Help:Dates

Comic Book dating can be annoying. Most comic books have at least three dates associated with them. The first is the solicit date. The second is the shipping date. The third is the cover date, also called the pull date.

This website uses the cover date. The format will generally be MMM YYYY without a dash. In the case of some weekly books that have a full date, use the format DD MMM YYYY.

Solicit Date

The solicit date is the month and year the comic book is first listed in Diamond Comics Previews Magazine. As of this writing, Diamond is the only official distributor of DC Comic books to comic book shops. For most comic books, this date will be listed as part of the order code.

Shipping Date

The shipping date is the date a book arrives in comic book shops. This date is almost always a Wednesday since Diamond took over the shipping, except when a holiday disrupts the schedule.

Shipping dates are usually two months after the solicit month. If a book is solicited in January, the shipping date is usually March.

When listing this on a comic book's page, use the full date in the format DD MMM YYYY. Enter as much of the date as you know, but do not guess if you aren't certain.

Cover Date

The cover date on a comic book was originally the month it needed to be pulled from the shelf. It was a simple way of alerting newsstand retailer to how old a book was. This is still used for that purpose in some retail situations.

The cover date is also the only date actually listed on a physical book. The other two dates come from outside knowledge. This is why we use the cover date to identify a book. It's easier to find the cover date if you have the book in your hand than the shipping or solicit dates.

The cover date is generally two months after the shipping date. If a book ships in March, the cover date is usually May. There are exceptions to this rule of thumb, including DC's weekly books, which list the shipping date as the cover date.

Use the format MMM YYYY without a dash. In the case of weekly books that have a full date, use the format DD MMM YYYY.

Formats

Simple Dates

For most modern books, the formatting of dates will be simple. You will need to put the month, followed by the full year. Use the first three letters of the month. For shipping dates, put the date first using two digits, followed by the month and year.

Examples:

• Nov 1941
• Feb 1986
• Dec 1991
• 05 Apr 2006
• 17 Oct 2007

Unfortunately, there are a few other special situations that aren't quite covered by simple months and years. DC has published books bi-monthly and quarterly in the past, which means that we need a few more categories.

Bi-Monthly Books

A number of DC Comics were published every two months, including Aquaman, for many years. There is a format for these books that uses the MMM YYYY template.

• J/F = January/February
• F/M = February/March
• M/A = March/April
• A/M = April/May
• M/J = May/June
• J/J = June/July
• J/A = July/August
• A/S = August/September
• S/O = September/October
• O/N = October/November
• N/D = November/December
• D/J = December/January

While this is mostly straightforward, you may notice the one wrinkle. For most of these you only have one year. In the case of books published December/January, you have two years to deal with. Here's the rule of thumb:

• If there is a year on the cover, use that year. If not, use the year of the later month.

In some cases, there will be a single month on the cover, but two months in the indica. Please follow the indica rather than the cover.

Quarterly Books

Quarterly books will usually have one of the four seasons as a date. These are easy:

• Spr = Spring
• Sum = Summer
• Fal = Fall
• Win = Winter

Late or Early

Some books that ship twice a month have a "late" or "early" appended to the beginning of the month. Include these in the date.