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Marvel Database talk:Comic Template

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Archived discussion
Commented version of the comic template

Contents

***IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT***

Please, please, please look up the full page name of a character before putting them in the cast variable. CastX = Thor doesn't help anyone, it needs to be CastX = Thor (Odinson). Similarly, characters who have had multiple codenames (Henry Pym for instance) need to be put into the cast variable using the same codename their pagename is under, regardless of what codename they used in the issue in question - that's one of the reasons "appearing" is a separate variable, so we can do things like [[Yellowjacket (Henry Pym)|Giant Man]]. Thank you. --Squirrelloid 18:18, 16 March 2007 (UTC)

Ah-ha. I was curious about how that was going to be handled. I just nuked the Invisible Girl category (no biggie, I'm the one who created it anyway). Also... It would probably be a good idea to be mindful of how certain creators spell their names. Don't want to end up with category pages for both Art Simek and Artie Simek. Also watch out for creators whose names use special characters, such as George Pérez. --Brian Kurtz 18:40, 16 March 2007 (UTC)
Ugg, special characters. In the case of Artie Simek, I've been using Artie because it seems to be more prevalent... I suppose I should check that. --Squirrelloid 19:07, 16 March 2007 (UTC)

Announcement number two:
If you're going to template a page, don't make us clean-up after you. Add *all* the characters to the Cast variables, add all the locations to the Location variables, etc... Create pages for x/appearances categories if they don't already exist. Examples of how to do this can be found in early Uncanny X-Men. (See Uncanny X-Men 1 for instance).

While I'm at it, could we please keep variables entered in a sensical order. Credits should probably be before the synopsis - we provided Template:Comic Template for a reason - its easier for later editors if they have some idea where to find information, especially for issues with longer synopses. --Squirrelloid 06:33, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

Annuals

What to do with the naming so that it still links to the Annual and not the entire comic? I think I got it down with Uncanny X-Men Annual 14, but could someone double-ck me? --M1shawhan 17:52, 10 April 2007 (UTC)


Known Problems

The extra whitespace below the Synopsis is an 'undocumented feature' that cannot be fixed (at least not by me) without breaking the display of conditional headers. (Appearing in story 2, Synopsis for story 2, etc...). I've tried. Sorry. --Squirrelloid 22:54, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

category: year

Can someone please add the year-category to this template? Thank you :) --Tokus 10:10, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

I second that motion...need to add: [[Category:Year]] to the template. It makes it easier to search by year rather than by month of release. --M1shawhan 01:15, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

Let me repeat it: Can someone please add the year-category to this template? Thank you :) --Tokus 22:40, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

It has been completed. :)
--Jamie 04:28, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

Recommended Reading

Hey Jamie, can you re-instate the Recommended Reading section. I, at least, like to make good use of this. (See Uncanny X-Men 150 or any of the other Uncanny X-Men from ~143-178 that I've done recently). --Squirrelloid 02:47, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

I liked that section too. Done! :)
--Jamie 04:28, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

Link to issues overview

I see a link to "Comics:{{{Title}}}" (under the coverimage), and it automatically puts the volume nr behind it. However, currenly all those pages are like "Comics Fantastic Four", not "Comics:Fantastic Four vol 1". Do you want to change all those pages too? --Tokus 08:38, 9 March 2007 (UTC)

It's on the list of things to do...we are currently working on moving the Comic List pages to format them correctly. They are going to be under:

ex) Comics:Uncanny X-Men Vol 1

We will eventually have all the comics under this format. If you would like to help it would be appreciated. Just make sure they are all following the same format...See: User:Squirrelloid/Comics_Move_Log to see what has/has not been moved. Thanks Tokus! -- M1shawhan 09:03, 9 March 2007 (UTC)


sorry

but no, i'm not going to use this template. There are wayyyyyy too many categories, and because of that, the whole overview is gone. It's a bloody mess at the bottom of each comic. --Tokus 19:16, 9 March 2007 (UTC)

