I was a hardcore comic collector (mostly Marvel) from about 1980 to 1996, then picked it up again from 2011-2019 (DC new 52 and Rebirth). I have amassed somewhere in the neighbourhood of 7000+ comics. I’m done with monthlies, and I want to keep most of it, but I am at a place where I want to move on from about 30 to 40% of the collection and need a way to keep track of it all.
Also, I’m at an age where my mortality is becoming an inescapable fact - it will be so much easier for my wife and sons if the collection is somehow accurately catalogued in case… well, you know.
This summer, I was about to sit down and begin the Herculean task of typing an Excel file to catalouge it all when I stumbled upon the existance of clz software.
I am SUPER EXCITED with the idea that I can aim my phone at each comic and ‘bamf’ - they’re in the data base!
The idea has me so excited, that I am also considering double-dipping and investing in the music apps as well - I also happen to have about 3000 CDs - LONG LIVE PHYSICAL MEDIA.
I am very close to subscribing, but I have a few questions:
How will the scan feature work with my thousands of 80s and early 90s comics that were bought from direct-market comic shops, so instead of the bar-code, they simply have (usually) Spidey’s head? Do I have to enter those the old-fashioned, data-entry-by-keyboard way?
I get the advantages of the cloud-based data management and don’t inherently fear such things (as a lot of my fellow Gen-Xers seem to), but ‘just in case’ this business shutters it’s doors someday (or the internet implodes someday), is the data downloadable as an Excel backup?
Do I HAVE to use my phone for bar-code scanning on comics and CDs, or is your software compatable with a retail bar-code scanner? I can see that saving me a lot of time if I could make it work.
Let’s say I hit a comic or a CD that the program doesn’t recognize - how difficult is it to enter it into my database manually? I see this as a bigger issue with music - my comic collection is pretty much all Marvel and DC capes, but musically, lots of indie stuff that iTunes can’t find either.
Does the system treat graphic novels the same as comics, or are they going to fall under the “books” category, where I would need a third subscription? That would be too rich for my blood - I’d just leave graphic novels out of it, if that were the case.
Thanks to anyone who reads this post and is willing to chime in with advice.
Real quick answer to two of your questions from a fellow collector:
#1 You can’t scan a barcode if there isn’t a barcode. But it’s pretty easy to add multiple books at once to your collection if you’re adding via the Add Comics - Series section. Take a look at this screenshot, I can check off multiple issues of Hulk at a time and add them all to my collection at once. No barcode necessary and they have multiple ways to search for the books you want to add. They’ll even show variants and you can enter in custom data for every book you add. It’s very intuitive and customizable.
#5 Graphic novels are included in the CLZ comics app at no extra charge. If there is a book that you can’t find in the app, you can request it to be added. But their database is pretty thorough!
You can always export your data to a CSV file from the Cloud. Or export to a PDF file.
In any case, a CSV file can be imported in just about any spreadsheet program, such as excel.
Well in CLZ Comics mobile app you have your phone to scan barcodes.
In Comic Connect our web app, you can use the free CLZ Scanner app connected to Comic Connect. But, most 3rd party barcode scanners have like a way to simulate a keyboard, and that will also work in Comic Connect, just like you would use a regular keyboard (so no need to connect it).
If you are using CLZ Comics mobile app I would recommend to just use the built in barcode scanner though.
If you can’t find it, in Comic, you will get a screen to submit the missing barcode, and add it to your local database. You can then edit the item and add more details as you like. Shouldn’t be to difficult - but if you’re having troubles with it, just drop us a line here
