Issue numbers beat splash filenames
A field note on using issue numerals, not screenshot names, as the primary key in a Marvel NFT comic desktop catalog.
A collector in Bolton sent a folder in which every Marvel NFT comic screenshot was named after the first word in the splash caption. Half of those words were sound effects. The catalog became a list of BAM, KRASH, and a single file mysteriously called “untitled”. None of that is an issue number.
The trade dress on a Marvel NFT comic, when the listing shows it, still carries a numeral. That numeral is the spine of a back-issue bin and it should be the spine of a desktop catalog. If the art crops the box, we look at the listing title next, then we leave a remark that the numeral was inferred. Inferred is not the same as seen.
Filename dates are worse. A reprint dropped in March can overwrite a January screenshot if the collector saves both as “cover.jpg” in the same folder. Hygiene work exists because of that habit, not because collectors are careless in some moral sense. Digital comics arrive as images. Images invite generic names.
When we write issue cards at Utility Flow Core, the first column after the series title is always the numeral. Cover type comes third. People argue about foils. They rarely argue about whether 12 comes after 11, until a reprint bundle pretends to be a new 12.
If you are starting a catalog this week, rename nothing until you have copied the numeral into a spreadsheet. Then rename. The comic does not mind waiting.