Thread:Ultimantium/@comment-16461120-20200103205042/@comment-16461120-20200104060845

The release date is when the issue is made available to purchase, the publication date is what's printed on the issue itself (and traditionally told the newsstand when to pull the issue from their shelves, though in the case of IDW they do not appear to use it for that purpose), so for #2, you would look at the indicium and it'll provide the publication date, as seen here.