: If you are referring to a formal "Comic-Con Member ID," you must register through the official Comic-Con site to participate in major industry events.

A is a unique, persistent identifier assigned to a specific scanned or digitally preserved comic book issue (or collection) within a private, organized digital archiving system — most notably the Comicscan database (often referred to internally as "Comicscan DB").

Think of it as a Social Security number for a specific digital version of a comic. When you run a scan of your hard drive, software cannot "read" the cover art to know which issue it is. Instead, it extracts metadata or hashes the file to find a matching on a remote database.

Comics released on ComiXology (Amazon) before print often have two separate entries. Use the for physical scanning; use the Digital ID for webrips.

Comicscan IDs emerged from the of the late 2000s–2010s, particularly on private trackers (e.g., 32P, ComicsBT, DC++ hubs) and forums. Key drivers: