News & updates released in 2024
CLZ Alwin here, with the last CLZ Newsletter for 2024.
But first: A happy 2025 from the entire CLZ Team: Martin, Rowdy, Sven, AJ, Pim, Joe, Bernard, Justin, Taco, Kelvin, Sytske and me, Alwin!
Then next up: I have some BIG news:
CLZ is going fully remote per Jan 1!
Yep, today is our last day at the office! Starting Jan 1, CLZ will go fully remote, fully virtual. No more office, no more CLZ HQ. We will all work from home!
During the Covid period, we already worked from home for almost 2 years. During that period, we became pretty efficient in communicating over Slack, meeting using Google Meet, working together using screen sharing, etc…
Post Covid, we never went back to the office in full, most of the team kept working from home 3 days a week, and 2 days at the office. And like many other companies, we are finding that this hybrid situation is far from ideal… and quite costly.
While some companies are attempting a full BTO approach (back to office), we have decided to go the other route: we are going fully remote!
This will give us all more flexibility to work from anywhere, at any time. Lower costs and no more lengthy commutes. And unlike the Covid period, we can still meet IRL whenever we need or want. We are planning to do “social meetings” for lunch or dinner twice a month, and project-based meetings on demand.
We are super excited for this new officeless era!
With that out of the way, here’s the other CLZ News for December 2024:
- Mobile apps:
- CLZ Comics 10.0: Add Comics by scanning the covers
- CLZ Comics 10.1: Check Comic Values by scanning covers
- Web apps:
- CLZ Web: Improved Add screens for all 5 Web flavors
- Coming up: CLZ Web UI refresh
- CLZ Core updates:
- Core for Movies: “Check Covers” project, 86% cloud coverage!
- Core for Comics: New Comic Book Day summary, 2,027 new releases
New Year, New Comics! Get ready for the most anticipated releases of the first week of 2025. These top-10s are created by you all, the users of the CLZ app and software, as they’re based on how often these comics already appear on your wish lists in the CLZ Cloud, even before release!
The year is almost over, but not before we take a look back at this year’s biggest hits!
We have done some queries on our Core online comic database to gather popularity stats, based on usage of the CLZ comic database app and software. Using the results of those queries, we created these fantastic Top 10 Comics of 2024 lists!
Here it is, the final NCBD of the year. And it’s a small one, only 311 releases.
Let’s start strong with two total Marvel badasses! We join Bishop and Cable on a time-travellng adventure in Marvel Comics’ brand new series Timeslide.
In DC Comics’ Action Comics, Vol. 3 #1081 we witness the final battle between the heroes of Earth and Aethyr’s enemy forces. This looks like a job for Superman and his family!
And last but not least we dive into #6 of Hello Darkness, published by Boom! Studios. This holiday season issue offers plenty of creepy Christmas stories, created by amazing artists like James Tynion IV, Garth Ennis and John Arcudi!
Happy Reading!
These top-10s are created by you all, the users of the CLZ app and software, as they’re based on how often these comics already appear on your wish lists in the CLZ Cloud, even before release!
Fixed in the Add Comics screen:
- Add Comics: NCBD tab: Tapping “View all issues” for a series didn’t work
- Missing Comics: “Open in Add Comics” link didn’t go to the right tab
- iOS only: Add Comics: The bottom area with the Add button was acting strange sometimes
Wishing you all a Merry New Comic Book Day and a Happy New Pull List!
This week we start with the Christmas-themed issue 12 of Ultimate Spider-Man, Vol. 2. Even though the Christmas season is upon them, it looks like dark clouds are gathering above the Parker family.
In issue 1 of New Gods, Vol. 5 we learn that an old god passed away, which sets up many dangerous and chaotic events. Be sure to check out Ram V and Evan Cagle’s take on this epic series.
And last but not least we received a RSVP from a galaxy far, far away. Let’s travel to the beautiful world of Eriadu, where lovers Lula Talisola and Zeen Mrala are going to tie the wedding knot any time soon. Go read Star Wars: The High Republic Phase III – The Wedding Spectacular and see you at the wedding reception!
Happy Reading!
Today, a big update for your CLZ Games Web software.
