There is a new version of the Comic Collector, the database software for keeping track of a comic book collection. I wrote a review of version 3. I like the software and can’t recommend it enough. I was about to pay for the $20 upgrade when I noticed the this blurb on the Comic Collector website:
If you purchased Comic Collector for Windows before November 14 2006, you are entitled to a free upgrade to version 4 (because of the EULA effective before that date). Please contact us to request your new license key:
I’m glad I read this before I sent them another $20. Not that I’m against the folks that make this software making as much money as they can. They have not only created a fantastic piece of software for managing a comic book collection, they have constantly worked on making it even better. I contacted them and quickly received my free upgrade key.
That’s something the makers of ComicBase seemingly haven’t been willing to do. I’m not a big fan of ComicBase. I believe my review of ComicBase Express reflects this.
I haven’t used the new version yet other then to upgrade it. I haven’t added any new issues to my collection. It looks quite spiffy.
Mike
/ February 20, 2008I cannot stand this software package! Two major thumbs down! I just purchased ComicBase Archive v12.5 a couple weeks ago. I was so excited to get to work on finally archiving the 17,000+ comics I have collected since childhood. Having saved the $357+ that it cost me to buy the Archive edition and barcode scanner with the 10% off the combo purchase I expected way more than what was delivered. The software installed easily enough, as well as the USB barcode scanner. Software does take a bit of time to load.
Once into the program I was shocked. The user interface is horrible! I thought I was doing fine with the batch process, which seemed like a pretty quick way to archive blocks of comics at one sitting. There are two ways to enter a comic.
1) Barcode scanner. I personally overvalued this option. I have found that only about 20% of my comics have actual UPC symbols on them and when they do have one the software only accurately identifies the correct comic 30% of the time. Its obvious the software has been designed mainly for the newer comics. Sometimes the program would bring a pop-up box with a list of comics it thinks it scanned. It appears many comics used the same barcode. Many times the comic scanned would not even be in the list. I also found that when using the barcode scanner it would identify the scan as the wrong comic. If you’re not on top of it and paying attention you could have say a #1 Felix The Cat instead of the Daredevil #292 you actually scanned. If the software doesn’t recognize a UPC symbol it will beep at you as well as keep the barcode number read in the window box.
2) Manual entry. In order to manually input comics you have to click on a “Lookup” button next to the barcode window, which provides a pop-up and you start typing the title of the comic you want to enter. If you’re lucky enough to find the title (some are definitely harder than others to find) you hit enter and the listing shows up. So here I am thinking that since most of my comics don’t have barcodes I should just organize them and then order all of the comics within that title and mass enter them. So that is what I did. Just like normal Windows functions, hold Ctrl down and select multiple individual comics or hold Shift down and select runs. Seemed to work pretty well. One major problem I did find is if you selected the wrong title (e.g. Silver Surfer Vol.2 vs. Silver Surfer Vol.3) there was no back button to return to where you were. Basically you had to start all over by clicking the “Lookup” button and typing in your title again. It does start at a default location that you select (e.g. Fantastic Four Vol.1), but you still have to retype in the title to try and find the title again. Once you select your comic(s) the Inventory window you are working in accurately identifies the titles, quantity (1), condition and NM price. Along with a total value of all comics you entered in this run at the bottom of the list.
Now wouldn’t you think you could change the quantity of a specific title or the condition? Well you can’t. Not in this window at least. And if you could switch the condition that the price would reflect to that particular condition’s value? ComicBase only includes pricing for NM condition. Now how many people’s collections are only NM condition? Ridiculous.
Once I added the block of comics I wanted to add I clicked the “Save” button. “Updating Inventory” flashed for a bit and returned to the main page. So how do I look at my collection so far? The only way to do that is to run a “Report” on your comic collection. I thought ok… a bit weird, but ok. Then the program threw an error. I tried again and the program froze into a “Generating Report” mode. I finally got it figured out and could see a report with what appeared to be all the comics I entered with a running total at the end. I thought to myself “Cool! This looks like it will work.” I proceeded to spend hours and hours hammering through box after box of comics over two weekends and many nights after work trying to get them out of my families hair as fast as possible.
I finished entering my three footlockers full of comics that were easily accessible. Yesterday I decided to look at my report and see how well my comic investments all these years did. I started going through and seeing numbers like Action Comics #422 with a quantity of 33, or Outsiders #15 with 21 for a quantity! I was like what in the heck (putting it very politely)! I felt absolutely sick when I realized that my 40+ hours I had spent on archiving was for not. I thought I might have done something wrong so I went to the ComicBase website looking for a miracle answer, but none was found. I proceeded today to contact their help line, which was answered within a couple minutes by someone (kudos!). I was awestruck by the answer I was given. “The ability to enter multiple comics in the same title is not currently available in our software program. We are evaluating that.”. Unfrickinbelievable!!! Anyone who is happy with this software has been sniffing too much model glue in a back alley somewhere. Especially if they shelled out the $350+ for the scanner too. This is some of the worst software I have ever experienced. “World’s #1 Comic Software”… BAH! You’re better off using the spreadsheet method I started using in the 1980’s. Thanks for the HUGE waste of my time.
Rick
/ February 21, 2008Mike, this post is about Comic Collector, not ComicBase. I wrote about ComicBase here. BTW, I agree 100% with you.