There are 2 things to the categories at the bottom. You can remove them by not adding in any "Cast" options. The other is that once they are linked it will allow you direct access to see the other linked items. The main reason the categories are there is for simplicity and because they are formulaic. I agree there are A LOT and that is overwhelming, but give it a try or at least don't put anything in the Cast section and it will not be linked that way. Plus, it's all gonna look "crazy" until it is used enough and the categories are linked right. -- M1shawhan 20:04, 9 March 2007 (UTC)
For an idea of what I am talking about...look at the converted page of: Iron Man (Vol 4) 15. As you can see, it will show you all the info just like you saw it before. If you were to find a particular liking to Adi Granov's work as a cover artist, you could simply click on that category below. It will take you to: Category:Adi_Granov/Cover_Artist. There you will see immediate population of the work that has been entered in for him as the cover artist. It saves time and opens up more possibilities in using the template. The OTHER thing that is nice is that let's say we get tired of this template and wish to change it in some way. We can adjust the Template and it will change for anything using that template on the whole site. This alone is a handy thing to employ. I hate to drive it into the ground like this, but try it out for a while and by all means, voice opinions and likes/dislikes. -- M1shawhan 07:50, 10 March 2007 (UTC)
We are still tweaking the format as there is some unnecessary whitespace and such, but aside from that we have added tons of great new functionality. Moreover, the actual process of creating a page is more intuitive now. A bonus for newbies!
The laundry list at the bottom of the page for categories can be played with, but what we are ultimately aiming for is the ability to have auto-generated listings of the complete works of all artists/writers/etc. Also, this new template will give us lists of every comic a character has ever appeared in, with only the click of a button.
We hope to harness more and more of the power of our database software in future. I assure you were are using less than half its capabilites.
If you take the Iron Man comic example M1shawhan gave, you will notice the list of categories at the bottom, albeit long, is nowhere near the categories for Wolvie for example.
We are DEFINITELY soliciting feedback... so please any thoughts on how we can improve are more than welcome!
Cheers!
--Jamie 23:20, 10 March 2007 (UTC)
allright, allright, I'll give it a try. A few remarks, though. I think the font in the credit-box is too small. And, why are the editors again listed first? Most credit should go to the writers and artists, and I think they should be listed first. Just like in most comics they are credited first, and the editors (in chief) are at the end.
Lastly, do we really need to split the categories for the people into penciller, editor, etc? I mean "Category:Joe Quesada/Editor-in-chief". Why not just put all that into one categorie "Joe Quesada" ? That way all comics a person worked on are listed. Now, there still are several categories for each person. You're normalizing it a bit too far, IMO (and I should know, cos I design databases and database applications for a living :P)
--Tokus 10:35, 11 March 2007 (UTC)
oh, to continue on this last remark I made: by now also adding categories for each artist/writer/etc, the category Marvel Staff really isn't becoming more user friendly. Persons are going to be listed several times as categories, AND the articles for that person are listed there too. That's another reason why I suggest a person should have one categorie. Then you can add that category to the article of the person. Unfortunately, by creating all those "empty" pages for the Marvel staff (with only the template that there still is no article for that person), you created a lot of work to change all of this into something that's better browsable.
--Tokus 10:54, 11 March 2007 (UTC)
And to continue even more on all the categories: the categories for the appearances are created by the "Cast" entries in the template. Now, there already are pages for appearances (like this one, for example). Those become obsolete, but under which category should the appearances fall?
--Tokus 17:37, 11 March 2007 (UTC)
Another few remarks, this time about things that don't seem to work properly (yet):
  • I don't see the letterer listed after I created a page using the template.
  • Next Issue isn't linked automatically. You still have to put the brackets around it (probably the same for previous issue)
  • If a comic has no title, how do you make it blank? I tried removing the HeadTitle, but now it shows "story title unknown". If you leave it blank, it also shows that.
--Tokus 11:14, 11 March 2007 (UTC)
  • Next issue isn't linked automagically is a design feature. It means we can put anything in there, so if a series switches names... (Tales to Astonish to Incredible Hulk, for instance (and iirc)).
  • One of three things are true: (1) The comic has a story title - this replaces HeadTitle if no head title is given. If a story has more than one story title, it uses the first story title. Head Title is an override option for when the comic *does* have a title different than the first story - which is a rare occurrence. (In general, you should put the title in StoryTitle1 and leave Head Title blank - Head Title will only exist for books with multiple stories, and even then only rarely). (2) The comic is actually untitled. In which case you should enter "untitled". (Note lower-case u). (3) The comic has a Head Title. This means there are multiple stories, and there is a title for the volume beyond the story titles. The best example I can give you for this is TPBs, which are often given a name (X-Men: From the Ashes) which is independent of any issue titles contained therein. Some Annuals, Giant-Size, and silver-age anthology type titles also have this feature.
--Squirrelloid 23:31, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

Tokus, I think you should join in an MSN "discussion group" with us on the templates and maybe we can hash things out. Let me know by email, "m1shawhan" @ yahoo.com. This way we can get the kinks out and all settle on a solid structure and I know you and Brian Kurtz's thoughts would be helpful. Both of you need to email me and let me know if you can get MSN messenger and we can all setup a time/date to meet with Jamie and us others on there. --

Appearing format

Under the Appearing Format section, I see it has a header for Heroes. Perhaps this should be changed back to Featured Characters:? Heroes may seem kind of odd-looking when adding issues to titles such as Monsters Unleashed, Super-Villain Team-Up, Thanos, Ziggy Pig Silly Seal etc. Thoughts? --Brian Kurtz 14:14, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

First off, Brian, SEE ABOVE RESPONSE...I agree with your thoughts on the Heroes/Featured Characters item. I think it should be Featured Characters (after playing with the template) for 2 reasons. 1) Easier to convert issues since the old template showed as Featured and it would be just a copy and paste w/o changes. 2) Not all main characters are "Heroes" and this may get to be debatable. -- M1shawhan 17:32, 11 March 2007 (UTC)
Remember, you are free to change that if it is inappropriate to the comic you are working on. _Most_ comics will feature heroes. But if its not appropriate for a given comic, change it to Featured Characters. Its just text in a variable, you *can* edit that text. --Squirrelloid 20:35, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

Can someone fix the 2nd, 3rd and 4th story sections?

The Synopsis section on secondary stories isn't displaying correctly; example. I'd do it myself, but I'm a mental pygmy when it comes to code, and I don't wanna screw anything up. Thanks! --Brian Kurtz 22:35, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

Whoops, I must have broken something trying to remove the excess whitespace (and failing) - i'll fix it. --Squirrelloid 23:16, 12 March 2007 (UTC)
Fixed --Squirrelloid 23:23, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

Credits box

I still think the writer and artist should be at the top of the credits box, and the editor and editor-in-chief at the bottom. They might be important for the overall issue (especially the editor), but the writer and artists should be credited first, IMO. Other opinions? --Tokus 08:34, 16 March 2007 (UTC)

I agree. You see it in every comic book, so you get accustomed to it, Writer(s) and Artist(s) first, editors later. Makes more sense that way, since it is the writer and the artist who are more involved in the making of the issue than the editor. Ouchmaker 10:33, 16 March 2007 (UTC)
I agree as well. --Brian Kurtz 11:46, 16 March 2007 (UTC)
I agree editor should be on the bottom. However, Editor-in-Chief cannot be on the bottom because then we can't handle multiple story issues. Cover Artist and Editor-in-Chief have to go at the top because there is only one of those per comic, not one per story, and thus they are independent of the story credits. (It would look weird in a multi-story comic if the first story had a "cover artist" and an editor-in-chief, and the other stories didn't.) I'll move editor. --Squirrelloid 17:36, 16 March 2007 (UTC)
Editor moved. --Squirrelloid 17:44, 16 March 2007 (UTC)

Also about the credits box: can someone take a look at Fantastic Four 543 ? The credits for the 2nd and 3rd story don't show. --Tokus 16:32, 17 March 2007 (UTC)

They show just fine for me. Check to see if its still a problem. (I added blank "Appearing" variables for 2 and 3.) --Squirrelloid 16:36, 18 March 2007 (UTC)
M1shawhan had already fixed it. Apparently the synopsis for the 2nd and 3rd story need to be included too for them to show up. --Tokus 18:09, 18 March 2007 (UTC)
Ah, yes that's true. (hint hint, write the synopses already!) --Squirrelloid 19:06, 18 March 2007 (UTC)
I'd like to, but I usually don't have the time to read the comics before I add them. I usually add either comics that I haven't read in a while, or that I haven't read yet. I leave it up to others who have read them recently to add the rest, I just add the main details. --Tokus 19:36, 18 March 2007 (UTC)

References

Hey there! New to the project, but I hope to be a very regular contributor. Anyway, I am having a bit of a "style" issue when using references with this template. When I add a reference, it is auto-added to the "Notes" section without any extra code, such as {{references}} ... shouldn't this be an auto-add in the "Links and References" section instead, since it near the bottom of the page? See, when I added a trivia note to Uncanny X-Men 3, it was below where the reference shows up (since "Notes" is above "Trivia"). -- GeorgeMcBain 02:44, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

The <ref> </ref> commands are intended to footnote the story itself. There should be no need to make footnotes in the trivia, recommended reading, or links section. Just explain the entire thin in the appropriate section, or let the user follow the link (in the case of the Links section). --Squirrelloid 22:54, 23 March 2007 (UTC)
Ok. I guess I am just used to Wikipedia MOS. GeorgeMcBain 01:01, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

Appearances

When you list the people as cast, say like on Runaways 1 for Lucy in the Sky, the link goes to the Category:Lucy in the Sky/Appearances. But, on the character page near the bottom in the "see also" section, there is Lucy in the Sky/Appearances. I know some characters have this as a page, ie. Cyclops (Scott Summers)/Appearances, but once this template gets used more (I know I plan on using it exclusively), these appearances will automatically be going into the aforementioned categories. I guess what I am getting at is, is there a use for having both pages? I know one arguement can be that the category lists pages that ARE created while the other lists both pages that ARE and AREN'T created. However, isn't the point to eventually to have all these comics that aren't created yet to have pages and use this new template, thus defeating the purpose of having duplicate pages? Just my $0.02 GeorgeMcBain 21:31, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

I actually find value in both pages. A lot of the Appearances pages have been formatted as a chonology index (I'm particularly guilty of this). With these pages, you can also add specific notations that cannot be included on category pages. For instance, whether an appearance is merely a cameo, a behind-the-scenes appearance, a flashback appearance, in-costume, out-of-costume, etc. --Brian Kurtz 21:57, 27 March 2007 (UTC)
Brian is correct that there is value in both pages. The category version gives you all the issues they appear in (that are on the database!), but in alphabetical order by title. The non-category version is intended to be a chronological appearance list - the category can inform the chronological, (by telling you if you've missed any), but it certainly can't replace the chronological. Now, if by some miracle we had complete chronological lists of every character's appearances, one could argue the category was unnecessary - i, for one, don't foresee that happening for a long time. --Squirrelloid 22:21, 27 March 2007 (UTC)
Well, without losing any information, you can also just combine the two, by editing the categories to include information from the other page. This way, the top can show all the listings of a particular character, possibly in chronological or another order, while the bottom shows all appearances already in the database. Therefore, both types of information are on a page accessible on many pages (ie. the comics the characters appear in), as opposed to just the link on the character page! Now, like I mentioned, I haven't come to a character yet that has information in both places, but I think I will most likely go with this example =) GeorgeMcBain 22:37, 27 March 2007 (UTC)
That's actually a good idea, although we'd want to move the current character/appearances pages to category:Character/appearances pages if we can - which means we can't actually alter the template until we've updated all the character pages, so that we can move all the appearances pages before we break all the links. Other thoughts? --Squirrelloid 00:35, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

Cover Galleries

The Cover gallery link in "see also" is not being overridden by the |Gallery variable. Ex) Adding |Gallery=X-Factor Vol 3/Covers is not linking both the "Gallery" under the comic pic and the See also gallery link to the same page. -- M1shawhan 04:48, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

I think I have fixed this... Please let me know if I have broken it further somehow. :)
--Jamie 21:38, 22 April 2007 (UTC)
LOL, not broken further but I don't think it is quite fixed yet. Ex) X-Factor Volume 3 3, it needs to pull a list for "Vol 3" into the cover gallery name. I guess whatever "Vol" is put in needs to be what it pulls off of and inserts for the "---/Covers" name. --M1shawhan 23:23, 22 April 2007 (UTC)
I take it back...I didn't add this in manually. HEHEHE. You did good! For the record though...on the todo list on the template article, I think it should be "{{{Title}}} Vol {{Volume}}/Covers", this would not link "X-Factor Vol 1" covers to the Team X-Factor's page. --M1shawhan 23:27, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

Weird Display>

I'm getting very small text in the infoboxes all of a sudden with large spaces between credit lines - anyone know what happened? --Squirrelloid 20:41, 3 May 2007 (UTC)

Had a thought about storylines

I just had an "epiphany" of sorts...how's about a title header for the comic's that shows the story titles and not just the comic's title. For instance, Inferno lasts across multiple comics. All 1 storyline or event and each comic having individual titles...We make a separate line for "|ComicEvent =" or something similar and then this will place a higher and bolder heading above the title for that comic in the infobox.

