B.P.R.D. series

I've been working on the B.P.R.D. series (part of the Hellboy universe), and am considering whether to merge the various mini-series and one-shots into the overall series. The problem with the series is that each story arc has been set up as a mini-series; and the initial 12 comics did not have the B.P.R.D. issue numbers anywhere on the the cover or title page. Issues 13-99 and 148 on had the issue number on the title page and not on the cover, and 100-147 had the issue number on the front cover.

Comicvine tends to keep the story arcs as separate mini-series or one-shots (which is a pain in terms of seeing everything on a single page). Not all story arcs are mini-series in their own right here (I have tried to ensure the various mini-series are linked), so my inclination is to merge them all.

Additionally, the collected trade paperbacks and the hardcover omnibi each have their own series. Again, I am inclined to merge them into the main series, although I have created the series relationships (I must check work relationships - the trades are done, but I must check the hardcovers).

Basically, what do people think? (Eventually, I will try and create a Hellboy universe collecting all the various series under a single umbrella.)

>1 Maddz: I've run into a similar situation with Deadpool comics. In that instance, there was an existing super-series which was spottily populated with mini-series, on-going series, and one-shots, so I started filling in missing items in that series and made the mini-series, etc. subseries of it.

>2 amanda4242: I added a lot of missing items into B.P.R.D., combined, and split and recombined... I found one entry with 38 editions of over 30 different issues. The perils of auto-combination. There were also problems with issues combined with collections. The other thing is that not all the mini-series have their own series.

It's basically do I finish logging my partner's Dark Horse comics over the weekend and get started on his collection of Hellboy trades (at least they have ISBNs), or do I faff around more with B.P.R.D.? (It would be nice to be able to see the sitting room floor...)

>3 Maddz: Ugh, auto-combine! Not a friend to the comics cataloger.

Can't really give any advice on where to start your cataloging, but when doing mini-series I've found it easier to create a series for the mini-series, combine it with a larger series, and then undelete the mini-series. (Does that make sense? I've found it's much easier to actually do the work than explain how it's done.)

>1 Maddz: I think the BPRD series page looks pretty good now -- not sure if you've already done work after posting the above or not. The first 12 issues seem labeled appropriately. Most or all of the various miniseries issues have the miniseries numbering in the work title so the user can see that, as well as the overall numbering used in the series page.

For the collections, I actually like how quite a few comics series have them on two series pages, one for the collections themselves only so it has a limited number of works (and is just labeled TPB 1, 2, 3...) and also in the series page with the individual issues, labeled so as to indicate the contents relative to the issues entries (1-6, 7-11, 12-18...). As a reader I find that information useful in terms of relationships between TPB and HC contents and such.

>5 scott_beeler: I've merged (I should have added the contents not merged the series, but never mind) the trade paperback series into the main series as a separate section, and will do the same for the hard cover omnibi. I've just got back from our weekly shop, so that will be the rest of the morning on that.

I also found Rise of the Black Flame and the associated issues and added them in as a related miniseries (I do wish there was a spin-off option in relationships - I'm using the inspired by relationship).

I think I've taken edits on B.P.R.D. as far as it can go. It would be nice to add in the individual issues of Hellboy and the B.P.R.D., but that series is incomplete - I can't find 3 of the 1956 issues, nor the most of the later stand-alones (1957?), so I'll just leave the trades included for now. At least the series are correctly linked.

(It's possible they're in a pile of Paul's comics still to be logged. It was his comments that have caused me to mark Rise of the Black Flame and Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. as spin-offs rather than part of the core series. He's the fanboi - I've only seen the 2 feature films.)

Still to do is spinning out the Hell on Earth and The Devil You Know story arcs as subseries, but the core series is now looking pretty good imo.

>7 Maddz: Looking good! The labeling is easy to follow and the description explains how the series works.

>8 amanda4242: Just working on work-to-work relationships now! I've spun out the Hell on Earth story arc into a separate series, and will do the same for The Devil You Know story arc later on.

And I think I've now done! All the work-to-relationships are complete for the trades and omnibi, the sub-series are also completed. All series are now marked as 'Looking good'.

There might be a case to add canonical title to all the works as per the Dark Horse page (https://www.darkhorse.com/Search/Browse/%22b.p.r.d.%22---Comics---January+1986-December+2022/Ppydwkt7), but I'm in no mind to do that. I've added OPD to all the works himself owns anyway - which is most of the comics.

>10 Maddz: I wouldn't bother with canonical titles unless a title is flat-out wrong.

>11 amanda4242: As it happens, I changed my view and most issues already had canonical titles, and it didn't take long to add in the missing ones (and check the issues Paul didn't have).

So the only thing missing are the individual issues of Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. because the series isn't complete on site - 1956 and later are missing several issues. Himself says he has some of the titles and one of the trades, so I'll see if he has any of the missing ones.