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By | Thursday, April 14, 2011 | 11:07 pm | 1 Comment | Blog > Database Updates

First up for today’s update are a handful of books featuring the Fantastic Four that I tidied up by standardizing the “Issues” notation and tagging the four main members of the team:

Marvel Masterworks: Silver Surfer Vol. 1
Essential Daredevil Vol. 2
Bring On The Bad Guys (1998 Edition)
Bring On The Bad Guys
Fantastic Firsts
Marvel Masterworks: Daredevil Vol. 4
Marvel Masterworks: Nick Fury, Agent Of S.H.I.E.L.D. Vol. 1

I also noticed quite a few character tags that were either misspelled or just plain redundant — something that’s bound to happen with a database this size! In fact, I’m kind of surprised that I didn’t run into more of them. Of course, it could very well be that there are more I haven’t noticed yet, so if you happen to run into any, let us know! Anyhow, here are the books with the tags that I fixed (and I apologize in advance for what might initially just look like a wall of text):

Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Marvel Comics Vol. 5 (Removed and deleted tag “The Invaders”; replaced with “Invaders”)
Cable And The New Mutants (Removed and deleted tag “The New Mutants”; replaced with “New Mutants”)
The New Fantastic Four: Monsters Unleashed (Removed and deleted tag “The Hulk”; replaced with “Hulk”)
Marvel: Powerless (Removed and deleted tag “The Kingpin”; replaced with “Kingpin”)
Bullseye: Greatest Hits (Removed and deleted tag “The Punisher”; replaced with “Punisher”)
Sensational Spider-Man (Removed and deleted tag “The Punisher”; replaced with “Punisher”)
Beyond! (Removed and deleted tag “The Wasp”; replaced with “Wasp”)
Daredevil by Ed Brubaker And Michael Lark Omnibus Vol. 2 (Removed and deleted tag “Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu”; replaced with “Shang-Chi”)
Deadline (Removed and deleted tag “J. Jonah Hameson”; replaced with “J. Jonah Jameson” and tagged other characters)
Marvel Masterworks: Fantastic Four Vol. 1 (Removed and deleted tag “Invisible”; replaced with “Invisible Girl”)
Incredible Hulk Collector’s Album (Removed and deleted tag “Incredible Hulk”; replaced with “Hulk”)
Grandson Of Origins (Removed and deleted tag “Fanatstic Four”; replaced with “Fantastic Four” and tagged other characters)
The Life And Times Of Death’s Head (Removed and deleted tag “Death’s Hand”; replaced with “Death’s Head”)
Acts Of Vengeance Omnibus (Removed and deleted tag “Cloak and Dager”; replaced with “Cloak and Dagger” and fixed Issues section)
Civil War: Captain America (Removed and deleted tag “Capain America”; replaced with “Captain America”)
Girl Comics (Removed and deleted tag “Black Widdow”; replaced with “Black Widow”)
Black Panther: The Deadliest Of The Species (Removed and deleted tag “Black Panter”; replaced with “Black Panther”)
Black Panther: Secret Invasion (Removed and deleted tag “Black Panter”; replaced with “Black Panther”)
Black Panther: Little Green Men (Removed and deleted tag “Black Panter”; replaced with “Black Panther”)
Secret Invasion: Who Do You Trust? (Removed and deleted tag “Black Panthor”; replaced with “Black Panther”)
Marvels: Eyes Of The Camera (Removed and deleted tag “Angel Ant-Man”; replaced with “Angel” and “Ant-Man”)
Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes II (Removed and deleted tag “Captain American”; replaced with “Captain America”)

I also deleted the misspelled character tag “Pheonix” and fixed the spelling of the “Jean Grey” character tag. And if you’re a Marvel character buff, I’d really appreciate it if you took a look at this thread on the forum, in which I’m looking for your feedback. And with that, this is Marc, signing off!