For this update, we have done a complete re-design of the Add Games screen. The 3 main goals here were to:
- Make it easier to find the actual game and release you own, when adding by Title
- Make the search results more compact and nicer looking
- Make it all fast and snappy
Today, a big update for your CLZ Movies Web software.
For this update, we have done a complete re-design of the Add Movies screen. The 3 main goals here were to:
- Make it easier to find the actual movie and release you own, when adding by Title
- Make the search results more compact and nicer looking
- Make it all fast and snappy
Today, a big update for your CLZ Comics Web software.
For this update, we have done a complete re-design of the Add Comics screen. The 3 main goals here were to:
- Make it easier and faster to navigate when adding comics by Series
- Make the search results more compact and nicer looking
- Make it all fast and snappy
A nice update for your CLZ Music Web software today.
We improved the Add Albums screen to make it more compact, better looking and a bit snappier to use.
On top of that, the process for combining discs into multi-disc albums is much better now.
Here’s what’s new:
- Search results now show the number of discs
- The Preview panel on the right has been replaced with a nice and quick “Confirm” popup, that just slides in from the bottom.
- Improved process of combining discs into a multi-disc album
A small update for your CLZ Books Web software today.
We improved the Add Books screen to make it more compact, better looking and a bit snappier to use.
The main change is that the Preview panel on the right has been replaced with a nice and quick “Confirm” popup, that just slides in from the bottom.
These top-10s are created by you all, the users of the CLZ app and software, as they’re based on how often these comics already appear on your wish lists in the CLZ Cloud, even before release!
A week ago, we released the huge v10.0 update for CLZ Comics, in which we introduced a new super easy (and super fun!) way to add comics:
Add Comics by just scanning the cover!: Take a picture of the cover and the app will instantly show you matching covers from our CLZ Core online database. Tap the one you want to add it. Quick, easy and fun.
Today, in version 10.1, we’re taking the next step, by bringing the cover scanning feature to your Check Value screen!
A week ago, we released a huge v10.0 update for CLZ Comics, in which we introduced a new super easy (and super fun!) way to add comics:
Just scan the cover!
Take a picture of the cover and the app will instantly show you matching covers from our CLZ Core online database. Tap the one you want to add it. Quick, easy and fun.
However… after the v10 launch, we immediately starting getting the request:
“Can you please add the cover scanning in the Check Value screen too?”
Of course, we saw this one coming from a mile away 🙂
In fact, we had originally planned to include that in v10.0 right away. We later decided to postpone, so that we could launch the cover scanning for adding comics released ASAP.
But we are now ready to make that next step:
Lots of great comics on display for this week’s edition of New Comic Book Day!
Let’s kick off with Marvel’s The Incredible Hulk #20 in which we see the grumpy green giant battle the lord of the Werewolves himself, Vârcolac. I bet this issue will have you howling for more!
Next we follow Batman’s early career in #1 of the new series Batman: Dark Patterns, published by DC Comics. We watch as he joins up with commissioner Gordon in order to try to solve several dreadful murders. What kind of evil is at work in Gotham?
And finally, in order to hopefully escape the scariness surrounding us, we dive into the Christmas-themed Creepshow Holiday Special 2024, published by Image Comics. Christmas is the time of giving, of loving one another and singing jolly Merry Christmas songs together. So let’s just stay inside, were it’s comfy and safe, and try to ignore the scary monsters that are surrounding our house.
Happy Reading!
BTW: how do you like the HUGE CLZ Comics 10.0 update?
You can now add comics by simply taking a picture of the cover!!!
Check out some screenshot and a demo video here.
Also see v10.0.2: New “Type Barcode” sub-tab in Add Comics screen
A small update to the Adding by Barcode section of the Add Comics screen. Under the “Barcode” tab, there now are two sub-tabs: Scan Barcode & Type Barcode.
Read all about the V10.02 update
Some Android users were reporting problems with the barcode scannner, as in that it wasn’t scanning barcodes at all. We’ve been investigating and gathering reports from users through a Facebook post that we set up and learned that the problem happened on some specific devices only.
These top-10s are created by you all, the users of the CLZ app and software, as they’re based on how often these comics already appear on your wish lists in the CLZ Cloud, even before release!
