferiorego  Staff

Diamond promotes it as "Hellblazer".... Therefor, I call it "Hellblazer"

I'm a sheep

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shatterstar

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#14  Edited By shatterstar  Moderator

That thing along the bottom of the inside page, I think its called the indexia, I'm pretty sure thats the one we go with. Most of the volumes in the database were built up with help from the GCD and I believe thats what is standard in their database. So... Hellblazer.

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fesak

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#16  Edited By fesak  Moderator

So about Ultimate Comics Spider-Man
 The covers just says Ultimate Spider-Man, and according to Some Guy the fine print for issue 1 reads Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, but issue 2 just says Ultimate Spider-Man. 

Anyone who reads it care to check what it says? Also the other current ultimate titles.

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#17  Edited By KillerZ  Moderator
@fesak: 
yeah first was "Ultimate Comics Spider-Man" and from #2 and onward it's just "Ultimate Spider-Man"again. Don't know about other post-Ultimatum titles
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#18  Edited By xerox_kitty
@KillerZ said:
"@fesak:  yeah first was "Ultimate Comics Spider-Man" and from #2 and onward it's just "Ultimate Spider-Man"again. Don't know about other post-Ultimatum titles "

That surprises me, because they're being solicited for January 2010 as Ultimate Comics Spider-Man.
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#19  Edited By jamesewelch

What about small stuff like "X-Necrosha" vs "X Necrosha"? 
 
The indixia, solitics, and cover say "X Necrosha", but it was added to comicvine with a dash. I can see how it's easy to accidentally add it in there, since all the other Marvel "X" titles use a dash.
 
I didn't want to correct the volume title if it would mess up the links and stuff, but since this is just a one shot, I don't know how big of an effect changing it would have.

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#20  Edited By xerox_kitty
@jamesewelch: Changed it :)  It shouldn't break links... if it does, then it can be reported as a Bug :)
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#22  Edited By xerox_kitty
@aztek the lost: Complete the following sentence:  Marvel Comics couldn't organise a _____ in a ______.
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