Wikipedia:Naming conventions (comics)

This page documents an English Wikipedia naming conventions. Editors should generally follow it, though exceptions may apply. Substantive edits to this page should reflect consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on this page's talk page.

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Our naming convention policy directs us to "use the most common name of a person or thing that does not conflict with the names of other people or things", and Wikipedia:Naming conventions (precision) directs that more precise is better.

When confronted with a difficult or complex naming issue, please check for community consensus at the WikiProject talk page.

Note: Remember to only include initial "The" when appropriate:

• a character: e.g. Sandman (not The Sandman)
• a publication: e.g. The Sandman
• a group of characters: e.g. The Justice League of America (not The JLA or JLA - though JLA could be a redirect)

However, you should not add "The" to the beginning of a publication title or group title when it isn't actually the name (e.g. Infinity Inc., not The Infinity Inc.)

Following extensive discussion of naming conventions for comic book characters at Talk:List of Marvel Comics characters and Wikipedia Talk:WikiProject Comics, the agreed general disambiguation phrase used for articles related to comic books, graphic novels, comic strips, and comics creators is "(comics)".

In general, when naming an article, use the name itself, without further disambiguation (e.g. Jack Kirby) unless that leads to ambiguity, in which case, follow with "(comics)" (e.g. Ralph Macchio (comics)).

• NEVER disambiguate using Roman numerals unless the character or comic actually uses them in the text (in the case of a character) or the comic title (e.g. Death's Head II). This extends to the text of the articles, in addition to the article titles.

Avoid these terms and phrases as they are not helpful in clearing up ambiguity:

• modern age, bronze age, silver age, and golden age.
• comic, comic book, and comic book series.

Use the most common names as the rule, as stated above. We wouldn't list Superman under Clark Kent (indeed, an article about the persona of Clark Kent would ALSO be fully notable).

Pseudonyms that are less commonly known would be an exception. For example: John Constantine is most commonly known by that name, rather than by Hellblazer.

(Note:The term "heroic name" is used to mean the pseudonym, stage name, nom de plume, or any other alternate name applied as the character's public persona. This term should not be construed to disinclude villains, for example.)

Anytime there is more than one character of the primary heroic name, use the following format:

• Hero name (secret ID)

For example:

• Green Lantern (Hal Jordan): An article about Jordan as GL
• Green Lantern (Guy Gardner): Gardner as GL
• Green Lantern (John Stewart): Stewart as GL
• Green Lantern (Kyle Raynor): Raynor as GL

(etc.)

However, if there is not more than one character of a certain heroic name (using Martian Manhunter as an example) there is no need for Martian Manhunter (J'onn J'onzz), but merely Martian Manhunter (and not J'onn J'onzz, though the latter is a suitable redirect).

In the case of a single character having several heroic names (Hal Jordan, or Hector Hall, for example), and each identity is to have a separate article (article length being a factor) , a disambiguation phrase may be necessary. Using Hal Jordan as an example:

• Hal Jordan: An overview page of the character, summarising the sub-articles per summary style. (This article will likely have several instances of the {{main}} template.)

• Parallax (Hal Jordan): An article about Jordan as Parallax
• Spectre (Hal Jordan): Jordan as the Spectre
• Green Lantern (Hal Jordan): Jordan as GL

Notice how easily this disambiguates, the name itself does it. (As per Wikipedia:Manual of Style (disambiguation pages)#piping)

(Note:This is not directly covered under Wikipedia:Naming conventions (books)#Periodicals)

In most cases, comic books are periodicals, except when they are published as books for trade. In either case they are a publication.

In cases of several titles of the same name from the same publisher, X-men, volume 1, X-men, volume 2, etc. is the standard. This has the added benefit of essentially being the way the publishers themselves disambiguate between titles, and avoids a parenthetical disambiguation phrase. However, do not use this where only one volume exists.

If they come from separate publishers, then we default to publisher imprint: Starman (DC Comics) or Starman (Marvel Comics), for example. (Publisher name used in order to differentiate between publications and the individual characters, obviously).

Combining both concepts: Starman, volume 1 (DC Comics).

Notice that in the case of companies which do not use the word "Comics" within their name, their name is followed by the word "comics" in lowercase to indicate the genre.

• (CrossGen comics)
• (Dark Horse Comics)
• (DC Comics)
• (DC Thomson comics)
• (Image Comics)
• (Malibu Comics)
• (Marvel Comics)
• (Top Cow comics)
• (Manuscript Press comics)
• (Fawcett comics)
• (EC Comics)
• (WARP Graphics comics)

These disambiguation phrases are to be used only when the publisher's name is not sufficient, for example where a title is used for many different publication formats, such as Batman (comic book) and Batman (comic strip).

• (comic book)
• (comic strip)

In the case of the semi-complex case of The Sandman, these are some potentials for a Sandman disambiguation page:

• Sandman (DC Comics), an overview page on the various characters published/owned by DC Comics who have assumed the Sandman identity
• Sandman (Wesley Dodds), a comic book superhero first appearing in the 1940s
• Sandman (Garrett Sanford), a comic book superhero created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby in the 1970s
• Sandman (Hector Hall), Dr. Sanford's temporary replacement
• Sandman (Daniel Hall), Hector Hall's son
• Sandman (Morpheus), also known as Dream
• The Sandman, volume 1, a title starring the Simon and Kirby character.
• The Sandman, volume 2, a title starring Dream (aka Morpheus), the king of dreams, written by Neil Gaiman
• Sandman (William Baker), a Marvel Comics super villain who could transform his body into sand

This is clear, concise, and should aid in searches.