Ashcan: a prepublication facsimile of an intended comic book title, usually in a `half' format in black and white only.

B&W: stands for black and white.

Bad Girl: a term used to describe the art of women portrayed in a sexually implicit way.

Baxter paper: a high quality heavy paper used in some comics.

Bi-Monthly and Weekly: published every two months, or weeks.

Bronze Age: a non-specific term to describe comics published between 1970 to 1980.

CCA: stands for Comics Code Authority.

Chromium: a special type of foil used on many comic covers.

Colour Touch: a restoration process by which coloured ink is used to hide colour flecks, flakes, and other flaws.

Colourist: An artist who paints the colour guides for comic books.

Die cut: A cover design that is precut by the printer.

Distributor Paint Strip: colours brushed on the edges of comic book stacks, used as coding for the distributor.

Double Cover: an error in the binding process, results in two covers being put on a single book.

Dust shadows: a comic exposed to the gathering of dust, that will result in a dark stripe.

Embossed: a pattern which is pressed onto comics to create relief as part of it's design.

Fanzine: an amateur fan publication.

File copy: a comic that originates from the file of the publisher, and was not in circulation.

Four colour: a printing process in which the three primary colours and black are use, may also refer to defunct Dell publishing company.

Foxing: small brownish-gold spots that may appear on a comic caused by mold growth.

Gatefold: a double sized cover that folds in on itself.

Genre: categories of art divided up as to their content type.

Golden Age: comics released between 1938 to 1945.

Indicia: Publisher's title, issue, date, copyright, in small print on the inside of the cover.

Inker: an artist who draws/paints the ink over the original pencil drawings in comic books.

Key: a single issue in a series where important things happen.

Modern: the period of comics published from 1980 to present.

Mylar: an inert, hard, plastic bag to protect comic books.

Pedigree: an outstanding book from a famous collection may have a history of it's owners.

Penciller: An artist who draws the original comic images.

P.O.P.: stands for many things including Point of Promotion, which is a copy of a poster or comic for use by retailers, Parade of Pleasure; a book about censorship in comics, and the word `POP' is also the short form for Popular Culture.

Post Code: comics published after 1954.

Pre Code: comics published before 1954.

Provenance: a document authenticating the previous owner, or verification of an autograph.

Quarterly: something published every three months.

R: stands for a reprinting of original material.

Rare: means only 10 to 20 copies are known to exist.

Restored: a comic has undergone repair to try and make it look close to the original condition.

Rice Paper: is a thin, almost transparent paper used by restorers to repair damages pages.

Roll: the condition of the spine that is caused by folding back the pages when reading.

S.A.: stands for the Silverage period from 1956 to 1969.

Saddle Stitch: the staple binding of comic books.

Scarce: means 20 to 100 copies are estimated to exist.

Splash: a large comic art panel that often fills the page.

Squarebound: comics that are glued at the spine.

Stamp: the name and or date printed on a comic by a publisher.

Stress Lines: small wrinkles that appear on the cover of a comic.

Subscription crease: a fold caused when comics are mailed out.

Sun Shadow: the lightening of colour caused by exposure to light.

Superhero: a costumed crime fighter who has abilities beyond ordinary men. Likewise of the Supervillian.

Variant: a different cover used for the same comic issue.

Very Rare: means 1 to 10 copies are known to exist.

Warehouse Copy: a comic from a distributor and did not go into circulation.