MS ACCESS create table based on sequential data-one title, many issue numbers per

[angarahad]

so here's my situation--
i'm creating a db based on part of my comic book
collection. the main data values will be
comic titles, volume #'s and issue #'s,
the publishers (marvel, dc, dark horse, crossgen, & image--
i won't be breaking these down into their individual
imprints--e.g. top cow or wildstorm).

my big problem is that each title has its series of issue
numbers--so it's not like when you're dealing with books
where you have the one title and the one volume number to
deal with. i know i'm supposed to avoid having repeating
values in the tables--so how can i designate the volume
number and the sequential issue number for each title--
without repeating the title's name-value for each issue
number? wouldn't each individual issue need to have its
own record in the table?

here's the data values listed by field name below--

data group I--
Comic ID/Comic Title/Volume#/Issue#

data group II-
Publisher ID/ Publisher Name

(possible) data group III-
Creator ID/
Writer First Name/Writer Last Name
Artist First Name/Artist Last Name
Inker First Name/Inker Last Name
Colorist First Name/Colorist Last Name


and as far as data group III--is it even possible to have
a table for the creators' info--since there are various
scenarios that occur that will lead to repeating values
again. sometimes the writer, artist and colorist are all
one person. for each issue of a comic, the writer may be
the same person for a number of issues, then he may be
replaced by someone else after a 7 issue run, and the
replacement's run might last for 5 or more issues. i'm
thinking i might be better off not even bothering with the
creator data--and just focus on the comic titles and
publishers.

thanks in advance for any thoughts and advice.

[andi_g69]

You have identified and described your "real" situation quite well. To fit this into a proper relational data model you might approach it like this:

Titles (TitleID, TitleName)
Publishers (PublisherID, PublisherName)
Volumes (VolumeID, VolumeNo, PublisherID, PublicationDate)
Issues (IssueID, VolumeID, TitleID, IssueName)
Creators (CreatorID, CreatorName)
IssueCreators (CreatorID, IssueID, ActivityType)

[angarahad]

the examples you've given me will work out perfectly--i guess i just needed another point of view to help me see the "way ahead" more clearly.