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By | Thursday, April 14, 2011 | 9:51 am | 1 Comment | Blog > News

Kind of sounds like one of those terrible scam advertisements, doesn’t it?

But no, it turns out that SmarterComics is running a promotion for Amazon purchases on 6 books. One lucky customer will (in addition to their new comics!) get a brand new 32 GB iPad2 with Wi-Fi + 3G!

There are six books included in the contest and the only downside is that you have to make your purchase before midnight tonight (April 14th.) So impulse buyers, this one is for you.

If you’d like a little more info before making any moves, we’ve previously reviewed two SmarterComics releases here, Mi Barrio and Overachievement.

Here are links to all six books:

Those links are also TRO affiliate links, so if you do decide to buy a book you’re supporting us too.

Here are the official contest details from the email I got:

3 Easy Steps to Win:

1. Mark your calendar to make your Amazon purchase of our comics on April 14th, 2011.

2. Purchase any of the six comics to enter – you’ll be entered one time for EACH comic you buy! Buy all 6 and you’ll be entered 6 times! Buy 10 for friends and get entered 10 times!

3. Take a Screenshot of your Amazon Receipt(s) from April 14th and email it to iPad2@roundtablepress.com before midnight on April 14th.

If the title you wish to purchase on April 14th says “out of stock,” make sure you still place your order to be eligible to win. Stock will be replaced immediately by our distributor!

The Winner will be chosen and announced on our site by 3pm CST on April 15th.*

*Winner will be able to select the black or white model, and order will be placed on April 15th, subject to Apple’s 2-3 week shipping time estimate.

Best of luck! I certainly wouldn’t mind a free iPad.

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By | Wednesday, April 13, 2011 | 1:36 pm | 1 Comment | Blog > Uncle Gorby's Corner Of Free Stuff

Hey all! I hope you’re as excited as I am about all the quality work Marc has been putting into the site.

And if you’re following the forums, you’re probably excited about our new upcoming projects as well… and if you’re not excited at all, you need to sit back and watch some Japanese Spider-Man. Get pumped!

 

Today’s Link:

http://marvel.com/videos/browse/movietv/128/japanese_spiderman

Spider-Man (スパイダーマン Supaidāman – Wikipedia) ran for 41 episodes and one movie (!) in the late 70s. It’s probably the craziest Spider-Man offshoot I’ve ever seen. I don’t know if Marvel has given Spider-Man Japan an Earth-number of his own, but part of me wishes there was a comics continuity that followed along with these adventures.

All of the episodes are up at Marvel.com, thank god for the internet. Follow Spider-Man as he battles giant monsters and the Iron Cross Army. Awe at episode titles like “The Time of Revenge Has Come! Beat Down Iron Cross Group!!” or “Becoming Splendid: To the Murderous Machine of Transformation.” Dig a show that combines Ultraman with a wisecracking webslinger.

Believe me, this is the perfect show to put on at a swinging party. Haha, get it? Swinging!

Enjoy!

Still Bored? Visit Uncle Gorby’s Archive for More Links or Visit Uncle Gorby’s Corner in the Forum!

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By | Wednesday, April 13, 2011 | 1:59 am | 2 Comments | Blog > Database Updates

I’ve just gone through the Marvel Reading Order and updated a slew of Fantastic Four books! The “Issues” section has now been standardized for all of the following books to read “Fantastic Four” (rather than “The Fantastic Four,” or any other variation on the title). This should make things a little more consistent if you happen to be looking at a custom list of books related to the team. I’ve also tagged each one with the four founding members in the character section.

