Volume numbers

[Cavaliere (moderator emeritus)]

Hello, heroes!

I have a question about cataloguing comics and would like your opinions.

When one publisher uses the same series name more than once, volume numbers are easy. What about when multiple publishers use a series title over time? There are other examples but the one I'm currently looking at in updating my own database is DC's 1987 Captain Atom series. This was DC's first series of that name but there were three previous series from three other publishers (just in America). There was Nation-Wide Publishing in 1950, Charlton in 1965, and Modern in 1977.

So--is the 1987 series volume 1? Volume 4? Or, given that the 1950 series was a completely different character, is the '87 series volume 3?

My personal inclination is to call it volume 4 but I'm willing to be convinced otherwise.

Thanks for your input!

[Philip Portelli]

I bought a Captain Atom and a Blue Beetle by Modern Comics from Woolworth's as a kid and they put a price sticker on them. Later I found out that they were practically worthless, at least the last time I checked and that was over twenty years ago!