Story Arcs
Create and manage story arcs to collect crossover events and reading lists across multiple series.
Story arcs let you group issues from different series into a single collection, such as crossover events, character-focused reading orders, or curated reading lists.
Creating a Story Arc
Add from ComicVine
Navigate to Story Arcs > Add Story Arc and search ComicVine. Comicarr pulls the full issue list for the arc, including reading order across series.
Review the issue list
The arc detail page shows all issues in order. Issues already in your library are marked as available; missing issues can be marked as wanted.
Enable searching
Toggle SEARCH_STORYARCS to allow Comicarr to automatically search for missing arc issues, just like regular wanted issues.
Arc Configuration
Configure story arc behavior under the [StoryArc] section of your config:
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
STORYARCDIR | False | Create dedicated folders for story arcs. |
STORYARC_LOCATION | None | Root directory for arc folders. Falls back to your main library directory. |
COPY2ARCDIR | False | Copy matching issues into the arc folder. |
ARC_FOLDERFORMAT | $arc ($spanyears) | Folder naming template for arcs. |
ARC_FILEOPS | copy | File operation: copy, move, or softlink. |
ARC_FILEOPS_SOFTLINK_RELATIVE | False | Use relative paths for symlinks instead of absolute. |
UPCOMING_STORYARCS | False | Show upcoming arc issues in the wanted list. |
SEARCH_STORYARCS | False | Include arc issues in automatic searches. |
Arc Folder Format
The ARC_FOLDERFORMAT setting uses these tokens:
| Token | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
$arc | Story arc name | Blackest Night |
$spanyears | Year range the arc covers | 2009-2010 |
Default result: Blackest Night (2009-2010)/.
Searching and Downloading
When SEARCH_STORYARCS is enabled, missing arc issues are included in Comicarr's automatic search cycle alongside regular wanted issues. They follow the same provider order, quality rules, and post-processing pipeline.
You can also manually search for individual arc issues from the arc detail page.
If COPY2ARCDIR is enabled with ARC_FILEOPS set to softlink, issues are symlinked rather than duplicated, saving disk space while maintaining the arc folder structure.
Reading Lists
Story arcs double as reading lists. The arc detail page shows all issues in their intended reading order, making it easy to read through a crossover event sequentially.
Arcs are also exposed through the OPDS feed, allowing compatible readers to browse and read arc collections directly.