Fantastic Four Visionaries: George Perez Vol. 2
Fantastic Four: The Secret Story Of Marvel’s Cosmic Quartet
Fantastic Four Visionaries: George Perez Vol. 1
Essential Fantastic Four Vol. 8
Essential Fantastic Four Vol. 7
Essential Fantastic Four Vol. 6
Marvel Masterworks: Fantastic Four Vol. 12
Marvel Masterworks: Fantastic Four Vol. 11
Marvel Masterworks: Fantastic Four Vol. 8
Essential Fantastic Four Vol. 5
Marvel Masterworks: Fantastic Four Vol. 9
Marvel Masterworks: Fantastic Four Vol. 10
Fantastic Four
Essential Fantastic Four Vol. 4
Fantastic Four: The Flames Of Battle
Marvel Masterworks: Fantastic Four Vol. 7
Fantastic Four: Where Stalks The Sandman
Fantastic Four Omnibus Vol. 2
Essential Fantastic Four Vol. 3
Fantastic Four: Doomsday
Marvel Masterworks: Fantastic Four Vol. 6
Fantastic Four: The Coming Of Galactus
Marvel Masterworks: Fantastic Four Vol. 5
Marvel Masterworks: Fantastic Four Vol. 4
Essential Fantastic Four Vol. 2
Fantastic Four Return Collector’s Album
Marvel Masterworks: Fantastic Four Vol. 3
Fantastic Four Omnibus Vol. 1
Marvel Masterworks: Fantastic Four Vol. 2
Marvel Masterworks: Fantastic Four Vol. 1
Essential Fantastic Four Vol. 1
Fantastic Four: Maximum Edition

I  updated a few other books as well, including several that we got the full details of just today in Marvel’s July 2011 solicitations:

Fantastic Four / Spider-Man Classic (Tagged characters)
Fantastic Four: In Search Of Galactus (Tagged characters)
Official Handbook Of The Marvel Universe Vol. 4 (Standardized character tags)
Fantastic Four: Featuring The Peerless Power Of The Silver Surfer (Tagged characters)
X-Men by Chris Claremont and Jim Lee Omnibus Vol. 1 (Added Issues, Original Publication Dates; tagged characters and creators)
Excalibur Visionaries: Alan Davis Vol. 3 (Added Issues, Original Publication Dates; tagged characters)
Thor: Black Galaxy Saga (Updated Issues and Pages sections)

I also cleaned up some issues with repetition in the character taxonomies by deleting entries for “Mister Fantastic” (since we’re already using “Mr. Fantastic”) and “Uncanny X-Men” (since we already have just plain “X-Men”). We may at some point re-add “Uncanny X-Men” as a Series/Event tag to relevant books, to make it easier to see which X-Men collections include material from that particular ongoing series.

Well, that should just about do it for now. Over the next few days I’ll be making an effort to standardize the “Issues” sections for the rest of the Fantastic Four titles in the database, before moving on to the Avengers and the X-Men. I’ll also be sprinkling in some of Marvel’s newly announced collected editions for July, so keep an eye out!

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By | Tuesday, April 12, 2011 | 12:22 am | 1 Comment | Blog > Database Updates

Hey everyone, Marc here again for another round of updates. We’ve got various tweaks and fixes, a few more books added to the Essential Spider-Man list, and even some new books added to the database!

Decimation: Son Of M (Tagged characters, added to Essential Spider-Man list)
The Pulse Vol. 1: Thin Air (Tagged characters, added to Essential Spider-Man list)
Essential Ghost Rider Vol. 1 (Fixed Issues section)
Ghost Rider: Danny Ketch Classic Vol. 2 (Fixed Issues section)
Essential Dazzler Vol. 2 (Fixed Issues section)
Evolutionary War Omnibus (Added to database, tagged creators)
Spider-Man: The Vengeance of Venom (Added to database, tagged creators)
Essential Moon Knight Vol. 3 (Fixed Issues section)
Essential Moon Knight Vol. 1 (Fixed Issues section)
Spider-Man: Kraven’s Last Hunt (Tagged creators and characters)
X-Men by Chris Claremont and Jim Lee Omnibus Vol. 1 (Added to database, tagged creators)
Sabretooth: Back To Nature (Tagged creators and characters, added cover image)

That’s it for now! Anyone else excited for that X-Men by Chris Claremont and Jim Lee Omnibus?

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