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Keys with receipts

The reason,
not just a badge.

First appearances, origins and deaths, each shown with where the fact comes from. A comic is a key when something happened in it first; the app says what, and says where it learned it.

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A worked example

What the card adds.

  • The key flag. Key: first appearance First appearance, origin or death, each with its source named.
  • The run. "Issue 1 of 38", the dates the run covers, and a note when a run is short.
  • The lead story. The title of the main story in the issue.
  • The creators. Writer, artist and cover artist.
  • Which cover is yours. Every cover the catalogue records for the issue, by name, so a variant or a later printing is filed as what it is.

The receipt is for an invented comic, Tales from the Spinner Rack No. 1, the first appearance of the Mint Menace. Every example on this site is invented, so nothing here is a claim about a real comic.

Mint Menace

Keys with receipts

Tales from the Spinner Rack
No. 1 · Oct 1978 · 12p

Key
First appearance
Who
The Mint Menace
Source
The catalogue
Run
Issue 1 of 38
Lead story
The Case of the Sticky Twelve
Price box
Pence copy
Value
Not estimated
Real sales
eBay UK, sold

Thank you for not guessing

The card in the app

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 same facts, on the card.

In the app the receipt is the result card: the key flag and its source, the run, the lead story and the creators, then which cover you have and the link to real eBay UK sales.

Firsts

What counts as a key

A character's first appearance. A first origin story. A first death. The app flags these three kinds, and for each one names the database the fact came from, so you can check it.

In the box

Hunt Mode buzzes for them

Flick through a box in Hunt Mode and a key issue announces itself the moment it passes the camera, with the same reason and source on the card.

On screen

And when one is cast

When a character whose first appearance you own is announced for film or TV, Screen Alert tells you, with the source.

Where the records come from

Public databases, with gaps.

The catalogue is built from public, openly licensed databases, and the app credits them on every card and this site credits them in every footer. They are the work of volunteers over decades, they are remarkably good, and they are not complete. A key that is not recorded will not be flagged. A creator credit can be missing. Dates can be a month out.

When the record is silent, the card is silent. The app never fills a gap with a guess.

Catalogue data: Grand Comics Database (comics.org), CC BY-SA 4.0 · New releases: Metron (metron.cloud), CC BY-SA 4.0 · Some key-issue facts: Wikidata, CC0

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Find the keys in your boxes.

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