Ex) Uncanny X-Men #239

Inferno = ComicEvent1
Vanities = StoryTitle1

This would also somehow auto-category "Inferno" into Category:Events. What do you's think? --M1shawhan 23:55, 27 October 2007 (UTC)

Extra quotes

Could there be a section for quotes other than the one at the top? Some comics contain lots of good quotes, that would be easier to write at the comic page first, and then copy them to character quote pages, especially when there are many main characters in the comic. Thoughts? The Clever Guy (Talk • Contribs • E-Mail) 15:17, 4 November 2007 (UTC)

Instead, could it be something like:
Uncanny X-Men 123/Quotes
In the same way as we do for characters.
What do you think?
--Jamie 16:14, 4 November 2007 (UTC)
I guess that would work too. Should those quote pages be categorized in the same way as character quotes? The Clever Guy (Talk • Contribs • E-Mail) 16:21, 4 November 2007 (UTC)
Yeah, I suppose they should.
Every page should be categorized, in my opinion.
Keeps things tidy. ;)
(Should be a separate category from character quotes pages, though...)
--Jamie 16:28, 4 November 2007 (UTC)

I presume a template like this could be used, but with slight changes. Like this:

{{Comic Quotes}}

'''See: [[{{BASEPAGENAME]]'''

==Quotes==

{{#if: {{{QuotesData|}}} | {{{QuotesData}}} | There are no quotes currently available on this page. Please add any quotations made by or pertaining to the character [[{{BASEPAGENAME}}]].}}
----


<noinclude>
==Usage==
<pre>
{{Marvel Database:Comic Quotes Template
| QuotesData        =
}}

</pre>

And this for "{{Comic Quotes}}":
<center><div style="text-align:center;width:95%;clear:none;margin:1em 0 1em 1em;border:1px solid #B5B7CF;background:#EFF0FF;-moz-border-radius:10px;padding:5px 5px 5px 5px;">
'''This page contains a listing of all notable quotes by or about the comic.'''

<span style="font-size:85%;">It may not be the definitive list, so please add any important quotations that may be missing, ensuring to cite the original source. <br>
(''This template will categorize articles that include it into [[:Category:Comic Quotes]].'')
<includeonly>[[Category:Comic Quotes]]</includeonly></span>
</div></center>

Thoughts? The Clever Guy (Talk • Contribs • E-Mail) 16:55, 4 November 2007 (UTC)

Looks good for now.
Crap! I didn't know you could do this: [[../]]!
That'll come in handy! ;)
Cheers,
--Jamie 17:18, 4 November 2007 (UTC)
Umm... Is this in progress? I haven't seen anything "in reality" about this. (A link to the quotes page on the comic page would be handy...) The Clever Guy (Talk • Contribs • E-Mail) 18:32, 24 January 2008 (UTC)

Category:Comic

I'm working on the Journey into Mystery pages, and I notice that the comics don't line up in issue number order on the category pages. I think this is due to this template, and how it generates the category designation. I'd suggest something the following, but I'm not sure exactly if it would work:

[[Category:{{Comic Name}}{{Volume}}|{{Issue number}}]] {not to be taken literally}

Thoughts? Chadlupkes 15:43, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

I've personally tried to rectify this a couple of times, to no avail. The problem is that issue number 1 comes after 10 and 11 because it's only one character. I've tried to pad the issue number so that issue number 1 gets filed as 001, and ten as 010, etc, but I haven't gotten it to work yet. Someday it will. : )
--Your Friendly Neighborhood Peteparker (talk • contribs • email) 19:08, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

Other Credits

Some comics (I'm looking at World War Hulk - Prologue right now) have credits other than the normal writer, pencillers, etc (Kate Levin - Production, Dan Buckley - Publisher) Can these be added to the template or at least a CreditedOther category? Bengartner 02:57, 6 December 2007 (UTC)

Yes..you can! :)
We have setup only a few I think, at least for now...if you find you need more, let us know. You will have to setup this command in the template you create on the page:
| CustomRole1_1 = Production
| CustomMembers1_1 = [[Matt]]
Be sure though to use the brackets on the name you put in place and as of this time we have not set it up to "categorize" the person. It will simply allow you to link to that staff members page though. Let me know if this helps or gives you more trouble. ;) --M1shawhan 03:38, 6 December 2007 (UTC)

Last issues

I notice that pages using this template for last issues of a series, like Comics:Thor Vol 2 85, show a link to the "next issue" even if that next issue doesn't exist. Any way we can indicate within the template that an issue is the last and thus doesn't need a link to the next issue, or perhaps instead a way to specifically indicate which comic is next in line for the character, like Comics:Thor Vol 3 1? Chadlupkes 20:43, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

Yes. A number of different ways exist. You can use the "|NextIssue = " function and put it to equal "-", "--", "---" or "—" (all without the quotes). Each of these will cause there to be a dash in the spot for the next issue. If it is giving a linked page to a dash, that is alright and will soon be fixed on the template to just show a text-dash, rather than the link. --M1shawhan 01:37, 29 August 2008 (UTC)
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