Can we add a field with either the date of death or a field to indicate if an author is dead is some way? Also possibly add a way to indicate an author retired other than just in the comments

Having a way to indicate an author has chosen to retire (or has died) would be helpful in figuring out if there will be further works from them (It is always disappointing to find a good author/artist then find out there will be no new works and that all their ongoing series are now incomplete)

ex: a field with options

Unknown
Active
Retired
Dead

This is now added as the "Status" and "Status Date" field (which appears if status is anything other than N/A).