A positive role within the graphic novel for people from a minority within the prevailing society. This doesn’t just refer to skin colour, but to wider forms of minority not always visible.

Firstly because there are so many DC graphic novels and so many Marvel graphic novels that a search via company would turn up thousands of them, and so wouldn’t be of value. Secondly people are far more likely to search for a Batman or X-Men graphic novel via the series title. The same applies to Adventure Time, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Conan, Judge Dredd, Star Wars, Terminator and many others, so they and similar franchises aren’t searchable via publisher.

Any nudity, swearing or extreme violence has the adult label applied. Some people are more sensitive than others, so the bar is set low, leading to the ridiculous situation of some young adult titles being labelled as adult.

Because we don’t consider it relevant. Publishers have supplied review copies since time immemorial, and if receiving a free book was enough to sway our opinions the site would rapidly lose all credibility. For the record, some publishers supply physical books, others provide access to digital copies, and many provide no review copies at all.

It’s a matter of stock. Booksellers generally have a deep stock of more recent publications, but the older the book, the less likely they’ll stock it, so there will be no link.

Ideally, we would link to more stockists, and have approached independent graphic novel dealers. Their view was that they wouldn’t be able to maintain the stock levels to ensure a significant enough percentage of what’s reviewed was available. Other online sites have been approached, but proved difficult to deal with.

Some graphic novels, particularly from smaller publishers, don’t have wide distribution and they’ll only be listed on regional Amazon sites. This is also why some links connect with product offered by a specialist dealer rather than Amazon themselves.

Amazon often list a graphic novel months before publication, and occasionally a cover hasn’t been finalised at that point. They’re supplied with a placeholder illustration for their listing by the publisher, but this may not be the final cover. These listings are sometimes not updated when the graphic novel is published.

The other reason is some books have been through multiple editions, and we aim to link to the most recent.

This is for the overall story content. Fine production may be mentioned in the text, but the production is considered secondary to story. Some collections may feature remarkable material, but the star rating applies to all material included, and isn’t ranked just according to the best content.

The award listings are applied to the graphic novels corresponding to the year the award was won. Daredevil won an Eisner award as Best Series in 2003, but not in 2002 or 2004 despite the same creative team, so only the books reprinting Daredevil comics published with a 2002 cover date (and so eligible in 2003) note the award. It is noted in cases when the final chapters of an extended work slip into the following year. We only note awards for individual books, collections or series, not for creators.

When searching for creators you’re best using the specific creator search box found on our reviews page. If using the home page search engine, enter your search query in quotes like “John Byrne”. Only work referencing John Byrne will then appear in the results.