diff --git a/mylar/PostProcessor.py b/mylar/PostProcessor.py
index 47e0db9f..03c24ed4 100755
--- a/mylar/PostProcessor.py
+++ b/mylar/PostProcessor.py
@@ -279,7 +279,8 @@ class PostProcessor(object):
             publisher = comicnzb['ComicPublisher']
             self._log("Publisher: " + publisher, logger.DEBUG)
             logger.fdebug("Publisher: " + str(publisher))
-            series = comicnzb['ComicName']
+            #we need to un-unicode this to make sure we can write the filenames properly for spec.chars
+            series = comicnzb['ComicName'].encode('ascii', 'ignore').strip()
             self._log("Series: " + series, logger.DEBUG)
             logger.fdebug("Series: " + str(series))
             seriesyear = comicnzb['ComicYear']
diff --git a/mylar/search.py b/mylar/search.py
index 368962a5..ce994042 100755
--- a/mylar/search.py
+++ b/mylar/search.py
@@ -257,7 +257,9 @@ def NZB_SEARCH(ComicName, IssueNumber, ComicYear, SeriesYear, nzbprov, nzbpr, Is
     comyear = str(ComicYear)
 
     #print ("-------SEARCH FOR MISSING------------------")
-    findcomic.append(str(ComicName))
+    #ComicName is unicode - let's unicode and ascii it cause we'll be comparing filenames against it.
+    u_ComicName = ComicName.encode('ascii', 'ignore').strip()
+    findcomic.append(u_ComicName)
     # this should be called elsewhere..redudant code.
     if '.' in IssueNumber:
         isschk_find = IssueNumber.find('.')