Comic organization:

Being a comic book collector I have learned to be organized. I used to make my own spreadsheets and lists of the issues I needed. Before that, I used my mental spreadsheets which lead to buying a lot of doubles.

At the time of writing this I currently have 2,896 comics. I’m selling a bunch I have read already or don’t care for too much on Mercari to make room for newer ones coming in!

I use an app called CLZ comics to track what I have. They used to just charge a solid rate but recently have become a subscription service. Luckily if you were an existing user then you’re grandfathered in and don’t have to pay any recurring fees.

Bad news for new users.

However it may still be worth it if you have an extensive collection. After all its only 15 bucks a year. It keeps track of each issue you have, issues you’re missing, and you can even export a spreadsheet for your own records. They did recently change it to where you need to have a subscription to view the issues you’re missing which is kind of annoying.

I just love how you can see each cover of the issues you’re missing. So you can verify you have the right volume, and issue that you need.

Their scanning system makes adding the comics very easy. You just have to scan to the barcodes with your phone then hit add to collection. You can scan 100’s at a time and it is usually on the money. Some of the older and very new comics may show a different cover so you just have to pay attention that it picked up the right one. You can always find it manually if the barcode isn’t any help.

They have a cloud that backs up your issues too. I had to get a new phone and panicked that I lost all the data but it was all backed up and all there when I logged back in.

I have heard a lot about Comic Book Collector Database as well. It got an average rating compared to CLZ though.

The Database has a scanning system as well which is nice but kind of wonky. It took quite a while to align it just right to where they would accept it.

There is a wish-list section too if you want to keep note of a issue or volume you are looking for. I actually really liked that feature. I didn’t even realize that CLZ had that as well. So they both have that in common.

You can unlock all the features for a one time price of 10 bucks. Then you can have unlimited scans and space. They also have an adorable little digital shelf where you can see your comics displayed.

Each comic had a lot of details options you could add to it’s information. You could label where its located if you had multiple storage areas. There was also a section where you could input who you lent a comic too. Which is kind of neat. Just put in that its on loan over at Jacob’s house so that the punk won’t steal your issues and not return them.

Honestly If I already didn’t have my comics in CLZ I would easily use the Comic Book Collector Database app. The only thing I hated was their barcode system. They did have a lot of neat bells and whistles though that were great. However if I had to sit through that wonky barcode trying to scan over two thousand comics I would have a mental breakdown.

CLZ also has a lot of other organization apps. My husband has the one for their vinyl albums. A friend of mine has their movie collector one. No complaints from either of them on how it runs either!

Conclusion:

I will be sticking with CLZ. I have had zero problems with it. However If I wasn’t already this far into collecting and needed to keep track I would go with Comic Book Collector Database. The one time fee would be nice than a annual subscription as well. I enjoyed all the extra things within the app. It is probably more manageable for smaller collections. The barcode scanner is the only thing stopping me from adding my collection. It is painful compared to CLZ’s barcode scanner. Theirs is quick and easy.

Try em out and let me know which one you like better!