You Own 47 of 52 Issues in the Dark Phoenix Saga. Here’s What You’re Missing.
You’ve got hundreds of comics in your collection. Maybe thousands. You know they’re in there because Comic Collector tells you so — title, issue, grade, value, all of it tracked and organized.
But when you sit down to actually read, you’re staring at a wall of longboxes with no plan. You vaguely remember you were working through Knightfall. Or was it No Man’s Land? You definitely own most of the Infinity Gauntlet run. Probably. You think issue 4 is in the second box on the left shelf, but you’re not positive you even own issue 4.
CC Reading List fixes this.
Import Any Story Arc in Seconds
Search Comic Vine’s massive story arc database right from your WordPress dashboard. Type “Dark Phoenix” and you’ll see the complete arc — every issue, in reading order, with cover art. Hit Import, and the plugin does something beautiful: it matches every issue in that arc against your Comic Collector database and tells you exactly which ones you own and which ones are missing.
You own 47 of 52 issues in the Dark Phoenix Saga. Here are the 5 you need. Here are the eBay links to buy them.
That’s it. That’s the pitch. But we kept building.
Gap Detection That Actually Works
The matching engine is thorough. It checks title and issue number against your collection. It cross-references Comic Vine issue IDs. It handles the messy reality of comic databases where “The Uncanny X-Men” and “Uncanny X-Men” are the same series but technically different strings.
When it finds a gap — an issue you don’t own — it generates two links for each missing comic: a Buy It Now search and a Sold Listings search, both on eBay, both with your affiliate Campaign ID baked in. Every missing issue link earns you affiliate revenue when someone clicks through.
If you have CC Wishlist & Alerts installed, one button adds every missing issue to your wishlist. All of them. One click. Now your wishlist is monitoring eBay, Whatnot, and Shortboxed for those exact comics. Gap closed.
Track Your Reading Progress
Found your copy of Uncanny X-Men #129? Read it, then tap the Read button. The plugin marks it read in your reading list and updates the is_read flag in your main Comic Collector database. Everything stays in sync.
When you come back tomorrow, the plugin remembers where you left off. “Next: Uncanny X-Men #130.” No more flipping through a spreadsheet trying to figure out which issue comes next. The reading order is right there, curated by Comic Vine’s community, ready to follow.
Take a break for a week? Come back and your progress is exactly where you left it.
Five Recommendation Engines That Know Your Collection
This is where it gets smart. The plugin analyzes your collection and your reading history and surfaces recommendations across five different angles:
Continue Reading — Arcs you started but haven’t finished. You read 8 of 12 issues of Kraven’s Last Hunt three weeks ago. Maybe finish it.
Ready to Read — Arcs where you own every single issue but haven’t started reading yet. No gaps to fill, no comics to buy. Just sit down and start.
Almost Complete — Arcs where you own more than half the issues. You’re 3 issues away from completing the entire Court of Owls run. Might be worth picking those up.
From Your Publishers — You collect a lot of Marvel. Here are Marvel story arcs you haven’t explored yet.
From Your Titles — You own 30 issues of Batman. Here are Batman story arcs that feature those issues.
Each recommendation shows the arc cover, your ownership percentage, and a link to view the full issue list with gaps.
Stats Dashboard for the Data-Obsessed
Every issue you mark as read feeds into a stats dashboard that tracks your reading habit with the kind of detail you’d expect from a fitness app:
- Issues read this week, this month, all time. Simple counters that make you feel productive.
- Reading streak. How many consecutive days have you read at least one issue? The streak counter knows. It’s watching.
- Reading pace. Your average issues per day over the last 30 days.
- Arcs completed. A running count of story arcs you’ve finished cover to cover.
- Collection read percentage. Of every comic in your Comic Collector database, how many have you actually read?
- Daily and monthly charts. Visual progress over time, powered by Chart.js. See your reading habits in bar charts and trend lines.
- Top publishers read. A doughnut chart showing which publishers dominate your reading time.
There’s also a sync button that pulls is_read flags from your existing CLZ import data. If you’ve been tracking read status in CLZ, that data flows right into your reading stats without re-entering anything.
Custom Reading Lists
Not every reading order comes from Comic Vine. Maybe you have your own curated path through the entire Batman timeline. Maybe your local shop owner gave you a recommended order for getting into Image Comics.
Create custom reading lists, add issues manually, drag to reorder, and get the same gap detection and progress tracking as imported arcs. Your list, your order, same tools.
Frontend Shortcode
Drop |cc_reading_list| (use brackets [ ] instead of | | )on any WordPress page and your entire reading experience goes public (login required). The frontend view includes:
- Tabbed interface — My Lists, Recommendations, Stats.
- Full interactivity — Mark issues as read, browse arc details, click through to eBay for missing issues.
- Responsive design — Looks great on your phone. Manage your reading list from the couch while your longboxes are in the other room.
All the data, all the features, outside the WordPress admin. Bookmark it to your phone’s home screen and it’s basically an app.
Works With What You Already Have
CC Reading List reads from your existing Comic Collector database. It shares the Comic Vine API key you already configured. It uses the eBay affiliate tag from CC Pro. It integrates with CC Wishlist & Alerts for gap-filling. It doesn’t duplicate data or create parallel systems — it adds a reading layer on top of the collection infrastructure you’ve already built.
What You Need
- Comic Collector (free plugin, v1.9.0+) — the foundation
- A Comic Vine API key (free) — takes 30 seconds to register at comicvine.gamespot.com
- A license key — enter it once in Reading List → Settings and you’re live
Stop Collecting. Start Reading.
You didn’t buy all those comics just to file them in a database. CC Reading List turns your collection from an inventory into a reading plan — organized, tracked, and always ready to tell you what comes next.
Your longboxes are full. Your reading list is waiting.
