Style Request: Comic Books, Strips, etc

Strawfellow · April 21, 2009

I can't seem to find a style that implements the Popular Culture Association's recommendations for comic citations

Full guide: http://www.comicsresearch.org/CAC/cite.html

I had this implemented in endnote a few years ago but can't seem to get it to import...

dstillman · April 21, 2009

See http://www.zotero.org/support/requesting_styles

You might have better luck getting someone to help create the style by outlining the differences between the MLA style in Zotero and what CAC calls for.

Also, what happens when you attempt to import the EndNote® style you created? Are you using Zotero 1.5?

Strawfellow · April 21, 2009

The citation guide leans toward the style of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers with the basic difference being that a comic needs to cite writer, artist, story title, and publication information (including, as appropriate, publication title, volume, issue number, date, publisher, page, and panel).

ie

Fox, Gardner F. (w), Mike Sekowsky (p), and Bernard Sachs (i). "The Wheel of Misfortune." Justice League of America #6 (Aug.-Sep. 1961), National Comics Publications

The link in my first post gives the full specification.

Imports of the endnote styles fail with a "does not appear to be a valid style file" message. They were created for use in endnote 7 (Mac) so I'm guessing there are formatting and updating issues which make them problematic.

Thanks for your interest

erazlogo · April 21, 2009

Several changes need to be made both in CSL and Zotero to make this work. Just two examples: we'd need to add new creator types, such as "penciller" and "inker"; and a dedicated item type for "comic book," to allow for including a publisher in what is basically a periodical article citation.

Bruce should comment on whether CSL can be amended to include this.

monique.tschofen · January 5, 2017

The CSL has not been amended yet to include comics. Does anyone have clear instructions about how to compensate for this? Step by step instructions appreciated!

Rintze · January 5, 2017

Is there a specific style guide for comics you're trying to follow?

monique.tschofen · January 5, 2017

MLA 8, as per the popular culture association's recommendations.
Full guide: http://www.comicsresearch.org/CAC/cite.html

adamsmith · January 5, 2017

That's MLA 5 or 6, not 8, unfortunately.
On a general note, as erazlogo says above, CSL would need to add additional categories for penciller and inker, which while understandably important for comic book studies, do seem quite niche to me on a larger scale.

I don't see how Zotero/CSL could possibly include the square bracketing rules imposed by the style which, while common in cataloging, I don't believe to have every seen in a citation style.

The publisher field for journal and/or magazine articles will likely happen, though. You can already "fake" that by adding "publisher: DC Comics" to the Extra field in Zotero (no quotes). In that case, you could address the penciller etc. issue by just adding (p) and (i) after the relevant last names in Zotero.

monique.tschofen · January 5, 2017

Thanks! This is a help.

monique.tschofen · January 5, 2017

What item "type" would you select?
We want to be able to indicate the comics series, the particular issue, and the story within each issue.
Within a given issue with several storylines, there might be five + different illustrators.

adamsmith · January 5, 2017

I'd assume journal article or magazine article

Rintze · January 5, 2017

Grant, Alan, Chuck Dixon, Dennis O'Neil, et al. (w), Giarrano, Vince, Tommy Lee Edwards, Mike Wieringo, et al. (p), and McCarthy, Ray, Scott Hanna, Stan Woch, et al. (i)

Larsen, Erik (w,p,i)

And even if we add penciller and inker name variables, we don't really have a good way to deal with the name listings in the examples above, in particular when it comes to the ", and " delimiter. It's also not trivial to handle people with multiple roles (we could add a bunch of terms analogous to the existing "editortranslator" term, plus some added logic, but that would get a bit messy).