Comic Book Citation Format

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law

Journal Journal

Volume 16

Volume XVI

Number 3

Volume XVI Book 3

Article 10

2006

Comic Book Citation Format Comic Book Citation Format

Britton Payne

Fordham University School of Law

Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/iplj

Part of the Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law Commons, and the Intellectual Property Law

Commons

Recommended Citation Recommended Citation

Britton Payne,

Comic Book Citation Format

, 16 Fordham Intell. Prop. Media & Ent. L.J. 1017 (2006).

Available at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/iplj/vol16/iss3/10

This Editorial is brought to you for free and open access by FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and

History. It has been accepted for inclusion in Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

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please contact tmelnick@law.fordham.edu.

APPENDIXBRIT 5/18/2006 11:37 AM

APPENDIX

1017

Comic Book Legal Citation Format

Britton Payne

Bill Finger & Bob Kane, The Case of the Chemical Syndicate, DETECTIVE COMICS

27, at 2 (DC Comics May 1939) (first appearance of Batman), reprinted in BATMAN

ARCHIVES, VOLUME ONE 7 (Dale Crain ed., DC Comics 1990).

Creative Contributors, Story Title, COMIC BOOK TITLE (VOLUME IF APPROPRIATE)

[Issue Number], at [Page Number] (Publisher Cover Date Month and Year).

At present, the Blue Book does not have a specific citation format

for Comic Books. As the prime source of the multi-billion dollar

superhero industry, it is appropriate that they should. This

appendix details the form used by the Fordham Intellectual

Property, Media & Entertainment Law Journal

1. Creative Contributors

Judge Posner defines the scope of who creates comic books in

Gaiman v. McFarlane, 360 F.3d 644 (7th Cir. 2004). This format

follows his lead. “The contents of a comic book are typically the

joint work of four artists—the writer, the penciler who creates the

art work, the inker who makes a black and white plate of the art

work, and the colorist who colorist.” Id. at 659. Include all four in

Posner’s order—writer, penciler, inker, & colorist—separated by

an ampersand, as per Rule 15.1(b), which allows you to “include

all authors’ names when doing so is particularly relevant.” Many

creators use nicknames or shortenings of their names. As per

Rule 15.1, “always give the author’s full name as it appears on the

publication.”

2. Story Title

This follows the form for a magazine in Rule 16.4, as comics are

basically magazines. Many story titles (as well as other footnoting

APPENDIXBRIT 5/18/2006 11:37 AM

1018 FORDHAM INTELL. PROP. MEDIA & ENT. L.J. [Vol. 16:1017

information) can be found in the Grand Comics Database at

comics.org.

3. Comic Book Title

This also basically follows the form for a magazine in Rule 16.4.

Because of design considerations, the cover may not clearly

indicate the Comic Book Title. The proper title can generally be

found in the indicia inside the comic book, generally at the bottom

of the first page. Use the title from the indicia, even if it is not the

common name of the comic book; if necessary set up a

parenthetical hereinafter.

4. Volume Number

Many comic book series have run for decades, and they

periodically relaunch under the same name, so it may be important

to know which volume of the series the note references. The

Volume Number is part of the Comic Book Title, and should be

included parenthetically. If there is only one volume, do not

include the Volume Number in the citation.

5. Issue Number

The Comic Book Title will be followed immediately by the Issue

Number. Comic books are generally organized by issue in stores

and in commerce. If someone wanted to follow up on a footnote,

they would seek the comic book by issue, not by date, and the form

here incorporates that reality.

6. Page Number

Comic book stories are generally paginated, but unlike magazines,

the advertisement pages are generally not part of that pagination.

To differentiate the Issue Number from the Page Number, separate

them with a comma and “at”. Page numbers are not always

available, as some source materials are extremely rare.

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2006] COMIC BOOK CITATION FORMATS 1019

7. Publisher

As with a book, the publisher should be included parenthetically.

In comic book back issue stores, comic books are segregated by

publisher, and sometimes even by imprint of a particular publisher.

8. Cover Date

Comic books are generally cover dated, but that date is different

from the publication date. The major companies publish their

comics approximately three months prior to the cover date. This is

a tradition left over from an older distribution system, where comic

books would be removed from the shelves when the cover date

expired, so that they would seem current longer on newsstands and

comic racks in general stores. The Cover Date should include

month and year, to provide chronological context. As in the

citation of books, there is no comma between the Publisher and the

Cover Date.

9. Parenthetical Information

Parenthetical Information might include the “first appearance of”

or “introducing” a new character.

10. Reprint Information

Many comic books are rare and expensive, and have been

reprinted. Reprint Information should follow the original comic

book citation with the signal “reprinted in” following a comma.

Comic book reprinted volumes are typically books collecting

several comic book issues, and should follow the Rule 15 book

citation format. These compilations may collect many works, and

have many more creators than a single comic book. It is

acceptable to follow the Rule 15.1(b) “et al.” form, particularly

because the relevant creators are fully acknowledged in the

Creative Contributors part of the main cite.

11. Examples

Here are some excerpts of comic book citations from Britton

Payne, Super-Grokster: Untangling Secondary Liability, Comic

APPENDIXBRIT 5/18/2006 11:37 AM

1020 FORDHAM INTELL. PROP. MEDIA & ENT. L.J. [Vol. 16:1017

Book Heroes and the DMCA, and a Filtering Solution for

Infringing Digital Creations, 17 Fordham Intell. Prop. Media &

Ent. L. J. XX (2006).

See, e.g., Judd Winick, Dusting Nguyen, Richard Friend & Alex Sinclair, As the

Crow Flies Part Two: Partners in Crime, B

ATMAN 627, at City of Heroes Advertisement

(DC Comics Jun. 2004) (on sale Apr. 2004) [hereinafter City of Heroes Advertisement].

See Rick Dakan, Brandon Mckinney & Moose Bauman, Undead in the Big City

Part 1, C

ITY OF HEROES 1, at 1 (NCSoft Corporation and Cryptic Studios, Inc.

Apr. 2004).

See Jerome Siegel & Joe Shuster, Superman, ACTION COMICS 1, at inside cover, 1

(Detective Comics, Inc. June 1938) (first appearance of Superman), reprinted in

UPERMAN IN ACTION COMICS ARCHIVES, VOLUME ONE 9 (Bob Kahan ed., DC

Comics 1997) available at http://superman.ws/tales2/action1/?page=0 (last visited

Dec.

3, 2005) (providing image of inside cover).

See Will Eisner, The Origin of Wonder Man, WONDER COMICS 1, at 1 (Fox Publ’ns

May 1939).

See Norton Kingsley, The Coming of the Lynx, MYSTERY MEN COMICS 13, at 54

(Fox Publ’ns Aug. 1940). This issue has not been reprinted, and an original print is not

readily available, selling for thousands of dollars. See, e.g., William Hughes Vintage

Collectibles.net, http://www.vintagecollectables.net/detail.php?issue_id=889&PHPSESS

ID=4a38428f03690da4565a198e7f09bb31 (last visited Dec. 3, 2005). To see an

adventure of The Lynx from a subsequent issue, see Norton Kingsley, The Rook Strikes,

YSTERY MEN COMICS 21, at 37 (Fox Publ’ns Apr. 1941), reprinted in Pure Excitement

Comics (Vol. 1) 42, (Bill Nolan ed., Feb. 2002), available at http://pecomics.tripod.com/

42contents.html.

Compare Kingsley: The Rook Strikes, supra note 202 with, e.g., Bill Finger & Bob

Kane, The Case of the Chemical Syndicate, D

ETECTIVE COMICS 27, at 2 (DC Comics

May 1939) (first appearance of Batman), reprinted in B

ATMAN ARCHIVES, VOLUME

ONE 7 (Dale Crain ed., DC Comics 1990).

Bill Parker, C. C. Beck & Pete Costanza, Introducing Captain Marvel, WHIZ

COMICS 2, at 1 (Fawcett Publ’ns Feb. 1940) (first appearance of Captain Marvel),

reprinted in T

HE SHAZAM! ARCHIVES, VOLUME ONE 19 (Bob Kahan ed., DC Comics

1992). When DC Comics leased the rights to publish Fawcett’s Captain Marvel character

from then-owner Charlton, Marvel Comics immediately produced its own Captain

Marvel comic book starring a new space-based superhero of the same name, see Stan

Lee, Roy Thomas & Gene Colan, Out of the Holocaust . . . A Hero!, C

APTAIN MARVEL 1,

(Marvel Comics Group, May 1968), reprinted in Stan Lee, et al., M

ARVEL

APPENDIXBRIT 5/18/2006 11:37 AM

2006] COMIC BOOK CITATION FORMATS 1021

MASTERWORKS: CAPTAIN MARVEL (VOL. 1) (Marvel Comics 2005), to protect its

trademark.

Compare, e.g., Jerome Siegel & Joe Shuster, Superman, ACTION COMICS 1, at 1

(Detective Comics, Inc. June 1938) (first appearance of Superman), reprinted in

UPERMAN IN ACTION COMICS ARCHIVES, VOLUME ONE 9 (Bob Kahan ed., DC

Comics 1997) with, e.g., Parker, supra note 9.

See Atlas, 112 F. Supp. 2d at 332. Compare, e.g., Hey SKINNY! . . . Yer Ribs are

Showing!, D

ETECTIVE COMICS 182, at Inside Back Cover (Nat’l Comics Publ’ns

Apr. 1952) and Charles Atlas, Our Museum, http://charlesatlas.com/classicads2.htm (last

visited Jan. 19, 2006) with, Grant Morrison, Mike Dringenberg, Doug Hazlewood &

Daniel Vozzo, Musclebound, D

OOM PATROL (VOL. 3) 42, at 5 (DC Comics, Mar. 1991).

See also Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely & Tom McCraw, After the Fact, Part One:

Flowery Atomic Heart, F

LEX MENTALLO 1 (DC Comics, June 1996).

See id. Compare Len Wein, Marv Wolfman, Who Can Defeat a God?, SUPER

ADVENTURES 7, at 7 (Marvin Wolfman 1967) with Marv Wolfman, John Buscema, Joe

Sinnott & Michele Wolfman, Nova, T

HE MAN CALLED NOVA 1 (Marvel Comics Group

Sept. 1976), reprinted in M

ARV WOLFMAN ET AL., ESSENTIAL NOVA VOLUME ONE

(Marvel Comics 2006).

The early Justice League of America charter acknowledges the frequency of power

replication by forbidding duplication of powers among its membership, although the

initial reason for denying membership to Hawkgirl was based on a “one new member at a

time” clause. See Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky & Bernard Sachs, Riddle of the Runaway

Room!, J

USTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA 31 (DC Comics, Nov. 1964), reprinted in GARDNER

FOX ET AL., JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA ARCHIVES: VOLUME FIVE (DC Comics 1999).

For readers concerned with comic book minutiae, the power duplication clause was

subsequently changed under duress to allow membership to Hawkman’s identically-

powered wife Hawkgirl. See Steve Englehart, Dick Dillin, Frank McLaughlin & Anthony

Tollin, Inner Mission!, J

USTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA 146 (DC Comics Sept. 1977).

See id. at 649; see also Todd McFarlane & Steve Oliff, Questions, SPAWN 1 (Image

Comics May 1992) (first appearance of Spawn), reprinted in T

ODD MCFARLANE ET AL.,

SPAWN COLLECTION VOLUME ONE (Image Comics 2005).

See id. at 650; see also Neil Gaiman, Todd McFarlane, Steve Oliff & Reuben Rude,

Angela, S

PAWN 9 (Image Comics Mar. 1993) (first appearance of Angela, Medieval

Spawn, and Cagliostro).

See, e.g., Joe Simon & Jack Kirby, The Guardian, STAR SPANGLED COMICS 7

(DC Comics Apr. 1942) (first appearance of the Guardian and the Newsboy Legion),

APPENDIXBRIT 5/18/2006 11:37 AM

1022 FORDHAM INTELL. PROP. MEDIA & ENT. L.J. [Vol. 16:1017

reprinted in Joe Simon & Jack Kirby, The Newsboy Legion, ADVENTURE COMICS DIGEST

503, at Ch. 8 (DC Comics Sept. 1983).

In fact, it is somewhat of a tradition for one company to create analogues of another

company’s characters with the same powers but entirely new names and costumes in

order to show a new take on the heroes, or how the companies’ heroes might interact.

Compare, e.g., Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky & Bernard Sachs, Starro the Conqueror!,

HE BRAVE AND THE BOLD 28 (DC Comics Feb.–Mar. 1960) (first appearance of the

Justice League of America), reprinted in G

ARDNER FOX, ET AL., JUSTICE LEAGUE OF

AMERICA ARCHIVES: VOLUME ONE (DC Comics 1997) with Roy Thomas, Sal Buscema &

Sam Grainger, When Strikes the Squadron Sinister, THE AVENGERS (VOL. 1) 70 (Marvel

Comics Nov. 1969) (introducing the Squadron Sinister, who later became the Squadron

Supreme, see Roy Thomas, John Buscema & Frank Giacoia, The World is Not For

Burning, T

HE AVENGERS 85, at 8, 11 (Marvel Comics Feb. 1971), Marvel’s authoritarian

take on DC Comics’ Justice League of America); compare, e.g., Warren Ellis, Bryan

Hitch, Paul Neary & Laura Depuy, Pay Allegiance to the Authority, T

HE AUTHORITY

(VOL. 1) 1 (Wildstorm May 1999) (first appearance of anti-hero supergroup The

Authority), reprinted in W

ARREN ELLIS ET AL., THE AUTHORITY VOL. 1: RELENTLESS

(Rachelle Brissenden & Eric DeSantis eds., Wildstorm 2000) with Joe Kelly, et. al.,

What’s So Funny About Truth, Justice & The American Way?, A

CTION COMICS 775

(DC Comics Mar. 2001) (showing how DC Comics’ Superman dealt with analogues of

Wildstorm’s anti-heroes); compare, e.g., Stan Lee, Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers, The

Coming of the Avengers!, T

HE AVENGERS (VOL. 1) 1 (Marvel Comics Sept. 1963) (the

first appearance of The Avengers), reprinted in S

TAN LEE ET AL., MARVEL

MASTERWORKS: THE AVENGERS (VOL. 1) (Marvel Entertainment Group 2002) with Mike

Friedrich, Dick Dillin & Joe Giella, Batman—King of the World, JUSTICE LEAGUE OF

AMERICA (VOL. 1) 87 (DC Comics Feb. 1971) (introducing the Justifiers, an analogue of

Marvel’s Avengers); compare, e.g., Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, George Klein & Christopher

Rule, The Fantastic Four!, F

ANTASTIC FOUR (VOL. 1) 1 (Marvel Comics Nov. 1961) (the

first appearance of the Fantastic Four), reprinted in S

TAN LEE ET AL., FANTASTIC FOUR

OMNIBUS VOLUME ONE (Marvel Comics 2005) and Finger, supra note 8 (first appearance

of the Batman) with, e.g., Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson & Steven Buccellato, In Dreams,

URT BUSIEK’S ASTRO CITY (VOL. 1) 1 (Image Comics Aug. 1995), reprinted in KURT

BUSIEK ET AL., Life in the Big City, KURT BUSIEK’S ASTRO CITY VOL. 1: LIFE IN THE BIG

CITY (Homage 1999) and, e.g., Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson, Will Blyburg & Alex

Sinclair, New Kid in Town, K

URT BUSIEK’S ASTRO CITY (VOL. 2) 4 (Image Comics

Dec. 1996), reprinted in K

URT BUSIEK ET AL., KURT BUSIEK’S ASTRO CITY VOL. 2:

CONFESSION (Homage 1999) (Kurt Busiek’s creator-owned First Family is his

reinterpretation of Marvel’s Fantastic Four, and Confessor is his take on DC Comics’

APPENDIXBRIT 5/18/2006 11:37 AM

2006] COMIC BOOK CITATION FORMATS 1023

Batman). A visual illustration of this tradition, including a side-by-side comparison of

the above, can be found at this note’s accompanying website at

http://brittonpayne.com/Marvel.html.

See Joe Simon & Jack Kirby, CAPTAIN AMERICA 1, at Cover, (Timely Comics

Mar. 1941) (depicting a star-chested Captain America decking Adolf Hitler), available at

The Great Comics Database, http://comics.org/details.lasso?id=1313 (last visited

Nov. 14, 2005).

See Fabian Nicienza, Kurt Busiek, Tom Grummett, Gary Erskine & Chris

Sotomayor, Zeroes to Heroes Part 5: Call to Battle?, N

EW THUNDERBOLTS 5, at 32

(Marvel Comics Apr. 2005); Marvel, Details of New Thunderbolts #5,

http://marvel.com/catalog/showcomic.htm?id=1643&format=comic (last visited Jan. 26,

2006) (confirming the release date).

Fabian Nicienza, Kurt Busiek, Tom Grummett, Gary Erskine & Chris Sotomayor,

Zeroes to Heroes Part 6: City of Heroes?, N

EW THUNDERBOLTS 6 (Marvel Comics

May 2005). Subsequent republishings of these issues and Marvel’s official online

presence have removed any mention of “City of Heroes” in the title, changing the name

of the entire story arc from “Zeroes to Heroes” to the name of the original first chapter

“One Step Forward,” although the closing dialogue proclaiming New York as “A CITY

OF HEROES” remains. See F

ABIAN NICIENZA ET AL., NEW THUNDERBOLTS VOL. 1: ONE

STEP FORWARD (Tom Brevoort ed., Marvel Comics 2005).