Understanding Series, Titles, and Issues on VerseDB

What it is

VerseDB uses a clear hierarchical structure to organize comics: Titles, Series (Volumes), and Issues. Understanding these three layers helps you collect accurately, track reading progress, and find what you're looking for with ease.

Definitions

Title

A Title is the overall name of a comic line. It represents all Series (volumes) that have ever used that name — across relaunches, reboots, and timelines.

• Example: Amazing Spider-Man
• Includes multiple Series like the 1963 run, 2015 run, 2018 run, etc.
• Think of it as the "master record" for a comic franchise

Series (Volume)

A Series refers to a specific run (volume) under a Title. It's typically tied to a particular publication period, creative team, and numbering system.

• Example: Amazing Spider-Man (2018)
• A single volume that includes its own unique set of Issues
• Has a defined start year (and sometimes end year)
• Can be an ongoing series, limited series, one-shot, or graphic novel

Issue

An Issue is the individual comic book — the specific one you can read, collect, or wishlist.

• Example: Amazing Spider-Man (2018) #1
• Belongs to the 2018 Series, which is part of the broader Amazing Spider-Man Title
• Has specific metadata: release date, creators, cover price, page count
• Can have multiple variants (different covers of the same issue)

How You Use Each Level

• Titles – Browse to see the full publication history and all volumes
• Series – Follow to get notifications about new issues, view complete issue lists, track reading progress
• Issues – Add to collection, mark as read, write reviews, add to wishlist, view variants

Visual Hierarchy

Title: Amazing Spider-Man
  ├─ Series: Amazing Spider-Man (1963) 
  │   ├─ Issue #1
  │   ├─ Issue #2
  │   └─ ... (up to #441)
  ├─ Series: Amazing Spider-Man (1999)
  │   ├─ Issue #1
  │   └─ ... (up to #58)
  └─ Series: Amazing Spider-Man (2018)
      ├─ Issue #1
      ├─ Issue #2
      └─ ...

Tips & Troubleshooting

• If you're browsing or searching, Title pages give you the full picture across all runs
• Series pages help you follow a specific volume and view its full issue list ordered by number
• You can collect, wishlist, and mark as read at the Issue level only, not Series or Titles
• When adding missing data or contributing, make sure you're attaching new Issues to the correct Series (volume)
• Following a Series will notify you when new Issues are added
• Some series are "ongoing" (still publishing) while others are "completed" or "canceled"