A small update to the Adding by Barcode section of the Add Comics screen. Under the “Barcode” tab, there now are now two sub-tabs
- Scan Barcode: scan barcodes using your device camera
- Type Barcode: type barcodes or use external scanner
Basically, the ability to manually type in barcodes has been moved to its own sub-tab. This way, you can do manual entry of multiple barcodes in a row, without having to tap the keyboard icon each time to pop up the entry screen.
Another advantage of the new set-up is that it now fully supports scanning barcodes with an external USB or bluetooth scanner!
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, New Comic Book Day is here!
Let’s kick off with an all-new Venom in #1 of the very originally titled new Marvel series All-New Venom! The BIG question in this action-packed issue of course is, WHO exactly is hiding under the mask??
More mysteries await us in Dynamite Entertainment’s Thundercats: Apex and it appears this action-packed one-shot has all the ingredients for a wild-west themed adventure! We have the desolate desert landscape, the mysterious stranger ánd plenty of bandits for Apex to defeat!
Last but not least we join Robin, Zatanna and Agios Nikolaus AKA the one and only Santa Claus for a cosy gathering at the Wintersgate Manor. Their mission? Finding the missing Justice League… and eating and drinking as much as possible of course, judging from that beautiful Bernard Chang regular cover. You can read it ALL in #2 of Batman / Santa Claus: Silent Knight Returns.
Happy Reading!
BTW: how do you like today’s HUGE CLZ Comics 10.0 update?
You can now add comics by simply taking a picture of the cover!!!
Check out some screenshot and a demo video here.
Version 10.0 is here, with one HUGE new feature:
Add Comics by just scanning the cover!
No need to scan barcodes, no need to search by series title.
Just take a picture of your book and the app will recognize it!
These top-10s are created by you all, the users of the CLZ app and software, as they’re based on how often these comics already appear on your wish lists in the CLZ Cloud, even before release!
[CLZ News] CLZ Books now reads ISBNs with OCR / Coming up for CLZ Comics: add by scanning the cover
Closing in on the end of a productive year! This is CLZ Alwin, with the CLZ News for November 2024.
Big updates all over the place. The huge v10.0 update for the CLZ Books mobile app is live now (read ISBNs with OCR!). An even bigger v10.0 for CLZ Comics Mobile is coming up very soon now (add comics by scanning the cover!).
On the CLZ Web front, a long running project is getting closer to release. All 5 CLZ Web editions are getting a completely make-over for their Add screens, with the biggest impact on the game and movie editions.
The CLZ News for November 2024:
- Now live:
- CLZ Books 10.0: Read ISBN numbers with OCR
- Coming up:
- Coming soon, CLZ Comics v10.0 : Add Comics by scanning the cover
- Coming soon: big updates for the Add screens of all CLZ Web editions
- CLZ Core updates:
- Core for Movies: “Check Covers” project, 86% cloud coverage!
- Core for Comics: New Comic Book Day summary, 2,107 new releases
As we announced on our social channels earlier, CLZ Comics v10.0 is coming soon. And today, we can finally reveal what the big v10 feature will be:
Adding Comics by scanning the cover!
In version 10, we are introducing a new way to find comics in our CLZ Core and then add them.
- No need to scan the barcode
- No need to type series title or issue number
- Just take a picture of the cover and bam!
The app will show the matching comics from our Core!
November is almost coming to an end, but not before we celebrate one more New Comic Book Day!
This time we take a deep dive into the world of the Hulk family in #19 of The Incredible Hulk, Vol. 4. Expect 64 pages of bone-crushing action!
Over at DC Comics we join The Justice League in their ongoing battle with evil. We travel to space, we visit the Watchtower, we fight some baddies and maybe, just maybe, we will meet some very familiar faces along the way in #1 of Justice League Unlimited, Vol. 2.
In #4 of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Vol. 6 Donatello finds himself trapped in a zoo where he’s forced to fight other combatants for the sheer entertainment of others. I bet you will have a shell of a time with this particular issue!
Happy Reading!
BTW: In today’s NCBD report, we introduce a new section “CLZ Staff Picks, featuring our content team’s favorite new releases.
This section replaces the Most Variants section, as that was becoming less interesting, with the same series reappearing as the “winner” every few weeks.