How it works

Scan. Read. Know.

Three steps and no typing. Here is the scanner in use, what the result card says, what each of the seven verdicts means, and what the app does when it is not sure: it asks.

The phones on this page are illustrations of the app, not screenshots.

Step 1 · Scan

It captures by itself.

Hold the phone over the comic. The scanner finds the edges, waits until it is steady, captures, and straightens the cover. Bags and boards can stay on.

Scan a pile in one go: it takes them one after another as you deal them. Or pick a photo already on the phone. For a whole box, Hunt Mode flicks through without a single photo.

Everything happens on the phone. The photo is never sent anywhere, and there is no account.

Step 2 · Read

What it reads.

The barcode, the issue number, the cover date, the price box, the title and the creator names. Where the barcode says so, it tells the printing and the variant cover apart too.

Name it

What it knows.

It names the comic from a catalogue of half a million, held on the phone, with new releases added in app updates.

Marvel
DC
Image
Dark Horse
IDW
Boom!
Dynamite
Archie
Valiant
Charlton
Gold Key
2000 AD
UK comics
and more

Publisher names appear here only to say what the catalogue covers. Mint Menace is not connected with any of them.

Which cover is yours?

After a scan the card lists every cover the catalogue records for that issue, by name: variant covers and later printings. When the barcode names the printing, it is filled in for you. A cover the list does not have can be typed in.

Step 3 · Know, or ask

Sure, or it asks.

Mint Menace names the comic when it's sure, and shows the evidence: the barcode and the issue number agreeing, say, or the number, the date and the price box together. When it isn't sure, it does not name a comic at all. It says so and shows you the likely ones to pick from. Wear this cover down and watch.

How battered is the cover?

TitleRead
BarcodeRead
Issue numberNo. 1
Price box12p
Cover dateOct 1978

Tales from the Spinner Rack, No. 1

OCT 1978 · ISSUE 1 OF 38 · PRICE BOX: 12p

SurePence copyKey: first appearance

The barcode and the issue number agree.

Which one is it?

TALES FROM THE SPINNER RACK · THE NUMBER IS TORN OFF

Not sure

The series is clear, the issue is not. Pick the cover that matches yours, or scan again with the corner box in view.

No. 1Oct 1978 · the first appearance
No. 11Aug 1979
No. 17Feb 1980 · dual priced

If a comic is newer than its catalogue, it says that too. Measured accuracy figures, broken down by era and publisher, will be published when they exist. Until then the site shows none, because a guess would be worse than nothing.

The result card

One card per comic.

The comic, the pence verdict, any key flag with its source, the run the issue belongs to, which cover you have, and a link to recent eBay UK sales. One tap adds it to My Comics.

Sure Not sure Key: first appearance

Tales from the Spinner Rack, No. 1

OCT 1978 · ISSUE 1 OF 38 · PRICE BOX: 12p

Pence copyKey: first appearanceSure

Barcode and issue number agree. The price box reads 12p, the UK newsagent price for that month: the pence printing.

First appearance of the Mint Menace. Lead story: The Case of the Sticky Twelve. Source: the catalogue.

Which cover is yours? Newsstand · Direct edition · Second printing · Type another

Recent eBay UK sales for this issue →

The seven verdicts

What the card can say about the price box.

Every verdict is a word, not just a colour, so it reads the same to everyone.

Pence copy
The price box shows a UK price and nothing else, on an American comic that was also printed with a US price. This is the British newsstand printing.
What to do: Note it when you list or catalogue the book. Some pence copies sell for more than the US copy and some for less; the eBay UK link on the card shows recent sales.
Pence copy (likely)
The price box shows a UK price only, and the publisher was printing pence copies at that date, but the catalogue could not confirm a pence printing for this issue.
What to do: Check it named the right issue, then look at the box yourself. A printed price sits inside the box in the cover's own ink; a sticker or stamp sits on top of it.
UK price: check
Something does not add up. The price is in pence, but the issue is not known to have had a pence printing, or the cover date could not be read.
What to do: Check for a distributor stamp or a sticker: plenty of US copies were priced in pence by hand when they arrived here. If you are sure the price is printed, tell us. It may be one the catalogue is missing.
Price not read
No price could be read from the cover.
What to do: Try a closer, straighter photo of the corner box.
Dual priced
Both a US and a UK price are printed on the cover. From the early eighties most American comics sold in Britain were priced this way, so there is no separate pence printing to hunt for.
What to do: Nothing to do. It is the standard copy for its era.
US copy
The price box shows a US price only. The regular American copy, whether it was sold over there or shipped here later.
What to do: Nothing to do, unless it carries a stamp or sticker from a UK distributor, which some collectors look for in its own right.
UK comic
A British comic, priced in pence because it is British: 2000 AD, say. It is not a pence copy of anything, so the pence question does not arise.
What to do: Nothing to do. The rest of the card still applies: the issue, the run, the key flags and your collection.

Newer than the catalogue

When it does not know.

New releases are added in app updates, but a comic can be newer than the copy of the catalogue on your phone. When that happens the app says so instead of guessing at the nearest match.

Not in our catalogue yet

This looks newer than the catalogue on this phone. It will be added in an app update. You can still add it to My Comics with your own notes.

Join the beta

Try it on your own long boxes.

The test version is on iPhone now. Leave your email for an invite as places open. Questions first? hello@mintmenace.com.