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Wish list (3.5 stars)

Every comic in your Comic Collector database has a status associated with it of In Collection, Not In Collection, Wanted, or For Sale. To add issues to a wish list, add the comic to your database and set its status to Wanted. This is easily done by selecting multiple comics and modifying them all at the same time to change the status. Some things could be easier about this, though.

To keep from confusing issues actually in your collection versus comics not in your collection, it is easier to add multiple comics, set the status to wanted, and then use the Update Comics Automatically feature to insert more details. If the Add Comics Automatically feature allowed you to change status or other fields upon insertion, this would not be a concern.
To print a wish list, you could just print the results of the comics with a status of Wanted. The report, however, is not really designed to take shopping with you and will kill too many trees if you have any number of issues on the list. It is possible to create custom reports, but I did not investigate this process. With the Pro version of Comic Collector, you can export any data from the database into any text, html, or XML format and then perform any kind of manipulations to create a reasonable wish list, but this is extra work.

Other options allow export to iPod notes or to a Palm or PocketPC that is running ListPro (Collectorz.com offers a 30% discount on this software).

Determine the value of your collection (1 star)

Comic Collector does not automatically download current values of comics. It also does not assist in determining the current condition of the comics in your collection (which is fine if you are comfortable with determining this). Current value can be entered, but updating this information on a regular basis could become exhausting. The included reports do not show current value, so you would either need to create a custom report or export the data to get this information.

The Pro version of Comic Collector provides a “Loan Manager” feature along with the export capabilities not provided in the Standard version. This does not seem as applicable to comics as it might be to other Collectorz.com tools. Overall, the tool is very solid. Searches were quick, entering information was pretty painless, and browsing collections was fun.

About the reviewer:
Ben Sweetser is a guest reviewer for D106. By day he works for a software company teaching people how to use software and working with development to improve software usability. He doesn’t blog or have a website on the topic of comics. He is just your average, everyday avid comic reader and collector. Interested in seeing other software reviewed? Drop him a line at bsweetser@gmail.com.

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